Sherrill Backbone

wyoclimber · Oct 2, 2012

Just curious what other people think about that tool sherrill has coming out for knotless rigging, the backbone? I'm intrigued by it (though I prefer to use a knot 99% of the time).

chris_girard · Oct 2, 2012

Pics?

TreeStuff · Oct 2, 2012

I dig the design, too. Simple and strong is good.

Where is it made, Tobe?

JeffL · Oct 3, 2012

Thats fantastic. Really cool idea.

tophopper · Oct 3, 2012

Paperweight!

wyoclimber · Oct 3, 2012

Here's the link.
http://www.sherrilltree.com/Professional-Gear/BackBone-Knotless-Rigging-Connector-by-SherrillTree

Treebeard · Oct 3, 2012

Looks good. Has anyone used one? I wonder how easily the object to be lowered can unhook from the little side ears. I might try girth hitching or go around one and hook on the second. As pictured I am not sure I trust it.

Tom Dunlap · Oct 3, 2012

I really like knotless rigging. Most of my slings are setup with small eyes that choke biners. Most of the time I girth hitch a rigging ring into the rigging rope's eye. The biners get clipped to it.

This has some potential. At first glance I'd be more inclined to use flat webbing slings rather than cordage to give more friction around the loops/bollards.

Tr33Climb3r · Oct 3, 2012

It looks interesting...but that is all for me.

Tr33Climb3r · Oct 3, 2012

[ QUOTE ]
I dig the design, too. Simple and strong is good.

Where is it made, Tobe?

[/ QUOTE ]

Same place the port-a-wrap with a cap is from?

scrat · Oct 3, 2012

Sorry as seen so far it does not get my vote. I dont push anything out of a tree unless it is securely connected. just a loop through a ring and over a post...all good till tension is not there and whoops sorry about your house and how much is my premium going up, worse yet someone gets hurt. No Thanks. I am sure it has some valid aplications but not as depicted.

hesanarborist · Oct 3, 2012

Nice to see people thinking outside the box and comming up with new ideas however, for that price I would rather buy 3 steel 'biners and a bunch of webbing and have the same if not more versatility.

chris_girard · Oct 3, 2012

[ QUOTE ]
This has some potential. At first glance I'd be more inclined to use flat webbing slings rather than cordage to give more friction around the loops/bollards.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would agree with you too Tom. In this case the more friction from the slings the better.

TC · Oct 3, 2012

To me it doesn't look secure enough, when you attach a sling to a biner, there is a positive click that lets you know the attachment is sound, even if there is no tension the branch is still secure, from the pics and diagrams it looks like the backbone relies on the load always being under tension but there are times when branches get hungup during rigging operations, this could lead to disaster if the sling works loose.

SolesTree · Oct 4, 2012

My thoughts exactly.

BigWood · Oct 4, 2012

I'd probably use it to quickly add sections to my winch line but that's about it, and $90 us no thanks.

theXman · Oct 4, 2012

Interesting and a good thought; market wise, for people new to tying, maybe.

Of course, you have to try it before you can tell for sure how it performs.

But, I too will speculate.

One danger I thought of right away, is using it with dynamic rope. I don't have much experience with it, but I found it's spring like quality makes it want to open up and undo knots.

I can picture a dynamic rope springing open and coming undone as soon as some tention is released for a moment.

IF this is true, i hope they tested it this way and put a caution in the instructions.