Old timer laughed at my makeshift pulley setup on a job in Uptown last Tuesday

I was working a service call on an old Otis in Uptown. Had a temporary pulley rigged with some rope and a carabiner. This guy, must have been 60, walked up and just shook his head. Told me my knot would slip under 200 pounds of load. He showed me a proper double figure eight in 30 seconds. Now I carry pre tied slings everywhere. Got 5 in my bag right now. Anyone else run into old school guys who call out unsafe work?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileynelson10d ago

Yeah, that thing about the double figure eight is something I picked up way too late myself. I mean, it's wild how fast those old timers can spot a knot that's gonna fail under real weight. Idk, maybe it's just me but having those pre tied slings feels like cheating after watching him work.

margaret_kelly559d ago

Wait, do you think using pre tied slings makes you miss out on learning the little tricks that keep a knot from slipping under load?

perez.willow9d ago

Funny thing is, nobody's talking about the building codes in Uptown. Some of those old Otis cabs have weird clearance issues that make standard knots useless. A pre tied sling might not fit right through a tight gap in a machine room. So while the old timer's knot was solid in theory, it could still fail just because the rope didn't have room to seat properly. That's the real lesson I took away from stories like yours - knowing when your fancy gear won't even work.