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scuffy b
climber
On the dock in the dark
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Nov 25, 2008 - 05:54pm PT
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There's a market for I-Beams???
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couchmaster
climber
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Gear bump for the gear whores. BTW, I have some EB'S I sewed leather onto which I'll try to get a pic on. The thin canvas usually got eaten through before the sole if you did any kind of sharp crack or offwidth jamming. They were very expensive shoes then, I think @ $30 a pair or so if memory serves me right.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 30, 2010 - 11:05pm PT
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Alex,
I agree - it looks homemade. Looks like milling marks on the largest face.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 01:46am PT
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What does the top of the nut look like?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 02:46am PT
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The images are on the MP link:
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 03:01am PT
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Yup, homemade for sure!
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Dec 16, 2011 - 11:56am PT
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This is a cool thread.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 24, 2013 - 04:43pm PT
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Out of the sad, and massive clean-up operation to dispose of Jenny Martin's piles-o-stuff in her garage:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2066314&tn=0&mr=0
Salvaged a handful of old gear. Evidently stored on one of the coasts for some time, much corroded, far too gone and decrepit for any climbing use, but a few interesting items:
Some old Chouinard "Regular" Hexentrics and a couple wired stoppers of about the same vintage.
And some alternative Hexagons/Regular Hexentrics. The larger, #6 Eigers are shaped, like the early Chouinard Hexentrics, to have a wider lower, bearing face, narrower upper, non-bearing face:
Colorado Nut Hexagon 1.5:
As well as an SMC Hexagon, which, like the Colorado Nut Hex, is an exact hexagon in profile:
And a couple mystery nuts:
Here's a hexagon. A true hexagon, again. No markings except a lengthwise seam of some kind on one of the non-bearing faces:
And, maybe easier, an unmarked nut, possibly a baby Moac? (EDIT: It's a Gendarme! Thanks Steve Grossman).
The mystery gear might be Colorado Nut Co. related, since Jenny lived in the Chicken Coop for a while. A mystery why she would have these ancient relics, she'd have been a little kid when many of these were made. but, she sure seemed to not throw much away....
Maybe someone might even recognize these. Pale blue paint on some items. Also initials, maybe DCH, stamped on a nylon Foxhead?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 24, 2013 - 04:46pm PT
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The last one is a Gendarme Nut.
The #6 is an Eiger for sure.
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wivanoff
Trad climber
CT
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Feb 24, 2013 - 04:53pm PT
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Here's a hexagon. A true hexagon, again. No markings except a lengthwise seam of some kind on one of the non-bearing faces:
It's not a seam. It's an extrusion mark from an imperfection in the extruding die and doesn't affect anything. The nut was cut from hex stock, holes drilled, ends tapered.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 24, 2013 - 05:10pm PT
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Wow, Steve. An answer within, what, 3 minutes? Uncanny!
Never heard of Gendarme Nuts, but I have now. A quick search reveals they were made near Seneca Rocks, hence Gendarme name.
I'm seeing a parallel here with the early Chouinard pitons. As Chouinard modified and streamlined their early pitons manufacturing, other manufacturers were driven out of business (or just lost interest). Seems like a similar process with the early nuts. The larger sizes were easy enough to make and many folks tried their hand: Eiger, SMC, Colorado Nut Co.
But Chouinard's/Frost's development of "Regular Hexentrics" and then the even more sophisticated Poly-whatsit Hexentrics was enough to make much of the domestic competition gave up.
Cheers,
Crusher
EDIT: Thanks for the clarification, wivanoff!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 24, 2013 - 05:19pm PT
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Plenty of information about Gendarme Nuts here...
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1397992&tn=20
I have a full set to post up soon.
The market dominance of Chouinard Equipment definitely chased a lot of small shapers on to other things.
Tom and Yvon understood that a full range of sizes was just as valuable in a selection of nuts as it was with a rack of pitons. Why this idea didn't have traction in Britain is a mystery.
Most small businesses aren't willing to spring for the sort of big extrusions necessary to compete. Eiger was willing to have their own extrusions made to compete with Chouinard in the larger sizes.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Apr 18, 2013 - 03:36am PT
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I acquired this little nut yesterday, and I would appreciate some help from you to identify it. It does not have any famous logo stamped on it. After cleaning it a little, it seems that I can see an “E” stamped on one face. As it does not seem to be “home made”, I am sure that someone here will be easily able to put a name to this “E Nut”. Marty, Steve…?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 20, 2013 - 02:55pm PT
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Stephane- Did that come from a European source or North America?
If NA I would guess that it is an MSR wedge but I don't have one to confirm that. The maker had a power swager and did a neat job on the nut so I suspect that it was in production.
Anybody else have a clue?
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tansofun
climber
Long Beach, CA
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Apr 21, 2013 - 09:52am PT
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Anybody know what this is? Looks like a camming nut of some sort. No identifying marks, found it in a gear shop in Kathmandu. Sorry for the poor phone pic.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Apr 21, 2013 - 10:36am PT
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Missed this the first around, but it's a fun thread. Read the link to the Needle Sports history of nuts linked on the first page and this caught my eye:
Let's come back to England where, in a small village in the Peak District, Mark Vallance, creator of Wild Country, improved considerably the most classic pyramidal nut. "Rare are the cracks showing the same profile as the nuts". Starting from this statement, in 1978, Mark Vallance thought of changing the two large flat sides to create the maximum possible point contact with the rock. Using some Forrest Foxheads as prototypes he tried a large number of combinations to obtain finally the first curved nut, marketed early in 1979 under the name of Rock. No matter what the angle formed by both sides of a crack, the Rocks have always a three-point contact instead of only two for the pyramidal nut. By coincidence, at about the same time, Geoff Birtles, the Editor of High Mountain Sports magazine, worked with Tom Proctor on a closely similar design. They offered Mark Vallance the name Rocks which was what their device was called.
A curved stopper was made by Richard Harrison and John Long in Richard’s basement in Upland, California sometime around 1974-1975. They took a file to a Chouinard number 7 stopper and gave it into a curved shape, and named it the “Banana Nut”. I was skeptical about it when they showed it to me, but found that it worked well.
Wild Country later patented the curved stopper and when Chouinard brought out its own version, Wild Country sued for patent infringement. Around 1983, Dick Leversee, who was working for Chouinard, called me to confirm the existence of the Banana Nut and I became a witness in the lawsuit.
I testified that the curved design was already in use by Richard, John and I , a fact that was legally significant and could have invalidated the patent under the doctrine called “prior art.”
Richard gave Chouinard’s lawyers the Banana Nut for use in the litigation, but he never got it back. I think the lawsuit was settled out of court, but I am not sure.
Around the same time, Richard and John also filed down a Chouinard Hexentric, giving it a curved side which allowed it to act like a cam.
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tansofun
climber
Long Beach, CA
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Apr 21, 2013 - 11:15am PT
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Reply to my own question, it looks like a wire tri-cam.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 21, 2013 - 01:25pm PT
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Wired variation on the theme of an Abalakov cam made from a pulley wheel and not likely a commercial release.
Ricky- Sounds like a colossal waste of money trying to enforce a patent on a nut shape like that but I guess they thought that they had something original.
More questions for Yvon once I get a chance to sit down with him. Tom was gone by then.
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SavageMarmot
Trad climber
Nederland, CO
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Apr 21, 2013 - 03:21pm PT
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Chouinard Stopper:
What size is this? The cord holes are 9.3mm and it measures 21.3mm wide and 32.5mm long at the top. Pre 80's?
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