Northern Strands
Northern Strands Latest News

Latest News

Northern Strands Annual Towing Sale!

Annual Towing Sale On Now! 

With the snow still flying it's hard to believe that spring is on the way but it is just around the corner! You know what that means, time for the annual towing sale! We are also so happy that we finalized the distributor agreement with B/A Products we went a little crazy and decided to put a huge selection of our towing products on sale! Including 10% Off all B/A Towing Products! Stop in today and stock up for all your towing needs! 

Towing Equipment on Sale Includes:
  • ATV Winch Lines
  • Recovery Straps
  • Ratchets and Hardware
  • Recovery Blocks
  • Soft Shackles
  • Tiedown Straps
  • Tow Straps
  • Towing Accessories
  • Towing Hooks and Clusters
  • V-Chain Assemblies
  • Wheel Lift Straps
  • Winch Cable and Hook
  • Tow Ropes

Come in today! While Supplies last and sale ends March 31, 2022! Shop In-store Click HERE to shop online at our e-commerce store shop.northernstrands.com 

Tytan Ventures Uses Northern Strands Mini Lever Hoist, Soft Shackle, Dyneema Winch Line & More While Bow Hunting

If you like Saskatchewan's outdoor action videos with hunting, fishing, and trapping, then you have probably watched Tytan Ventures videos. They are two local brothers that create great homegrown outdoor action videos with thousands of views on youtube. Northern Strands sponsored their most recent bowhunting video on youtube by donating some often used equipment for hunting, a Vitali-Intl Mini Lever Hoist, Soft Shackle, and our Dyneema ATV Winch Line.

Their latest hunting video will have you on the edge of your seat! Here is the link to, "Long Bow Hunting Huge Whitetail in the rifle Season?!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtfJNj149K0

video sponsored by

Visit Northern Strands e-commerce store to purchase the items seen in the video


Vitali-Intl Lever Hoists https://shop.northernstrands.com/material-handling/hoists/lever-hoist/


Synthetic Winch Lines https://shop.northernstrands.com/towing/atv-winch-lines/



Synthetic Soft Shackles https://shop.northernstrands.com/towing/soft-shackles/ 

Northern Strands is locally owned and one of the largest suppliers of Rigging, Equipment, and Industrial Supplies in Western Canada.

Visit us at one of our three Saskatchewan locations in Saskatoon, Regina, or Esterhazy, or shop online with Northern Strands.

Contact Northern Strands today or shop online at http://shop.northernstrands.com 
Phone 1-800-242-7073
Email sales@northernstrands.com





Custom Harrow and Tow Cables for Tractors are 40% Less than Manufacture Price at Northern Strands

Did you know Northern Strands is the largest supplier of wire rope and rigging in Saskatchewan? Our buying power means you get the best price on all types of wire rope and rigging, including farm equipment implement cables, tow / belly cables, harrow cables, fencing wire, and all types of wire rope a farm would need. Northern Strands also carries a variety of synthetic ropes, including double braid tow ropes, Dyneema winch lines, soft shackles, and more. 

Northern Strands fabricates tow and harrow cable assemblies for tractors for approximately 40% less than the dealer or equipment manufacture! Belly or tow cable refers to the wire rope that connects under the tractor from the front of the tractor to the back drawbar. Harrow cables are used on the harrow wing booms. The harrow cables keep the wing booms in line with the rest of the harrow. Harrow cables are typically fabricated from 6x19 galvanized aircraft cables. Where belly cables are made from 6x19 bright steel.

For Northern Strands to provide a belly or harrow cable repair quote we will need the following:

  • Diameter of wire rope
  • Pull point to pull point measurement (as shown in the image below)
  • Cable type - Harrow Cable or Tow Cable 
  • Eye type -  Standard or Thimble Eye (drawing below shows thimble eye)
You can find our custom quote form here https://www.northernstrands.com/tow-cable-quote.aspx  or contact us directly.

Contact us today:

Phone: 1-800-242-7073

Email: sales@northernstrands.com 

Or visit one of our Saskatoon, Regina, or Esterhazy locations

https://www.northernstrands.com/contact-us.aspx


Northern Strands Supplies Big Ice Services With Rigging to Lift and Pull Truck Out of Ice

It's not every day a truck falls through ice and the solution to lifting the truck out is adding more ice, but that was what Big Ice Services had to do to lift a truck out of Slave River near Fort Chipewyan. The truck was stuck in very thin ice on the fast-moving Slave River. To safely remove the truck, Big Ice Services had to spend almost a month thickening the ice with their state-of-the-art ice-making equipment. Once the ice was thick enough they had to set up a lifting apparatus around the truck. Big Ice Services contacted Northern Strands to procure the rigging equipment needed for the job. A variety of rigging equipment was needed, including Aircraft Cable, Bright Steel Cable, Wire Rope Slings, Shackles, Sockets, Web Slings, Fall Protection Equipment, and other Rigging Accessories. It took Big Ice Services about five hours to successfully cut the truck out of the ice and then additional time to rig the truck (with ice attached) lifting it out of the ice. In total, the truck and ice weighed in excess of 30,000lbs. Great job Big Ice Services!

