Crane slings

Steve Connally · Nov 29, 2018

Mark Chisholm said:
I personally don't like hollowbraid slings since the grab, pick, get stuck on bark and tend to be slippery to the touch which makes them cinch really aggressively. That makes them harder to untie than a more round, firmer material.

Gotcha, yes there is a tendency to pic a bit but I haven't found a pic that I couldn't work back in. I see what you are saying about the grab. For me the great thing about a cow hitch. So easy to untie no matter how bad its grabbing. Those firm slings do take a bit to get a good hand. Very stiff out of the box. I haven't been comfortable putting a timber hitch on them until they are a little but more malleable. They certainly all have pros and cons. I'm very lucky to have all of the above in the box and use each for the application they are best for.

Steve Connally · Nov 29, 2018

climbhightree said:
OK I'm sure Steve will get actual pictures but I threw this together to give the general idea. Obviously in actual operation the purple straps would be round slings, and carabiners would be properly installed steel shackles

View attachment 55574

Yep, thats pretty much it. Thanks. One less thing I have to do tomorrow LOL

Steve Connally · Nov 29, 2018

allmark said:
I have used this method for a long time with out incident.

Everyone I talk to has nothing but a shoulder shrug in response to what happened. It wasn't a huge taper, wasn't slippery bark. They were set and dressed. Pretensioned to make sure the shackles didn't roll. Cant tell you what happened.

allmark · Nov 29, 2018

Steve Connally said:
Everyone I talk to has nothing but a shoulder shrug in response to what happened. It wasn't a huge taper, wasn't slippery bark. They were set and dressed. Pretensioned to make sure the shackles didn't roll. Cant tell you what happened.

Its frustrating when you cant find a reason for something going wrong. Thank you for sharing it will definitely be something to keep an eye on. I usually only use it when it is a big piece the sling wont fit around singularly.

pctree · Nov 29, 2018

We use the handshake or what we call the bridal with our chains on big wood day in day out and have never had an issue. I like it because its so quick to set and picks the wood with no tilt, it always worries me as I'm cabling up to get a piece off the cut and it is tilting and you are close to your limit and you haven't lifted it yet. When bricked it just floats off

craneguy1 · Nov 30, 2018

Thanks for the info guys...but i'm failing to understand how the "secret handshake"method makes it any easier and albeit possibly unsafe for the climber than using the method i already use with easy to use cables, when we do double choke.

treebilly · Nov 30, 2018

The secret hand shake makes the cable, sling, or chain a bit longer. You use less in the set up. Also is a bit faster. I’ve done it and it worked like a charm.

craneguy1 · Nov 30, 2018

Ive got 22 footers ordered for 1 tree!!! Don't need them longer!!!

pctree · Nov 30, 2018

Ill see if I can get a quick video of us setting chains and explain what I see as the benefits. If we work tomorrow ill get it but I'm praying for rain as this has been a shit week at the end of a shit year....

treebilly · Nov 30, 2018

Looking like rain tomorrow for me Paul. You’ll either get it a few hours before or a few hours after I do.

grappleyarder · Dec 3, 2018

allmark said:
I have used this method for a long time with out incident.

In the woods we called this a "Bridle" and was used to great advantage in larger timber. 1/2 the load per sling, sling (choker) does not have to be long enough to encircle the entire diameter.

We use the Morgan Thompson chain slings and as Allmark have had no problems, but the chain slings can have a little more bite than other styles. These chains are not that long so the length advantage is useful as well in larger stems. However, you do not have the redundancy of using two separate slings, any failure in either of the slings or connectors leads to a drop...