Another aerial friction rigging device?

www.thompsontreetools.com

The Morgan Block — Thompson Tree Tools

The Morgan Block is the result of a collaboration with Jaime Merritt, inventor of The Akibo. The Morgan Block is a lowering device for tree rigging and is compact with two friction settings. A game-changer in tree rigging, the Morgan Block’s friction applies when the load applies.
www.thompsontreetools.com www.thompsontreetools.com
a very limited number are now available at thompson tree tools! this sale is sort of a retroactive gofundme type situation. we are charging A LOT for these units to help us recoup some (definitely not all) of the costs of developing, testing, patenting, and manufacturing this project. they would honestly not be much cheaper if we sold them at cost. thats simply due to the high per unit cost of making custom machined parts in low volume as well as the insane cost of patent filing.
all that said, i think this tool is worth every penny! if you do buy one, please post your opinion, good or bad, and give us feedback. if this goes well we have plans to make many more!

p.s. it is easy to make comparisons between the morgan and the rigging wrench; both are stand alone aerial rigging devices, both midline attachable, both intended for light/medium loads. one big difference is use-ability for lifting loads. the morgan is NOT very good at lifting a load as the friction element does not release when run in reverse. if you do a lot of lifting in your day to day rigging i highly recommend you buy a rigging wrench. the wrench excels at load lifting where the morgan does not.
cheers!
 
Just got email notice with shipping confirmation and tracking number. I'm so stoked.

I had the opportunity to use an early version Morgan Block and it saves me so much time in my style of work with a lot of solo light rigging. I'm expecting it to pay for itself in the first month of use by time savings.

Then, seeing how others used it doing medium rigging....I didn't even try it at that. Can't wait.
 
JMerritt said:
www.thompsontreetools.com

The Morgan Block — Thompson Tree Tools

The Morgan Block is the result of a collaboration with Jaime Merritt, inventor of The Akibo. The Morgan Block is a lowering device for tree rigging and is compact with two friction settings. A game-changer in tree rigging, the Morgan Block’s friction applies when the load applies.
www.thompsontreetools.com www.thompsontreetools.com
a very limited number are now available at thompson tree tools! this sale is sort of a retroactive gofundme type situation. we are charging A LOT for these units to help us recoup some (definitely not all) of the costs of developing, testing, patenting, and manufacturing this project. they would honestly not be much cheaper if we sold them at cost. thats simply due to the high per unit cost of making custom machined parts in low volume as well as the insane cost of patent filing.
all that said, i think this tool is worth every penny! if you do buy one, please post your opinion, good or bad, and give us feedback. if this goes well we have plans to make many more!

p.s. it is easy to make comparisons between the morgan and the rigging wrench; both are stand alone aerial rigging devices, both midline attachable, both intended for light/medium loads. one big difference is use-ability for lifting loads. the morgan is NOT very good at lifting a load as the friction element does not release when run in reverse. if you do a lot of lifting in your day to day rigging i highly recommend you buy a rigging wrench. the wrench excels at load lifting where the morgan does not.
cheers!
Click to expand...
First up! Congrats! Second are you trying to dissuade us? Thanks for the honesty, that was a little tongue in cheek, but a breath of fresh air from a sales pitch
 
evo said:
First up! Congrats! Second are you trying to dissuade us? Thanks for the honesty, that was a little tongue in cheek, but a breath of fresh air from a sales pitch
Click to expand...
Not dissuade, I just want people to understand what they are getting. I don’t want anyone buying it thinking it does something it doesn’t. When there is a better tool for a job you should use it!
 
