X-Rings

[John Shutler]

I enjoyed that

[August Hunicke]

Thats some Tidy work there pal.

August Hunicke....the lord of the rings:)

 

 

Wow! "Lord of the Rings"

That will make an exceptional tree-vid title.

Wow! Wheels are turnin. . .

[Steve Bullman]

Wow! "Lord of the Rings"

That will make an exceptional tree-vid title.

Wow! Wheels are turnin. . .

 

 

Not to mention an awesome soundtrack

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[scotspine1]

you can get the antal rings-they are from italy. x rings are just rebranded

 

Didn't realise that Drew, thanks for letting us know.

[Silverwood]

Not to mention an awesome soundtrack

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

 

Definitly one to set the world straight mate:)

[Stephen Blair]

Now I enjoyed that! That was brilliant and what a soundtrack!

It fitted your style perfectly! That rigging was genius:thumbup1:

I'm going to watch that again:biggrin:

[Dave Alviti]

Yep, that was a good video, well paced, nice bit of back story and not too long, cracking song as well. would like to have a go with those x rings at some point.

[Paul Smith]

They have been on sale here in the UK for ages. Spars.uk and now loads of others. http://www.force4.co.uk/10980/Antal-Low-Friction-Rings.html

[theXman]

Definitly one to set the world straight mate:)

Hi Paul, Drew and others,

Yes, the rings are produced by Antal in Italy. I don’t bring it up unless asked because I have a lot invested in this even though I didn’t do the product development of the ring itself. That’s why they would ship from Italy, I think I said this earlier on this thread or the other one.

What I contributed was I recognized a great product, adapted it to sling configurations that worked, tested them and worked with them (as I also own a small tree service for 19 years now).

I also saw the need for a larger size ring that antal had never produced before and asked if I could have them make an extra large ring, the 38x28. Others have called the “beast ring”.

The rings are all antal’s design, they just say X-Rigging Rings when they send them to me. There are inferior rings out there and antal/ X-Rigging Rings are the best I ever found.

I only spent money on destroying lots of slings and rings to find out what us tree guys could use them for. Independent testing in breaking machines and real world extreme shock loading and such.

Plus I purchase them in large quantities to keep the costs down for customers. Plus the advertising on websites, magazines, expos and events eats up a lot of money.

The North American contact for antal recognized my time and money involved to educate and bring this to the Arborist Industry (an industry they are not familiar with), that they made a statement to me that arborist supply stores needed to work through us at Xtreme Arborist Supply to get the rings. They have proven their honesty and integrity to me on at least two occasions that I know of when two different Arborist Supply companies tried to cut me out of the deal by contacting antal and this North American distributor.

I do not clear much on these rings and my wholesale customers make between 30 and 40% on the sales they make. They get them cheaper than any other supplier that is available to them that I know of.

Sherrill and TreeStuff are the largest customers right now and Sherrill is so appreciative of my efforts to educate the arborist world on these rings that they gave me some nice credit in the new 2014 catalog that just came out this month.

You can surely find the antal rings at many large marine stores or websites. I have never seen the 38x28 ring listed anywhere though.

If you can get these rings with the X-Rigging Ring logo at the same price, all I can ask is that you consider purchasing ones with the X-Rigging Rings in order to support a little guy trying to make it.

If the little guys get their efforts squashed, then what is the point of trying to bring products into our industry?

About 15% of people that hear that it is made by antal, get upset and feel like I am ripping customers off by putting on another name.

There are TONS of products in our industry that are borrowed from another industry and it takes someone to notice it and put time and money into testing it, working with it and spreading the word. Plus I have insurance on the products we sell.

A year or more ago, another American arborist forum that I do not post on acted like it was a big scandal when they discovered the similarity between the antal rings and the X-Rigging Rings.

It was then presented on a forum that I was on about how that they looked similar and the tone was a bit scandalist.

I think I had $30,000 worth of rings in my possession at the time (which I borrowed money to purchase) and I didn’t outright answer the post fully at first because I had so much on the line and was scared.

I’m not a person that lies, so I said something like, “there are other rings out there that in the world, some similar and rings that are junk with inferior designs with flaws and seams.”

I probably should search and re-read the thread/posting but it really was an upsetting time and I don’t really want to re-read the posts again.

I think then someone flat out asked if the X-Rigging rings were antal rings or not? So I answered that yes, they were antal rings.

But since I avoided the straight out answer at first, some think it was dishonest or a half truth. Since the beginning, when someone asked me if I made the rings, I always said, “no a company in Italy makes them and they come from the marine industry”, then if they asked who, I always told them.

