Helpful tool for lifting

[Joel_BC]

Here's something that I can recommend from experience. Trouble is, it's useful in several domains (gardening, building, and so on) - so I deliberated where to post this. But I settled on the Tool Shed here, because this is a versatile device, a sort of tool.

It's called a Pot Lifter, and from what I know its original concept was to help with lifting heavy, awkward containers for container gardening. My wife and I have used ours for that purpose. But, since we've contructed a lot of things with stone in the last five years, we've used the thing more to help us move larger stones. http://www.potlifter.com/what-is-a-potlifter.html Any stone over about 35 pounds is a candidate for using the Pot Lifter (so we've nicknamed ours "the Rock Buddy"). We've lifted stones up to 80 pounds (maybe more) using this. Material for rock walls, an Asian-style pond landscape, and so forth.

The device does two important things. It puts "handles" on awkward, heavy things that in themselves do not offer decent hand placements. And it allows the person or people using it to lift from a more advantageous posture (hence, it saves your back!).

 

[Icu4dzs]

Here's something that I can recommend from experience. Trouble is, it's useful in several domains (gardening, building, and so on) - so I deliberated where to post this. But I settled on the Tool Shed here, because this is a versatile device, a sort of tool.

It's called a Pot Lifter, and I from what I know its original concept was to help with lifting heavy, awkward containers for container gardening. My wife and I have used ours for that purpose. But, since we've contructed a lot of things with stone in the last five years, we've used the thing more to help us move larger stones. http://www.potlifter.com/what-is-a-potlifter.html Any stone over about 35 pounds is a candidate for using the Pot Lifter (so we've nicknamed ours "the Rock Buddy"). We've lifted stones up to 80 pounds (maybe more) using this. Material for rock walls, an Asian-style pond landscape, and so forth.

The device does two important things. It puts "handles" on awkward, heavy things that in themselves do not offer decent hand placements. And it allows the person or people using it to lift from a more advantageous posture (hence, it saves your back!).

I've been using this technique for years with just plain nylon straps (the kind they make for tie-downs on your p/u truck.) I have moved furniture a lot easier and it is a great deal easier on your back when used with this technique. You don't need to buy theirs, you just make your own. Even a piece of rope properly placed will allow you and a friend to pick up and move a refrigerator with relative ease. I agree with the loops at the top so you can use handles to carry things. I remember the pictures of the "cannibals carrying the missionary" with a contraption like this in cartoons when I was a child. (it's not politically correct now but who cares?)
Just the same, it allows you to carry substantial weight much more efficiently and further than you would otherwise.
Good post!
Trim sends

//BT//

 

[Joel_BC]

I've been using this technique for years with just plain nylon straps (the kind they make for tie-downs on your p/u truck.) I have moved furniture a lot easier and it is a great deal easier on your back when used with this technique. You don't need to buy theirs, you just make your own. Even a piece of rope properly placed will allow you and a friend to pick up and move a refrigerator with relative ease. I agree with the loops at the top so you can use handles to carry things. I remember the pictures of the "cannibals carrying the missionary" with a contraption like this in cartoons when I was a child. (it's not politically correct now but who cares?)
Just the same, it allows you to carry substantial weight much more efficiently and further than you would otherwise.

I'm sure you're right. You could improvise various rigs. And, for sure, the Pot Lifter does have limits for how large an object you could deal with, using it. A refirgerator would be out of the question!

But for many things, the fact that you have this PL device at hand, ready for a couple simple adjustments... easy, versatile. For a lot of people, getting the manufactured one might be the right choice.

I could conceive of using strong ropes or maybe straps to enable three or four guys to get hand holds and lift, say, a 200 lb rock (if you didn't have a front-end loader nearby).

Icu4dzs, do you have pictures of some of the rigs you've devised for using the lifting principle we've been talking about here? Words begin to fail us when it comes to things like this. :/

 

[StupidBird]

Nice, but there's usually only me staring at the offending object all by my lonesome. And the new dog refuses to pull aka sled dog style.

 

[Joel_BC]

Nice, but there's usually only me staring at the offending object all by my lonesome. And the new dog refuses to pull aka sled dog style.

With something like a largish but rounded, or egg-shaped, stone the PL still enables me to get handles onto the object. That in itself can sometimes be an advantage, even when lifting alone. But you still should know what your limits are, in terms of a weight beyond which you won't consider it reasonable to lift by yourself. It's nasty putting one's back out.

 

[FarmerChick]

Nice, but there's usually only me staring at the offending object all by my lonesome. And the new dog refuses to pull aka sled dog style.

that is me. Move it alone or it doesn't get moved. I like things that help with 'one person' action :bun