Rig N' Wrench

Newby here (first post!)
I bought a rig n' wrench and tried it out while awaiting my 1/2" hawkeye line. I had a scrap of old, heavily used BRW (Black Red White) Arbormaster rope which seems to hold just how I would want it to. I got the brand new Hawkeye rope and it seems to hold about half as much as the older BRW. They're just different colors of the same rope unless I'm missing something, so does the friction effect of the Rope Wrench increase as the rope degrades?
Thanks for any info
 
Samson goes pretty heavy with the urethane coatings, so it's probable that the friction will increase as the rope wears. The main purpose of the coating is to reduce friction.
 
atothec said:
Newby here (first post!)
I bought a rig n' wrench and tried it out while awaiting my 1/2" hawkeye line. I had a scrap of old, heavily used BRW (Black Red White) Arbormaster rope which seems to hold just how I would want it to. I got the brand new Hawkeye rope and it seems to hold about half as much as the older BRW. They're just different colors of the same rope unless I'm missing something, so does the friction effect of the Rope Wrench increase as the rope degrades?
Thanks for any info
Click to expand...
Put the ropes side by side.
Old ropes are almost always a smidge fatter than a brand new one.
Some awesome rigging ropes there, have fun and welcome to the buzz homie!
 
A tree climber friend told me that he used the Rig N wrench but it didn't engage reliably. This has never happened to me except once in a redirect situation where it got hung up on the tree. Has anyone else not had the wrench engage when it should have?
 
JeffGu said:
I made up this AmSteel Blue sling on a rope grab... it is a midline attachable one (push-button slic pin) and I put it on a limb close to me and use it to hold the rope while I cut. I can even use it like a belay device, by just releasing it a bit, on bigger limbs. I'm thinking a Petzle Rig or ISC D4 or similar might work even better. Anyway, there's still a lot of ideas that are going to spawn from the Rig 'N Wrench concept!

View attachment 33689
Click to expand...
Wow you've been hacking at stuff (in the good/best way!) for ages huh? :) Still using Amsteel for rigging applications? Gonna have to check your Media gallery again!! (oh I took a pic of my identical-looking, but 3/4 strength, swivel piece, will post it there & see if you think it's same make - it's hard to imagine there's a 1/3 strength boost between aluminum alloys which would be only realistic way for a valid ABS change on the same form!)

treebing said:
I want to say 125-150. But that is based on eyeballing. I will play more with my rock o enforcer coming up.
Click to expand...

What weights break these? And outta curiosity was it you that began using the Wrench this way?
Would LOVE to be pointed in the right direction for any tests done with the RigWrench (hell even good anecdotal testing would suffice :) )

Gotta say the product throws me off a bit....I hate to post anything that's not a high-five to you as I've just got the utmost respect for you in general, at any rate the RigWrench has piqued my interest and I'm left wondering some things:

1 - If this is being used as aerial-friction on the non-working side of that final anchor (IE the anchor is the pulley, friction comes from its attached Wrench), in the same way that a Safebloc reduces peak-forces on the anchor's tie-in-point, wouldn't adding this friction before the pulley increase force on the anchoring point?

2 - Is this something where you're adjusting the Wrench's angle/impact-on-friction or is it a fixed-friction / fixed-position device? (sorry but not familiar with the Wrench as I use 2 prusiks, I'm very light and they don't jam when I use 2 so I never saw need to change my hitching setup)

~~~~

I know it may sound silly at first but I had an idea that I suspect does almost the same thing here only it'd reduce force at the anchorage instead of increasing it (though w/ that thing's SWL that's probably of little importance) ---idea is to simply use a Figure-8 on the line post anchor, *not* the usual descent-style of wrapping the Fig-8 but simply passing-through it, if this Fig-8 is simply tethered nearby the anchor you can run your line through it before connecting to the log and, upon cutting, the friction is kept neatly on the post-anchor side of things (and there'd be virtually zero concern over SWL for the device itself just SWL for pushing the rope through such friction)
Obviously this'd require varying fig-8's to fit varying ropes or rather using varying 8's would give varying friction-responses but I can't see why it wouldn't do roughly the same 'bump of friction' the RigWrench does only on the opposite side & far simpler (and customizable as you could choose from many fig-8's based on the bull-rope used)
Shown on the orange rope as it leaves the green sling's XL ring here:
20191218_101127.webp
Note- I've NOT tried this myself, only contemplated it, am awaiting a chance to get another backyard-rigging-testing session in and'll try it then, however I do plan to use that weak lil 1" webbing loop (23kN) on it because my thinking is that, were there enough force to snap that webbing tether, I'd rather it snap that tether than hurt my bull-rope even more! Shouldn't be anywhere near 23kN of friction-force, and FWIW I would NOT be using that (pictured)5/8 line with that fig.8, would only use my 1/2 line through it as the 5/8 takes too-abrupt a bend for the small-hole in my largest 8!
 
eyehearttrees said:
Wow you've been hacking at stuff (in the good/best way!) for ages huh? :) Still using Amsteel for rigging applications? Gonna have to check your Media gallery again!! (oh I took a pic of my identical-looking, but 3/4 strength, swivel piece, will post it there & see if you think it's same make - it's hard to imagine there's a 1/3 strength boost between aluminum alloys which would be only realistic way for a valid ABS change on the same form!)



What weights break these? And outta curiosity was it you that began using the Wrench this way?
Would LOVE to be pointed in the right direction for any tests done with the RigWrench (hell even good anecdotal testing would suffice :) )

Gotta say the product throws me off a bit....I hate to post anything that's not a high-five to you as I've just got the utmost respect for you in general, at any rate the RigWrench has piqued my interest and I'm left wondering some things:

1 - If this is being used as aerial-friction on the non-working side of that final anchor (IE the anchor is the pulley, friction comes from its attached Wrench), in the same way that a Safebloc reduces peak-forces on the anchor's tie-in-point, wouldn't adding this friction before the pulley increase force on the anchoring point?

2 - Is this something where you're adjusting the Wrench's angle/impact-on-friction or is it a fixed-friction / fixed-position device? (sorry but not familiar with the Wrench as I use 2 prusiks, I'm very light and they don't jam when I use 2 so I never saw need to change my hitching setup)

