Tauntline Hitch Appreciation Thread

[treehugger01]

Yeah it wood. Ridding the stubb after that bugger hit would be the PITA, like cutting a bad leaner in half where several limbs connect to the trunk it tends to hold and what a ride that is.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Advanced Hitches Thread

IMLHO this thread deserves a 5 star rating (box to lower right at the end of each thread); i always wait for threads to develop and go back on occassion and 'catch up' on the voting.

This gives a few threads star ratings to stand out for easier research by us and all others for years to come! This makes it so when you pull a search on "VT" a long list would come back, a few with stars etc.

Also, on the forum list page, pressing the word "Ratings" at the top of the column will show threads in the order of their ratings (ascending or descending). Just as pushing the column heading "Thread" will list threads alphabetically by title; over riding the default to sort on time of last post to a thread. Also sorts likewise by clicking the column heading for "ThreadStarter", "Replies" and "Views"; lots of good stuff to find! Like this thread will be!

Clicking the number of thread replies on thread list page gives list of folks that posted, sorted by the number of posts. Clicking any member's name brings up their 'Profile' page, leading to a search list of all of their posts.

"Search" function is a fantastic tool!

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
In talking to Erik via email, I found he had saved an picture of the actual hitch he tied that failed him.
The difference from a properly tied Blake's hitch is very subtle, if you look closely you might be able to see where he went wrong.

.

I dunno... Looks like a Maas-Hitch to me.....definitely not one of mine!


What a Blake's SHOULD look like.....

 

[treehugger01]

Thats it! I taught a bud of mine just this knot and told him he could open his own tree business with just this knot. Him being ex French Foreign Legionaire did just that. He uses the blakes hitch on just about everything. Now he's in high demand in the area he lives. Who would have thought one knot would feed his entire family now, but it does.

 

[treehugger01]

I was not self taught. I had the great courage to drag brush for the best tree man I know. His name is Kenny Ledford he works with G & H Tree Service in Highlands NC. As a ground man they foot my bill to a Sherrill 2 day seminar back in 1995 and a take down Rob did over a fence. I met Ken Thompkins and learned the "New" friction saver device. I further progress my spikeless knowledge when I worked for Horticare out of Asheville NC. They climb out most of Biltmore forest. The only other company I know that adhears to the "Spikes only on removals" The last time I worked for a company was Kilmurry tree out of Atlanta GA. Ran his crew of 8 men and 4, 30,000 lbs. GVW 2003 International tree trucks. When we pulled into neighborhoods we looked like the circus come to town. Didn't learn much with them except it was fun running his freigh-train. I am currently studying to become a Arborist this after 12 years aloft.

 

[rbtree]

Originally posted by treehugger01
HAHA master blaster well thank ya for doing that for me. Id always wondered scence I'd heard his story. Ive thought of rigging a big log up like a climber and throwing it from way up just to see what would happen. Great to know master blaster...hehe

There have been drop tests done on most of the climbing knots. The results were that some of the knots abraded or broke the line. The Vt performed best, as it slipped, grabbed, slipped again, then stopped, thus reducing the dynamic loading. And the slippage distance was minimal. Tom, I'll bet you could direct us to the location of that article.

th, if you really want to do that test, it would be easy. Just do it in a multi stemmed tree, so you're in another leader, and have groundies pull over the piece if it is awkward to push yourself. Or hook up with the Arbormaster guys with their Dynamometers, and get some peak load data.

 

[Ax-man]

Congrats MB,, for putting this thread up.

I might be wrong on this,, but I think this thread has the record or very close to it on the number of replies, plus the added bonus of the five star rating. I'm still a relative new comer here, there might be some other threads stashed away that are bigger than this one.

I would have never guessed it would have gone this far, who knows how far it will go before before it peters out.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Clicking 'Replies' column of thread list shows this thread to have the 10th amount of replys, Clicking 'Views' shows it to be about 40th in line for the amount of views ever in climber forum. Clicking the number of posts shows MB has presently made the most posts with 14(edit: oops 15.....), Mike 12 etc.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I can't get the 'views' to click.

I never knew that about the replys/views thing.

Thanks, Ken.

 

[treeman218]

Sui-slide

There are a lot of posts on this thread so I'm not sure if I missed something but this seems important…

If you take a look at the photos that Mike Maas posted on Thursday and Friday of the Blake's hitch you will notice that what is actually tied is a Sui-Slide. The "bridge" is not "captured".

Luckily it is the Holiday season so hopefully the TLH fans haven't had a chance to try out this "improved" climbing hitch.

Check out the Tree Climber's Companion or the Sherrill catalogue for an accurate picture.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I just looked on pg. 35 of the TCC and it is exactly what Mike showed.

Am I missing something?

 

[Joe]

Treeman218: thanks for the heads up. I didn't know what a sui-slide hitch looked like. I've always tied the Blake's hitch correctly. Treeman218, would you or some1 else explain to me what it means to have the bridge captured?

Joe

 

[NickfromWI]

Tie your Blakes the right way....

...and you'll never want to tie the Tautline again!

Looks like the picture Mike showed was indeed wrong. He showed what many refer to as the sui-slide

This one is correct...

The difference (and it's an important one) is that that final tuck, the working end should go BEHIND the standing end of the climbing line, not in front of/on top of it.

Click on the link below for further explanation.

I know Joe already mentioned that what Mike posted was wrong, but it's worth restating. As I've said in the past, "If you can't tie knots, learn how to tie knots."

love
nick

 

[treeman218]

What I mean by having the bridge captured is this:

After the turns are made on the standing part of the rope, the working end comes down over the bridge and then back under the bridge. Finally, the working end is tucked up through the bottom two turns and finished with a stopper.

Also, cut Mike Maas some slack on this one. He seems like a good guy.

 

[Ax-man]

Has there been a reprinted edition of the TCC.

My copy of TCC on page 35 discusses static and dynamic climbing systems.

Page 83 of my copy of the TCC shows the proper way to tie the Blakes Hitch

Looks like Nick picked - up the ball Mike fumbled.

 

[treeman218]

You've got the second edition (and current to my knowledge) of the Tree Climber's Companion. Master Blaster apparently has the first edition which has the Blake's hitch illustration on page 35.

I'm sure that it has been expressed before but the Tree Climber's Companion is essential reading and is probably the most "bang for the buck" of any training aid in the industry. The second edition is definitely worth the full cost to "upgrade".

 

[MasterBlaster]

Outstanding, Nick. I didn't catch the 'behind the rope' part of the hitch - I can see there is a big diff.

Hey Mike! You and me owe Nick an attaboy!

Well, I did my attaboy!

 

[Joe]

Originally posted by treeman218
What I mean by having the bridge captured is this:

After the turns are made on the standing part of the rope, the working end comes down over the bridge and then back under the bridge. Finally, the working end is tucked up through the bottom two turns and finished with a stopper.

Thanks for the reply.

Joe

 

[t6140p]

I learned to climb on the Tautline and through out the years have progressed through the Blakes, Distel and now the VT.
If I unexpetidly find the need to double crotch in a tree, I'll tie the tail end of my rope to my saddle and tie a Blakes Hitch.
If I see the likely hood for a need to double crotch before I go up, I'll then carry a couple of extra beaners and a spair tail.

T

 

[treehugger01]

I was taught originally with the taugh line. A few years into climbing the blakes came out.

I was taught to climb a tree like this:
Put on spikes
Walk up to tree
Notice tie in point (pully)
Set safety length for tie in point diameter.
Climb to tie in point non stop.
Safety to tie in point.
Attach pully, tie in, rapell to lowest limbs, begin work