Rig N' Wrench

I used it yesterday on a large White Pine removal. Absolutely stellar use for a Wrench!

We took some limbs that weighed in the 300-350lb range that were handled with ease. The ground guys (other climbers) were mega impressed with how easy the load could be handled. Small limbs are obviously the downfall but on a large scale removal that really isn't a problem.

I don't like the fact that once its on the rope its on the rope unless you want to go all the way up to the rigging point and remove it. If everything were redirected I would run the wrench on the redirect but that wasn't the case yesterday.

Regardless this thing is unreal. I feel the same way you do Kevin @treebing , why the hell haven't we been using this?? You should start listening to more of Jeremy's ideas!!!
 
Cool! Glad you were enjoying it. It's fun for me with the light branches to cut it and have Noone oe the rope and then give it a little assistance.

Jeremy is great for ideas, his idea for a rigging wrench is even potentially cooler than this although we have not actually tried it yet, but we keep meaning to.

A It is in essence tying the wrench to the limb to be removed and then having the ground person control the rate of descent by controlling the amount of tension on the tail. Kind of like vertical speed lining but controlled with the wrench. "Does that make sense?"
 
Cool! Glad you were enjoying it. It's fun for me with the light branches to cut it and have Noone oe the rope and then give it a little assistance.

Jeremy is great for ideas, his idea for a rigging wrench is even potentially cooler than this although we have not actually tried it yet, but we keep meaning to.

A It is in essence tying the wrench to the limb to be removed and then having the ground person control the rate of descent by controlling the amount of tension on the tail. Kind of like vertical speed lining but controlled with the wrench. "Does that make sense?"
 
So the first limb I rigged on it, I had it backwards. The up arrows go down because the friction is in the opposite direction! I climb ddrt, so I hadn't use the wrench before as a climbing devise.

I'm glad I purchased it over the omni because it is a little more versatile and gets used all day


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What rope and diameter are you getting the best results with the rig n wrench for 25 - 100lb weight? My 1/2 inch safety blue and stable braid Samson rigging ropes provide too much friction for light stuff and would like to get a lighter rope with a smaller diameter, but I want to see what others found works best. It would be cool if it could double as a light speed line too



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I have been using kernmaster for lighter lighter, and 16 strand Yale xtc for bigger. I tried the 1/2 stable braid too and couldn't even pull the rope through it with all my weight.
 
No, I have a groundie down below, who pulls the piece into the rig n wrench. When I cut off the video, I took over control of the line so he could lay it down and pull it away from fence below.
 
It turns out I am a bit late to the party. Several people have told me they have been doing it for a while now. I've been taking big pieces. One of these days I'll probably over do it. Lol. That is Yale xtc 16 strand.
 
treebing said:
I have found the Yale xtc to be a good medium.
Click to expand...

treebing said:
I think. Black white and red
Click to expand...

BRW is Samson Arbormaster, which I've also tried... about the same as the Yale XTC.
I think the 16-strand climbing lines are about the best all-around for the setup, too. I like the low-cost Forestry Pro, too, especially when I'm solo and just want to lower really light stuff that's above a target. Limbs I could handle with just the pulley, but I'll hook two or three of them onto the rope and the Rig N' Wrench keeps it easy to handle and slows the lowering speed down a bit. I like to use the RnW as a redirect pulley and just move it with me when I move around in the tree, leaving the Omni-Block where it is. I made up a sling with a 40kN swivel on it, as seen in this pic. I actually use a steel 50kN carabiner with this setup, not the red DMM oval seen in the pic. I use that to carry the RnW on my harness.

Rig-N-Wrench-Sling.webp
 
nice setup!, do you find the swivel is all that necessary?

I have to admit to using my tail of my line for some solo rigging as well with the RnW. For lighter limbs, it basically just holds it for you. having that on a carabiner is nice for midline attach ability but I love it on a sling too.
 
Little late to the party here.. very cool to watch the wheels turn as you all learn from each other and take it to the next level. History in the making...
Jim rightly points out that it's a little less than 1.33 force on the rigging point.... I was pretty skeptical at first.. what's the big advantage?.. it's pretty rare to have concerns about rigging point failure on light stuff, though of course like every other trick in the bag, its good to have when the situation calls... generally I like to use redirects to change force direction when concerned about rigging point failure. Perhaps that's easier to do when working from the bucket, which is my main gig these days... And pre-tensioning the line???.. not that big a deal on light stuff.. I have a GRCS that sits in the garage 363 days a year.... If I needed to pretension or lift, it'd see more days on the truck.. So perhaps partly it's a matter of rigging style... I let gravity do the work as much as possible...
Then there is the groundie saving time on wraps.. yes that makes sense, but again with the rear mounted bucket, I keep a porty shackled to the back of the truck at all times... so the LD is right there when needed and wraps are pretty quick... when it comes to working with inexperienced groundies, the radio headsets make it much easier...
So it wasn't until the video of the spruce block coming off the spar that I was convinced.. Like so much other equipment in this business, it might be easy to say ... "do I really need this?" and hesitate. Then when we finally do try it, and come up with so many uses for it, we say "what took me so long?"

Great job Kevin, David and everyone else that contributed to the development!
 
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