# Rig N' Wrench



## kevin bingham (Sep 2, 2015)

This set up works very well for lighter in tree rigging. A porta wrap isn't necessary and you can handle fairly descent weight with out being worried about ripping your hands up. You can cut and lower and not need a ground guy except to untie. I have been finding this combo very usefull


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## acer-kid (Sep 5, 2015)

Very interesting Kevin. Don't know why no one's commented yet. Is there much drag generated while climbing?


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## imagineero (Sep 6, 2015)

Don't mean to rain on your parade since it seems like such a great use of a piece of gear, especially if you happen to already own one... but seems like you're opening up a can of worms there. Not sure if it was your idea or the manufacturers, but they stamp every rope wrench "not for primary life support". I made myself a wooden one, and own both the early metal and second gen RW's. Since it has no load rating stamped on it, it has no place in a commercial environment as a rigging tool, even for light rigging. I'm sure that even by your own manufacturers standards, using the RW in this way is outside of the scope of its original design. Further to that, encouraging people to use a life support device (even a non primary life support device) as a rigging tool seems like an idea which could easily come back to bite you on the ass. 

I have a light rigging setup I regularly use for situations where I need rapid lifting. I use it mainly for situations where you end up with no high point high enough to clear an obstacle, so you need to snatch the piece faster than what you could by means of a friction drum/grcs. I use a 1/2"rope, up to a ratchetting friction pulley up high in the tree, and down to a pulley tied off at the base as a redirect so the groundies can make effective use of their pulling power. I use a ronstan ratchetting pulley intended for sail boat use, it's load rated and offers no resistance on the "up" pull, but up to 10:1 holding power on the down side thanks to the machined grooved sheave. Harken makes a similar product. They come in a range of diameters and load ratings. 

With the redirect at the base, 3 or 4 guys can all be in line and pulling effectively on the rope to achieve lift very quickly. once the piece has been lifted/swung in, even one man can easily manage the lower off with hand holding only on sections up to the 400-500lb range.


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## acer-kid (Sep 6, 2015)

That comment made no sense. There is no need for it to be rated. Also.. It has nothing to do with life support. If the wrench fails.. Your hitch holds strong. It's used to introduce friction.


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## kevin bingham (Sep 6, 2015)

Hmm, I have one of the harken one way ratcheting pulleys. It doesn't seem as durable as the pinto it also doesn't have as much holding power as the wrench. But that is a good option as well.

If you don't feel comfortable using a wrench in your rigging than that's fine. I have used figure eights and porta wraps that have no load rating on them. I don't have a problem with it. I know the wrench mbs is 5400 lbs end to end if that means anything. It will never see that kind of load. That is not stamped on there because we did not want people to use it as a life support device. It's still not a life support device nor is it a connecting device that ever sees a full static load. In this case, the pinto rig would fail before the rig. The way force is put onto the wrench it would be extremely difficult to overload it in this scenario. But do what your comfortable with. 

I have a different wrench and tether set up for my climbing. I don't recomended rigging with your climbing wrench and vis versa. It really is for lighter rigging because you get into bigger stuff you will need a portawrap. The pintorig sees the most amount of weight in this situation. It is a very effecient way to rig out trees. But once you get into negative rigging etc, you will need a larger block and device on the ground.


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## kevin bingham (Sep 16, 2015)

http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?item=15333

Available now at treestuff!


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## imagineero (Sep 16, 2015)

Great work! Love how the pulley is already spliced in, and keeps people from using it as a climbing tool. Useful and versatile!


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## kevin bingham (Sep 24, 2015)

Turn a 108 lbs log into a 32 lbs log


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## imagineero (Sep 25, 2015)

Would love to have an enforcer if the price went down.


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## kevin bingham (Oct 2, 2015)

Little solo rigging camera phone action


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## kevin bingham (Oct 7, 2015)




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## kevin bingham (Nov 8, 2015)




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## Tml (Nov 9, 2015)

Thanks for sharing and taking the time to ad the vids.


