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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author
Thinking in the tub
maadness
13-Sep-2010
8:16:28 PM
Whilst i was in the tub i was thinking do other gear, manly quickdraws, have a ' number of falls' rating, like ropes do. So when you have x amount of x falls on them, should they be retired.
bl@ke
13-Sep-2010
8:34:43 PM
I have some Tasmanian sport climbing friends (so not real climbers) Who's quickdraws where they are on the the bolt had worn a from falling. I say "when should you retire that?" And they said when it wear away about 10 percent of the total thickness. And so the story goes, past on from generation to generation.
I dont know personaly.
Olbert
13-Sep-2010
11:31:26 PM
What!? I have had the same set of quickdraws that I was given second hand five years ago. I havent replaced the slings or biners. Quickdraws last a bloody long time - as opposed to harnesses, ropes, and slings. I wouldnt say quickdraws last forever but...that might be a little overstatement. Mine have scratches and other aesthetic damage, that is all. The slings are still fine after all these years. I dont understand how you can destroy your quickdraws.

Ropes have a UAII fall rating, normally about 5 to 10 (ish). This doesnt mean you fall on it 5 to 10 times, it means it has to take 5 to 10 factor 1.8 (I think) falls before it snaps. I would doubt anyone has ever taken too many factor 1.8 falls or more on a rope. A rope can handle many many more falls than that, though the ends of the rope get hammered and you chop them when required.

The difference between a rope and a quickdraw is the rope absorbs all the energy of a fall, a quickdraw doesnt. A rope can only take a limited amount of stretch and then unstretch cycles. A quickdraw doesnt stretch so doesnt have the same sort of limit.

Please dont throw out your 'worn' quickdraws, send them to me! I will give them a good home
J.C.
14-Sep-2010
1:22:02 AM
quickdraws do snap, they do last a really damn long time but use your head and assess them for yourself. if youre not sure either dont fall or use them in non critical spots (such as most of the bolts on shipley upper)
martym
14-Sep-2010
3:35:57 AM
Like with all gear, falling is only part of what contributes to the damage.
Rubbing & sun exposure are going to seriously effect your draws lifespan - so if you're working a route all day with draws dangling in the sun - the dogbones are copping a lot of UV action
rod
14-Sep-2010
4:38:44 AM
Draws, reverso's: rope wear is a must to watch for, I've retired a few Reverso's in what I consider a short climbing life and multiple series of draws. During the route yesterday, Cyrille had some super lightweight draws that were probably a season old and in my opinion a good number thereof were beyond retirement.

Keep an eye on all your gear.

My current bugbear relates to harnesses: my new harnesses during the past 3 years from both Petzl and Arcteryx have been shockers on wear and based on personal experience, their reps in CH really don't give a FCUK. Unlike a shitload of sponsored climbing mates, I don't work routes to death or take regular big falls and in the case of harnesses I've sent back to both of them through the shops I'm of the opinion that these two companies reps are taking the piss.

I'm not sponsored nor have any desire to be and it shits me that these clowns are so complacent over one of THE principle components of the system.
TonyB
14-Sep-2010
6:20:30 AM
Harness do need very close checking. Years ago I went on a canyoning trip and forgot my harness, so I hired one from a mob in the mountains. The abseil loop snapped on the first big rap. Fortunately quick relexes saved me from flipping upside down on the leg loops and falling. Adequately charged with adrenalin I scrambled back to the top.

nmonteith
14-Sep-2010
7:55:06 AM
The top biner on a quickdraw (the one that clips the bolt) is likely to wear out if you do a lot of dogging on fixed hangers and bolt plates. These hangers have sharp edges that notch into the biner - and slowly over time the actual diameter of the biner will be reduced. I know I have several of my 'old favorites' that have some seriously big notches worn into them.
mikllaw
14-Sep-2010
8:42:43 AM
I seen testing from OS (Mainly BD) and done testing myself on draws which showed conflicting results, some were cut 30% the way through and still took > 20kN, and some just had a bit of fuzzing and broke at 8kN.

If in doubt- give it a youngster!

jkane
14-Sep-2010
12:31:57 PM
On 14/09/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>The top biner on a quickdraw (the one that clips the bolt) is likely to
>wear out if you do a lot of dogging on fixed hangers and bolt plates. These
>hangers have sharp edges that notch into the biner - and slowly over time
>the actual diameter of the biner will be reduced. I know I have several
>of my 'old favorites' that have some seriously big notches worn into them.

And in case you didn't know, this is why you should not swap the biners over i.e. always use the same one for the rope end of the draw. The damaged biner can cause damage to a rope during a fall or lower off.

jkane
14-Sep-2010
12:36:46 PM
On 14/09/2010 mikllaw wrote:
>I seen testing from OS (Mainly BD) and done testing myself on draws which
>showed conflicting results, some were cut 30% the way through and still
>took > 20kN, and some just had a bit of fuzzing and broke at 8kN.
>
>If in doubt- give it a youngster!

I think I heard about that. Something to do with slight abrasion across the entire width of the sling being worse than a nick in one side of the sling. Scary stuff considering what you might do to your gear in some more "classic" style trad climbs.
mikllaw
14-Sep-2010
12:58:14 PM
The ones I broke with fuzz (1 to 2 mm) all broke where the sewing stopped at 8 to 13 kN. Inside the draw was a sharp edge caused by the sealed edge of the "third" piece of tape.
I couldn't determine if the breakage hapepend because the wear accelerated here, or whether the sharp edge contributed directly
One Day Hero
14-Sep-2010
5:26:25 PM
On 14/09/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>The top biner on a quickdraw (the one that clips the bolt) is likely to
>wear out if you do a lot of dogging on fixed hangers and bolt plates. These
>hangers have sharp edges that notch into the biner - and slowly over time
>the actual diameter of the biner will be reduced. I know I have several
>of my 'old favorites' that have some seriously big notches worn into them.

You can just clean those edges up with a bit of sandpaper though......always amazes me how most climbers think aluminium gear will explode if they go near it with a tool.

There are 13 messages in this topic.

 

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