German Friction Saver

Mark B. I appreciate what you are saying totally. I laugh at people who will spend $100.00 on a "new" driver for golf or $100.00 for an "improved" hockey stick that they will use once a week or less, but complain about a $250.00 harness that they will hang in every day for two years or more. Not to mention the fact that "tree gear" will also help you to make money as well.
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Nice to see you here as well.
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Roachy... the main difference between the rope-gude & conventional friction saving devices is that your line only runs through the pulley, but at the same time you're still able to de-install it.
What you gain, is you don't get that see-sawing motion on the false-crotch when you're de- or ascending.
Before we get going on the topic of bend ratios, by the way , if you watch a false crotch, it's exactly this up & down motion that causes one or the other ring/ pulley/ carabiner of the friction-saver to move up or down- this gives you a considerably tighter bend ratio than the consistant diameter of the pulley of the R.G.
This is great... I sound like a door-to-door salesman! Just trying to answer a question, though!
 
Yes, I agree with the seesawing motion being a disadvantage of other friction saving pulley devices. Its one of the reasons I stopped using them - the large ring interfering with the bend of the rope over the pulley. The rope lifts and rubs the side cheeks of the pulley excessively.

The bend radius of normal friction savers is not a problem though. In systems I've tested, a friction saver with 16mm rings would gaurantee the endline termination failed before the bend over the rings (up to 3500Kg). These are slightly larger rings than normal friction savers though. Even so, the bend radius is only ever going to be brought into the equation when the system is overloaded, and non of us want to contemplate the possibilities for disaater there! Tight bends will affect the service life of the rope, but the way single braids wear in tree work, they are likely to be replaced before this takes effect.

Where were we? oh yeah, pulley type friction savers - its a nice piece of kit. I've had another idea in my head for the past eight years for one of these - maybe I should talk to Hubert!
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O.k. I must be alittle mixed up ,I thought Strassers saver was through the ring as well as the pulley as in a traditional friction saver,if the pulley is used alone how is it removed ?
Cant say Ive ever noticed the seesaw action but it makes sense.Thanks for the input
 
Urgh... bend radius rears it's ugly head once again- & I raised it! Obviously you're absolutely right, Pez.
I was probably trying to be too clever- what I was trying to say, was that before anyone tries to make an issue over it, that it's really not a problem in this case.
A guy came up to me a couple of weeks ago with a XTC-plus, asking whether I could splice it for him... the last 2-3 meters of both (spliced) ends were cut in a number of places at least a third of the way through and had been "tidied up" by melting the resulting loose strands, the prussiks were melted through t the core... what can I say, I cut the rope up right then & there. The guy felt it wasn't a problem, as "the core is the load-bearing part of this line"!!!?? ...Huh?! This, I feel is where the real problem lies- & I've seen it said here before- the problem is rarely climbing lines breaking, but gear being wrongly used, badly handled and abyssmaly maintained. The human element strikes me as often being the weak link in the P.P.E. chain!
 
I would like to try it.I agree that less friction is great when moving laterally the thing i dont like is on long descant the all the friction that moves to the climbing knot gets to be extreme.I use a variation of the V.T. and was thinking that useing a Machard would have more fibers to absorb some of that energy .
 
After all this talk about the new FCs and the advantage of having the rope passing only through the pulley, I was wondering… on big trees (I suppose the tree must be big in order to feel that advantage), wouldn’t it be simpler to adopt the solution pictured on page 50 of Jeff’s Companion? Just a pulley (and it can be a bigger one) clipped to an installed single rope. The system can be retrieved easily without the aid of a throwline and, as a plus, the climber can be lowered from the ground, in case of need.

Sergio
 
Sergio,

You're probably right. Sometimes all of the gear gets to be burdensome.

The floating false crotch does double load the access limb but that can be accounted for during the setup.

Tom
 
Some of that doubling load effect can be reduced by other upper supports, high friction or widening line angle between load and control sides of the support anchor.

Other upper supports ~= or > main support help share the load, likewise a wide angle between load and control legs does. More high friction takes the load off the support leg, thereby reducing the sum total of the pulls of load and control legs on the upper support anchor.

A support line through a high crotch, then simply wrapped under that support limb (increase high friction) , then run to a 10' high crotch of a tree 30'+ away (increasing angle between load and control legs) before being tied off should substancially reduce the anchor load compared to just through an overhead crotch and tied off directly underneath on the trunk, without even entering into shared upper anchors. In either case don't drop anything on or cut the support line, Though with the high friction there will be more buffering between you and the line. Giving you less shock if line is hit, and giving a slacker control leg that won't be as easily cut.
 
Being able to climb off a single pulley is only one of the advantages. Being able to place it anywere in the tree ( no crotch needed) is another huge advantage to the system.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ghivelder:
How would you guys attach the pulley to the line?

Sergio<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wouldn't a locking biner (life support rated) tied with a double fisherman's or other life support approved knot be the simplest and easiest?
 
Not 100% Brian. What I mean is that using a sigle line tech. to attach a pulley to climb on is only efficient because you can set it from the ground pretty easily, and you can remove it the same.

The rope-guide (German FC) can do this and is easily moved while in the tree. I did a large Chestnut Oak removal yesterday and finally used it for the entire removal. It was simple, yet complex. What I mean is that it works very simply but took a lot of thought to make it work. I really enjoyed the lack of friction during the climb. I also liked the ability to remove it after every work position while being able to secure it to the trunk during the wood work. It is very neat.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MARK CHISHOLM:
I also liked the ability to remove it after every work position while being able to secure it to the trunk during the wood work.
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Do you mean that you've used the german FC for the entire trunk removal while rigging?
You can really choke it against the trunk and work only from the pulley? If so, it must be great...

Sergio
 
Does anyone know if the pulley on this new friction saver is a custom design or is it available commercially? An incredible looking device that has had me awake at night trying to think of a way to get one.
 
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