~~~~

I know it may sound silly at first but I had an idea that I suspect does almost the same thing here only it'd reduce force at the anchorage instead of increasing it (though w/ that thing's SWL that's probably of little importance) ---idea is to simply use a Figure-8 on the line post anchor, *not* the usual descent-style of wrapping the Fig-8 but simply passing-through it, if this Fig-8 is simply tethered nearby the anchor you can run your line through it before connecting to the log and, upon cutting, the friction is kept neatly on the post-anchor side of things (and there'd be virtually zero concern over SWL for the device itself just SWL for pushing the rope through such friction)
Obviously this'd require varying fig-8's to fit varying ropes or rather using varying 8's would give varying friction-responses but I can't see why it wouldn't do roughly the same 'bump of friction' the RigWrench does only on the opposite side & far simpler (and customizable as you could choose from many fig-8's based on the bull-rope used)
Shown on the orange rope as it leaves the green sling's XL ring here:
View attachment 64146
Note- I've NOT tried this myself, only contemplated it, am awaiting a chance to get another backyard-rigging-testing session in and'll try it then, however I do plan to use that weak lil 1" webbing loop (23kN) on it because my thinking is that, were there enough force to snap that webbing tether, I'd rather it snap that tether than hurt my bull-rope even more! Shouldn't be anywhere near 23kN of friction-force, and FWIW I would NOT be using that (pictured)5/8 line with that fig.8, would only use my 1/2 line through it as the 5/8 takes too-abrupt a bend for the small-hole in my largest 8!
Click to expand...
This is not a rigging device for huge logs and tops. It should not be used with weights that would break things. Although the components are strong in terms of break strength. It should not be used in scenarios where you need to calculate or worry about how much force is on your rigging point wether there is more or less. That is not the primary focus of this tool.

The big advantage of the rigging wrench is that it allows the ground worker to pull and influence the piece being rigged. This allows the climber to tip tie pieces and move them from the chimney or service drop and not be pulled into the tree when the load comes onto the line.
No other aerial friction device allows for pull. This is a huge advantage and changes the way you look at rigging. A figure eight does not allow for pull. If you have used A GRCS you understand. A GRCS is overkill for most jobs.

A portawrap does not allow for pull so you can not tip tie and expect the ground guy to pull it away from a wire or chimney. There is no advantage to the rigging wrench once you get into pieces that are to big to influence with one or two people. Once the load is on the wrench, the climber can can control the line while the groundies manage the material.

One complaint with the rigging wrench is that light branches can have difficulty making it to the ground. You learn quickly to judge proper weights and even lighter pieces that you can rig with out a ground person at all

Its a niche tool but one that I use for almost all of my day to day removals, (ailanthus, boxelder, mulberry, siberian elm, fenceline trees etc... ) it takes getting a feel for it with your ground person. Rope selection is the best way to control the amount of friction. A softer rope will be less friction a stiffer thicker rope will give a lot of friction and you can take large chunks. I often will use two guys to pull a large chunk over. If your worried about anything breaking, you should likely move over to more traditional methods.

On a side, I do not think there is any real advantage to aerial friction in terms of reducing load at the gin. I personally like more rope in the system than less rope and letting things run is more important than any other factor. In terms of rigging, I go from the rig wrench to a standard block and portawrap or straight to the GRCS with a block.
 
Last edited:
treebing said:
The big advantage of the rigging wrench is that it allows the ground worker to pull and influence the piece being rigged. This allows the climber to tip tie pieces and move them from the chimney or service drop and not be pulled into the tree when the load comes onto the line.
No other aerial friction device allows for pull. This is a huge advantage and changes the way you look at rigging. A figure eight does not allow for pull. If you have used A GRCS you understand. A GRCS is overkill for most jobs.
Click to expand...
Thanks a ton for the explanation. It caused me to have a mild epiphany and I will be adding this to the arsenal soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom