Bishop Lifting

Have you ever tried uncoiling and recoiling a hose? If you have, you know that there's an extra step required to prevent the hose from kinking — all those twists don't like to straighten and be reorganized without a fight. Due to the twisting during manufacturing, you run into a similar problem with synthetic rope! This is 1-1/2in Blue Steel. It's made of Polyolefin, which has several advantages over regular Polypropylene: - Low stretch and approximately 35-40% stronger. - Superior resistance to UV, rot, mildew and most common chemicals. - Very strong, easy to handle, and offers twice the wear life. - Floats on water. We could run this rope at high speed and call it good, but we’d rather avoid twisting and damaging the rope. So, we place the master reel on a spindle, then one person runs the spooler while the other rotates the master reel. This helps compensate for the twist in the rope as it is taken off the master reel and wound around the new, smaller spool. It's just one of those little extra things we do to make sure we can cut your rope orders to length while maintaining our break-neck fulfillment pace. 😅 #LiftingSolutions #RiggingEquipment #SoftRope #TrusttheLift

Have you seen how two-leg bridle wire rope slings are made? Precision is key when making multi-leg bridle slings. These slings are made to very specific lengths for customers, so specific calculations are made to ensure the length is correct. Splicing these slings is no small feat. It’s more complex than eye-and-eye slings due to the need to splice around the masterlink and around thimbles. This process requires two sets of hands, lots of strength, and years of experience to handle the heavy-duty thimbles and large rope. Trust these pros with your rigging supplies! #WireRopeSling #RiggingEssentials #TrusttheLift

Knowing the limitations of a piece of hardware is at least half of the safety battle, and standard eye bolts are a perfect example — people think, "It's an eye bolt, you screw it in, use it to secure things, what's the big deal?" Let's stop and talk about safety here — there are a couple issues with that statement: 1. Regular eye bolts don't screw into the material they're anchoring to. They are designed to be inserted through a pre-drilled hole, then secured using a nut on the back side. The threads are not designed for direct threading, and using them this way may result in a bolt that is not fully anchored. If you want threads that go directly into the anchor, you want a "machinery" eye bolt. 2. Several of the eye bolts available at standard hardware stores are light duty, "turned eye" bolts — these are the ones that look like they're a straight rod of steel that has been bent at one end to form an open eye — often have a Working Load Limit (WLL) in the range of 30 lbs to 300 lbs. Many people use light duty (turned) eye bolts for securing things like fence railings or clotheslines, but there also are lift-rated (forged steel) eye bolts available for lifting applications. If you're using eye bolts for a lifting task, or if your application would potentially have a strong force on the bolt, don't use a turned eye. Instead, find a forged eye bolt and check the WLL to ensure it will be strong enough for your intended use. 3. If you're lifting with a lift-rated, forged, regular eye bolt (one that doesn't have a collar on it), the ONLY suitable lift is an in-line lift. Do not apply an angular load. If you're doing an angular lift, grab a collared eye bolt, a swivel hoist ring, or a specialty item designed for angular loading. And then, be sure to account for a dramatic reduction in the eye bolt’s strength when lifting at an angle. 4. If need be, go with a hybrid lifting point (such as the Crosby Slide-Loc) or even a swivel hoist ring. With such devices, angular loading is not a concern. They are more expensive, but they provide greater safety and peace of mind. As with any lifting hardware product, matching the right item to your job is absolutely critical for safety. Stay vigilant! #LiftingSolutions #RiggingEquipment #TrusttheLift

Choker slings are useful for various lifting tasks where you don't have a good attachment point for a hook or shackle. Think steel bar, lumber, pipe... anything you want to cradle and is long enough to put one sling on each side. Paired with a lifting beam or spreader bar, you get extra control and maintain a vertical lift for maximum Working Load Limit (WLL). Loggers also use chokers, but a different style that is not rated for lifting—the timber industry has different rules when it comes to moving logs. If you're planning to use a choker for lifting, make sure it's the right kind and that you have a certified lifting tag with the WLL clearly stated! #LiftingSolutions #RiggingEquipment #TrusttheLift

