weekend high

bigshea13

we get this setup out a dozen times or so throughout the year. we have two 300 foot pieces of floating nylon. the other members of the gang always make myself or my brother {joker on the left}tie the rope to the harness and the boat. gonna take it out soon on the frozen river....much easier to get off the ground and it pulls nicer with pickup or utv. you should have seen the trial runs when we first got it. lotta blood. lotta stiches for some. if i can figure out how to edit video tapes ill put up footage of some 70-80 foot free falls into river. first time we jumped from it people on river came racing out in boats because they thought harness failed

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newguy18

Your frikin nuts!!!!
If only I could swim i'd try it.

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bigshea13

no need to swim if you wear lifevest but....its better without because it kills the armpits when you hit if youve got vest on

Eric Frei

So you scrounged up a chute from somewhere and come up with that or what?

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bigshea13

we bought it off line. it comes with disclaimer that read," it is unsafe to use this product"
we pull it primarily behind the boat. we had to start using a bigger boat because the chute began to pull the tie bar out from the boat. this cracked the fiberglass. in winter we tow it with snow sleds or trucks.
its been a wild toy. weve had some wicked nasty accidents at first butnow........we put that baby up anywhere theres not power lines.

newguy18

Kinda like me climbing on rope i bought from lowes.Hey it withstood me falling and it didn't break but of course I got another hank after that.

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bigshea13

you seriously bought climbing line at lowes?
thats awsome. did you also buy a poulan wild thing
when I started my electrical apprenticeship they gave us a list of tool that we had to purchase. being broke at the time i went to biglots and bought them. the guys at work had a field day with me. most of the tools had to be replaced due to the fact that they broke or because i left em at home so i didn't have to listen to it at work. now after years of working ive got a pretty awsome collection of tools and gismos.

newguy18

Yes sir I climb on it almost daily.7/16" by 100' for 25 bucks.3000 pound tensile strength.No poulans though except for one I traded a home built air compressor for that I'm fixing for my dad.when i was taught by a master electrician on my first day he sent me looking for a left handed screwdriver and not having done anything with tools before I spent an hour going through his van looking for one.

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bigshea13

i once thought i was clever by sending a co worker to get a metric crescent wrench. the joke was on me when he came back with one of each.[ONE STAMPED SAE AND THE OTHER MM. OTHER THAN THAT..NO DIFFERENCE"

shaggs

You guys tryin' to get a Darwin Award?

newguy18

Ain't nothing wrong with living on the wild side.
heres what I climb on.
7/16" x 100' Solid Braid Nylon Rope.

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Therrin

Wow... it looks like I need to go get some new climbing line and send it to you. Not as a gift.... I see it as an investment. You *have* been helpin me out quite a bit. There'd be a huge dent in how much you could help me if ya die from using crappy rope. And that... looks like crappy rope. 300lb working load. OMG.... You're crazier than I gave you credit for.

bigshea13

rules for new guy climbing

1 dont eat before a climb
2 remove all loose change and other objects from pockets
3 only fill saws half full of gas and oil.
4 relieve yourself
5. when at all possible work over water{or a mattress}


that should keep you under weight

newguy18

hey i caught me at a 10'drop so no complaints here.
heres my actual climbing rules
1.fill the saw all the way up.
2. please don't tug on my rope I don't want to go swinging.
3.No I'm not gonna cut my flipline again quit asking.
4.what is ppe?
5.make sure the chain is razor sharp before we go to a job.
6.No topping no matter how much a customer asks.

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Eric Frei

Interesting rope Newguy.

I dont like the 11mm type stuff much, too thin for me.

They're fairly unique with what they say about that rope, check this out.

However it's still a heck of a safety margin, who weighs 300lb with gear? Herman Munster.

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Therrin

I suppose you've got a point Ekka.

When I was doing high ropes course and rock climbing work, we had saftey margin ratios that had to be upheld for insurance reasons. I had that drilled into me for a decade, so I'm a little bit more fussy about safety margins. Maybe its really not such a big deal. <shrugs>

It just *sounds* weak, since I'm used to stuff that's rated about 3x that.

Plus, they say "good integrity under stress and shock loads". But on the other hand, if it's a bunch of 2x4's that you're haulin with it, and the rope breaks... it's just inconvenient. How does the stuff hold up to sunshine, heat, cold, mix, bar oil, dirt, grease, etc etc. Not that you should let the stuff get all over your ropes, but stuff happens. What's the integrity like when its old and dirty, and just when are those lines crossed? You could say the same about my ropes, but my safety margin is a bit higher.

At least its cheaper to replace eh?

newguy18

I just can't justify buying rope from baileys or wesspur yet.

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bigshea13

WHAT? one small job will pay for a 150' hank of 1/2 good stuff. skip a drunk!

newguy18

you and i live in 2 differnt worlds.

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bigshea13

does yours involve levitation or imortality?

TreeDimensional

I totally argee with bigshea13, YOUR climbing line is the most important piece of working equipment that YOU own. It is even more important than your saddle, more imporant than your saws. The only thing that is more valuable than anything else that you take into the tree is yourself and the accumulated wisdom from studying and working in the trees.

I was a little shocked at the price of MY first climbing line. I was looking for 150' of Samson 1/2"Radical arborist rope with pro-gaurd, and all my guy had was 140'. The price was $1.40/ft, so my life is hanging on a $196.00 investment. I know everyone earns at a different level based on the competitive nature of the market, the experience one has, and a hundred other things, but $200.00 dollars is a drop in the bucket for being able to climb another day.

On another note, the reason I used capital letters in the first paragraph is that I believe a rope or life-line is a personal item. I would under NO circumstance let anyone use or borrow MY lifeline. I am not greedy or selfish, but I do have a large dose of self-preservation, and if I am risking my working career in one of the most dangerous jobs on earth, I want to do it with the best equipment I can afford.

On December 26, 1995 while we were away, we had a life altering experience. We got a call that our house had burned down. We went through 3 distinctive ares of emotion (Please don't let my wife know that I am not a harda$$). The normal first reaction is shock that ALL our STUFF was gone, the second phase was the mondane task of shopping to replace the STUFF, the final reality check was that it was JUST STUFF. When we realized that it could have been worse, and no one (except 1 dog) was hurt or killed, the world looked a whole lot better. The moral of the story is that no matter what equipment that you have to work with, there is nothing more valuable or useful than the people doing the work.

Therrin, you got the job done without incident, way to go!!! I can't remember how many trees I've dropped. I do know one thing, everytime I go out to look at a job, or every job that we complete one, I always ask myself, could we have done this more efficiently or better or safer? This industry is about developing a systematic approach to doing even the most mondane task, and if one becomes complacent things get overlooked. We are dealing with some of the largest plants on earth, they do not care if they hurt or kill you, its up to protect yourself. Iwould like to think that the contributors on this site are all teaching and learning from each other.

Sorry for rambling.

newguy18

No it involves being in a low income town and people who really don't want to pay bigbucks for tree or anykind of work for that matter.treedimensional I'm sorry to hear about the fire and good points on the rope factor and I would like to buy that kind of rope but reality gets in the way of that.

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bigshea13

sherrill arborplex 1/2 120'=70 dollars .19 cents a day.

newguy18

in due time man.

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bigshea13