Grip’s Belt

Belt Equipment

Chapter 29 contains a complete description of an electrician’s belt. A grip’s belt is very similar with the most noticeable exception being that no electrical equipment is included. However, there are a number of other differences.

Like the electrician’s belt, a grip belt should contain:

•  Leather work gloves;

•  Multi-tool;

•  6 or 8″ crescent wrench;

•  Small portable flashlight;

•  Tape measure;

•  Allen wrenches.

The grip belt contains fewer items than an electrician’s belt, so it’s also lighter – which is good because a grip has to move around a great deal. Since a grip has heavier items to carry around and frequently climb ladders, some grips use suspender straps. These straps ensure that the belt remains in the same place and doesn’t rub and irritate you.

Make sure that you keep rope on you or at least nearby. Rope is one of the most important grip tools and is used for almost every imaginable purpose from raising equipment to the roof to stabilizing a stand to holding up a sheet of duvetyn. Sash cord is the most common type used by grips and is generally supplied by the production.

Grips must carry a larger variety of miscellaneous items such as rope, clips, etc. For this reason, Velcro loops are very useful. A loop can be easily placed around the main belt (see figure 31-1). When you need to carry anything like a rope, simply unzip and re-zip the Velcro around the rope. These loops are available inexpensively at most hardware stores. You’ll find them much more convenient than carabineers.

FIGURE 31.1 A Velcro loop can be placed around the main belt to hold items such as rope.

Grips are also constantly in need of clothespins (C47s in industry-speak). You can make a small cord loop and easily carry a bunch on your belt. In figure 31-2, you’ll see such a loop that has C47s and a couple of grip clip #1s on it.

FIGURE 31.2 A handy loop to hold C-47s and a couple of grip clip.

Suggestions

Here are a few suggestions to help you:

•  Any strong belt will do The belt itself doesn’t need to be of any specific quality. I myself use the cheapest type of web belt available. It has a convenient snap, so I can take it off and put it on quickly. I used to wear an army surplus pistol belt. It was inexpensive, the quality was excellent and it was very rugged. The only problem was it was too wide for most commercial pockets.

•  Use your forearm as a measure You’ll find that you often need to roughly measure things whether it’s the length of a rope or the span of a doorway. Measure the length of your forearm. You can then use your forearm to roughly estimate a length without having any tools. A grip showed me this technique and I’ve used it hundreds of times since then.

•  Avoid gaffer’s tape on painted surfaces Gaffer’s tape (and duct tape) will often lift paint when it is removed. If you need to tape something to a painted surface, try to use paper tape instead because it’s far less destructive.