Another aerial friction rigging device?

JMerritt

JMerritt

Branched out member
Location
santa cruz
In your opinion, is there room in the arborist market for another rigging device like the AFB, rigging wrench, safeblock, etc.? I’ve got a design that I’ve been working on for a while and I’m curious if there is any interest in yet another friction tool. I’m honestly surprised the rigging wrench hasn’t been picked up more widely considering how incredibly useful it is. Are people just not using tools like it that much? Cheers
 
On two other points....more of anything that is a worthwhile tool would be sold if there were more education on it. Even Rigging Rings which are widely used if someone took up the education bandwagon and showed how to use them to better effect, remote set, remote retrieve - tons more would sell.

And on the point of cost of tools that frequently comes up. When I first started in tree work one of the good supply sources for tree gear was a lineman supply house in San Francisco. I would walk through there and marvel at how much pro wrenches etc would cost. It could be an adjustable wrench or a open end wrench, all double or triple the cost of a well made Cresent Wrench from a hardware store. We get off pretty easy on the cost of our tools.
 
JMerritt said:
...considering how incredibly useful it is...
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Yesterday, I had to get a motorcycle out of a garage, on a property where we are demolishing the house/garage and going to use for a garden. It's been in the garage for about three years, the master cylinder seized up... no brakes. We had to get it up onto a trailer using the rear ramp, but with no brakes, the wife and I didn't want it rolling back on us. I actually used the Rig 'n Wrench on the front of the trailer, and the wife could pull and hold it while I pushed it up the ramp. Worked like a champ.

It's probably even more useful than you imagined!
 
I’d definitely buy a Rigging Rope Wrench with the 1 way sheave if it would take 5/8” rope. I still might get the current one eventually. I rig a lot with 1/2” 12 strand and double braid but if I want canopy friction it’s probably heavy enough to warrant bigger rope.
 
I'm always curious about other ideas, better or not, personally I wasn't fond of the rigging wrench, didn't like that it needed to rotate in the tree to take the load.

Also didn't find the need to lift and add friction, I'm either lifting big with a grcs, or using a triple thimble for aerial friction (that thing is so awesome, I own 2). Not that the rigging wrench is bad, just doesn't fit my use case
 
JMerritt said:
In your opinion, is there room in the arborist market for another rigging device like the AFB, rigging wrench, safeblock, etc.? I’ve got a design that I’ve been working on for a while and I’m curious if there is any interest in yet another friction tool. I’m honestly surprised the rigging wrench hasn’t been picked up more widely considering how incredibly useful it is. Are people just not using tools like it that much? Cheers
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Certainly room. Two huge sale points, midline attachable, price point, and perhaps adjustable friction without taking the line out?
Unless I’m doing quite a bit of lowering I still just take wraps and natural crotch. I bought a RE totem for light areal friction but still haven’t really used it.
 
I would like to see a Safebloc that is double wide. That would help with the bend radius and add a little more friction. I spend a lot of time in the bucket so the extra weight isn't a problem. Especially on an Ultra sling. I wear a Safebloc completely out in just a few months but it fits my jobs perfectly.

I would like to see the rig n wrench that would handle a good size load. I love aerial friction but I like to set my rigging point and forget about it as long as I can. Then add basal friction as needed. Rings are the way to go but definitely have to add base friction for 80% of what I rig. One disadvantage to the Safebloc and rings is if using a rigging carabiner on a non spliced rope sometimes the knot is pretty hard to get untied so I can get the rope out to move the bloc or rings. Other option is to pull 200 ft of rope back through the ring.

Midline attachable would be nice. Or at least able to pass a biner through. Able to handle a good load. At least 1,000 lbs and some decent negative rigging too. Able to attach to an Ultra sling for fast and easy moves. Light enough that it doesn't feel like carrying around a 661 on your saddle. Not extremely hard for the groundies to pull the rope back up. The easier the better. Make something like this and I'll buy several.
 
JMerritt said:
In your opinion, is there room in the arborist market for another rigging device like the AFB, rigging wrench, safeblock, etc.? I’ve got a design that I’ve been working on for a while and I’m curious if there is any interest in yet another friction tool. I’m honestly surprised the rigging wrench hasn’t been picked up more widely considering how incredibly useful it is. Are people just not using tools like it that much? Cheers
Click to expand...
Yes
 
Benjo75 said:
I would like to see a Safebloc that is double wide. That would help with the bend radius and add a little more friction. I spend a lot of time in the bucket so the extra weight isn't a problem. Especially on an Ultra sling. I wear a Safebloc completely out in just a few months but it fits my jobs perfectly.

I would like to see the rig n wrench that would handle a good size load. I love aerial friction but I like to set my rigging point and forget about it as long as I can. Then add basal friction as needed. Rings are the way to go but definitely have to add base friction for 80% of what I rig. One disadvantage to the Safebloc and rings is if using a rigging carabiner on a non spliced rope sometimes the knot is pretty hard to get untied so I can get the rope out to move the bloc or rings. Other option is to pull 200 ft of rope back through the ring.

Midline attachable would be nice. Or at least able to pass a biner through. Able to handle a good load. At least 1,000 lbs and some decent negative rigging too. Able to attach to an Ultra sling for fast and easy moves. Light enough that it doesn't feel like carrying around a 661 on your saddle. Not extremely hard for the groundies to pull the rope back up. The easier the better. Make something like this and I'll buy several.
Click to expand...
What I have in mind would have an mbs of 8000lbs or so (maybe 7000), so an 800lb load at 10:1 margin. Probably not something you’d want to negative rig with unless it’s small stuff but definitely something that you could take a wrap on a porty and feel safe on a bigger piece. Definitely midline attachment and a built in swivel. Imagine an omni 2.0 that holds part of the load. Some shop testing with 1/2” stable braid showed it holding 225lbs with 20lbs on the control end.
I don’t think there is a way to do better than the safeblock and rings for shear bomb proofedness and durability. My go too for the big stuff will always be those and a nice beefy block, but for anything less than big wood I like the idea of compact and simple to setup.
 
Sounds good so far. How's the haul back? Is it going to be almost zero as the Rig N Wrench or more like the Safebloc?
 
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