stabilization

[firefighterox]

do you depts out there make your own or buy cribbing and if you make it how would u suggest making it.

[hwoods]

We make our own for several reasons, Money, Ease of replacement, Made to fit OUR compartments, Money, and Money. We use finished pine in 2X4 4X4 and 6X6 Dimensions, All 22 inches long. A "Handle" is made of webbing and attached to the end of each piece with a couple of Roofing nails. The best webbing for this is FREE, take the seatbelts out of the cars you cut up for training. We use soft pine instead of the rough oak that some others prefer because it's lighter, usually FREE from scrap piles on construction sites, and will stack neatly on the rig. Soft Pine has a compression strength of about 55,000 PSI, so it will hold any load that we put on it. One other thing to consider, also from construction scrap, is the 2in X 14in Plywood beams now being used in place of steel Ibeams in single family residential construction. We have some of this in 22" lengths, and it works well for several different applications. We paint our cribbing, and when it gets too dirty/oily to clean, we dump it for new. Need any more info, email me. Stay Safe....

[firefighterox]

thanx for the info.

[Bones42]

4x4, 2x6, 2x8, 6x6 pressure treated lumber. We get it from people building decks in the area scrap piles. Webbing on one end of it for ease of grabbing. No paint, no marking. Usually between 12" to 18" long.

[ADSNWFLD]

What type of wood depends on what you will use it for. If all you are doing is shoring/cribbing up cars and light trucks then almost any wood is ok. If you plan on working with some serious weight then stick with the douglas fir, white pine or other strong "soft wood". Hard wood can fail without warning, the soft woods will crack and make other sounds as well as crush down prior to failure.

Pressure treated lumber may last a long time in the truck but is no advantage for cribbing. When wood is pressure treated it just gets heavier, it does nothing for the strength. Since most pressure treated wood is just plain old construction grade pine you get no advantage over untreated wood. The only thing you get is more weight.

Get some old milk crates to store the wood, handles, straps, painted ends just waist our time and doesn't help the operation. Spend the time you would spend making the cribbing look pretty on drills. Most everyone could use more practice cribbing wierd surfaces like cars on their top or side. And like mentioned previous when the cribbing starts to show some wear dump it. Look at the cribbing a house mover or other professional uses, no straps, paint, logos or what ever just the wood ready for use.

I know this is the fireservice but some things should be left simple.

[fireflyer]

Talk to your local lumber company, many are willing to donate their lumbar as a tax deduction and save you a lot of money. We paint the back of ours in color codes so we know if we are reaching for a wedge, a block, etc. You can also drill a hole and attach rope through them for ease of carrying and removal after use. Plastic milk crates work well to carry the cribbing in too. It is sizeable enough one person can readily handle the wood inside one and will build a useful box crib in most cases (the lumbar, not the crate).

[MalahatTwo7]

1x2, 2x4, 2x6 cut to 18 - 20 inch lengths to make loose cribbing pieces painted on the butt end for ease of ident. 2x6 cut to make step chocks, with cargo or seat belt straps for ease of carry/extraction.

All of it is fir or pine. No hard woods in our trucks (unless you want to count some of the operators )

[hvfdrgpemt]

[FONT=courier new][FONT=arial][SIZE=3][COLOR=darkblue]www.hancockvfd.com

The best $65.00 we ever spent was on some PT 4x4's about 7 feet long, steel "tico" heel plates to help the ends from splitting, 1/2 inch diameter eye bolts, 6 inches long, and 2 15 foot, 30,000 pound ratchet straps.

We used them to support a vehicle on it's side. We cut a 45 degree or so angle on the car end, jam it under the frame rail, and secure the bottom to the bottom edge of the car with the ratchet straps. Put a chock block or cribbing uner teh fenders on the opposite side, and tighten up the straps til they are taught.

Works great, and is a heck of a lot cheaper than what we were quoted for commercial stuff.

Hoo Ahh

[Adze39]

Make your own.

There's a thread in the University of Extrication about this subject as well.