Abstract

ANONYMOUS. 1983. The fine art of rigging. Arbor Age 2(10): 11-14.

An arborist has to be constantly aware of the risks and dangers that his work poses to himself, as well as to the people and property in the immediate vicinity of a particular job. Not only must he exercise caution to prevent personal injury, he must also minimize his occupation’s inherent potential for property damage. In order to prevent the laws of gravity from setting the stage for disaster, the arborist constructs a system of ropes, blocks, slings, and other paraphernalia, collectively known as rigging. A rigging system ideally allows the arborist to lower a cut limb or pull over a tree to a precise location, without strain to crews, equipment, or the tree itself. Rigging is probably most often used to lower a portion of a limb or trunk during pruning or takedown. In its most basic form, lowering consists of tying a rope around the portion to be severed, running the rope through a high crotch strong enough to support the weight of the cut piece, and then wrapping the rope several times around the trunk to control the tension. The cut wood is then lowered by slowly walking the rope toward the trunk.

• © 1984, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.