Old bollard question

[treemandan]

That's her in her glory. I have never used this type, they go far 400 at the saw shop, I know, I see it there everytime I go in. Not many takers for this old version but for the price of a new strap ( 40) and some know-how its still a good tool.

This one has been sitting under a workbench for years, it belongs to a friend of mine ( you can tell he is my friend, he just gave me his 400 dollar bollard:greenchainsaw But he tells me that when you crank up limbs with it the rope rides into the area between the small dowls on the hub and the mounting plate.

You can see how the rope is directed here

I was thinking of bending the rope guide to keep the wraps on the outside of the dowls and away from pinching between the mouting flange... Anyone?

I am not sure the dowl really even need to be there and was also just thinking of taking just that out.

I will search for pics in the meantime , thanks.

 

[treemandan]

No, No you can't take the dowl out, that would surley cause a problem. I don't know if this is a case of limited use because of its design, maybe not to use the rope guide when cranking up limbs?
I also want to weld a tab on the mounting flange to fit a kerf, there is none on this one as of now.

 

[pdqdl]

I don't quite see how it works. Does the bollard spin on an internal post?

If so, what keeps it attached to the internal post?

What keeps the bollard from turning under a heavy load while it is lowering?

Why does it have all the other line guides on the outside of the bollard: just for tying down the line, or to add torque and use like a windlass?

 

[treemandan]

I don't quite see how it works. Does the bollard spin on an internal post?

If so, what keeps it attached to the internal post?

What keeps the bollard from turning under a heavy load while it is lowering?

Why does it have all the other line guides on the outside of the bollard: just for tying down the line, or to add torque and use like a windlass?

The internal post consists of a sleeve and an another inner post and a ratchet inside is used to keep it from spinning back. To crank the big cylinder with a big steel bar. Its the very first one they ever made !!!!!
No, its just a simpler style.

 

[pdqdl]

That unit probably wasn't designed with a lot of "winching" in mind. To be used as a winch for raising limbs, the inside edge would need to have a curved edge to cause the rope to slide down, like any other capstan rope winch.

It looks like the rope will pile up on the inside edge, even if the pins/dowel are removed. It's probably fine for a friction device, but I don't see how it could be used to lift a load.

It would probably work just fine as a windlass, winding up rope. But then you would have to figure out how to lower the load without loosing control.

 

[tree MDS]

I believe an outfit named Charlotte Rigging made a unit like that over 20 years ago. I've seen a couple of good slide shows put on by Ron Danise.

Got a name on it?

Damn dude! i met ron at a convention like 16 years ago. He's the dude whos slide show and lecture depicts how I rope wood to this day!

Actually, the dude I worked for bought the first false crotch block we'd ever used that same day.

Cool little guy old ron, what ever happened to him??

I was just thinking about that slide show with no ppe and all...cottonwood big as hell if I remember.

 

[tomtrees58]

don blair hobds lowering device is the best we have 2 of them tom trees

 

[tree MDS]

I've met Ron twice but I don't know where he is today. One slide show...where he was rigging out monster pieces of trunk with no ppe was presented in Lancaster PA in the early nineties. Maybe you were there?

yep, I think I was there. Dont remember too many details..but it was the big trade show at the time (I was 20 or so). He was a good guy Ron, afterwards we were talking to him about useless workers or something and he said he would "take them out back and give them a flogging", lol. Old school!!

I learned how to rope wood that day. We just never had a false crotch block until then - almost shook my brains out the first day in a hickory tree going too big and the boss not letting it run.

Timber hitch, "6 gradually narrowing helixes" was what ron said, still works today. Gonna go big saturday using the same basic method...a little nervous though, its been a while and this tree is about 95 to 100 feet spruce that has been growing into the house for so long that I had to notch it free from the house with the 385+ 28" bar to shut the old guy up. Not the easiest tree to get started on. Gonna make some money or die trying though

 

[treemandan]

I believe an outfit named Charlotte Rigging made a unit like that over 20 years ago. I've seen a couple of good slide shows put on by Ron Danise.

