Friction Savers???

[CurSedVoyce]

I can probably tie an anchor hitch almost as fast as you can girth hitch with a spliced or tied eye. Leaves my string with out a knot or loop in it if I have to drop the bag to pull my line back to me for a second (or more) shot. Those times you have too many tight places to draw one back through from a missed shot thing..
Unties pretty easy as well..

 

[Bodean]

Larry, that's how we do it too, I get tired of a tiny clove hitch.

Dylan, I don't do mine like the illustration.
Generally I Shoot the ball over the crotch.
Then put the ball through the small ring and the main body of line through the large ring.
Pull it up til they chime and run down, tie your line on and pull it through.

 

[pantheraba]

If you tie a clove hitch don't pass the last step under the locking part of the clove hitch...put a bight under instead. All you do then is pull the bitter end of the bight and the knot falls apart.

 

[sotc]

I can probably tie an anchor hitch almost as fast as you can girth hitch with a spliced or tied eye. Leaves my string with out a knot or loop in it if I have to drop the bag to pull my line back to me for a second (or more) shot. Those times you have too many tight places to draw one back through from a missed shot thing..
Unties pretty easy as well..

I was thinking the same with the slipped 8, you never truly untie, slight tug on the tail and the ball drops to the ground. Tuck the end thru the ring, twist the ball 2 half turns, tuck a bight and set. Funny how we all get set on our own methods

 

[sotc]

I will get those pix soon

 

[stig]

I do it the same way, Larry.
Works real well when you get so old that you can't tie little tiny knots without glasses.

 

[sotc]

Now that the thread died I finally got some pix.

 

[Bermy]

That's the ticket!!
Turned my slightly too large keychain biner back to front yesterday after the STIG warning!

 

[SydTreeguy]

I id quite a bit of experimenting last year with ratchetting blocks which I borrowed from the sailing world. The one I've been using is the Harken HK2670, a 75mm ratchetting block. It cost $100 from memory. I think you get them for about $60 stateside.

They use these on boats in different ways, as part of a multip block system for mechanical purchase and as individual blocks for handholding lighter loads that dont need a winch or a mechanical advantage setup. There are 2 styles; manual with an on/off switch and auto which senses load and automatically ratchets when loaded and freewheels unloaded. The auto ones usually have an adjustment in the take up point, but I havent tried them. I use the manual version. The pulley has grooves machined into it (aluminum) and will turn only one way. In the other direction it gives friction and claims 10:1 holding. I think thats a bit questionable.

The safe working load is only 750lbs, with a breaking strain of 3,000lbs. That isn't strong enough for life support, so I back the piece up with a steel carabiner rated to 12,500. I rig it from the ground using a rope to tie it back to the base of the tree. There is the option of using a lowering off device there for rescue etc. I won't get into the whole 'should we have a rope at base of tree' argument.

The advantage to it is that it gives no friction in one direction, and plenty in the other. Easy ascent, effortless holding, and very little effort needed to lower off. Lots of control. It does take time to set though, and on really big trees I'm probably more likely to go SRT. I mainly use it on spready trees with a lot of up/down. Most of the time I'm natural crotching though.

I've had some good success using it as a lowering pulley also. I rig it in the tree quickly, with the same backup, and its great for the kinds of small branches out over roof tops etc where you need to tip tie and lift but you cna lift by hand. One or two guys can very quickly lift and lower a lot of branches that way.

Shaun

 

[bonner1040]

I made some conduit ones! Ill get pictures later today if I can.

I used 1" metallic seal tight and the connectors Pigwot showed. The piece you need is actually called a 'ferrule' and can be bought separate of the connectors (through electric supply houses), neat enough, it just screws on to the end of the sealtight!

They came out really nice and the eyesplice on my FLY fits through there!

 

[Koala]

Now that the thread died I finally got some pix.

Sometimes it works....sometimes not. (not talking about the screw link passing through the small ring, but about the FS getting stuck) Depends on the tree and the bark.......maybe on the moon.
With cedars I'm not lucky.

So when I'm not too tired and I'm not feeling so sure it is coming down, I go up ( pantin helps...) , take my FS and come down from a natural crotch.
Better than coming down and have to set another line........if it never happened to you, you must reveal the secret

With the adjustable is even worst...

 

[treesmith]

I made some conduit ones! Ill get pictures later today if I can.

