Amsteel not wearing well. Idea?

[theXman]

I bought 6 amsteel eye slings about a month or so to use them for spider legs with crane removals. These are the 1/2" diam.

I am not happy with how they are wearing.

Rough bark grabs them too much and frays the outside fibers. They are not going to hold up at this rate. And they aren't cheap.

I was thinking maybe I could slip the outside layer "jacket" off of an old stable braid bull line and slide that over the amsteel as a protective jacket.

Any thoughts? Anyone try something like this?

NickfromWI would probably know.

Tenex grabs bark too, but not as bad as the amsteel, the amsteel is more like silk. And with such a small diameter on the amsteel, I would think fraying would be more detrimental to a small diameter.

 

[Norm_Hall]

Is it possible to post some pics? The fuzzing up on Amsteel is fine. I have been using 1/2" and 5/8" Amsteel eye slings for crane work for a long time. They are designed to fuzz up. The fuzzing prevents more wear on the inner fibers. What type of hitches are you tying?

 

[knudeNoggin]

But for the bulk of the eye splices,
1" tubular webbing could be slid over, as you suggest for the
mantle of bull rope. Well, hmmm, *baggy* result, but there is
also 2" tubular tape.

Did this Amsteel have any special coating? --such as:
[ QUOTE ]
Blue Samthane Type "S" urethane coating is applied to enhance firmness and wear life ...

[/ QUOTE ]

*kN*

 

[NickfromWI]

Xman- yeah- cover it up. You'll turn your sling into Amsteel II, which is simply amsteel with a polyester cover.

My guess is that the wear you are seeing is due to the loose weave of the rope. Dyneema fibers are quite chafe resistant, but with such little twist in the fibers (a necessity to maximize the strength of dyneema) it's hard for the rope to fend for itself in the trees.

So yeah- protect it with something. Whipping down some polyester cover over it would be fine. The tubular webbing idea would do it, too. Another idea would be to paint it with something that wouldn't ruin the fibers. You could buy some Maxijacket coating and slather it on there- but as you'd imagine, that'd eventually need to be re-applied.

I'm hoping a manufacturer will soon come out with a tree-appropriate rigging sling single braid rope that is woven a little tighter to fight chafe in the tree, but still spliceable. Fingers crossed.

love
nick