So I walked into a carabiner store...

S

stitchawl

Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
2,849
.... and said, how the hell can a store exist just selling carabiner's, snap links, jump links, clips and such, and then thought about just how many I had with me at the time....

One on my belt holding the chain to my wallet, three on my shoulder bag's D-rings, and another on my shoulder bag's adjustment buckle. (These are all small ones.) Then I thought about how many I had at home... Good God, a shop like this can make a fortune! When I got home I tried to count up all of the biners I had, NOT counting the ones with my climbing gear! :eek:

I have 4 old steel ovals from my military days, 8 retired Rene Demaison climbing biners, that I no longer trust for climbing but are great for throwing a line over a tree limb, and 47 assorted small gear carabiners, both locking and not, D's, ovals, Double-S's, etc., etc., etc! :eek: These were just the ones that I could find without tearing apart all my kits and equipment storage lockers. I shudder to think how many more there are. And I'm just counting the carabiners, not blind snap links, or spring loaded key holders. Who ever came up with the idea of a store just selling this stuff was a LOT smarter than I am!!! He and his brothers have gotten a whole lot of money just from me!

Have you looked at your gear biners lately. How many have you got?

Stitchawl
 
Hi, Stitchawl

> Have you looked at your gear biners lately. How many have you got?

Never.

I'm always trying not to think about it. ;)

They are not only useful but also colorful and lovely beings.
I love them.
 
fujita yuji said:
Hi, Stitchawl

> Have you looked at your gear biners lately. How many have you got?

Never.

I'm always trying not to think about it. ;)

They are not only useful but also colorful and lovely beings.
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So desu! :thumbup:
I just wish they would 'tinkle' like bells when you shake a bunch together instead of that dry rattle. A little more musical, neh?
But I guess that would make them heavier too... :(

Stitchawl
 
Well I Trad rock climb, so I've got close to 50. Each w/ a piece of protection on it. (I can lead up to about 5.10, or used to. Getting old sux) Add to that about 8 locking biners.

I'm starting to use them for other things. Like hunting/hiking gear.

dare ka ga nihongo ga dekimasu ka?
 
rnr said:
Well I Trad rock climb, so I've got close to 50. Each w/ a piece of protection on it. (I can lead up to about 5.10, or used to. Getting old sux)
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Oh, it do... :(
These days I go into climbing shops and am amazed at the shapes and configurations of the new carabiners. Great ideas, but I remember when D's first came out and we thought them a radical design! I look at all the money I have tied up in climbing biners that I'll never use again except for gear storage or other activities :grumpy:
But for some reason, I still buy more carabiners. I guess I just like 'em! There always seems to be some woods/survival/gear application that comes to mind when I see the new ones. At least that's what I tell my wife. :p

I'm starting to use them for other things. Like hunting/hiking gear.
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Me too. I find SCUBA much easier on this old body, and a lot of the gear that I used for climbing works very well. The 'sky hooks' are great to use as 'reef hooks' in some of the howling currents found in Palau and western Micronesia, and lighter weight than the hooks that folks use there, with the old carabiners and slings keeping us a meter or two away from the rocks. To that end I found the 'whistle evaluation' thread very interesting too. We keep them attached to our BCD's for emergency signaling and fortunately stumbled into the top picks in his testing. They are attached to the BCD with a small locking biner and 3mm perlon.

dare ka ga nihongo ga dekimasu ka?
Click to expand...

Nihon de sundei imasu. :)

Stitchawl
 
Just last week I got a Petzl AM'D ball-lock carabiner and like it a lot. Haven't gotten to use it yet but it's pretty nice and holds up to 28kN, which ain't too bad for my 1st "real" carabiner. Now i need to find time to climb
 
couple of my large steel triple action locking rescue biners, and one large pear Maillione Rapide. Shown with a large sprint run Manix for size comparison

biners.jpg
 
I don't climb. What does the little graphic representation of an open carabiner with the 7 or 9 kN, mean?

I know its got something to do with strength....but what exactly.

Thanks
 
rt014 said:
I don't climb. What does the little graphic representation of an open carabiner with the 7 or 9 kN, mean?

I know its got something to do with strength....but what exactly.

Thanks
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Carabiners are rated for their strength when pulled on in the open and in the closed position. As you can imagine, they are far stronger when in the closed position. The number shown with the open 'biner is it's strength rating, in kilonewtons, when pulled on in the open position. One kilonewton is approximately equal to 225 lbf (pound force).

Keep in mind that that figure is a static pull, so when you fall on it the force applied will be much higher than when you're just hanging off of it.
 
rt014 said:
I don't climb. What does the little graphic representation of an open carabiner with the 7 or 9 kN, mean?

I know its got something to do with strength....but what exactly.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You usually find three ratings in a carabinner. The first (and higher one) indicates the strength in the mayor axis with the gate propertly closed which is the only way a carabiner should work. Then you will find the resistance when cross loaded (against the gate), as you can easily imagine, it is not as high as the first one. Sometimes binners rotate while in use and this can result in a load going agains the gate. As long as it is static load, you will be fine (7kn-9kn is 700-900kg... and you don't weight that much!). The problem is that during a fall you can get even higher loads. The last number usually shows you the strenght in the long axis with the gate OPEN. This shouldn't ever happen but in NON LOCKING binners sometimes the rope swat or the vibrations open the gate slightly. If a load happens at that very same moment, they binner is working with the gate open and it can break.

