Hi, we just published the first part of our review of gear4rocks' plastic nuts.
If your interested you can read it here:
http://www.arrampicata.info/attrezzature-materiali-test/nuts-plastica-eng-gear4rocks.asp

Plastic Nuts?

No thanks!

Personally, I have enjoyed my hardened steel nuts.

They for a fact will last longer, have taken decades of use/abuse/long ass falls and can in fact be trusted time and time again when in a pinch or when shit hits the fan.






Over and Out.

No UIAA cert? Don't think so. I'm a thrifty, craigslist type of guy, but not when it comes to load-bearing climbing equipment. I've even started moving away from Black Diamond because a lot of their shit is made in China now.

I'm trying to arrange some load testing for them, so that would be interesting data.

manfromnantucket wrote:i have a plastic "fake" nut

hahahaha!
In the dmm walnut shape as well?

manfromnantucket wrote:i have a plastic "fake" nut

I have a friend who had (and fully recovered) from testicular cancer. It claimed one of his testicles, and the doc asked if he would like a prosthetic to "fill the void." I have since wondered what exactly they make them out of. Or maybe you have options? Solid gold, platinum, or maybe even a magnet could be pretty cool.

mountainsandsound wrote:

manfromnantucket wrote:i have a plastic "fake" nut

I have a friend who had (and fully recovered) from testicular cancer. It claimed one of his testicles, and the doc asked if he would like a prosthetic to "fill the void." I have since wondered what exactly they make them out of. Or maybe you have options? Solid gold, platinum, or maybe even a magnet could be pretty cool.

Isn't brass the appropriate choice, especially for climbers?

As to the original thread, I can imagine there would be good use cases for nuts that deformed slightly to mold to the shape of the rock, though I'd also guess that it might be hard to remove them and they could end up being fixed pro. Is that the idea for these? Or are they just intended to be lighter than metal nuts (or have some other advantage)?

Hardened Steel were the original materials found in all sizes including micro's. RR, Tom Frost and YC brought the concept over from England where Joe Brown and gang were using different sizes of actual "Nuts" that they slung with cord tied together with double fisherman's knot. CLOG and Hugh Banner intro'd the first Aluminum and Brass nut designs in the late 60's early 70's and YC/Tom Frost manu'd the first aluminum and steel versions with steel attached steel cables here in the US at the GPIW in the early 70's.


Over and Out.

I meant brass was the appropriate choice for climber's replacement nuts (as in testicles) .

I've also heard that the original nuts were steel machine nuts, and hard steel certainly seems like the best choice if you don't want the nut to mold itself to the rock. On the other hand I've also heard that some climbers in the early days used wooden pegs as pro, especially for wide cracks before bongs were available. Biodegradable fixed pro?

JHH60 wrote:... hard steel certainly seems like the best choice if you don't want the nut to mold itself to the rock.

That is why I have kept to hard steel for my personal set. Don't want anyone or anything to remold itself around them. They don't corrode as quickly either.


Over and Out.

When my dog was neutered, the vet offered to implant a 'nuticle', you know, to preserver his self esteem.

ExcitableBoy wrote:When my dog was neutered, the vet offered to implant a 'nuticle', you know, to preserver his self esteem.

I heard about that too, but I always assumed it was less for the dog (do they really know/care?) and more for the macho dog owner who would feel like less of a man if the rotwieler in the back of his lifted rig no longer had his doghood.

Re the hardened steel nuts story (I'm talking about the climbing ones). My better half Penelope knows a bit about those. In the late 50s and early 60s, Brits used steel hexagonal nuts they would buy at the hardware store, they would sling them with rope and use them as cholks. Pen used those things when she first messed with climbing as a kid. Pen says they worked really well and were cheap, which was the primary reason Brits used them, real hardware (pitons) were extremely expensive in those days.

I am all for traveling light, but everything has an associated cost and I don't think this is an area that the cost outweighs the benefits. I am sure you can climb on a 5 mil rope too to save some weight and like the plastics nuts it works fine, until you take a serious fall.....

I'd rather cut the weight on smaller biners, lighter slings, and other things that are equally strong but light.

mountainsandsound wrote:No UIAA cert? Don't think so.

Maybe you should read up on what that STANDART cert means, instead of just dismissing it. After all, certification often costs money, and that price can be a big part of the reason why a manufacturer does not choose to have their products certified.

mountainsandsound wrote:started moving away from Black Diamond because a lot of their shit is made in China now.

How is that a reason to not use it?