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## kevin bingham (Dec 3, 2015)




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## Groundman One (Dec 4, 2015)

kevin bingham said:


> Turn a 108 lbs log into a 32 lbs log




I hear ya, but what about a shock loading on that thing? 

If that 108lb log gets a bit of free travel and then comes to an abrupt stop, I'd be... concerned.


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## kevin bingham (Dec 4, 2015)

It's not going to come to a complete stop with a groundy holding it by his hands. But it's rated to 50 kn. The sling is what you want it to be. 108 lbs is tiny.


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## Groundman One (Dec 4, 2015)

kevin bingham said:


> It's not going to come to a complete stop with a groundy holding it by his hands. But it's rated to 50 kn. The sling is what you want it to be. 108 lbs is tiny.



I hear ya. It looks like a neat toy, and it might well be the cat's whiskers. But I would really have to handle the thing for a while before I would trust it.

Anyway, I don't mean to rain on your parade. I'm old fashioned and I want extra beef in anything to do with a rigging situation.


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## JeffGu (Dec 5, 2015)

I've been using the RnW setup for awhile now, and couldn't be happier with its performance and usefulness. I usually use it with an OmniBlock 2.6 for a main block, and the RnW as one of the redirects. I have a couple of OmniBlock 2.0 pulleys when I need more redirects, and when I fishingpole rig. By itself or as a redirect, it works so well that I rarely need to break out the lowering device until I'm ready to chunk down the big stems and spar. This simple setup saves more time and work than anything I've purchased in a long time. Absolutely love it. Different ropes give different amounts of friction, but the best all around one I've tried so far is Yale _XTC_ 16-strand climbing line. Very reasonably priced, so I bought another 200' hank just for use with the RnW. I've also used it with All Gear's _Forestry Pro_ 12-strand and Samson _TreeMaster_ 3-strand ropes.

There is nothing gimp about the setup. The weakest link in my setup is the rope itself. My wife is the groundie, and she can lower stuff with this all day long. Sometimes I just one-hand the load to the ground myself, and she just unhooks it. Great product.


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## acer-kid (Dec 7, 2015)

Groundman One said:


> I hear ya. It looks like a neat toy, and it might well be the cat's whiskers. But I would really have to handle the thing for a while before I would trust it.
> 
> Anyway, I don't mean to rain on your parade. I'm old fashioned and I want extra beef in anything to do with a rigging situation.


Do you trust the pinto as a mini block?


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## Groundman One (Dec 7, 2015)

For rigging, I trust a large Porta-Wrap, Dynasorb rope, a two-ton block, and an Iron Wizard 70kn carabiner.

I trust that setup. But then I'm a Neanderthal when it comes to tools. My opinion is a bit extremist, and might not be the most "enlightened" when it comes to tree gadgets.


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## acer-kid (Dec 7, 2015)

I see I see.


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## kevin bingham (Dec 9, 2015)

The pinto is rated to 50 kn which is somewhere in the range of 10,000 lbs. In michigan I'm not dealing with things that big. My work zones are tight, the trees are not that big. A 100 foot tree is as big as we get. The weak point in my rigging is usually the tree.


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## acer-kid (Dec 9, 2015)

kevin bingham said:


> The pinto is rated to 50 kn which is somewhere in the range of 10,000 lbs. In michigan I'm not dealing with things that big. My work zones are tight, the trees are not that big. A 100 foot tree is as big as we get. The weak point in my rigging is usually the tree.


That was kind of the point i was trying to make..


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## Groundman One (Dec 11, 2015)

kevin bingham said:


> The pinto is rated to 50 kn which is somewhere in the range of 10,000 lbs. In michigan I'm not dealing with things that big. My work zones are tight, the trees are not that big. A 100 foot tree is as big as we get. The weak point in my rigging is usually the tree.


 
That thing has a 1000lb WLL? That's on par with my Big Dan. 

I admit to being impressed. Definitely would like to have one in my hands, see the construction, and give it a work out.


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## kevin bingham (Feb 9, 2016)




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## kevin bingham (May 15, 2016)




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