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Alternate daisy chain method

FLYIN_HAYN

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Apr 28, 2020
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Kauai
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Hawaiʻi
After seeing someone fall due to a kick out using daisy chains I figured I would share with everyone how I use my daisy chains. Much safer. Much tighter. Please share so we can help people avoid getting hurt.

Genius!
 

CrackbottomLouis

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Aug 31, 2019
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Georgia
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dougcandlerweb.harrynorman.com
I tried it out over the past couple days but just attached as normal after tightening instead of the half hitch. It worked really well. One of the things about the 45 degree cant that I didnt like is it was sometimes pretty hard to get sticks off the tree when climbing down. If not rapelling down and only with a linesman belt yanking that hard felt unstable. Putting the amsteel through the daisy chain, tightening and then attaching as normal was very tight but stick settled down just enough (about an inch) that when getting the stick off there was just enough slack to push up an inch and detach with no problem. I'll be doing this from now on.
 
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Zacrowsl

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May 10, 2019
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I tried it out over the past couple days but just attached as normal after tightening instead of the half hitch. It worked really well. One of the things about the 45 degree cant that I didnt like is it was sometimes pretty hard to get sticks off the tree when climbing down. If not rapelling down and only with a linesman belt yanking that hard felt unstable. Putting the amsteel through the daisy chain, tightening and then attaching as normal was very tight but stick settled down just enough (about an inch) that when getting the stick off there was just enough slack to push up an inch and detach with no problem. I'll be doing this from now on.
Awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing your results. Im glad others are liking it as well
 
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jakhammer

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Nov 26, 2020
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I don't like the half hitch at the end - you can actually see it slipping after he lets go of it in the video. If you lock it in underneath the main line (like w the standard amsteel rope mod) after pulling it tight, it can't slip. Single Half hitches seldom hold tight with regular rope and with amsteel being ultra slick it's even more likely to slip
 
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davecarp

Member
Nov 1, 2020
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I don't like the half hitch at the end - you can actually see it slipping after he lets go of it in the video. If you lock it in underneath the main line (like w the standard amsteel rope mod) after pulling it tight, it can't slip. Single Half hitches seldom hold tight with regular rope and with amsteel being ultra slick it's even more likely to slip

Man i've watched this like 5 times and keep noticing the same thing. I also just don't really understand what's preventing the truckers hitch portion of the daisy chain from popping loose? There is nothing of significance locking it into place. I feel like tightening it down like that looks great, and then I would follow by looping onto the button again that way it can't really slip? What am i missing?
 

Zacrowsl

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May 10, 2019
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I don't like the half hitch at the end - you can actually see it slipping after he lets go of it in the video. If you lock it in underneath the main line (like w the standard amsteel rope mod) after pulling it tight, it can't slip. Single Half hitches seldom hold tight with regular rope and with amsteel being ultra slick it's even more likely to slip
I've actually started locking it behind the main line since releasing this video. But not due to any slippage. The half hitch was getting so tight I was having trouble getting it off. Doing it the way you mention doesn't allow the half hitch to pull so tight so you are correct
 

Zacrowsl

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May 10, 2019
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Man i've watched this like 5 times and keep noticing the same thing. I also just don't really understand what's preventing the truckers hitch portion of the daisy chain from popping loose? There is nothing of significance locking it into place. I feel like tightening it down like that looks great, and then I would follow by looping onto the button again that way it can't really slip? What am i missing?
I still have no clue what your talking about. I've been doing this since the beginning of the season and when you pull it tight there is zero chance anything comes off that button. Could you half hitch it wrong or too loose? Yea. That's why to avoid any screw ups you can lock it behind the main rope or loop it to the closest loop after the hitch. But I believe your over thinking this one
 

enkriss

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Sep 13, 2018
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Man i've watched this like 5 times and keep noticing the same thing. I also just don't really understand what's preventing the truckers hitch portion of the daisy chain from popping loose? There is nothing of significance locking it into place. I feel like tightening it down like that looks great, and then I would follow by looping onto the button again that way it can't really slip? What am i missing?

