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General Climbing Discussion

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dropped draws and boltplates 7-Dec-2004 At 11:08:50 PM AlanD

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I studied metallurgical engineering and I'll go along with what Shaggy said.

With dropped krabs, although cold forged, they are also tempered afterwards to remove residual stresses. This manufacturing process should make them fairly tough but a drop could still cause a fault to be nucleated. In addition people will often forget about the small components in the krab, like the pin holding the gate, if this gets cracked, it will significantly weaken the krab. When I had access to the equipment, I x-rayed a krab that had been dropped but didn't find any internal cracks, but because of the limitations of x-rays, I still retired the krab and still use it for hauling packs etc. Putting you life on potentially damaged equipment, just isn't worth the risk.

I'd be very careful about what gear you use after being dropped. Some things will be fine bolt plates etc, but anything that has been cast, like some rope ascenders, decending devices, etc, I'd finish the job and then through them in the bin.