I like using ratchet straps to bind stack drying lumber...you can periodically tighten them up as the lumber shrinks.
Gets a little expensive though. You can get straps without hooks but one end is fixed to the ratchet.
What I'd like to find is the ratchet alone and buy rolls of webbing that I can cut to length and run both ends through the winder and tighten it up.
Anyone seen something like that?
I have not seen that before, and I also have never used straps on lumber aside from hauling it.
Poly / cloth binding systems like the ones made by Kubinec work well and you can re-tighten the material as the stack shrinks, just leave a long tail end so you have enough to get the ratchet tool back on. You can even re-use the material and the spring clips. It is a very affordable alternative to ratchet straps and will get very tight. I use it on our outbound packs.
Other than 5" ratchets on semi trailer, iv never seen just the ratchet mechanism for those 1" 500/1000 lb systems.
How about this?
https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE (https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE)
D6c, here, the other sawyers i know, use metal or cloth strapping, onto fresh stacks of roofing wood. Iike a stack of rafters, mixed with joists, purlins etc.
I think it could be interesting to use metal, and wedges to re tighten drying stacks.
I think DC6's intent is to have a ratchet that pulls equally on both sides of the stack. I think it is a good idea. I use ratchet straps in my kiln but they pull from one side and I have to tap beat down the other side with a hammer.
Quote from: Southside logger on November 08, 2018, 08:36:05 PM
Poly / cloth binding systems like the ones made by Kubinec work well ......
That looks like pretty good stuff and can be retightened.
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on November 08, 2018, 10:20:26 PM
How about this?
https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE (https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE)
That's what I was thinking of if they're heavy enough. I'll check them out.
I often see the big heavy duty straps on the highways, you could stop and pick those up . . . . have never seen the ratchets.
I found bigger ones too. I think they were on etrailer.com
I searched replacement ratchet.
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on November 08, 2018, 10:20:26 PM
How about this?
https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE (https://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RB1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcv1mK3G3gIVCRtpCh0cggkKEAQYAiABEgL3-fD_BwE)
You can buy those with the 1" strap at Harbor Freight.
I use ratchet straps just to keep the tin on my wood piles.
I like this place for ratchet straps. Heavy duty, no comparison with ones I see locally. Sometimes they have sales too. shipperssupplies (https://www.shipperssupplies.com/1-heavy-duty-endless-loop-ratchet-strap)
We use the Kubinec for just that purpose. Every load that gets stickered gets two straps, and I have dropped a full pack of boards on it's side and flipped it over and picked it up again with a forklift.
There are some decent videos of Kubinec on the web.
The normal banding ratchet tighteners used for poly straping tighten the material banjo tight, and as long as the Kubinec isn't run through the cutter, the ratchet tightener is easily removed and the Kubinec isn't cut short every time times it is used. It's also nice that it can be tightened pretty snug by a little hand leverage or anything else handy like a crobaw or screwdriver.
The material survives well through kiln cycles, and the little spring tensioners are removed and reused as well as the banding.
You can overtighten strapping in stickered, green wood and impart waves so too much tension is not good.
We transport all our wood using over the road using road legal poly "green" lumber strapping. The Kubinec stays at our yard so we can reuse it.
It's really handy if there are a dozen or more stacks to band, each person wraps their packs and sets the springs hand tight all in parrallel and one person just follows up and banjos them with the one tensioner. Very fast.
If your intention is long term drying outside with strapping, the problem is the sun attacks the strapping whether it's kubenic or Ratchet Strap strapping. It fades the strapping, weakening the strapping. It's great for storing inside, and for transporting.... but long term outside it will degrade.
I used the Kubinec strapping to bundle my slabs for firewood. Same system Southside Logger recommends. I left a bit of extra strap on one side of the buckle so I could tighten them up as they dried. The customers could then put their own ratchet straps around the bundles every 16" or so and buck the whole bundle up into 16" lengths (or whatever).
A lot of my customers would return the straps and buckles and I'd re-use them. They faded in the sun and got a bit stiff where they wrapped around the buckle, but they never got weak enough to break. I'd get three or four years out of a strap before I had to scrap it (and that was often because someone nicked it with a chainsaw :D).
If you're going to use their ratchet tightener, you don't need to get the straps too tight because it's easy to slip it back in and take up more slack as needed. The hand tool works just as well, but needs a longer "tail" to retighten.
What i was talking about, above as "cloth strapping" is Kubinec.
Is 1" kubinec the size to get for lumber stacks?
Do you buy it direct from kubinec or through supply houses?
Looks like the rolls have a 3" center hole so they won't fit my strapping cart that's set up for standard poly rolls that have about a 16" center hole.
I use 3/4 Kubenic- for beams.