Cheap lowering rope

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I guess my main question is can you run a 3 strand braided twisted through a porty? We don't use it at work and the nearest arbor shop is a few hours away so haven't been there to speak with them

Its really going to suck and might become problem.
 
It runs through a friction brake fine... depending on the direction of the twist, you will want to always take your wraps in the same direction. For the ones I've used, it was clockwise. If we took our wraps counter-clockwise, it tended to hockle more. With any rope, laying the tail end out in a line behind the operator helps a lot to reduce hockling. Three strand ropes obviously have a lot of energy stored in the rope from the manufacturing process, especially the four-process, hard lay ones. This will impart some spin on the rope when it is loaded, so a tag line on the load is sometimes needed to control the spin. Other than these rather minor, easily dealt with issues, the ropes are tough, long lasting and cheaper. Another advantage (also true of 12 strand single braid ropes) is that there is no milking of cover/core like doublebraid ropes. You can use a spliced eye on both ends of the rope, which lets you switch ends each job, resulting in much more even wear on the rope. Their low cost makes them perfect for tag lines and pull ropes, too.

For natural crotch rigging, the low cost and inherent abrasion resistance of 3 strand ropes make them the most logical choice. Why beat the hell out of an expensive doublebraid that is more suited for false crotch rigging, when you can buy a decent 3 strand rope (for half the price) that will actually hold up much better to the harsh abrasion of the wood/bark?

I don't think 3 strand ropes are going to become obsolete anytime soon. They have advantages, for many uses, that make them a good choice for a lot of rigging jobs and situations.
 
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