Beginners guide to rigging.......

[Adam Bourne]

Right this is going to be my attempt at helping some of the newbies/semi-pro climbers out there wanting to learn a bit more about the rigging side to arboriculture.

After reading a few threads on here its seems that there is little information out there without looking to hard. so from new guys/girls getting into arb or who have been climbing a year or 2, or even at college and wanting to lern more and even some of us experienced lads could also use a brush up or even learn something new:sneaky2: (yes it does happen we don't know everything but we like to think so:biggrin:).

 

Right so what i will cover in this thread is more or less everything to do with rigging:001_rolleyes:, starting from the basic's to the extreme techniques.

 

along the way i hope some of the other experienced riggers will also input there views, ways, and gear they use with descriptions of course.....

 

i know there's loads of threads on the subject! but i wanted to a thread that was just dedicated to rigging so please try and keep the conversations aimed towards the title and try not to derail to much, and if you want to know something please ask! and if you want to add something, be it views!, pictures! then go ahead.....post away.

 

so in a while i'll get some photos together and descriptions and make a start......enjoy:001_smile:

[Adam Bourne]

Right so all you lot wanting to get into rigging or wanting to learn more then get your self on line or order from any book retailers and get yourself the Art and science of practical rigging, along with this thread(i hope) it will be your sole mate with detailed descriptions and pictures of equipment knots hitches and scenarios it is a must for any climbers bookshelf......

[Mozza]

Buy the book is my advice................thread over

[Adam Bourne]

Right so why do we Rig?

 

 

rigging or lowering is a term used to safely dismantle a Tree without causing damage to property, other trees, plants and animals (flora and fauna) to bring a limb back from over dead power lines or BT wires or even water ponds lakes rivers ect, or just for ease? in my 12 years climbing theres one thing i've learnt while practising rigging and that is it makes for a very safe controlled work environment and in some case's quicker than just crashing everything to the floor.

 

in this photo taken from a still image from a video i'm dismantling an ash tree over a road and dead power lines, there were several components in this set up that i will run though later but the main reason for putting the picture up was to just say rigging only goes smoothly when full communication is kept all the time....

 

i'll put the video up later with a description of what was going on and how we used the drop and swing of the limb to our advantage.....

 

when it comes to rigging a good climber is a must but a great groundsman is invaluable .....

[Adam Bourne]

Buy the book is my advice................thread over

 

 

i heard you bought the one with little colouring in sections and little pop up pictures......

[will.morris]

Will be keeping an eye on this post Adam! I'm competant with basic vertical rigging and we have done a little on rigging out from a tree at college. We used a line running over a hedge into a field as the direction line with another line taking the load. I'm not sure if this is speedlining or is speedlining when a piece just falls down an angled rope?

 

Many thanks for this thread though it will be very much appreciated

[andrew t]

Great idea for a thread is it ok to add pics of our own

[Adam Bourne]

Will be keeping an eye on this post Adam! I'm competant with basic vertical rigging and we have done a little on rigging out from a tree at college. We used a line running over a hedge into a field as the direction line with another line taking the load. I'm not sure if this is speedlining or is speedlining when a piece just falls down an angled rope?

 

Many thanks for this thread though it will be very much appreciated

 

no worries mate, its good to help out others....

 

sounds like you were speedlineing of some description but we will cover this later on in the thread....

 

Great idea for a thread is it ok to add pics of our own

 

of course it is mate, as long as you can explain what you were doing why and how it was carried out just for those who don't know....

[Adam Bourne]

My next post after this will show pictures of basic kit to complex kit used in the rigging world,

But first i would just like to say that this thread is only being made to show how i and others use equipment to our advantages not so you can go off and lower the whole tree down in 2.

 

so first before we go into gear i would like to say that knowing your equipments limitations and understanding force's, weights and how different species of tree react to rigging is an absolute must ..... pushing these boundaries without knowing this can result in fatal injuries.......

 

 

Each component in a rigging system has what we call a SWL safe working load limit, these rating's should not be overlooked or overtaken...they are there for your safety. you will find them either stamped on hardware or printed under shrink wrap on rope or they will be on the certificate of conformity from the retailer.....

 

understanding dynamic forces and with in the system including the tree is a must, but first you should be able to judge your weights of the species of tree first, this i understand takes time and alot of revising, but once you can do this then you will be able to judge how much force will be put on a system from eg,

a 200kg log on a 1m drop would be a force of 800kg forces like this will become visible in the system as friction (glazing on rope)

but forces like this can also be lost depending on how you execute the rigging load. eg, would be to make the shock load minimal by letting the rope run and distributing the friction evenly along the rope. adding hardware such as pulleys allows the rope to stretch to its own shape throughout the entire rope used evenly, hardware like a pulley will allow you to lower the dynamic forces compared to natural crotching.

 

anyway just an insight but we will get technical later i don't want everyone to fall asleep on the thread just yet....

[Adam Bourne]

Choosing your lowering rope

 

theres a big difference between using some old climbing line and a lowering line although the old climbing can still be used in small rigging scenarios its still advised to get your self a lowering rope designed for rigging......

 

lowering ropes come in many variables such as size and the structure of the rope so depending on how big you want to go to if your natural crotching, if your rigging requires a low stretch or a high stretch, these are but a few things to think about when choosing your rigging rope....

 

here are some examples of what lowering lines are out there....

 

from left to right we have 12mm marlow braid

14mm samson stable braid

16mm marlow double braid

and 16mm marlow braid

Edited June 5, 2012 by Adam Bourne