Home-made Climbing Gear?

Would you trust homemade gear?

[knots]

The stopper with the brass slider was called a “Buddy” made by Dbest mountaineering ( Don Best). I think that they were sold around 1986 or so from Liberty mountain. I climbed with a full set of them for 20 years. The larger sizes were bomber and held a ton of whippers. The one that you tested was the smallest size. I still have the full set in a box!

[johns]

It’s easy to shake your head at “home made” stuff, but just remember some of our most iconic gear started out as “home made”…Chouinard forging lost arrows in his backyard, Ray Jardine experimenting with various Friend prototypes that he made himself, the original “hexes” made from different sizes of machine nuts…there is a long list in the history of our sport!

[ldxhfmz]

The yellow and blue cams with the wheels are Go-Pro Rock & Rollers. They were produced out of Santa Rosa in the early 1990’s . They are the proto
form of the RB, developed by the same individual.
P.s. I think I still have a couple in my kit somewhere.
MKH

[andrewstoll]

I would have to trust the person making it as much or more than I'd trust the equipment.

[danhoyle]

The vast majority of climbing gear through the ages has been home made before there was a market for them to be produced on a mass scale. The gear we have now that we buy from manufacturers is just the tip of the iceberg of the amount of cool designs people conjured up in sheds

[daveb]

Sometimes slipping is better than breaking. That last one, if you could make it do that slip reliably, could have a use

[blarghimakraken]

Some lock nuts on those adjuster bolts could help! If you watch at 2:10, the top left actually backs off, allowing the piece to slip out.

[tomaszkal]

Really gives me some nostalgic vibes. When I first started climbing I used my grandpa’s home made harness along with a home made figure 8 for belaying. Communism sure forced you to be resourceful if you were into climbing.

[danielwendell]

As a farrier the hoof rasps made total sense for the liner plates, glad you implemented that idea!

[tomk]

The all held around 6kn which is not that bad - remember these are small - 6kn on an anchor is somewhere around factor 1 fall.

[matthewrberning]

Fascinating designs -that cone one looks really promising

[threeriversforge]

I liked that last one. Not only does it look good, but that stuttering as it failed would make a nice shock absorber, helping to mitigate the shock pulse when you finally come to the end of the line. Just like safety harnesses have those rip-away stitches. 😁

[BurchellAtTheWharf]

4:16 to splice an eye loop is realitively simple, but takes a little time to practice, but is far far better than just clamps

[MrMilosv]

Awesome video! I am not a climber (maybe I become some day) but its super good enough to be interesting and it scratches that curiosity itch! :)
PS Amazing how homemade equipment that looks solid compares to recalled equipment from a pro manufacturer ..

[allwaysareup]

Teasing a tricam. Looking forward to it!

[rogerpalin]

The yellow and blue ones are Roller Cams. Still have a yellow one. Awesome bit of kit, would always go into a slot, really when you needed it, and nothing else would fit. To be honest, always placed it as a psychological runner, and never tested it real time, but definitely helped me through a few sticky moments

[kilianhzh]

The last one is cool. Most gear i have does not include a shock absorber

[MrMosebey]

Last one is bomber. Its actually a feature, self extending gear!

[wlancee]

please include some basalt rock! I have heard some stories of cams slipping out of our local basalt cracks, but I'm not sure if it was when wet or just in general.

[CurrentlyRockhounding]

You said that you already plan on getting some different rock plates to glue inside it for testing but if you need some slabs cut off of different natural rock types I have a lapidary slab saw and would be happy to work together on something.