Making a Homemade CARABINER and Testing It In a CAVE! Part 3

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Alec: @alecsteele

My name is Alec Steele and I am a 24 year old blacksmith. We make videos about making interesting things, learning about craft and appreciating the joy of creativity. Great to have you here following along!

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Alec

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Alec Steele Blacksmith 2022

[mirko]

Be carefull with the 23 kN test, even though it might not break there probably will be plastic deformation which might render it unusable. And yes definitely make more climbing equipment^^

[jonnyd]

As someone who had spent 20 years climbing and gone into a few caves, this might be my favorite video of yours. Hope you still read comments from time to time and see this. Rock on!! Thank you!!

[geodeaholicm]

Very Very cool video & build. in case you are curious, the little white fossils visible at time 13:29 are mostly crinoid columnals, there's also a couple pieces might be from trilobites. crinoids are kinda like armoured sea anenomies on stalks. most of the rock clearly visible in the cave was limestone formed in ancient oceans. a couple parts looked shaley.
i think you should save your first damascus caribiner, maybe use it to hold keys securely to a belt loop & in your pocket. & yes! it'd be cool to see you make more caving stuff.
if you come back to the USA you should see the carlsbad cavern in new mexico, the mammoth cave in kentucky, & several others in Texas.

[Krekkertje]

As a rock climber I find it fascinating that caving equipment is so much different from climbing equipment while having the exact same purpose and even being made by the same brands.

[RNER]

Yeah folding cave knife is next up for sure haha 😁👌 I don't know if I'd ever be able to go spelunking in such tight quarters, wild guys!

[SaturdayMorningGamer]

REALLY fun to see you two enjoy an experience you're both passionate about. Whether it seems like folk are interested in seeing more, it's obvious you both were absolutely thrilled!

[cleverusername]

Honestly i don't remember the last time I saw Alec so stoked about one of his finished products, probably particularly A) because it works perfectly B) it's beautiful C) it's always good to have a successful project after a failed one, it's a morale boost.
I think they should keep the carabiner as is, it's really a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. To watch it break would be like watching Will's power hammer break all over again.

[BradsSpace]

The first footage of caving I've seen that doesn't look completely terrifying, I think Alec's giggling takes the edge off

[bemk]

Not sure I wanna see this break tested. It's a piece of art. Maybe see if you can make a rough second one out of the same material with only the structural components to see how that would perform? I'm definitely curious as to what the damascus would do under load.

Also, more climbing gear please!

[brindo]

It's awesome to see you branching out into technical machining of caving/climbing gear !! Also, might be a long shot but if you come back to Derbyshire for caving at some point im a caver myself and would it would be great to organise a trip with you guys as I live in Derbyshire, there's so many great places I would love to visit again and would definitely love to visit with you guys possibly (fingers crossed !!)

[robertmcpherson]

More caving equipment and caving adventures sounds like a wonderful next chapter for the channel and life in general.

[nicolasduguay]

Knurling needs to put a lot of pressure on the piece, it is a good practice to hold the end of it with a pre-hole and a point while knurling. I'm glad it worked anyway!

[Lorddanielrushton]

Nice work on the carabiner. spelunking is fun for those who enjoy climbing in caves. Enjoy soon the fun will wear off. I think a full spelunking setup would be great to see. After you test the carabiner.

[bow-tiedengineer]

I want to see a series of Alec making the full caving kit, and with each new part you test it out in a new cave, until in the very end you do some very impressive climb with Alec using fully homemade kit.

[AvanaVana]

Fantastic idea for a video and even better execution. It came out just beautifully. You have become quite the machinist! Please don’t destroy it—not only is it a gorgeous object, it’s a memento for your first caving trip!

On a side note, as someone who studies rocks, I really appreciated the beautiful shots of Mississippian (Visean) age Crinoid Wackestone of the Monsdale Limestone and overlying Eyam Knoll Reef Limestone into which that swallet was carved. The geology of that area is quite interesting. It’s a large dome or anticline, and you were in its limestone center. Younger layers of siltstone and sandstone on top are eroded away and form sharp cuesta edges such as Stannage Edge (and Rushup Edge, north of where you were). There are a whole network of swallets (sinkhole caves for winterbourne streams) in that area, as I am sure Jamie is aware, along with some decent mineralization (the Odin ore trend is right near there) and Pleistocene fossils of rhinoceros, etc, some of which have actually been found, permineralized, within the caves.

Also maybe this is more of a question for Jamie, but I took a look at the map of P8—did you guys make it all the way down to sump 1? I am fascinated by caving but the tight squeezes with no turning around terrify me (esp being over 195cm in height) and it looks incredibly uncomfortable to the point of misery with the combination of tightness, wetness, coldness, and darkness. However, I still enjoy reading and learning about it. I recently read a fantastic memoir by cave diver William Stone (nominal determinism at work) called “Beyond the Deep”, about his expedition into the San Agustin sump, in the Huautla cave system in Mexico, which at a depth of 1560m is one of the deepest caves in the worlds. Caving…I might try if I had the right guide and cave. But cave diving…that is another story altogether. The logistics and skill needed to plan and haul sensitive diving equipment all the way down, and then the diving skill and danger itself… Bill Stone and his associates actually had to invent new rebreathing technology in order to accomplish their expedition, and sadly several lives were lost.

Anyway, this is all just to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this video.

[jurriaanvanderlinden]

Just love this! Some outdoor adventure combined with your craftsmanship 💪🏻💜

[ianjohnson]

They make rope knives. I had one with a forward sweep, like a karambit, but the edge wasn't straight. It had a sort of dull tooth edge, like an inverse serration. There were convex serrations, where the small sharp points were negative space and the tips of each serration were the rounded center of the arcs. Also, the tip was full thickness, circular, and totally dull, so there was no way to stab yourself with it. Might be useful in a cave.

[topytopy]

That is a fantastically fun looking cave. There are lots of of fun caves around the UK. But they can get pretty cold. The UK caving clubs do trips to Thailand/SE Asia to explore and survey caves in the region. They are a whole different world and the water is much warmer ;) If you decide to come back to Australia, there's a lot of fun to be had underground here too.
I wouldn't personally replace any of the alloy descender/ascender gear with steel variants, just because of the added weight. For a short trip it might be okay. But if you spend 8-14 hours under ground or have long ascents, that can really add up in terms of fatigue.
Damascus caving knife build next please!!!
Also, careful of rust!

[cougboy]

The offer to come to Utah and go canyoneering for you and Jamie is always open. If you find yourself in the states ever again. I've got a few canyons I'm certain you'd enjoy. I've got all the gear, you just need to show up and have fun! The cave looked awesome by the way. Thanks for sharing.

[laanyan]

Fantastic series!

I did some caving in my younger days. My favorite cave had a spot where I had to turn my head sideways to crawl through that obstacle.