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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Yeah the hollow ones...Even Salewa made 'em as well, were reputed to cut on bolt hangars...Yowza...
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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I thought the first one had a little hand print on it? Does the alcoa have the hand?
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Here are a few pages from the 1968 Chouinard catalog. This is when they introduced their new DROP-FORGED 'biner. If I have a moment I will call Frost to get his opinion on how the original 1957-onward 'biners were made.
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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This is a late-60s, early 70s vintage... I think
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Larry's post of the Chouinard biners makes it easy to identify.
I have what looks like #2 and #3.
The oldest model I have has 4,000 lbs stamped on it and the spine is flat on 2 sides.
Oh and the initials are "RV"
Edit: Now I see I have the mid seventies "Standard model"
Damn.
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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The Utahman biner looks more like early 80s
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altieboo
Boulder climber
Livermore, Ca
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I have a Chouinard-USA 2100.
Is this model actually worth a bit of money? I feel like the $250 on that Ebay listing is way absurd.
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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I'm thinking mine was a bit before this improved 2200 Kg 1975 model... cuz I got some straight spined 2800 Kg P.Allains in 75 instead of the Chouinards.
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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No, it's later. Your 1975 is the next one after the Chouinard/Salewa,
and before any ovals.
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bluering
Trad climber
CA
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I got one like Utahman's. Found it on the ground at Phantom Spires, near a roadside boulder problem on Wright's Road.
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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before any ovals
That makes sense
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go-B
climber
In God We Trust
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Might be worth if it had free shipping?
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Utahman's first photo is of an early 80's Chouinard biner. His second photo is of a mid-70's Chouinard biner.
Bruce
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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only question is... what box are my old ones in? :-)
oh, and what's the market for 1975 Brevettes? ;-)
jb
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Not aware that any of Yvon's carabiners were "hand forged" ... especially circa 1968.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Sorry Doug, I jumped in without paging down.
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Sedro Woolley, WA
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I have 18 of the 'Hollows', they were always scary when accidently weighted while they were open! Then you couldn't close the gate, eeekkk and I only weighed 165 back then, Ha.....
I know......yer gonna die.......
Thor
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SGropp
Mountain climber
Eastsound, Wa
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I really doubt any aluminum carabiners were hand forged, at least for commercial purposes.
A lot of highly stressed and critical parts are both hot and cold forged by industry out of specific aluminum alloys, but only under tightly controlled conditions and with heavy closed die presses or hammers. The temperature range that aluminum can be hot forged at is quite narrow, working it much above or below that range can cause all kinds of problems.
The relatively primitive equipment and set up used at Chouinard Equipment in the early years [ at least according to their published origin myth ] simply wouldn't be up to hand forging a reliable aluminum carabiner IMHO.
It is possible prototypes were forged by hand . If there were, they would be actually worth something, just for historical value.
I do know that when the first Chouinard carabiners came on the market , they were head and shoulders above anything else available.
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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250 bucks? That's ridiculous, I got 5 of the same biners some guy threw in the mix for free when I bought 3 MOAC nuts and a bunch of 1st generation stoppers off him for 25 bucks on Ebay.
Tell ya what, I'll sell one of mine for $125 bucks. That's 50% off suggested retail price. Sale ends August 30, place your orders now.
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Mimi
climber
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If you ever get the opportunity to witness a drop forge in action, don't miss out. When visiting the Clog factory in Wales a long time ago, we were treated to a demonstration of a figure eight being slammed into shape starting with a short fat rod of aluminum taken from an oven. The biners were made the same way with a different mold of course and another piece of extruded stock. The edges would be snipped off and then they were tossed into a tumbler for polishing. The gates were then put on. I still have my souvey figure eight which is stamped 'Second' because of some invisible blem.
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