Just finished my second (rather slow) season of lead climbing and I've found a problem with the way I build my anchors when on a multi pitch.

Essentially I climb up and build my anchor from my rope (usually single, sometimes doubles) and three pieces of gear. The way I think is pretty standard in the UK. That is, from my figure 8, through the gear, back to locking crab, clove hitch, repeat. Nice and secure.

Then my second climbs up. Now this is where my system breaks down, but none of my reference books show a better way, and Youtube has been a bust for me. When the second arrives I create a second anchor to secure them e.g. I've done sling around a tree, sling around handy boulder, that sort of thing. They're pretty independent of my 3 bits of gear. So that leaves me the option of stripping my anchor and climbing on whatever they're secured to (did this what a more experienced friend) OR transferring them to my anchor as I get ready to climb and releasing my last hitch after I'm on belay (a slow process).

I feel like there should be a way to make a master point from the rope during my anchor creation that would allow us both to clip to, and release from, the same anchor. But I can't quite work it out in practice. My few attempts ended up wildly unbalanced.

Any advice or resources on the subject would be appreciated.