The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
For us at Vurley we have found the items above of great help in our dig. I don't want to start a war of words on the ethics or aesthetics regarding such things. Apart from Templeton ironmongery in cave digs on Mendip is rarely seen in quantity though Willie Stanton used the odd bit of railway line in Reservoir Hole whilst his usual method was dry stone walling. Of course that is very time consuming and a lot harder to get right than you might think. Of course its worth bearing in mind that most things artificial in a cave will have a limited life span.
Base Jacks.
These are designed to hold vertical scaffold poles where the ground is uneven. The have a vertical load capacity of 4 to 6 tonnes. We are using them as climbing stemples fitted to a bit of pole and sitting on galvanised pins at either end. They can be used in place of trench struts or acro props with longer sections of pole.They are relatively cheap at about ?4 each
Peter Glanvill fitting Base jack climbing stemples.
Long term the weakness will be in the welding on the footplate so the central hole is used to sit on the pin.
Climbing stemples in place. In a restricted area the space behind them can be used to infill with boulders. Another good point is that pins can be used both ends and the pole does not have to be an exact fit.
Base Jacks.
These are designed to hold vertical scaffold poles where the ground is uneven. The have a vertical load capacity of 4 to 6 tonnes. We are using them as climbing stemples fitted to a bit of pole and sitting on galvanised pins at either end. They can be used in place of trench struts or acro props with longer sections of pole.They are relatively cheap at about ?4 each
Peter Glanvill fitting Base jack climbing stemples.
Long term the weakness will be in the welding on the footplate so the central hole is used to sit on the pin.
Climbing stemples in place. In a restricted area the space behind them can be used to infill with boulders. Another good point is that pins can be used both ends and the pole does not have to be an exact fit.