Rope Sleeves are save?

[moss]

Yep, I use a shorter conduit sleeve. I make my own sleeves but you can easily adjust the length of a purchased sleeve. Unwrap the tape on the end cap/ferrule, unscrew the ferrule, cut to length with a hack saw, I pin the sleeve down with small wooden blocks and clamps so the sleeve doesn't wiggle around during cutting. I use tin snips to finish and clean up the hack saw cut. Then a round file to smooth any obvious jagged bits, screw the ferrule back in and wrap with vinyl tape.

 

[moss]

I've tested conduit rope sleeves to destruction, even with the internal metal coil separating when the outer vinyl covering rips open, the rope is still not damaged.
-AJ

 

[NE Tree]

What kind of bend radius did you test these out on? What would you consider a safe diameter of limb to use these on?

 

[123Craig]

Yep, I use a shorter conduit sleeve. I make my own sleeves but you can easily adjust the length of a purchased sleeve. Unwrap the tape on the end cap/ferrule, unscrew the ferrule, cut to length with a hack saw, I pin the sleeve down with small wooden blocks and clamps so the sleeve doesn't wiggle around during cutting. I use tin snips to finish and clean up the hack saw cut. Then a round file to smooth any obvious jagged bits, screw the ferrule back in and wrap with vinyl tape.

I've tested conduit rope sleeves to destruction, even with the internal metal coil separating when the outer vinyl covering rips open, the rope is still not damaged.
-AJ

Thanks a lot AJ (moss)!

 

[Merle Nelson]

Rope damage - the way I found out that there was a difference in quality and functionality of conduit friction savers was that I kinked one on my climb line by accident and it cut some outer strands of my rope. Then I noticed TreeStuff sold "The Original Dan House FS." Original?

When I got one in my hands there was a huge difference.

 

[moss]

Rope damage - the way I found out that there was a difference in quality and functionality of conduit friction savers was that I kinked one on my climb line by accident and it cut some outer strands of my rope. Then I noticed TreeStuff sold "The Original Dan House FS." Original?

When I got one in my hands there was a huge difference.

Yep, there are many different specs for liquid tight electrical conduit. The one Dan is using is very specific and the most durable of that particular type (thin black vinyl exterior over interlocked metal coil). As I mentioned I've destroyed several while climbing and have also destroyed them intentionally to see what kind of sharp surfaces appear on the inside. I haven't had any rope damage but it looks like Merle has. If you take your sleeve and bend it as far as it will go you can see what the minimum bend radius is. That is the smallest diameter wood you should use it on. Otherwise you risk damaging the sleeve. With use the vinyl exterior will wear out and you'll start to see the metal coils exposed on the outside. At that point it's time to retire it or repair with vinyl tape. Tape repairs make the conduit less flexible so you'll only get so much additional use once the cover starts to deteriorate.

The number one way to destroy a conduit sleeve is to pinch it between a tight branch union. For example the upper "V" unions on American Beech will do it.
-AJ

 

[moss]

What kind of bend radius did you test these out on? What would you consider a safe diameter of limb to use these on?

As I mentioned, it's fairly simple to take a conduit sleeve and bend it as tight as it will go without forcing it, that gives you the minimum radius, measure that and determine the minimum branch diameter. Been a while since I've done that, with the Dan House sleeve it's in the 5 inch diameter range. If you go with smaller diameter branch than that I don't think it's dangerous but you will shorten the life of your sleeve.
-AJ

 

[moss]

The destructive tests on the conduit sleeves consisted of manually destroying the sleeves and then doing a finger test on the separated coils to see how sharp they were. The profile of the interlocked coil steel remains fairly intact following separation and are smooth enough that your rope would not be cut. My accidental tests were in the upper branches of American Beech where the sleeves were severely pinched and the coils separated. Both times that happened there was no damage to my rope.
-AJ

 

[123Craig]

Thanks again!

 

[DanHouse]

I really enjoy reading all the various posts regarding my rope sleeves that I craft by hand one by one.

I hope this information may be helpful to share and thank you all for your kind words.

Metal Conduit- the intended use for this product is to protect and keep water tight electrical wiring on machine tools better known as industrial robots. Imagine an auto assembly line making cars by robots moving like clockwork via hydraulics each with wiring that needs constant motion, bending and moving. No wonder it holds up so well to the mild motions when used as a rope sleeve.

Import versus made in USA- long time ago when Sherrill began offering imitations much to my surprise I had to buy one to inspect. First I noticed the absence of any highly visible end tape which had to be applied by hand and takes the longest amount to time to do. But when it was bent hard I noticed it had a smaller radius than the conduit I use. So I bent it until I broke the metal core which was much easier to break than the conduit I use. Come to find out the metal core can be wound two different ways with two different metal thicknesses. The cheap ones were lighter gauge and not inter-wound so they broke plus the plastic jacket was thinner too. No wonder they got bad reviews and had to make refunds.

Black jacket- the plastic is specialty made to UV resistant but soft enough to grip bark well to stay in place. Over time the taped ends get abraded and needs repair and eventually rough bark and manhandling will cut the jacket but is easy to repair also.

Orange band- the purpose of this band is to indicate the middle point of the sleeve so when viewed from the ground the user should only see the two yellow ends if it is installed properly. I know how easy it is sometimes to over pull the sleeve over to far so with the orange band you can lessen your effort as the rope sleeve slowly goes over and stop once the orange band is out of sight on the top of the limb.

Snake bite- since the manufacture happens to be Anaconda they label their name along the black jacket. Snakes do bite and so does these rope sleeves if you carelessly tug the sleeve over too far until it free falls silently rocket fast back along your rope to stop suddenly when it hits the hand left holding the rope. It is one of those don’t touch the stove moments that teaches you a lesson once never to be forgotten.

Stopper Knot aka Slippery Hitch- the knot most commonly used to hoist the rope sleeve up and over the fork could be hard to pop out on a hard setting so on occasion when you know you are hoisting a long way try this: as you bend the slippery hitch just before you set it stuff another bight thru the hole so it forms what looks like a little bow tie. This added bight is much easier to pop out you will thank me later after you try it once.

Dan House

 

[John@TreeXP]

One other suggestion that may have been mentioned earlier, but worth restating. I learned this from Tim Kovar (Tree Climbing Planet). When you are retrieving the rope-sleeve, just jiggle the rope causing wave like ripples. It has a breaking effect on the rope-sleeve while sliding down the rope and it enables a safer and less risky retrieval.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Ahh, good tip.