Jump to content

hafilax

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1044

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by hafilax

    The stainless myth?

    in Ice Climbing Forum

    Posted

    Some/most of your comments-assumptions are faulty.

    Where do people come up with this stuff?

     

    You want to argue with the director of hardware at BD about his own products have at it. I was just relying info I found and had BD verify.

     

     

    "stainless has a higher strength to weight ratio or at least stiffness to weight"....this one in particular. Feel free to document that statement. It's bs. Were you thinking of Titanium?

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium

     

     

    Stainless and chromoly can do the exact same jobs (except for corrosion resistance) with similar heat treats and choice in alloys at the SAME MATERIAL WEIGHT. When you understand even a tiny bit of metalurgy it takes little to go from chromoly to stainless in an alloy. And when it comes to crampons it is way easier to use chromoly and get acceptable results. Same reason only one company heavily invested in stainless technology and others make web posts on the material.

     

    http://www.grivel.com/acciaio/stainless_steel_vs_chromolly_steel.pdf

     

    I am telling you what the exact weight changes are and why for the last two generations of the BD Cyborg. I choose them as the comparison because it was easy as there were less design changes on the Cyborg compared to the Sabertooth. I can tell you exactly what the thickness (volume?) of the metal BD produced the Cyborg's from, which BD confirmed, as .1000". The 2.8oz weight loss on the new Cyborg is as I said, 5mm shorter front spikes, slight change on the angled spikes and the new heel levers.

     

    No one changed stock thickness at BD when they went from chromoly to stainless, that was my point. And I don't trust my eyes for posts like this. I use a digital micrometer and called BD to confirm my observations and see what I missed.

     

    You might want to read this.

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

     

    There are different types of stainless steels: when nickel is added, for instance, the austenite structure of iron is stabilized. This crystal structure makes such steels non-magnetic and less brittle at low temperatures. For greater hardness and strength, more carbon is added. When subjected to adequate heat treatment, these steels are used as razor blades, cutlery, tools, etc.

     

    I've read all of those before. What SS does BD use and what Chromoly does Grivel use? Then we can do a real comparison.

     

    That Grivel PDF screams propaganda so excuse me for not taking it any more seriously than that of BD.

     

    I'm not trying to say that SS is better or worse. I'm just looking for a fair comparison of material properties. Show me the numbers. Like Grivel says it's a compromise but they bely this conclusion by stating that SS is for idiots and chromoly is for smart people. It's like saying aluminum crampons are useless. Useless for what?

     

    Maybe my initial impressions about SS vs chromoly were backwards. It seems that SS is generally softer and weaker than chromoly but I think it has a much higher elongation % which implies better durability. I'll look into it more when I have a little more time.

    The stainless myth?

    in Ice Climbing Forum

    Posted

    AFAIK stainless has a higher strength to weight ratio or at least stiffness to weight so you can get away with less material and still have similar performance. You can also see added structure pressed into the metal (at least in the Sabertooths) that will improve stiffness allowing for less material.

     

    Attributing all of the weight savings to the heel lever without looking at the change in the volume of metal is disingenuous. Just by going to a slightly thinner stock can make a difference but be unnoticeable to the eye.

    5.15

    in Spray

    Posted

    Pulling the rope after every fall is like telemark skiing. It's old school, it's more difficult, you can brag about the beauty and purity but in the end your stuck with moderate terrain.

    (Yes there are outliers that can pull hard and tele hard but they would be arguably working harder stuff if they went with a different discipline.)

    5.15

    in Spray

    Posted

    I'm mostly trying to figure out what's so objectionable about sport climbing. It's not the removal of the mental challenge because top-roping is OK. It's not the use of bolts because if they're far apart and runout it's OK or even revered. It's not that the bolts are too close together because freeing a bolt ladder is a noble goal. It's not the full rehearsal because Grit style head pointing takes balls. It's not that sport climbs wouldn't be possible if led since you could lead them by drilling on hooks or with a willy stick and again the whole bolt ladder thing. Is it that steep face climbing just shouldn't exist?

     

    So if I aided a face route on hooks placing bolts as pro and then freed it pulling the rope after every fall only trying the route when I thought I was 'ready' would that be allowable? Is A2 hooking really that much more adventure and taking years to work a route really that much more noble than hang dogging?

    5.15

    in Spray

    Posted

    11c sandbag is what I've read for the BY on the many threads at ST. If you pick the right path the BY is supposed to be a matter of endurance. The difficulty is in picking the line of knobs that won't break and dealing with the terrifying runouts of course.

     

    There's got to be some harder than that. Any 13s in Smith put up on hooks?

    BD's newest Fusion winter '09/ '10 review

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    For the guys who haven't had a chance to play with the idea? Nothing to do with the swing or stick. I was amazed at how my hang time changed (got longer) by simply opening the finger groove on the pommel a bit (very important for me) and allowing my hand to drop off the end of the tool, sans spike.

     

    Not the best pictures and they don't tell the whole story but if you climb cracks or are into Kinesiology/Biomechanics they will tell you a lot just by the angle of the wrist and strength available in the positions of the hand.

     

    aco.sized.jpg

     

    acp.sized.jpg

     

    Seems to me like this is kind of like the difference between a jam and a finger lock. Some finger locks you can really relax your hand which might explain why you can hang on longer in the second position.

    5.15

    in Spray

    Posted

    I view rehearsed climbing much like gymnastics or kata in martial arts.

     

    Is that a good parallel?

    Rehearsed climbing is to onsight climbing as kata is to martial arts.

    Question for Guitar Players

    in Spray

    Posted

    Get a computer recording interface like a Line6 Toneport or a Presonus Firebox. They might even come with multi-track recording software but there are free ones out there like Ardour. My Toneport came with Ableton Live.

    Question for Guitar Players

    in Spray

    Posted

    I bet that with a closed back cab with Celestions you'll be most of the way to the JCM 800 sound. It's amazing how much the cab and speakers change the tone and response and it's usually overlooked. Open back combos can't do metal especially with tubes.

     

    The metal zone probably sounds completely different going into a tube first stage and a closed back cab.

     

    I have all the parts to convert my head into a JCM 800. Just haven't gotten around to it. The big plan was to make a switchable Bassman clean and 800 dirty.

    Question for Guitar Players

    in Spray

    Posted

    What guitar and amp? A 7 string or baritone guitar can bring the heavy. As much as I hate active pickups they can be good for super compressed over the top distortion. They overpower any tone from the guitar though.

     

    The biggest mutilators I can think of are:

     

    Digitech Whammy

    Whah

    EH Frequency Analyzer

    EH POG (poly octave generator)

    Any of the EH synths and octaves for that matter

    Any of the Moogerfoogers (Ring Modulator, MuRF etc)

    Envelope filter/autowhah

     

    More distortion:

    Fender Blender or Big Muff

    Foxx Tone Machine

    Green Ringer (octave up and has some ring modulator like qualities with more than 2 notes; needs a compressor in front of it)

     

    A good compressor can bring the best out of some of these effects or kill them depending.

     

    Or you could just get a POD.

    First Ascent Clothing - New choices

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    I picked up the FA belay knife over Xmas. I like the design but I'm not sure that it can take much punishment. The biner attachment is a part of the blade and the body has a stop which prevents the knife from opening fully while it's on a biner. The biner attachment makes it really easy to open one handed even with gloves without the need of the thumb stud on the side. The blade is made in China and I'm not sure about the durability of the plastic body but I couldn't pass it by at 25% off.

×
×
  • Create New...