Snatch Block / Rope Questions

[Scott G]

Looks good, George. A couple of points come to mind…

Using a timber hitch with a whoopie sling, a chunk of bull rope, or ideally a webbing sling will be easier on the tree you are running your block on. I have a whoopie with my block and try to use trees as a spar and/or block anchor that I’m going to be removing anyway. Even though it may not be visible, you can create quite a crushing injury to the phloem & cambium tissue that can effectively girdle the tree.

If you have an extra block and can use it as a fairlead to keep your point of draft low that is a good thing. That goes for whatever your using for pulling, horse or otherwise. You may even be able to incorporate another and gain some mechanical advantage.

The higher you can get the block, the better your lift. I’ll often climb with gaffs to set my block higher. If I use the gaffs I’ll definitely be removing that tree so the gaff wounds are not an issue.

I use a girth hitch in many instances where they will work such as a t-bar, ball hitch, etc. It appears as as though you might be using Amsteel Blue. That rope splices very easily. You may want to run a splice to form an eye to permanently install a 1/4″-5/16″ grab hook on.

All in all, great job. It doesn’t take long working with block/high lead systems in the woods to fully appreciate their application & effectiveness.

I’ve attached a link to a .pdf that my friend that I work with put together to better show mechanical advantages of simple rigging in the woods.

Also, here is a link to the Portable Winch website. They do a great job of illustrating the advantages and various configurations as well.

Look forward to meeting you this weekend!

[Does’ Leap]

Scott:

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing that. Where do you get your slings to wrap around trees? What do you recommend? What is a whoopie sling?

George

[Scott G]

George,
You can get 6-8′ x 2″ webbing slings from any place that has anything to do with winches. A whoopie sling is a section of bull rope 8-12′ that has an eye spliced in the end of it for installing your block. You can then take multiple wraps depending on the diameter of the tree and form a timber hitch. The larger diameter bull rope with multiple wraps causes less damage unless it is put under a tremendous shock load. For minimal damage, however, you can’t beat a webbing sling with a clevis shackle and block. A great place to buy all of this rigging is at arborist supply companies such as Wesspur, Sherrill’s, or Bailey’s.

[Author]

Posts