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Timmc
climber
BC
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Jul 15, 2017 - 08:58am PT
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[photoid=504420]
Found these below Cerro Torre last year
Maybe not a mystery but any thoughts on the Biner?
Love this thread. Thanks
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Jul 15, 2017 - 09:03am PT
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 15, 2017 - 11:36am PT
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Timmc:
I have a similar piton to the little one. The one I have is a Stubai.
My new old gear:
Lately I was lucky and got the opportunity to buy a collection of old nuts. They were bought from Mike who started climbing seriously in the late 1960's whilst at college and carried on into the early 1980's.
All his experience was in the UK, mainly in the Lake District (especially Langdale Pike area), The Peak District and North Wales.
His gear was bought in Frank Davies' "The Climber's Shop" in the village of Ambleside in the Lake District from about 1967 to 1970.
Before they had money to buy nuts like these, they started out using ordinary nuts from the hardware shop and filing out the screw thread.
Here you see "The Climber's Shop" in Ambleside: http://www.climbers-shop.com/about-us.aspx
And here's the gear I bought from Mike:
There's both an original and a first generation Moac.
There's also a mystery nut low down on the left side of the photo. Do anybody know anything about this mystery nut?
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Jul 15, 2017 - 02:51pm PT
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Marlow:
I thought that those little ones were possibly bolts from the compressor route???
Looks like some sort of wedge.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Jul 15, 2017 - 09:11pm PT
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Timmc - The fat carabiner may be a early Chouinard carabiner. The piton bolts are from Stubai. The bolt pitons were available with the wedge, or as a removable bolt piton with no wedge, two different styles.
Marlow - Your question mark hex may be a Eiger. Not sure who made the mystery nut you have circled. I wonder if it is a nut, or a wedge that is pounded into a crack.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Jul 16, 2017 - 05:30am PT
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Karabin museum: thank you.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 16, 2017 - 09:28am PT
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Marty.
The nut with question mark arrived with Clog and Troll nuts from 1967-70 and I am quite sure the question nut is British. But it is not exactly like the Troll nuts and only one of the holes are placed centrally on the nut. The other hole is off center, though both holes have a very regular shape. My guess is that it is an early Clog nut/hex.
Then more mystery. The nuts below have arrived one by one and always with other Clog nuts. But these nuts are not carrying the Clog logo or any other logo and their shape is different from other Clog nuts. The upper part of the nuts have unusually rounded corners. They are all the same size. Do you know what model these are?
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Jul 16, 2017 - 11:21am PT
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Marlow - Those nuts look like Baby Moac's from 1969/1970. The question mark hex looks like it was originally made to be wired and it is missing the wire. The hex holes for cord is usually closer together where on the wire hexes the holes are further apart. So could be Clog or Troll wired #1 or #2?
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 16, 2017 - 12:32pm PT
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Thanks, Marty. Seeing the Baby Moac, I'm quite sure that is what it is.
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DanaB
climber
CT
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Jul 16, 2017 - 12:46pm PT
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The carabiner looks a bit like '70s era Bonnati.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 16, 2017 - 01:40pm PT
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DanaB
It could be a Bonaiti carabiner. Maybe Timmc can find some letters on the carabiner.
The name would be Bonaiti, I think, not Bonatti. Today the name of the company is Kong:
The origins of Kong starts from afar, exactly around 1830 in a workshop at the foot of the Alps, where Giuseppe Bonaiti gave rise to our story, writing important pages for Made in Italy.
The attention for maximum protection of the human lives, together with the dreams that men "hang" climbing the peaks, led Bonaiti to export all over the world his products and philosophy.
His carabiners have become real fixed points for everyone who practice vertical disciplines.
In 1977 Bonaiti company changed its name to Kong, but the mission remains the same: "Being a manufacturer of safety where the risk is the protagonist"
To read more: https://www.kong.it/en/3-company/4-history
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Jul 16, 2017 - 05:07pm PT
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I know it seems weird but my first impression was a Bonaiti, but the Chouinard fits the profile perfectly. The carabiner body in the photo varies in thickness so the carabiner was molded. The early Bonaiti used a round stock so the thickness stayed the same throughout the entire Bonaiti carabiner body. The fat early Bonaiti carabiners had rounded gate tops. The Chouinard carabiner mfg stamp was not marked very well, however the Chouinard carabiner shown in the photo has somebody's initials carved into the gate where the original carabiner gate is manufactured with no markings. The Chouinard carabiners first came out in the late 1950s and were sold through the early 1960s worldwide.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jul 16, 2017 - 05:24pm PT
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Marty & Timmc: I thought early Chouinard biner too, when I saw that photo. And as Marty knows, that style was manufactured up until Chouinard changed to this biner style in 1968.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Jul 16, 2017 - 07:47pm PT
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I recently purchased a few items from ebay. One was a hammer and pitons from code name Fritz. Not sure if ebay Fritz is associated with Supertopo Fritz. The pitons are old Fritsch & Cie and the smaller ice piton is marked made in Austria. The larger ice piton is unmarked but looks more manufactured than homemade. I mostly wanted the hammer since it is the one that is displayed in the 1958 REI catalog. Listed only as made in Austria. I know on Supertopo in past threads other climbers have inquired about this unmarked hammer that maybe was mfgd by Stubai or Salewa. I wonder if REI purposely told the factory in Austria to not brand the hammer, and to create it special to the REI co op?
A second hammer is listed also in the 1958 REI catalog where another ebay auction came up and I was able to obtain the hammer. This hammer still has a REI price tag on it which helps with the mystery. The second hammer is smaller and the handle is marked made in Austria. It has the same hammer head as the 1958 catalog shows but the handle is a later 1960s design. The price on the sticker shows it sold in the mid 1970s, but how long did it actually sit on the store shelf? This second smaller hammer is different than a Stubai hammer since the head is not square and actually tapers from one end to the other before dropping into a point. I am not sure what other manufacturers there were creating hammer heads in Austria which makes me think these hammers were not made by Stubai. On the REI 1973 catalog shown it lists other manufacturers names on products including Stubai, Salewa, and Chouinard, but still this smaller hammer is listed as only, …made in Austria.
Any thoughts on who was making the Austrian hammers for the REI co op? Do you think that Stubai was creating these different shape unmarked hammer heads exclusively for only REI’s use?
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jul 16, 2017 - 07:53pm PT
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Marty! Re your question:
Not sure if ebay Fritz is associated with Supertopo Fritz.
Nope.
I'm 8ray on EBay.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jul 17, 2017 - 02:24am PT
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Marlow, the chock (n°2) on the bottom left of the photograph of the nuts which you acquired is not a MOAC Original Chock.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 17, 2017 - 07:57am PT
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When you say so, Stephane, I know you're right. It is a privilege to be proven wrong. Is it a MOAC? What model? The nut was bought 1967-70. See the photos of the nut below. It is very well made...
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jul 17, 2017 - 08:16am PT
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Marlow, I must confess that this nut puzzles me a little. It would be interesting to have the same good photograph of this nut near a MOAC Original Chock. I know that, mounted on 9 mm rope, other sizes could be obtained by filing them down to reduce their thickness.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Jul 17, 2017 - 08:21am PT
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When I get home i will see if I can see any markings on the biner. It looks like the Chouinard shape and the date Maestri was active (1959) lines up with that possibility.
Any tricks to reveal markings?
Thanks
Tim
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 17, 2017 - 08:34am PT
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At your wish - the mystery nut above with an early generation 1 MOAC.
This generation 1 MOAC is a cool item. It rolls whatever position I put it in.
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