Making a Homemade CARABINER from Damascus Steel! Part 1

Instagrams:
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!

Thank you for watching!
Alec

INSTAGRAM @alecsteele

MUSIC:
-signing up at this link supports the show!

- signing up at this link supports the show!

------------------------------------------------
AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS TO GEAR I LIKE, buying here supports us:
--------------

Alec Steele Blacksmith 2022

[brendanroos]

I really want to see Alec make a swiss army knife or a multi-tool with some damascus parts. It would be an interesting and detailed project to dive into, as all of the small tools have unique problems to overcome.

[TrackpadProductions]

As a rock climber, I've got to say this is probably the weirdest thing I've gotten excited about in a long, _long_ while.

[MV-vvsg]

I love the recent friendship aspect of the videos. Where the fun between you and Jamie is finally shared with us. Brings so much life and fun to the vids.

[Lochlann]

I've really enjoyed Jaime's increased presence in the videos lately! You guys have a great dynamic, and it reminds me of the Montana days with Will.

[karrawr]

Can confirm, another certified Alec Steele classic

[yaldnif]

I'm sure @HowNot2 would love to break one of these for you to let you know if it holds up to an off the shelf carabiner!

[couragios]

Mate .. Alec manages to actually kill 2 stones with one bird ... he really is something :D

[jackhall]

As a firearms enthusiast, I can say that the locking mechanism is very very just and inside out version of the "roller delayed" operation used in some firearms. You have pins and cam grooves that allow the rotation and unlocking and a spring to reset and lock the mechanism in place. Pretty strong and quite ingenious for how simple it is when you know what you're trying to achieve.

[NickyHendriks]

Very interesting to see you're going for the triact-lock (standing for triple action). It's probably one of the most complex locking systems there is and it is interesting to see what is going on inside as my life depends on them because it is part of my primary industrial climbing gear. And just for some extra info: the snappers aren't allowed in industrial climbing, only locking connectors are which require at least two actions to open.

[justinish]

I love these build series's!!! This is the type of stuff other Blacksmith channels just aren't doing! And he's so fun and entertaining to watch!

[Zogg]

This is an awesome project, but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to risk my life on a Damascus carabiner! Just a thought, you could kind of turn this into a collaboration project with the youtube channel "Hownot2" as he has an awesome thing where he breaks climbing kit to test how strong it is. You can probably see where I'm going with will you put your Damascus carabiner to the ultimate test of seeing how strong it actually err.... breaking it?!?!?!? Please???

[telotawa]

can you do a strength test on it? i wanna know if it'd work as climbing gear lol

[hpphinatic]

this series of homemaking tools and other things is my favorite thing youve done on this channel in a while! keep it up! super interesting and a nice departure from the knives and swords etc.

[MakeEverything]

Seeing what is inside that spring lock got me really excited to see you remake it. I love this series of forged tools!

[francobuzzetti]

3:00 the confident and awe in the words when you said "nobody knows how this works" made me laugh so hard

[MV-vvsg]

As an idea Alec I’d love you to do a series of time lapses of the sanding down of blocks of Damascus patterns.

By time lapsing the precise removal of layers you’d see a video of the pattern move through the block of steel.
You could even overlay its whole volume so it looks like a cross section layer is moved through rather than the actual block reducing in size.

Just an idea I think would look great! All be it a lot of waisted material.

[MV-vvsg]

Love the new narrative of Jamie fixing all Alex’s problems in each episodez

[Dexter_Morgan.]

You should send one of these to Ryan from HowNot2 so we can see how strong it really is

[swimdude]

As a note, wire gate doesn't necessarily mean cheap, and are commonly used in climbing (sport and trad).

That said, if you're using a non-locking carabiner for climbing, only use it for appropriate applications (don't use it for belaying) and only buy reputable brands that are rated to be load bearing. And always inspect your gear regularly!

[pumello]

Hey Alec, thanks to you i got inspired to start studying blacksmithing. Ive been taking classes with a master blacksmith since august last year. Thanks! :)