Check this out. It is the datasheet from a Petlz binner. You can see a real example of what I just explained under Technical specifications in the middle of the page.

I also climb but I am more into alpine/ice climbs than big wall climbing. I also do some sport climbing as well. I pretty much use binners just for that, I don't carry any on my person while hiking or anything.

Mikel
 
stitchawl said:
Oh, it do... :(
... Great ideas, but I remember when D's first came out and we thought them a radical design!
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I'm always looking at the new belay devices too. So many now. When I started climbing, a caribiner and brake bar worked for rappelling and a figure 8 worked for everything.. Then the brake bars started breaking!!:eek: I still like a figure 8 for most stuff. Works as a stitch plate or a double rope rappel.



stitchawl said:
Nihon de sundei imasu. :)

Stitchawl
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Honto? cool. Tokidoki shigotoba no tame ni nihon e ikimasu.
Nihongo ga hotondo heta desu kedo...... eigo de hanashimasu.
mata ne.
 
rnr said:
I'm always looking at the new belay devices too. So many now. When I started climbing, a caribiner and brake bar worked for rappelling and a figure 8 worked for everything.. Then the brake bars started breaking!!:eek: I still like a figure 8 for most stuff. Works as a stitch plate or a double rope rappel.
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One of the reasons I retired those Demaison biners is that the color was worn off from using them as repeling rigs. No brake bars, we would take a three-turn wrap around the biner clipped into a 'Swiss Sadle' harness made from a length of 'Goldline' and use that as our friction device. Worked well as we were using 'Goldline' and its 3-laid construction kept everything smoothed out as long as your wrapped the line in the correct direction! I never owned a figure 8 for my first 10 years climbing! :p

Stitchawl
 
Oh, yea. Goldline. The static rope that replaced hemp. I'm glad that the new ropes came along.
 
Oh yes, Bushman5. I thought you also should be a climber.

stitchawl lives in Japan? Japan where?

My favorite brake device is the classic ATC .
I also use it as a rappelling brake.
 
rnr said:
Oh, yea. Goldline. The static rope that replaced hemp. I'm glad that the new ropes came along.
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You an me both! :thumbup: And not just ropes!

The new carabiners are far and away stronger, safer, and more likely to perform the way you need them to, as are the new kernmantal ropes. Factory-made nuts, chocks, and hexes. We used to use large machine nuts and file the threads off to smooth them down. Chocks were stones we picked up along the hike to the face, and hexes were something we put on our ex-wives! :D

The first time someone told me they were climbing with 'friends,' I said "of course! Everyone likes climbing partners!" :( Who knew?!?

Stitchawl
 
fujita yuji said:
Oh yes, Bushman5. I thought you also should be a climber.

stitchawl lives in Japan? Japan where?.
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Along the Keihan line, probably about 20-30 minutes from you! :)
The carabiner shop is under Umeda, 'somewhere' between Kynokuniya and Ishii Sports. I wanted to try to come out of the exit next to L.L. Bean without going upstairs to get my bearings. But I turned off a couple of times to go into other shops, came out different doors than I went in, stopped for lunch, etc. Generally I had no clue as to where I was at any given moment. (I think you can understand why! ;) ) I was traveling by compass only, underground the whole way, and have no idea where the shop was along my route!!! It's a shame, too, as I'd like to go back there again!

On the plus side, there is an incredible knife making supply shop under there too, and I CAN find that again! Steel, leather, handle material, and tools! :thumbup:

Stitchawl
 
HI fujita yuji! not so much a climber (although i did some gear climbing), more of a industrial access, high angle, and some rescue rope work. I also climb trees and and dance with chainsaws high up in the canopy.



love being ON ROPE.
 
fujita yuji said:
That's really near.
And yes, Umeda underground level is a total chaos.
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Chaos? One level down would be chaos. There are THREE levels to mess with my mind under Umeda, and a couple of 'half-levels' thrown in just to really throw me off! :o Theseus had an easier time finding his way through the Minotaur's Labyrinth than I have trying to find my way under Umeda! :(

BTW you mean this knife shop?
http://www.knifeya.com/
Its located underground, just next to JR Osaka station.
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I don't know the name, but it IS underground just next to JR Osaka station! The shop pictured in the URL was about three or four blocks away from JR Osaka station, and three times as large. However the merchandise and equipment seem to be the same, as are the displays...

Did the large shop close down? I hadn't been in that area for quite some time, buying more of my folders from the shop on Sanjo on the left side about 50 meters inside the arcade, and wasn't aware of the changes. I'll have to go down to Umeda again and try to find the large shop. They carried a much larger variety of knives, but the shop inside Shinkyogoku had better prices.

Stitchawl
 
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