Author |
Retrieved pro from Dog Rock - LittleHammer début. |
|
|
9-Nov-2015 3:05:28 PM
|
Congratulations Tim!
|
9-Nov-2015 8:55:17 PM
|
Congrats Tim.
|
10-Nov-2015 8:40:43 AM
|
On 8/11/2015 TimP wrote:
>I won the Bendigo Inventor Award with LittleHammer!
>
I am stoked forya TP!
~> 1st Bendigo, and tomorrow the world!!
☺
|
10-Nov-2015 9:23:03 AM
|
Great workmanship and design! Looks awesome.
If you're at Araps I welded a #3 nut at the top of Acapulco gold at Mitre rock after pumping out on the summit jugs. Get that out and I'll buy one for sure. Shouldn't be too hard but my second weighed up time v reward and it was his nut.
|
25-Nov-2015 4:03:30 PM
|
If it's still there when mine arrives I'll give this one a go. If not I have another stuck piece in mind to try it out on.
|
25-Nov-2015 4:21:26 PM
|
I used a prototype on the north wall over the weekend. The prime advantage that the tool provides is that you can be very precise in the vector of the force applied to the nut; and often this is all that is required to remove a stubborn piece. It is certainly much friendly to the cables on your pro. I didn't try and clean anything truly welded - that I may have otherwise left behind - and I suspect for some of this stuff a hammer will still be necessary if you plan on leaving with it on your harness.
|
25-Nov-2015 4:46:39 PM
|
I accidentally left two Little Hammers and two other nut tools in my car during a climb over the weekend, and as a result, ended up inventing a new tool which I call The Little Stick™. It did not appear to work as well as the Little Hammer.
|
25-Nov-2015 6:30:39 PM
|
How many nut tools were you planning to climb with???
|
25-Nov-2015 6:52:01 PM
|
On 25/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>How many nut tools were you planning to climb with???
Probably only the one that MonkeyBoy took...
It was his brand new LittleHammer that he ended up bending banana fashion in their wombatbag. I guess this was on the way out up southside as he would've noticed it before I pointed it out to him otherwise.
If that was the case, then he can't claim the tree throwing incident as his defense.
;-)
He straightened it before I could get a photo...
|
25-Nov-2015 7:15:55 PM
|
On 25/11/2015 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>If that was the case, then he can't claim the tree throwing incident as
>his defense.
>;-)
>
Sounds like I may have missed the most exciting event of the weekend.
|
25-Nov-2015 7:35:38 PM
|
On 25/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>Sounds like I may have missed the most exciting event of the weekend.
It was southside and there is photographic evidence so you won't miss out; because other than that, what happens on a wall stays on the wall...
;-)
|
30-Nov-2015 3:04:22 PM
|
On 25/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>I used a prototype on the north wall over the weekend. The prime advantage
>that the tool provides is that you can be very precise in the vector of
>the force applied to the nut; and often this is all that is required to
>remove a stubborn piece. It is certainly much friendly to the cables on
>your pro. I didn't try and clean anything truly welded - that I may have
>otherwise left behind - and I suspect for some of this stuff a hammer will
>still be necessary if you plan on leaving with it on your harness.
I received my LittleHammer in the mail late last week, so many thanks climbdesign!
I too had opportunity to use a prototype on the North Wall over the Buffalo Aidfestival weekend.
It is a beautiful bit of craftsmanship and works really well, though takes a little getting used too.
My initial impressions of it were;
1). That although heavy-ish it is nowhere near as heavy as I was expecting it to be, and it's certainly lighter than the lightest of aid hammers!
2). It is sturdy and will stand up to a lifetime of use/abuse.
3). The engagement notch for the weight when loaded could use possibly being a fraction deeper for a more positive 'catch' for fumbly-fingered hands like mine...
I notice on my newly delivered LittleHammer that indeed the engagement notch is a frag more positive than the prototype I used (good!), and the drive-spring is also a tad stronger.
The biggest issue I had with that 'catch' was my inept use of the device as I was 'loading' it by retracting the weight from the wrong (bottom) end. Although loading it in the wrong fashion is still easy enough to do single handed, it engages much more easily when the drive weight is correctly retracted by holding its upper end!
In usage I was impressed with its ability to easily dislodge passive protection that had been fully body-weighted as part of upward progress in ettriers (in my opinion a much more solid 'placing' of the gear than would normally be achieved in most trad climbing placements which are often unweighted), and this primarily as pi points out above, due the precision of applying appropriate force vector to the nut.
Many nuts were removed and the only nut that required several shots from the LittleHammer was one of the old fashioned wide-thin profile types (ie the type that have very little taper lengthwise for their size), and this because it tended to rotate with the shots but still be pinched down upon by granite rugosities (that had scored into the aluminium) holding it in that particular placement. All other placements pretty much were freed with a single shot.
In fact it is such a nifty gadget that one is tempted to simply reload for a second go if the pro doesn't entirely disengage from its seating first time, instead of simply scraping or lifting it out as per traditional nut-tool usage as it is also capable of doing!
In summary it works and very well at that. I am glad I bought it and supported the innovation that it is.
While adding the new item to my rack ready for my next outing I compared my old nut tool in one hand and the new one in the other to judge their weights. I found that due my old nut tool having been modified as more hand-friendly for stabbing pro with, by the addition of being bound with elastoplast tape, the weight of the LittleHammer really is favourably comparable to my old tool.
A point of consideration that my old tool prompted, is due its rear-end claw-like feature that would still likely be better at removing stuck slcd devices due being able to 'claw' the trigger wires if the placement allows that feature to fit.