When it comes to security chain, a question we get a lot is, "Why can't I just use a Grade 100 or a Grade 120 chain?" People think, "It's strong enough to lift thousands of pounds — nobody's going to get through that." The trick here is that strength and hardness are very different things. Even though Grade 120 chain is the strongest lifting chain on the market, it's actually much softer than hardened security chain. It’s designed for tensile strength and ductility, not for anti-theft purposes. On the Rockwell Hardness C scale ("HRC" rating, which is harder than the "B" Rockwell rating), Grade 120 lifting chain has only an HRC of around 41. By contrast, Pewag's security chain is case hardened to get to that 62 HRC rating. It's also important to know that PEWAG was smart about the way they hardened the chain. Instead of hardening the chain all the way through and making it brittle, they case-hardened the chain between 6% to 10% deep, depending on the size. You'll hear us call this chain "essentially bolt-cutter proof." We cannot test every pair of cutters on the market, but in our own testing and by customer testimony, we’re comfortable saying that a would-be thief will struggle to cut Pewag’s 10mm or 12mm chain with a pair of common bolt cutters. Remember too that your chain is only as good as your lock, and Pewag has you covered there, too! They partnered with Viro to offer a specific padlock for each size of chain, and those padlocks are available in a variety of kits. Our customers love kits — it just makes it easier to "one-stop shop" and get all you need in a pre-planned, properly-sized kit. A big thanks to Mikael for sharing his photos with us! #SecurityChain #JobsiteSecurity #TrusttheLift

Our service departments are always busy! A few services that we offer are Maxi Rider repairs & inspections, hoist repair & testing, and color coding tagging & inspecting slings. Due to Maxi Riders' critical application on lifting rigs, maintenance and inspections are crucial. Our Maxi Rider service techs travel across the country daily to perform these inspections. Did you know that we repair all types of chain hoists, whether they are repair, chain link, or electric chain hoists? After all repairs and final inspections are done, every hoist is proof-tested before being returned to the customer. The value-added service that Bishop Lifting provides is field color code tagging slings during sling inspection. Color coding slings helps our customers keep track of when inspections are due visually. Bishop Lifting is here to service you! #ServiceDepartment #RiggingEssentials #TrusttheLift

Here’s a rare opportunity — a peek at one of our customer’s projects. This customer came to us asking if we could find a last-second lifting solution for their project. We did, and even better, we provided them a rental option so they didn’t have to buy an expensive hoist for one single lift. They needed to lift a fully assembled replacement escalator into place. There wasn’t a lot of space to work with, so they couldn’t bring in large equipment. More importantly, they were on a tight timeline and needed a solution NOW. We were able to come through with equipment recommendations and a prompt delivery of an air powered chain hoist. Shortly afterward, the new escalator was installed. The job was quick and smooth, and everyone was happy. A special “Thank You” to this customer for letting us come by to witness the install and take video. A job well done! #TrusttheLift #Jobsite #LiftingSolutions

A flatbed truck shows up, and it’s time to unload. You need a lifting chain but can’t find one. You see gold binder chains sitting on the flatbed, the same ones used to secure the product you’re about to unload. Time is of the essence, and the decision is made to use the binder chains to lift and offload the product. Sound familiar?!?!? Chain used for load securement and transportation tie-downs usually is Grade 70 and is NOT designed for use in lifting applications. Not only are those chains not rated for overhead lifting, they're usually not inspected very well either. The hooks are often secured with a short, rusty and out-of-spec cotter pin that secures the load pin. Those cotter pins are prone to coming off completely. So please, DO NOT use Grade 70 chains for lifting! Most experienced riggers know that only Grade 80, 100, or 120 chain is suitable for lifting, but not everyone has this top-of-mind when searching for stop-gap solutions in a lifting pinch. We've heard stories about workers repurposing transport chain for lifting, and it is undeniably dangerous. Do yourself and your team a favor, and always use gear that is properly rated and tagged for lifting. #RiggingEquipment #Transport #TrusttheLift

Bread and butter web slings (think 2” x 2-Ply, etc.) may be sourced and shipped from any one of our many branches. But some of our specialty slings are made only at specific branches. Bishop Lifting handles everything from specialty labeling to custom colors and precise sizing. What’s the most unique lifting sling you’ve ever had made? #LiftingSolutions #Slings #CustomOrder #TrusttheLift

Someone saddled a dead horse... If you've been following our posts, you know that we went into a lot of detail recently discussing how to properly install traditional saddle and u-bolt style wire rope clips. Well, here's a real-life example we found at a cliffside park where the installers not only "saddled a dead horse," but they also failed to use the proper number of clips AND provided insufficient turnback. (Although it could be that the turnback was eliminated over the years as the clips slipped. They have turnbuckles inline and some of them are synched up a lot farther than others...) Let's hope no one tries too hard to get through this railing, because there's a long drop to the ocean on the other side. Yikes! Keep safe, everybody. Read the manual. Never saddle a dead horse: ALWAYS put the saddle portion of the clip on the live/tensioned side of the line. #RiggingEquipment #GuardRail #TrusttheLift