Wood beam

dadsbee said
As an Electro-Mechanical engineer I can guarantee you that the 1200 lbs doesn't care if it's an inch off the floor or hung above the grand canon. Stress is the same in that beam.

My point was that the beam might hold as you initially lift something heavy but it could fail as the weight hangs there longer and longer. Just as bridges hold various weight but over time they fail even though they were designed to hold "x" amount of weight. I've lifted heavy items with a heavy duty rope only to have it fail at the worst possible time. Wood doesn't always fail immediately, especially if has a large hole drilled through it!! If you're a mechannical engineer you know there such a thing known as "stress over time".
Then there's the "elastic region VS permenant deformation VS fracture"....all these are time sensitive events while under the same load!!