Best first bull line.

I'll second everything Monkeylove and JeffGu have said about rope selection; nylon core is the way to go for negative rigging with open space. Since you said your problem was glazing, I super-second the bollard advice. If I had my way, I'd never use anything but a big bollard for rigging. It's much easier to get the right amount of friction, and smooth as glass, especially with some leather gloves. Flying capstan style lowering devices chief advantage is that they're lighter, but I do treework with a truck and an arborcart, so I dun't even carr. For the situation you describe, it's the way to go.

I have used the Bull Rigger (which may not be available anymore?), the GRCS bollard, the Hobbs, and the Stein 3001, and they're all sweet, but the Stein is only $700 and then you can add the winch (super-sweet!) later. Money well spent.

Another thing you may consider if you're having problems with glazing and are going to keep using the POW for a while is changing from a block to a double ring sling or the three hole thimble when X-man comes out with it. That will divide the friction (read: heat) into more spots on the rope, keeping everything cooler. It's also easier to be smooth with some friction up top.

I will say that I like the way 5/8 rope feels in my hand better than 9/16, it's much stronger, and not much more expensive. Really, I like having everything b/w 1/2 and 3/4 on hand, but if you're only going to buy one bull rope, and you're going to be doing lots of big blocking, go for the 5/8...and don't buy 150' rigging lines unless you live in the pine barrens or something...the 200' will be 183' in short order, I promise, and the excess lives in the rope bag anyway.
 
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I think you are correct about thd Bull Rigger being gone now. I know I searched for one for awile before I settled on the Tree Hog bollard. Nice size bollard but probably a little small on the straps for big wood rigging, although I never tried anything big with it.
 
I was thinking about spreading out the friction, between a lowering device on the bottom of the trunk and an airial friction brake on top. Has any one tried this? I am thinking in the style of the Rig n Wrench, but to absorb and dissipate heat not weight.

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Keep in mind with aerial friction that to much can become bad quickly. The amount of rope to absorb shock is only as good as the length between the frition device and the load. Nothing against them but I personally don't think they are good for really big wood without knowing all the numbers and with lots of safe practice time. If I was going to drop big wood on an aerial device there would only be one real choice at the moment in my opinion. That would be X-mans new device and a huge part of that is X himself. He has spent a lot of time using his device and would be the man I would ask senerios about. Truth be told if I was going that route I would probably go volunteer to work with him for a week just to be taught about the devices pros and cons. Just my humble opinions.
 
How well would the 3 ring sling work on a stripped down spar. I have never used the x rings, so I have no where to start building an idea.

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If your talking about the TS Thundersling, then probably. Similar concept the X's new block but I have not dropped anything big on mine yet. There used to be a Beast Whoopie but I can't find it on there at the moment. Tom a fellow buzzer has a video somewhere that explains the build. That thing is a beast with 3 rings.
 
Right, the pinto rig on the rig&wrench is, at best, 2250 SWL, but I don't think I'd ever negative rig anything with that setup anyway-it's too valuable for lifting...which you should mos def get and use it for. I've had the belay spool that the Treestuff AFB is based on for a long time, but it's a different animal with a connecting link, so I can't evaluate that for you, but TS does give the SWL as only 1000 lbs, and that seems reasonable based on my belay spool experience.

The double ring sling is about a 4800 lbs SWL at 5:1 safety factor, only adds a little friction, installs on a spar just like a block, and is cheap to boot; it's my recommendation to start with. I'm sure you can also get something even bigger custom made. The bend radius of the larger rings is plenty good with just two. That three ring sling is better for rigging up top and retrieving remotely, although I've been using the ring&ring style for a long time now and have never felt sketched out by them. For the big negative rigging you've been talking about, it would be hard to beat a bollard with either rings or a block.
 
I think I am going to upgrade the porti to a Stein bollard and try out the double ring sling. Currently I am using a ISC block on a loopie at the top, maybe a little more friction from the rings will help out the rope in the long runs. These are long drops, but are zero impact due to hazards surrounding the trees. The stop at the end, combined with the run the piece must have to not rock the climber is making things interesting.

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Oh, I have much worse evil clown ones... gotta cycle them into the mix over time, though. Give folks time to formulate what is, in their minds, a viable conspiracy theory involving myself, Satan, and Twisty the Clown.
 
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