Leather rope protector sleeves

This winter, as I started gearing up for climbing, I decided to make my own friction/cambium saver. Rather than pay 20 bucks each, I got 25 feet of liquiflex plastic conduit (cousin to the metal stuff in the house sleeve) for 25 bucks and made several sleeves. They worked OK when the weather was cold. Recently I climbed a large poplar in Atlanta with a few of you. As it turns out, the plastic in the warmer weather becomes much softer and more flexible. My friction saver turned into a friction creator, and getting up to that 75 foot crotch wore my ass out. I had to jump on my line to get it through my Blake's hitch. Needless to say, I'm getting some good friction savers. Tom, if your computer is up and running again, I'd like to see that device of yours that's on your desktop!

Has anyone had problems with the house type?

I made mistake of cutting my (homemade) CS into two pieces, 20" each. It worked great before when 40" long, but I had seen the short leather sleeves in action and had thoughts that if that works it should for my house sleeves. I was wrong. I don't know what the magic lenght is, but mine wont stay in place anymore. Since I cut them they want to slide on through the crotch as soon as I start to climb. I need to make two more but finding the ferrules has been difficult lately.

Has anyone had the threaded metal inside kink or create rope damage?

Climb Safe!
Icabod

Originally posted by Icabod
Has anyone had the threaded metal inside kink

I haven't and I've destroyed a couple of House type pipes just to see what it would take. What I learned from doing this is that you can see from the outside of the conduit if the coils are separated or starting to separate. There are no forces exerted during a climb that would radically twist the conduit and cause the coil to separate so an external inspection of the pipe before each climb will protect you from any potential problem. Theoretically you could cause coils to separate if you wrapped the conduit around too small a diameter branch and loaded it. All liquid tight conduit of whatever manufacture or spec has a rated minimum bend radius. If you exceed this then you are asking for a problem. The House pipes from New Tribe use Type VF conduit which is rated around 5" minimum bend radius (quoting from memory, don't have the specs in front of me). Conduit from Home Depot or Lowes or your local electrical supply will not be Type VF. VF or equivalent has to be special ordered. You can read the code numbers off your conduit and find the specs including minimum bend radius on the web.

Once you know your conduit's minimum bend radius you can avoid exceeding it. There is a margin of safety there. I have purposely loaded VF conduit on smaller than 5" branches. I could not get the coil to separate. I expect that if I did this 3 or 4 times that I might start to get separation. There's no reason to go there unless you're like me and like to demolish equipment to see how it behaves.

Common sense goes a long way. Even if you don't know the spec'd minimum bend radius of your pipe you can hold it in your hands and bend it tightly. When it gets to the point where it doesn't want bend any more without exerting unreasonable force you've just found the approximate minimum radius.

I have great confidence in a well made House pipe used correctly.
-moss

Speaking for the trees I offer many thanks to all of you that use cambium protection of any kind. Be sure not to over-stress the metal hose and even if you do the results are clearly visible.

The conduit spec needed is "EF" meaning Extra-Flexible.

I have found a state side supplier of vacuum coated hose and I hope to soon offer via NewTribe rope sleeves for 7/16" rope and 1/2" rope that have a bend radius smaller than any anchor limb safe to climb upon. I put one on each end of my climbing rope and with a double-ended split-tail I can rig a first pitch with one end and create a safety lanyard with the other end that is as long as my climbing rope. My second pitch is also sleeved and ready to go. O boy is my addiction to hardware severe.

As Tom Dunlap told me the only difference between good toys and good tools is the tax deduction.

See you at the top,
Dan House

Now that I know how to make the Friction Saver. I recommend you go ahead and pay TREE TRAMP for his "Intellectual Property " and buy them from him or thru New Tribe. The quality and durability of the equipment that he uses on his FS is much better than anything that I tried to buy from the local hardware store. I think Dan did a great job with his design and we should respect his efforts for it. He is not getting "rich" by selling them so it is fair to pay for the properly manufactured ones. They are durable ( more than a year of regular use) when used properly. My 2 cents.

Thanks for the correction on the conduit rating, EF not VF. I shouldn't write when I'm at the end of a long day.

I'm looking forward to ordering your latest sleeve innovation when it becomes available at New Tribe.
-moss

Hello everybody, thanks for your commendation for my Su sleeve.
I do bring some Su sleeve with me to the last Rendezvous in Oregon.
Actually, my sleeve has 2 kinds of diameter. one is for 12~15 mm rope, the other is a small diameter for 11 mm rope.
The small diameter I cut it in diffrent lenth,one is short and one is longer,the short one is for canopy switch over.and is easier for carry on in your climbing.
What ever you like,I can shipping my Su sleeve to New Tribe at any time if anybody need it.
nice gear always for nice friends and nice climber.

Happy Climbing
Elliot Su / Tree Climbing Taiwan
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I made a couple of conduit rope sleeves with readily available materials and want to share the details with this great recreational tree climbing community that has given me much wisdom via online forums. I created a photo set on Flickr that has the details, including the source of the conduit and the end caps.

I know that these rope sleeves are available for purchase, but I'm the kind of guy that likes to make things and be "independent" as much as is practical. (Although I don't plan to make my own harness or rope . . . but I would like to try some splicing.)

Questions about making these yourself seem to come up on the online forums often. By posting the details that I've found, I don't in any way mean to take business from the people and retailers who profit from the sale of these items, but simply share my experience and information with those who ask.

Thanks again to all for the great flow of information that you foster here (and in some of the other tree climbing forums). It's a fun hobby with fun people.

I just wanted to chime in to second all the nice things people have been saying about the Su sleeves. I've had a set for a month or so now and I love 'em. Unlike the heavy leather sleeves I have mostly used, they slither right over the branch without getting caught on the edge. Nice and slick - low friction and quiet. Thanks Eliot!

for those who are concerned about leather rot when using your leather sleeve in the rain.....one word:

OBENAUFS LP

rub a generous amount into the outside of the leather sleeve, it will protect the leather from rot, fiber tearing, and cracking.