what? Nothing is going to pop off. Have you ever done a ropemod? Do a double half hitch if that makes you more comfortable. Unless you are afraid of your dloop coming off your bowstring also, then I really don’t know what to tell you.
 

raisins

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Jan 17, 2019
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Man i've watched this like 5 times and keep noticing the same thing. I also just don't really understand what's preventing the truckers hitch portion of the daisy chain from popping loose? There is nothing of significance locking it into place. I feel like tightening it down like that looks great, and then I would follow by looping onto the button again that way it can't really slip? What am i missing?

The loops in a strap are held on the same way as the loop made by the daisy chain (both helped by being tight and the force on the stick driving the strap/chain into the stick). It's not going to come off.
 

raisins

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Jan 17, 2019
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I guess I'm just dumb. thanks for all the validation of that guys. will try on my own and then report back how stupid i am.

Hey, sorry if text came off the wrong way. I'll try again.

Imagine hooking two large plastic loops around a door knob, one on each side. The door knob is between where the two loops meet up.

Untitled.jpg
Now grab the far edges of the two loops and push them up while pulling them apart. They trap the door knob and will not come off unless you reversed the motion and pulled them towards you.

The stick with a daisy chain or the trucker's hitch loop is similar. The versabutton (bolt with the plastic/metal flanged piece) is the door knob and the loops of the daisy chain or the loop formed by the trucker's hitch are the two loops in the example. When you step on the stick, the stick will slide down and and be pulled slightly away from the tree. This is similar to when I mentioned pulling the two loops apart and up so that the door knob is trapped.

The bolt inside the versabutton and the stick are taking most of the force and the daisy chain loops trap the bolt like a chinese finger trap.

If you have a stick with a versabutton, then play around with some loops. This is the same concept of how a Lone Wolf treestand stays on a tree with the two loops of the strap.

Can anyone else come up with a better analogy here? This is actually kind of hard to explain!
 

VASteve

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Feb 10, 2020
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I understood him to possibly mean the trucker's hitch coming undone if the half hitch comes apart. My experience with this, using 1/8th Amsteel daisy on my Predator, is that once you cam the platform down (or set the stick), the Amsteel that is fed through the loop to make the trucker's hitch is pinched so tightly that it will not pull out even if there wasn't a half hitch or lock behind the main loop.
 

davecarp

Member
Nov 1, 2020
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Massachusetts
I understood him to possibly mean the trucker's hitch coming undone if the half hitch comes apart. My experience with this, using 1/8th Amsteel daisy on my Predator, is that once you came the platform down (or set the stick), the Amsteel that is fed through the loop to make the trucker's hitch is pinched so tightly that it will not pull out even if there wasn't a half hitch or lock behind the main loop.


YYYYAAAASSSSS.... THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING!!!!
 
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raisins

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Jan 17, 2019
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I understood him to possibly mean the trucker's hitch coming undone if the half hitch comes apart. My experience with this, using 1/8th Amsteel daisy on my Predator, is that once you cam the platform down (or set the stick), the Amsteel that is fed through the loop to make the trucker's hitch is pinched so tightly that it will not pull out even if there wasn't a half hitch or lock behind the main loop.

Thanks, I was totally off track on that.
 

raisins

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Jan 17, 2019
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All I can say is give it a try (at ground level) and you will see how unbelievably tight that trucker's hitch gets as the amsteel loop pinches the amsteel line that is fed back through it.

For something that is so slick, amsteel does lock on itself pretty well.
 

Zacrowsl

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May 10, 2019
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YYYYAAAASSSSS.... THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING!!!!
Yeah man, I totally wasn't picking up what you were putting down. But try it at ground level in the yard. Honestly the half hitch is just security. That thing cinches down on itself so tight it's going no where. If you pinch it behind the main line it's so tight it's hard to get it off the tree when your done.
 
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