What was great was that many guys that produce products for this industry contacted me via phone and emails and explained that similar things have happened to them before and it is “par for the course”. They told me that for some reason, part of the public just wants to tear you down. They told me don’t fight them because that’s what they want and it will bring in more vultures. (which is very hard for me, and that’s why I can’t view the old commentary on that one forum).

I hope my story makes sense to some of you and you don’t feel like you are being ripped off, it’s not like you are paying more for the rings, they are similarly priced in the marine market.

[Steve Bullman]

Hi Paul, Drew and others,

Yes, the rings are produced by Antal in Italy. I don’t bring it up unless asked because I have a lot invested in this even though I didn’t do the product development of the ring itself. That’s why they would ship from Italy, I think I said this earlier on this thread or the other one.

What I contributed was I recognized a great product, adapted it to sling configurations that worked, tested them and worked with them (as I also own a small tree service for 19 years now).

I also saw the need for a larger size ring that antal had never produced before and asked if I could have them make an extra large ring, the 38x28. Others have called the “beast ring”.

The rings are all antal’s design, they just say X-Rigging Rings when they send them to me. There are inferior rings out there and antal/ X-Rigging Rings are the best I ever found.

I only spent money on destroying lots of slings and rings to find out what us tree guys could use them for. Independent testing in breaking machines and real world extreme shock loading and such.

Plus I purchase them in large quantities to keep the costs down for customers. Plus the advertising on websites, magazines, expos and events eats up a lot of money.

The North American contact for antal recognized my time and money involved to educate and bring this to the Arborist Industry (an industry they are not familiar with), that they made a statement to me that arborist supply stores needed to work through us at Xtreme Arborist Supply to get the rings. They have proven their honesty and integrity to me on at least two occasions that I know of when two different Arborist Supply companies tried to cut me out of the deal by contacting antal and this North American distributor.

I do not clear much on these rings and my wholesale customers make between 30 and 40% on the sales they make. They get them cheaper than any other supplier that is available to them that I know of.

Sherrill and TreeStuff are the largest customers right now and Sherrill is so appreciative of my efforts to educate the arborist world on these rings that they gave me some nice credit in the new 2014 catalog that just came out this month.

You can surely find the antal rings at many large marine stores or websites. I have never seen the 38x28 ring listed anywhere though.

If you can get these rings with the X-Rigging Ring logo at the same price, all I can ask is that you consider purchasing ones with the X-Rigging Rings in order to support a little guy trying to make it.

If the little guys get their efforts squashed, then what is the point of trying to bring products into our industry?

About 15% of people that hear that it is made by antal, get upset and feel like I am ripping customers off by putting on another name.

There are TONS of products in our industry that are borrowed from another industry and it takes someone to notice it and put time and money into testing it, working with it and spreading the word. Plus I have insurance on the products we sell.

A year or more ago, another American arborist forum that I do not post on acted like it was a big scandal when they discovered the similarity between the antal rings and the X-Rigging Rings.

It was then presented on a forum that I was on about how that they looked similar and the tone was a bit scandalist.

I think I had $30,000 worth of rings in my possession at the time (which I borrowed money to purchase) and I didn’t outright answer the post fully at first because I had so much on the line and was scared.

I’m not a person that lies, so I said something like, “there are other rings out there that in the world, some similar and rings that are junk with inferior designs with flaws and seams.”

I probably should search and re-read the thread/posting but it really was an upsetting time and I don’t really want to re-read the posts again.

I think then someone flat out asked if the X-Rigging rings were antal rings or not? So I answered that yes, they were antal rings.

But since I avoided the straight out answer at first, some think it was dishonest or a half truth. Since the beginning, when someone asked me if I made the rings, I always said, “no a company in Italy makes them and they come from the marine industry”, then if they asked who, I always told them.

What was great was that many guys that produce products for this industry contacted me via phone and emails and explained that similar things have happened to them before and it is “par for the course”. They told me that for some reason, part of the public just wants to tear you down. They told me don’t fight them because that’s what they want and it will bring in more vultures. (which is very hard for me, and that’s why I can’t view the old commentary on that one forum).

I hope my story makes sense to some of you and you don’t feel like you are being ripped off, it’s not like you are paying more for the rings, they are similarly priced in the marine market.

 

Thanks for the explanatory post, even though it wasn't necessary and its a shame you felt you had to justify anything at all. There isn't much in our industry(or many industries) for that matter that isn't rebranded something or other. Unfortunately some people are just unable to see the bigger picture, ie your investment, and would rather save a few quid rather than supporting one of their own who has invested their time and money into creating a great system.

Keep up the good work