How to set a block in tree from ground?

[PCTREE]

Any great tricks for setting a block up a tree without climbing the tree which doesnt double the force on the crotch , or should I say quadrouple? Sometimes if Im worried about the strength of a lowering point I will go up and use a sling and will have to go back up to retrieve it. Any way around this?????

[Banned by Squirrels]

Well The Art & Science of Practical Rigging has a two page blurb about it as I remember but I was too unmotivated to figure it out as it is quite complicated, and I have had too few opportunities to need it.

(Not much help I know...)

[Hobby Climber]

Attach the end of your lowering line to the limb you wish to remove via big shot,through bag & line. Also with "T"-bag & line, place your bull rope through a suitable crotch and attach your block at one end. Then with the run of the first lowering line thats attached to the subject limb...run it through the block and pull your bull rope up to a desired height. I would suggest a port-a-wrap to secure the other end of your bull rope to the base of the tree. This gives you an adjustable false crotch!

Depending on the size of the limb you are removing, your could use a safety eight or another port-a-wrap with your lowering line.

This is where (if practical) you can cut the limb from the ground using a pole saw and lower it with your safety 8 under control. Or use any other variation of cutting methods to suit your situation.

I've used this adjustable false crotch method often on many occasions and its served me well over the years.

Hope this makes sense!

HC

[Mike Maas]

Here's the basic set up:

[Mike Maas]

Pull the two ends of the bull rope over the limb and back down to the ground.
Pass the two ends through the loop runner and continue to pull until the loop runner goes up and girth hitches to the limb.

[Mike Maas]

It should look like this:

[Mike Maas]

Oops, the tag line turned green.

To remove, pull bull rope out of pulley, and pull loop runner/ pulley down with tag line.

[MasterBlaster]

I must not be unnerstannin the question. :|:

[sotc]

basicly he wants to tie off a false crotch from the ground and be able to retrieve it from the ground. the version bob put up is simple but doubles the pressure on the limb

[MasterBlaster]

True, but the limb can take "double the pressure."

[Mike Maas]

This way there is only 200 pounds on limb (assuming no friction).

[Mike Maas]

If you just throw a rope over, it's 400 pounds (no friction).

[Frans]

clever Mike,

This has backfired on me before, but if you tie a knot in one end of the bull rope, then pull the knot up to the block, you can lower the block without just dropping it down.

[Old Monkey]

The two or three times I have used this I just did it the Hobby Climber way and it worked swell.

[MasterBlaster]

That's how I like to get in the top of huge trees quick. I set the pulley and get pulled up.

[Skwerl]

The only time you'd want to use the trick Mike showed is if you're dealing with huge weights and you're pushing the safe limits of your rigging point. It's a bit of work but it effectively halves the load on the rigging point so you're much less likely to break the tree.

Butch, keep that in mind if your current weight loss regiment is less than successful. :P

[PCTREE]

Hey Mike thanks that was exactly what I was looking for, I will have to play with it to see how it all works. I have a job I just sold today where I want to rope out of the top of a skinny tulip poplar to get the brush out of a big oak closer to the chipper. Those gangly poplars worry me sometimes so this will hopefully save me climbing it twice,

Hey Butch if I ever slow down this winter I want to make a motorized ascender, Interested?????

Paul

[MasterBlaster]

Ha, cool but I'll rarely have a need for it.

But, bring it on! :beer:

[gf beranek]

Out on a limb I'd follow Mikes suggestion, but most of the time I set the line in close to the trunk and never had a problem.

[Mike Maas]

One day I had a limb over a garage, not to high but there was a roping point in the adjacent tree, and being lazy I just set up a deal like the second picture above from the ground.
I climbed the other tree, tied it on, and had the groundy hook up the port-a-wrap, and made my cut.
Now on paper, it was supposed to swing over and then get lowered. Anyone who does tree work, knows how unreliable those paper plans are.
Anyway, the rope holding the pulley slid up the trunk just a little, the tree bent over from the force, the limb holding the pulley bent way down, and then there was some stretch in both ropes.
The bull rope did not move one inch through the port-a-wrap, but the branch was on the ground/garage.
It was kind of funny because as the groundy released the rope, all that happened was the tree the pulley was in just straightened back out.
I guess there is something to all that force compounding stuff.

[Frans]

Hey Butch if I ever slow down this winter I want to make a motorized ascender, Interested?????

Paul

Here is one gotten from Storricks web site: http://storrick.cnchost.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Ascender/Motorized.html

And here is another one called the Atlas Ascender

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KGvibmr2CIU&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KGvibmr2CIU&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

http://img.timeinc.net/popsci/images/2007/05/invaward_atlas_sketch_600.jpg

[Old Monkey]

I wouldn't use a tulip poplar to rig out oak. Around here they are brittle and weak.

[pantheraba]

I guess there is something to all that force compounding stuff.

:lol: Great line...good description of a head-scratcher.

[Jamin Mayer]

True, but the limb can take "double the pressure."

Yeah, I agree. It doesn't really concern me as long as I use a suitable crotch.

This system is nice for a quick job where you may have a overhanging limb a customer wants to be removed.

[PCTREE]

Man I NEED that Atlas Ascender! It looks so much fun that I may Have to start paying people to do their treework....
Wonder if it could be geared down some , seems like ascending through a tangled pin oak at 20mph might be a little hard core for an aging weanie like me.

[No_Bivy]

25k for the atlas...:O

[lumberjack]

Mike's illustration works, but it can be a colossal pain in the arse to get the block through the loop, and getting it back out can be equally troubling. It does work though.

I use a remotely set block pretty regularly, saves killer time.

[Old Monkey]

Cool Carl, you can show me how to do it when you stop in Boise.

[MasterBlaster]

LOL

[lumberjack]

You bet, I nearly always use throwline to pull a bigger line up with the block attached, Hobby Climber style.

[Old Monkey]

I understand that way. I want someone to show me how to do it Mike's way.

[lumberjack]

Oh, I can show you that way also, but it's a huge PITA compared to the normal way, although sometimes it's the lesser of the evils.