carlos

we got the stihl battery one in the end. its great, very light although a bit top heavy when fully extended, quiet, no vibes, cuts well due to the narrow kerf bar. hope it lasts as it does feel very plasticky thanks for the replies. carl

you cant buy them in shops, they are made by a guy in the states, he is a member on here called "surveyor" ( i think thats it). the shipping was ok but i did have to pay import duty which bumped the price up a bit, although my mate didnt get caught by customs. a very good and easy to use device, i use it all the time unless i want drt then i use a lockjack. there are a few threads on here about the bulldog bone, could be worth a trawl through if you are thinking of getting one. carl

i just return to the canopy anchor at the end of the srt climb and untie and dessend using drt.( i try and make sure the splice is up at the tie in point) i climb on a bulldog bone so this change over is simple. if iam on a pole i choker off a srt line and just tie the end of my climbing line onto the loop and pull the knot down when iam on the ground. iam sure there are lots of better ways than the above but they work and are simple.

lessen the clutter!!!?? would take me about two days to tie that ...

cool thanks for the replys, i was thinking mainly cobalt metal bits. ill dig out the bench grinder and give it a go, some of them couldnt get any worse!!.. il start with them. i cant see myself spending hundreds on a sharpener, i could get a lot of new drill bits for my needs for that amount. i guess ill have a look on youtube for a tutorial vid./ thanks again carl

base tie to asscend then 9 times out of ten ill switch to a canopy anchor

do these work well and which ones are good as iam sick of always rooting through my drill bits looking for the least blunt ones!! thanks carl

i just put on my pantin fooot asscender as normal then put on the spike and push the shank back so that it is half under the foot assc, it puts it out at a bit of an angle but it still works fine. for frog walking i use a homemade knee ass that clips to a foot loop , the loop stays on the boot and dosent interfere with the spikes, i will often wear this set up on dismantles. there is tons of good vids on youtube about SRT, but a lot of them seem to make the set ups really complicated and gear intensive, iam sure they are good and have there place but imo they arnt essential by any means, id say my srt set up is nearly as simple as my drt set up just a bit more gear to get straped on at the start.

how would a hiab that size handle in terms of slew etc at full reach and near its max lift??? would of thought it might be hard to work it smoothly? would a tractor and crane unit have a lot better access options? mega truck though. would make a great option for the " getting a bit old to climb scenario" !! (providing one had pretty good credit rating lol

the stihl battery one has been ordered, thanks for the help. carl

thats assuming you have the skills to make one, not crazy money to buy and then at least you known its right and can concentrate on learning to climb srt rather than tinkering around with a home made one. my friend made his own and it seemed ok.

thanks for the feedback, not too worried about the look , it will probably just blend in with all the other srt clobber im trussed up in

cool thanks for the feedback, the battery one sounds better in a lot of ways , good to hear it had the power although with the motor in the head might take away from the overall weight saving over the petrol model. good point about the rain on the roof. thanks for the feedback guys.

going to get a new pole saw at work, looking at the two stihl ones , just not sure whether to go battery or petrol?? any thoughts. thanks carl

christ!! arnt they rated to 22kn?? were you ok?