Got a name on it?

I don't think so, but I never even bothered to ask who made them either. The one the saw shop has ( for sometime now) on thier floor seems to only come with a half sheet of instructions. Neverthemind.

So its not bad, new one is like 400/500 I think, the one I have didn't cost so much... money.

 

[treemandan]

Actually the thing was perfect, we used a different rope guide other than the steel one on the unit, it was just a strap and a beener. Easily cranked what was over the house right out, came in handy making the tops fly out real. The most we had to crank was maybe 7 nubs on the ratchet to get the pulls we needed. The power was limited to whatever one guy could muster, I just used one top pulley on the tip rope, tossed a butt line in whereever and with a notch Jesse could crank no problem. We swung most thing towards the truck.
To date the guys I am now working with have only seen me take thing that a porta- wrap can handle ( which is impressive), well, I sure had me some Ohhs and Ahh today. Might have been a little tough on the 16 stand lowering line. I did notice mention of the knots being hard to get out today.

 

[tree MDS]

nice chip truck "the dan"! that thing is 4 wheel right?? I forget, though we probably covered it.

That winch is fine, "the ron" would be proud...or he'd drag ya out back and give you a royal flogging (depending on your performance).

 

[(WLL)]

when lowering a load after its been cranked up the rope will bunch up and climb on top of the other coils. if the pin were not there the rope would bunch up at the base plate and could lock the rope. you would be unable to get the load down and could make a hairy situation.

 

[tree MDS]

when lowering a load after its been cranked up the rope will bunch up and climb on top of the other coils. if the pin were not there the rope would bunch up at the base plate and could lock the rope. you would be unable to get the load down and could make a hairy situation.

My grcs tried pulling some funky sh!t like that last time I used it.

I thought it was because I didnt run the 9/16 DB out enough?

 

[(WLL)]

My grcs tried pulling some funky sh!t like that last time I used it.

I thought it was because I didnt run the 9/16 DB out enough?

this happens to me if i have too many wraps or don't use the fare-lead/pigtail thing-a-ma'Bobbee. just be careful taking wraps off e'r:jawdrop:the grcs uses a sweet harken capstan and works best when used with a quality rope. be sure the grcs never moves.

 

[treemandan]

My grcs tried pulling some funky sh!t like that last time I used it.

I thought it was because I didnt run the 9/16 DB out enough?

Did not run into that. I ended up almost eating the butt of the first low branch over the house due to the guys using the steel rope guide. I had them put on the strap and beener rope guide but they loaded the steel one intead. they were not able to crank enough with out the rope binding on the outside of the dowls like I was afraid it would do.
Well, we got it togehter after that and in no time they were paying attention again. That is why I got the thing in the first place so I wouldn't eat butt. If I had a nickle for evry branch I tip tied and then had run into my face... even after I explain why it should be held tight first.

 

[tree MDS]

Do you tip tie and butt tie dan?

Thats my favorite cut.

 

[treemandan]

Yeah, took them whole, spun the tips towards the trucks, then dropped the butt to the chipper.
Quite truly, the only way. Anything but could really be taken as needledik mentality. Not saying that I am so smart, saying the operation couldn't have been eaiser. one limb ( a sucker turned into a limb) had some canker but the rest was clean and wonderous to climb. Even the high tip for the lowering line was real strong. spanking sharp 20 cut through by itself. What more could you ask for?

 

[treemandan]

what more to ask for

The dingo loading the trunk in ten minutes? Heck, we had to pull the fence posts to get in.

 

[tree MDS]

Thats whats nice with the bucket, even with a drop hitch you can take the cable up and still winch/lower into the chipper.

Now if I could only do something about the payments...

 

[treemandan]

This is what I did before I now have this tool

I have this whole cottonwood on it ( glory be and sweet Jesus)