JMerritt said:
www.thompsontreetools.com

The Morgan Block — Thompson Tree Tools

The Morgan Block is the result of a collaboration with Jaime Merritt, inventor of The Akibo. The Morgan Block is a lowering device for tree rigging and is compact with two friction settings. A game-changer in tree rigging, the Morgan Block’s friction applies when the load applies.
www.thompsontreetools.com www.thompsontreetools.com
a very limited number are now available at thompson tree tools! this sale is sort of a retroactive gofundme type situation. we are charging A LOT for these units to help us recoup some (definitely not all) of the costs of developing, testing, patenting, and manufacturing this project. they would honestly not be much cheaper if we sold them at cost. thats simply due to the high per unit cost of making custom machined parts in low volume as well as the insane cost of patent filing.
all that said, i think this tool is worth every penny! if you do buy one, please post your opinion, good or bad, and give us feedback. if this goes well we have plans to make many more!

p.s. it is easy to make comparisons between the morgan and the rigging wrench; both are stand alone aerial rigging devices, both midline attachable, both intended for light/medium loads. one big difference is use-ability for lifting loads. the morgan is NOT very good at lifting a load as the friction element does not release when run in reverse. if you do a lot of lifting in your day to day rigging i highly recommend you buy a rigging wrench. the wrench excels at load lifting where the morgan does not.
cheers!
Click to expand...
Awesome transparency on explaining that this device doesn't lift loads well, but the correct answer is own both! Lol

Can't wait for mine to show up!
 
Actually glad you posted that distinction Jaime.

Last time I had my truck cleaned I pulled out the Rigging Wrench because I didn't have the patience to figure out how and when to use it to my advantage. I just dropped back to other tried and true (old school) methods I didn't have to think about.

Now I will put it back in the truck and try using it again when I need to lift loads a bit or take more slack out. Thanks.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Received mine today. Put on a 1/2 inch 6 foot ultra sling and am looking forward to using it tomorrow.....even though I'm trimming two trees out in a field and at most I'll have 3 or 4 50 lb limbs to lower rather than hit the cattle fence. :)
Click to expand...
Hey Merle, did you just girth hitch the ultrasling to the Morgan block? It looks pretty rope friendly, I used mine yesterday on a small oak removal and I just tied on a short piece of 1/2” safety blue we had. Looking to get more streamlined. I really liked the device, it let smaller limbs run pretty good and the groundman said he couldn’t feel the wood we rigged out which wasn’t all that big, due to the small rigging point, little logs about 8”- 10” dia and about 4’ long. He was able to pull the rope back to me easily. We will definitely be playing with this more but I am liking it so far.
 
Just used mine a day ago. Flawless. Very easy to set-up. Groundperson loves not having to set-up friction devices at the base for small to medium loads. The self-orientating/swivel features are fantastic. Small and lightweight.
Replaceable friction points! I'll give a better review when I get more time with it in the next two weeks. But otherwise...as advertised.

Had a situation where the ground person and lowering rope had to be away from the base of the tree. We had a small/meduim Norway maple that completely overhung a sunroom with a metal roof. The edge of the roof was within an inch of the trunk of the tree. Did not want to chance the rope running on the roof's edge and damaging the roof or worse, the rope. Small negative rigging for the top and the rest of the limbs were simply lowering with a tag line. I was able to be in the tree and control all the friction with one hand while the ground person pulled the limb from over the roof with a tagline. Butter.

Thanks Jamie and Morgan!!
 
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You did a limb that heavy by yourself??? Now I know I've been missing the boat. When self lowering with my new Morgan Block I have been using an extremely fuzzed up piece of half inch safety blue. It wasn't giving me near the right amount of friction and I plan to bring new rope for it the next time.

Additionally if anyone notices a particular rope that jumps up in friction I would be interested to know type.

Yes chislebit I just girth hitched it on. The Ultra sling I bought has pockets that are just a tad snug to thread the MB through but I like it in spite of that,
 
The MB, and extra limb wrap did all the work. Swung in from the side, NOT negative-blocking.

On the next rig, topping a strongly-horizontal brush piece, I clipped the fence top with the branch tips which swung in from higher and farther to the side. Had I, from the climbers position, tightened and held the load with the rope legs parellel, I would have had less slack, and maybe avoided it. My ground worker couldn't get the same rope angle and pretension, from where she was, in a safe rope-handling spot, with the legs of rope angle open 120*, rather than parallel/0*.

I could have redirected the rope back to my location, and still had her catch it, with better pretensioning, with the legs parallel.
 

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