knocked down a dead fir for a developer today and paid attention to what I was doing thinking about this thread. Piecing out a spar is a very repetitous act and it would be easy to get sloppy and make a mistake if you don't have safe habits. I'll be making changes to the way I do it after 9 years. I'll keep the 2 steel core fliplines but add gibbs. That way my backup will be choked around the tree with the saddle out of the loop like JPS was talking about. In an emergency(or lunch) situation either flipline could be choked around the tree to make a false crotch to be used for repelling/lowering by me or rescuers. I'll also add a figure 8. Then I'll have to post on the how heavy is your saddle thread.
I was told when I started climbing that a chainsaw will cut a steel core flipline in an emergency situation. I've never tested that, but probably should since that's how I climb. I've also been told a climbing crew should have a set of gear laid out explicitly for aerial rescue and train for it at least once a month. If a chainsaw can't cut steel core then my crew should theoretically have a pair of bolt cutters on the emergency saddle. A rescuer could use the emergency saddle to climb the spare, hang a false crotch above me attach the spare safety climbing rope to my saddle, attach their own climbing rope to my second, cut my first flipline with the bolt cutters if they can't unsnap it and guide me down while the ground man lowers me. Or they could do it a half dozen other ways.
The reality is I don't own a second saddle and my 2 groundmen were from labor ready and couldn't start a chainsaw let alone perform an aerial rescue. Until I have enough work to hire an experienced crew I'll have to go with the philosophy that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Hey Treespyder maybe you could freeze dry some of that live oak and send it out to Origon, Florida can't need it and it'll go for $165 a cord out here.
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