I used 1" metallic seal tight and the connectors porkbrick showed. The piece you need is actually called a 'ferrule' and can be bought separate of the connectors (through electric supply houses), neat enough, it just screws on to the end of the sealtight!

They came out really nice and the eyesplice on my FLY fits through there!

Got an idea on what the cost was?

 

[bonner1040]

Got an idea on what the cost was?

I paid $60 for 8 connectors and 20' of the conduit. The connectors were 32$ i think.. Had I bought the ferrules and waited for them to come in it would have been considerably cheaper. I think they are only a buck a piece.

Either way I have material to make 4 of them of almost any size, so $15 a piece. But with buying ferrules instead of full connectors you could get it to around $3 + $1/foot... So pretty cheap. Also it is cheaper if you buy smaller conduit I used 1".

I will go downstairs and get them to post some pics in a bit.

 

[bonner1040]

Ok. Here are some pictures of one of the conduit ones I made.

1" Metallic Sealtight
1" Ferrule
New England Fly with hand spliced tighteye.
Standard Quicklink for retrieval

 

[Jed]

Wow! Well done man.

 

[pigwot]

Looks great. I'd tape the ferrules in place.
Pulling on the line as you climb can move the ferrule against the side of the tree and 'unscrew' it, leaving your rope exposed to the cut edge of the conduit.

 

[bonner1040]

Tape, Check.

 

[Bermy]

Hi Shaun,

Thanks for chiming in! I've got set of sailboat blocks too, not ratcheting ones though, only used them once for pulling myself up...I'm more likely to use them for rigging when needed, nice to have them on standby.

 

[sotc]

Sometimes it works....sometimes not. (not talking about the screw link passing through the small ring, but about the FS getting stuck) Depends on the tree and the bark.......maybe on the moon.
With cedars I'm not lucky.

So when I'm not too tired and I'm not feeling so sure it is coming down, I go up ( pantin helps...) , take my FS and come down from a natural crotch.
Better than coming down and have to set another line........if it never happened to you, you must reveal the secret

With the adjustable is even worst...

Never say never! It is all about the crotch you select, 99% of the time you can guess which crotch it will get stuck in. (fodder for Erik) I sometimes will take it out before the final descent or even move it to a crotch that it will come out of. I have in the past preset a throwline a little higher ( or tossed it up after) , clipped a biner around the line and pulled it up, lifting the set of rings out of the crotch.

 

[Burnham]

Brilliant foresight, Willie. I'm not that smart.

 

[pigwot]

I'd have to admit to never having that Willie foresight either.
It was getting dark one long day and I did not want to climb up a cherry tree (seem they believe in tight crotches) and free my FS.
I sent a throwline over a higher crotch and pulled up a grapple, snagged the FS and tugged it out of the crotch.
Then while it was held up by the grapple sent up a slip knot to knock the FS clear of the crotch and let the weight of it bring the grapple down.
I sure as heck didn't want to go up after the grapple either.

 

[sotc]

Actually Burnham, it's developed from hindsite If I haven't made sure it will come free I will tie a throw line to the quick link so it it all doesn't come out, I can pull my climbline back down and still have a tie in. Sometimes when setting the false crotch while in the tree I will see saw the rings in the crotch and pull it out by hand a couple times as a test

 

[simplypete]

Doing a little false removal is key. If that doesn't work smoothly then I will take a full wrap around the stem just above the desired crotch.

 

[Koala]

Never say never! It is all about the crotch you select, 99% of the time you can guess which crotch it will get stuck in.

I guess you're right, I'll try to be more precise and not to fall into that 1% of unpredictable

If I haven't made sure it will come free I will tie a throw line to the quick link so it it all doesn't come out, I can pull my climbline back down and still have a tie in

That is not possible with an adjustable or a Rope Guide. Once the pulley is out , it's not possible to put it back again in the ring from the ground.
But this is a nice way for sure to control the descent of the FS.

Doing a little test to see if it comes out smoothly after setting it, that is a nice trick. Simple but very effective, like all the best solutions. Thanks.

 

[sotc]

Why wouldn't it work to just pull down on the throw line again if the big ring gets stuck? I haven't used the RG type much but I can't see how it wouldn't work if your throw line was attached to your retrieval ball. I may have to try it out one of these days