browncow

Hey bro, so are you only attaching to the rope with one ascender (mini traxion) for life support? Looks like a nice simple setup, how does the traxion differ from, say a croll or other toothed ascenders and how do they perform when shock loaded?

That unimog is very slick set-up, ready for battle.

Na mate, just spotted this one when I was out driving around and went to take a look.

I am no expert bro, but if you keep tension on the core loop (which helps to narrow its diameter), anchor the fid to something solid and then massage the cover over the core rather than trying to pull the core through the cover it may be easier. Thats my 2cents worth. There are some very experienced splicers on here so hopefully someone chimes in. Good luck.

Thanks guys, so it looks like the real damage has been done by the 'yet to be identified' brown rotter and the ganoderma is just along for the ride. Thanks for your help guys, you have somehow managed to spark some interest in me for fungi. I must be ill:001_tt2: My light reading this morning is Schwarze's 'Diagnosis and Prognosis of Wood Decay'. Is there any hope for me:001_tongue:

Ha ha, I did exactly the same thing but wasn't going to own up to it:biggrin: Felt like a right idiot when I finished and realised what I had done.

Here is a closer pic of the fungal bracket on the standing half of the failed tree. It is long dead and very decayed (the bracket that is). I had a look at the neighbouring trees of the same species and size and observed similar brown rot and some nice fruiting bodies.

Ha, I just edited my post as I realised I was not too sure of that. You beat me to it. I don't have a closer pic of the bracket but if the tree is still there I will have another look tomorrow and maybe you can help with the ID.

Yep definately there were warning signs. The decay is visible through the buttress flutes.

Not too bad bro, just crank the air-con in the office up:001_tt2: When doing training here or climbing for inspections its pretty hot and there is a lot of critters that like to bite and sting in them thar trees. Were you over here for a bit bro working for one of the contractors?

Yep Singapore. It is Pterocarpus indicus or Angsana. They are a common street and park tree here. It one of the bigger ones I have seen around and certainly a pretty cool failure. They are usually topped (this one had been) and left to sucker away again. They then top them again every 2 years or so at the height they can reach with the palfinger crane with bucket attached. This one had loads of decay from the stubs and tear cuts in the canopy. We see a lot of whole tree failures here mainly due to high water tables and clay soils (hence shallow roots).

couple more

Came across this beauty of a failure today. It appears that a co-dominant, included stem with brown rot has failed into the adjacent tree causing that to fail at the root plate.There are a couple of bracket fungus visible on the standing half of the tree, and the fallen leader is extensively decayed.

Off in a week bro, will still be back up here doing some consulting and training (conveniently over the APTCC weekend) and looking to suss out some contract consulting and climbing in Perth. Should be good. Pity ya won't be up here for the APTCC bro, have fun in the bowels of the earth, don't touch the red, glowing stuff.

What you talking about? You talking to me willis?

Yeah as Drew so nicely put it, I am a Kiwi living in Singapore (soon to be Perth). Steve is a good bloke, I dealt with him a bit when I had a bandit, then I felt guilty when I had to ring him for parts for my new Morbark . You won't regret getting the bandit and having great service can be everything when **** hits the fan in the middle of a big job. Hope it all goes well for you.

From my experience, Bandits are tough, bullet-proof, heavy and expensive. Vermeer are pretty good, light to tow, compact machines but seem to have more maintenance issues. Morbark are built same as Bandit, tough chippers and cheaper than Bandit. Yes the service agent in NZ for Morbark is useless but Steve at Power X (Bandit dealer) can usually get you the parts you need as the bandit and morbark parts are often interchangable. Drum chippers are good all round chippers as they swallow vine, bamboo, palms with less clogging or wrapping around the drive shaft/axle. They do suffer vibration damage a bit more than disc chippers when chipping big wood. Drum chippers are usually easier to change knives. Having said all that, Vermeer, Bandit and Morbark are all good quality machines with there own pros and cons. Just don't buy a Hansa:001_tt2:

I would excavate a small trench along the footpath to determine root size and quantity that have been severed and take it from there.

That wrench is definitely not going to work for your style bro. It needs a warmer climate, I will take it off your hands so you can relax and go back to working DRT:001_tongue:

Here ya go, Teufelberger instructions : ::Teufelberger:Home Samson Class 1 DB: Samson: The Strongest Name in Rope, Utility Products

How does it go with swinging and releasing at the same time Drew?

They MATE in the hammock? I don't think I want to watch.

Yeah I have read stuff by Brian Toss and others who recommend stitching the crossover. Some people recommend a loose stitch, some a tight stitch and others not at all. Is there any weak point created by stitching? I have not noticed the crossover loosening during burying but I guess you need to dissect a splice to really know? Having done the OP using two different instructions I think a modification of the two may work better. the teufelberger method just cuts the cover on a taper, which leaves more cover volume in the splice and doesn't seem to leave lumps/bumps. The samson method of burying the core further past the 'point x' towards the slipknot seems better and also their method of tapering the core is smoother. I think I will try combining the two and see how that goes.

yes I feel the same:001_tongue: Just had another crack using samson instructions and a 4,4,5,4 taper on the cover and normal taper on the core and came out pretty good methinks. Cheers for your reply bro

I spliced up some 10mm Ocean Polyester last night using the 'kernmantle' instructions from Teufelberger's website. I found them very strange. The cover taper seems to work ok(ish) - the instructions just say to cut it on an angle rather than removing individual strands like Samsons instruction. What I found strange was that when marking the size of the eye (marks 1 and 2 on the cover) no allowance is made for the fact that the eye will become smaller once you do the final bury of the cross-over. Also the cross-over is much closer to the throat of the splice than I would have thought necessary. One other thing was that for the core taper they just say to mark the core where it exits the cover, pull out and cut on angle. This way of tapering results in a bit of a bump instead of a smooth taper. Is anyone using different class 1 double braid instructions for this rope? I would appreciate any feedback on my above comments and any tips. Cheers guys:biggrin: Link to teufelbergers splicing instructions: http://www.teufelberger.com/uploads/tx_txconceptadownloads/Spleissanleitung_Kern_Mantelseil_01.pdf