I notice the LittleHammer has the model number engraved on it, so I guess that climbdesign.co is allowing for future innovation which may address such issues. In the meantime I shall simply be as careful as I have been in the past to not get slcd's stuck!
☺
|
30-Nov-2015 5:03:33 PM
|
On 25/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>How many nut tools were you planning to climb with???
I believe Dave and I took 3 on Ozy.....two normal and one Little Hammer that arrived to our pre Ozy bivy via TimP Via miguel75.
On the day after our Ozy attempt where Dave developed the Little Stick we had left all of said nut tools in the car in an attempt to travel light based on not in any way traveling light on Ozy and being pretty tired as a result.
I cannot vouch for the useful ness or otherwise of little stick but LittleHammer worked a treat. For me it took a little getting used to and the first few placements did't "POP" straight away but I am pretty sure that was down to me figuring out the best way to position my hands and the head of the nut tool.
At first I would try and use it like a conventional nut tool then when it was obvious that the nut was really well seated and not moving i would use the spring loaded action and once I got into the stride of things it really did just pop the placements out with one hit.
On M9s comment above, re the bending of the body of the little hammer I think it more likely occurred as I dove for cover when Dave S threw a tree at me. It had been clipped to my harness for most of the climb and i don't think I stashed it in the haul bag for the walk out. Needless to say this was an extreme situation and not one you normally encounter in the normal use of a nut tool. I was very quick to straighten the little hammer out once Rod pointed its curvy natures out and as fas as i can see the bend / straighten process has not adversely affected the tool in any way.
|
30-Nov-2015 6:43:14 PM
|
On 30/11/2015 MonkeyBoy wrote:
> blah blah blah... when Dave S threw a tree at me.
Please expand on this point.
|
30-Nov-2015 7:10:07 PM
|
On 30/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>On 30/11/2015 MonkeyBoy wrote:
>> blah blah blah... when Dave S threw a tree at me.
>
>Please expand on this point.
I heard that there is a syndicate running on how long you can be kept in suspense...
Dave_S is also apparently willing to sell the photographic evidence to the highest bidder, so we are yet to see if it embellishes his TR...
;-)
|
30-Nov-2015 9:06:54 PM
|
On 30/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>On 30/11/2015 MonkeyBoy wrote:
>> blah blah blah... when Dave S threw a tree at me.
>
>Please expand on this point.
Well....... It was certainly the closest I came to real danger / actual bodily harm over the few days at buffalo. That's for sure.
|
30-Nov-2015 9:16:53 PM
|
On 30/11/2015 Monkeyboy wrote:
>
>Well....... It was certainly the closest I came to real danger / actual
>bodily harm over the few days at buffalo. That's for sure.
Unless you were really contemplating eating that expired pack of soup, in which case that could have resulted in actual bodily harm.
|
30-Nov-2015 9:41:36 PM
|
On 30/11/2015 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>On 30/11/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>>On 30/11/2015 MonkeyBoy wrote:
>>> blah blah blah... when Dave S threw a tree at me.
>>
>>Please expand on this point.
>
>I heard that there is a syndicate running on how long you can be kept
>in suspense...
>Dave_S is also apparently willing to sell the photographic evidence to
>the highest bidder, so we are yet to see if it embellishes his TR...
>;-)
Me? I'm betting it involves one of them being left broken and bloodied in the gorge. Only to walk out years later William Buckley style.
|
17-Feb-2016 12:09:35 PM
|
Got a demo of LittleHammer on at Bogong in Melbourne, Friday the 26 Feb 12 to 2pm, drop by and check it out if you are in the city that day. Will be showing off the new version and have a setup where you can have a go of LittleHammer 1.1
Facebook event page
http://climbdesign.co/2016/02/17/littlehammer-demo-at-bogong/
Also got a couple of give away comps running — a LittleHammer 1.1 for the best stuck gear epic story, and a size small "trad is rad T-shirt" from Ohama Screen Co for small climbers (in age or stature), check out climbdesign.co for the details.
|
19-Feb-2016 8:53:10 AM
|
A bit more unsolicited feedback, on the reverse-hook feature of LittleHammer...
I recently cleaned (by using a LittleHammer), a hand placed BD Pecker #3 that had been vigorously bounce tested and body-weighted during an aid ascent. It was in a deep and secure placement, and wouldn't unseat with the usual tugging on its quickdraw, or scraping it with the hook function of the nut tool.
On this climb I didn't take an aid hammer or funkness device (which based on my previous experience probably would have removed it with one shot), but relied on the LittleHammer to see how effective it would be for removing such recalcitrant aid protection...
This particular placement took about 8 'shots' using the reverse-hook feature of the LittleHammer, however I'm pleased to report that it did retrieve the Pecker.
The first and second of those shots were misfires due to my unfamiliarity with using that feature; and many of the subsequent shots were me getting used to not causing the protection to tend to pivot somewhat in its placement, i.e. lining up the ideal vector to free it.
Up until this incident I had slight reservations about the LittleHammer reverse hook feature for removing anything other than smaller size esoteric aid pieces, because it (the reverse hook) visually appears to have only a slight 'catch-notch' for this design feature.
A Pecker #3 is a significant sized bit of aid gear when its full tang is engaged in its placement as this one was within a narrow granite crack, rather than just the tip of its beak, and the leader who placed it was learning aid so was extra vigorous in the bounce testing of it, so it was indeed well seated!
With further experience (on the part of that leader), that placement would have sufficed without being tested in that manner and would likely have come out with only one or two well aimed LittleHammer shots...
I was pleased that I didn't have to return to the car to fetch a heavy hammer to get my gear back! ☺
In summary; the reverse hook feature works once the user gets used to using it.
|