This particular job has gone viral online and CBC interviewed the owner of Big Ice Services, Ray Rossington, for the story. You can watch it here https://twitter.com/CBCTheNational/status/1376474218989191173

Big Ice Services is a very diverse company and we suggest visiting their website to learn more about their capabilities and services http://bigiceservices.ca/

Contact Northern Strands next time your company requires rigging, industrial supplies, or equipment.

We are proudly Saskatchewan owned and operated





Snatch Block Pulley Uses and Benefits

A Snatch Block Pulley is simply a basic pulley that can be used to redirect a running rope or wire rope. Snatch blocks have to be one of the most commonly overloaded pieces of rigging equipment that we sell, and it often comes down to a lack of understanding the fundamentals of how they work. The reason for it is simple: most people tend not to know that the angle at which a snatch block redirects a line directly affects how much force the anchor point of the block will see. 

The best way to envision this phenomenon is to start by imagining a line passing straight through the snatch block. In this unusual (and useless) arrangement, the snatch block will see no force whatsoever because again, the line is just passing straight through it. Now imagine pulling on the snatch block so that it redirects the line at a 90° angle. The amount of force on the snatch block (and its anchor point) will be equal to 1.41 times the line pull required to move the load attached to the line. This phenomenon is exacerbated as the angle of redirection steepens, to the point where when the line gets redirected at 180°, meaning that the lines coming to/from the snatch block are parallel with one another, the anchor point will see a force equal to 2x the line pull. 

For example: If the snatch block is going to be used in a 180° configuration and is going to be used to lift a 2 ton load both the snatch block and the attachment point must be capable of at least 4 tons, so it is important that the proper snatch block is selected. Not knowing these facts can lead to selecting a mounting point that isn’t strong enough, but more commonly the snatch block itself won’t be strong enough. 

A common misconception about snatch blocks is that they somehow reduce the line pull, which is true in some specific scenarios, but for the most part the only thing they do do (haha) for sure, as mentioned above, is endure increased loading and exert that extra force on whatever they are attached to. Just remember: a snatch block does not reduce the line pull required to move a load unless the snatch block itself can travel with the load. 

So for another example: let’s say someone has erroneously concluded that with enough velocity, their quad will in fact make it through the slough. With the quad planted up to the handlebars in muck they now need to figure out how to get it back out with nothing more than a length of winch line, some slings and shackles, and a snatch block. A person might determine that it would be best to mount the snatch block to a tree and run the winch line through it back to a shackle on the stuck quad, but in actual fact the best strategy would be to attach the snatch block to the quad and run the winch line from the recovery vehicle through it and back to the tree. This arrangement will double the amount of force that the winch exerts on the stuck quad. 

If you wanted to go one deeper, the use of a double sheave snatch block can offer even more benefit. Simply attaching the double sheave snatch block to the stuck quad and a single pulley snatch block to the tree can further amplify the pulling force of the winch. The recovery line must be reeved from the recovery vehicle, through one pulley on the stuck quad, back to the snatch block on the tree, back to the other pulley on the stuck quad and then attached back at the tree again. Stacking blocks like this can often lead to such a drastic increase in pulling power that the quad can nearly be extracted by pulling the recovery line by hand!  At a very basic level the amount of force amplification is equal to the amount of lines going through the travelling block.

There's actually an excellent youtube video on how to use a snatch block https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2w3NZzPwOM 

Northern Strands carries a variety of high quality Snatch Blocks and other Pulley's at our Saskatoon, Esterhazy and Regina locations. https://www.northernstrands.com/pdf/rigging.pdf 

Northern Strands also provide in person Rigging Training that is offered at our Training Center or on site. We provide Crosby Rigging Training and a more comprehensive rigging course aptly named Below the Hook Rigging. You can find the full list of safety training courses and our Training Calendar here https://www.northernstrands.com/training.aspx

Did you know that Northern Strands is one of the largest suppliers of industrial equipment and rigging in Saskatchewan? We are locally owned and operated and have been been proudly serving Saskatchewan people and businesses for over 50 years!

Email: info@northernstrands.coom 

Phone: 1-800-242-7073


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Saskatoon (Head Office)

  • 802 60th Street East
  • Saskatoon, S7K 8G8

Regina

  • 125 Henderson Drive
  • Regina, SK S4N 5W4

Esterhazy

  • 816 Park Ave
  • Esterhazy, SK S0A 0X0

Winnipeg

  • 1137 Keewatin St
  • Winnipeg, MB R2X 2Z3
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