JosephH Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 I just emailed Bill Forrest with your questions and a link, will let you know what he says or maybe he'll post up himself... Quote
Kletterhund Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 Thanks! I have had little success finding the time lines - the color coding, the change/location of the logo, etcetera. Quote
montypiton Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 Hells bells, guys, I still climb on some of that stuff!!! -Haireball Quote
JosephH Posted January 10, 2010 Posted January 10, 2010 1. The Titon size range was # 1 thru # 17. Numbers 9 thru 17 were made from the # 8 extrusion; each size just got a bit longer. The # 17 is 7" long. at on its top surface. 2. The painted and anodized Titons were standard production for a couple of years. We dropped the colors to save costs, since colored web would do the same thing. Quote
Kletterhund Posted January 11, 2010 Posted January 11, 2010 Cool! Thanks for the info! Â I was pretty sure the anodized pieces were relatively scarce - glad to have the definitive word. Â So ... Guess I'm looking for #14-#17 Titons! Â Just because I'm a modest collector does not mean I'm not obsessive! Â Cash or trade anyone?! Â Thanks again JosephH. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Quote
111 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 I've never seen those cam nuts before. Any reason they aren'y still in use? It seems like a great idea, or at least good for some finicky, specific uses. Quote
JosephH Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Trust me, we didn't call them the "Swivel of Death" for nothing... Quote
ScottP Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 I've never seen those cam nuts before. Any reason they aren'y still in use? It seems like a great idea, or at least good for some finicky, specific uses. Because I was curious, I placed the one in the picture I posted, clipped an aider into it, stood on it and bounce tested it. It held my weight and it rocked a little. I stepped off of it, flipped the aider and it came right out. Quote
Alex Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Â CMI cam nut. Â CMI Rock Jock. You know, these are not really OLD. They were still being actively manufactured in the mid-90s and pushed by climbers like Bobbi Bensman. I bought a set from the CMI factory in the 90s while visiting, as I was too cheap to buy Friends, but only used them a few times because they just sucked. Â Someone else asked if the CMI gizmo was a predecesor to the tricam. No. The tri-cam is older, design-wise for sure. Â It's kind of sad I guess as I learned with alot of the pro in this thread, and I am NOT OLD!! Â Quote
Kletterhund Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 The original Friends... Â Un-slung in sizes #1, #2, and #3. Â Â [img:left]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/2nd_Friend_Add_Off_Belay_August_1978.jpg[/img] Â Â [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/DSC016451.JPG[/img] Quote
JosephH Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 CMI Rock Jock. You know, these are not really OLD. They were still being actively manufactured in the mid-90s and pushed by climbers like Bobbi Bensman. I bought a set from the CMI factory in the 90s while visiting, as I was too cheap to buy Friends, but only used them a few times because they just sucked. Those are actually CMI 'Kirk's Kamms' (on the left), the springloaded versions were CMI 'RoKJoX' (on the right). The 'Kirk's Kamms' came out in '76 and I remember the day they came into the Shawnee Mountaineering store; ran right out and almost killed myself with a couple of them straight away. I've sent Stephane an email and he'll get back to us with how long Kirk manufactured them for. Â Â Popular Science - Sept. 1977 Â Edit: Looks like Kirk's Kamms only ran from 76-78 and RokJox from '87 to ? (Stephane still checking on that one...) Quote
RJRiha Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Joseph, that popular science article was great. Thanks for digging that bit up. Quote
ScottP Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 The original Friends... Un-slung in sizes #1, #2, and #3.   [img:left]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/2nd_Friend_Add_Off_Belay_August_1978.jpg[/img]   [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/DSC016451.JPG[/img]  Skinny trigger bar and hex nuts capping the axles... Replacing the original trigger bars with the later thicker ones took some time with a file to flatten them so they'd fit in the narrower slot. Quote
sobo Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 The original Friends... Un-slung in sizes #1, #2, and #3.   [img:left]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/2nd_Friend_Add_Off_Belay_August_1978.jpg[/img]    [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/DSC016451.JPG[/img] I have those in doubles up through 3, and yes, I still use 'em! Quote
Dan_Miller Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 I still have my original #1 and #3, and never hesitate to place them. They were such a great benefit over most other pieces at the time. I guess I haven't really gotten over the impact they originally had on me. Quote
Off_White Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 I have those in doubles up through 3, and yes, I still use 'em! Â So, when we get around to going out to Lightning Dome, we can use my rack, mmkay? Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 I have those in doubles up through 3, and yes, I still use 'em! Â So, when we get around to going out to Lightning Dome, we can use my rack, mmkay? Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 I was thinking of binding my feet so I could use my old leather boots with the Diaber boot nails to run up Baker this weekend. Quote
ScottP Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Hard men did hard climbs in leather boots fitted with Daiber nails. Â Show some respect, Grasshopper. Â Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Hard men did hard climbs in leather boots fitted with Daiber nails. Show some respect, Grasshopper.  No disrespect here Scott. Many men have climbed harder than I ever will in far more archaic gear. I doubt I will ever meet my master in sarcasm though.  Quote
Alex Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 CMI Rock Jock. Those are actually CMI 'Kirk's Kamms' (on the left), the springloaded versions were CMI 'RoKJoX' (on the right). The 'Kirk's Kamms' came out in '76 and I remember the day they came into the Shawnee Mountaineering store; ran right out and almost killed myself with a couple of them straight away. I've sent Stephane an email and he'll get back to us with how long Kirk manufactured them for. Â Thanks, ok, '76 is pretty old. I wonder what CMI was thinking? 10 years go by and some marketing dood says "We need something NEW that will SELL!!" And some guy in the shop says, "well, we still have the tooling for these Kirks over hear...and if we just add a small spring, we can rebrand them and sell em for 30$ each..." Quote
ScottP Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Hard men did hard climbs in leather boots fitted with Daiber nails. Show some respect, Grasshopper.  No disrespect here Scott. Many men have climbed harder than I ever will in far more archaic gear. I doubt I will ever meet my master in sarcasm though. Just checking... BTW, I enjoyed your Squire Creek Wall TR...there's decades of adventure up in there; an amazing place, for sure. Quote
richard_noggin Posted January 13, 2010 Author Posted January 13, 2010 I’ll show you mine if you show me yours I didn’t t think these were that old but I did lend a friend of mine my doubles of BD 1’s and 2’s and a year later he said I need to get them back to you and I just said I got my friends and he just laughed  Quote
matt_warfield Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 (edited) I have a Friend #4 from the very first year they were offered and still use it (new webbing every few years of course). It is remarkable how little the basic design has changed over the years. Jardine, despite eccentricities, revolutionized protection. Â I also have some nuts from the first year Chouinard offered them after the catalogue with the article on the push toward clean climbing. Edited January 13, 2010 by matt_warfield Quote
Lodestone Posted January 14, 2010 Posted January 14, 2010 Reading this thread got me thinking about a Friend that I removed from Madrone Wall about fourteen years ago. I though I might be able to date it using Wild Country's Friend Age Guide (http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/AboutUs/CustomerServices/FriendAgeGuide/) but there aren't any numbers on the thing except for the patent number. Does this mean that it was made before 1988?    Chad   Quote
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