Peter

Time to cheese it up a notch. Bam! [ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzNyx3L6Ys&feature=related]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzNyx3L6Ys&feature=related[/ame]

I was half expecting a link to your website Jamie! You should go round and set him straight, I mean the figure 8 thing is bad enough, but who in their right mind would want to climb on beal ergo?!

That is a very dangerous assumption to make. Assuming it is SWL, the breaking strain at a safety factor of ten must be 50 tonnes. Even snatching a 250 kg lump is very unlikely to generate that force. If it is breaking strain 5 tonnes, then a SWL at a SF of ten brings it down to 500kg. Suddenly your 250 kg snatched lump generates enough Kn to destroy the cycles to failure, and you have an accident waiting to happen. If you are going to use kit to handle big loads, you must know what it is capable of. Assumptions will cause accidents.

Haha, serious thread overlap going on here, I'v just replied to that in the other thread!

You can always use a mechanical advantage system to pretension the lowering rope, or just get a couple of big groundies to hang off it! This is the one application where the Hobbs really rocks. Much better than the grcs or indeed any other lowering device out there.

However the capstan is attached to the tree, and however much slack there is in the attachment software, you should still be able to pretension the lowering rope. Much easier with two groundies, but even if you have to pull down on the rope with one hand and make the first wrap with the other you should still be able to get it fairly tight?

Depends on the bell in question. In the workclilmb, the start bell is rung by hand, the handsaw, limb toss and limb walk bells must be rung with a handsaw, the polesaw bell with the polesaw, and the landing station bell may be rung with any part of the body.

Stein cheap and cheerful. Treetop bit more expensive but excellent quality. If you dont stick a silky in it it will last you for ages. You can get them from Trees Unlimited in Leeds.

I have one of the t shirts, which I like a lot. Would like the jacket too, but they are a lot of cash, and I havent worn out the one I'v got yet!

I'm going for alder.

As a special order, delivered, from a florist, thats about right. If you want to check the pricing just look at the Interflora website.

Nice one!

Good point on the wellies, especially after some other sweaty-footed student has been wearing them all week the week before! I wore the welllies once, and then bought a pair of the old brown Stihl tractor treaded sole chainsaw boots. They were the mutts!

I'd never go up a mountain if i needed that coat for it, i'd rather stay indoors with a nice cup of tea!

And the matching trousers?

You can body thrust pulling under the hitch with both hands while the pulley tends slack.

Are you saying that the mk 2 is worse for rope damage than the mk1? I thought that lots of tiny spikes would strip the sheath under shock load, much like the kong ascenders, or any of the petzl cammed ascenders, rather than chopping it like the old version. That is what wild country seem to be saying. I need to buy one and have a play with it. Wild Country

If the college will hire the gear out to you for the duration of the course, that is definately the best thing to do.

No mention of that in the latest Petzl brochure, you can get a padded headband though! Get a Grivel Salamander instead, much more comfy!

That last pic looks like a giant dandelion head. Nice work.

Nice view of Timber mate

Dont bother with the tongs or tape measure, but a wedge may be useful and they are pretty cheap. For a saw, I recommend a Stihl Ms 240 or 260. That will come with a maintenance kit with some of the stuff you need, a sharpening kit will cover most of the other small tools on the list, except the feeler gauge and the field vice. You wont need the grease gun either. Bio oil is pretty expensive, I would either buy veg oil from a supermarket or mineral oil from a saw shop, I doubt they will check. You can buy a small single measure of 2 stroke oil that will mix 5 litres of petrol, that should be enough for the course. As far as PPE goes, I would buy fairly basic but make sure it is comfortable and it fit properly. The Stein boots are ok, Sip or Stihl hiflex trousers. A Husqvarna helmet is fine for ground work. Chainsaw gloves, buy cheap as you probably wont use them after your assessment. There is nothing on that list that wont be useful at some point, but if you can use the college's kit, even if you have to pay a bit more, it is probably worth it. Once you've used all the gear, you'll have a much better idea about what you really want to buy yourself.