ChrisJC
Well-known member
Cripplecreeker said:The downside of asking for technical advice on an Internet forum...
And on the upside - he might live to ask another technical question.
Chris.
Cripplecreeker said:The downside of asking for technical advice on an Internet forum...
langcliffe said:ChrisJC said:why faff about with some dodgy old baler twine?
???? - Beale say 15 years, and that will be conservative.
Ian Ball said:Cowstails out of semi-static? better than shockloaded dynamic?
Mike Hopley said:There will be a huge difference between knot tightness following a severe fall, and just during normal use.
Mike Hopley said:If you take a really heavy fall onto your cowstails, the safest thing to do is probably cutting new ones from any spare rope you have (like the end of the pitch rope). Failing that, you could try "relaxing" them, though it may prove difficult!
benshannon said:Thanks for the info guys. I'll buy some new rope. Just seems a shame to have a nearly immaculate rope going to waste. Ah well.
Bob Mehew said:Even 'heavy loadings' will take up the 'slack' in the knots and increase the peak force seen by your body.
Cap'n Chris said:Obviously you're insane. Your safety connectors are your principal life saving PPE. Price for your life?
Again this is slightly misrepresenting what I mean by relaxing a knot. In the two sets of 3 0.1FF drops shown, the samples extended by 3 and 5cm which came out of the knots. In the five sets of 3 FF1.0 drops it was 16cm, that is the cows tail lengthened from 37cm to 53cm! I predict more will come out if I had kept going as it is only when the peak forces are up around 10kN does the overall sample length stop extending. (Sorry I am not in a position to do that test as yet.) To spell out the point I am trying to make:mikem said:... secure knots is more important than badly tied ones "coz you relaxed them a bit too much"...
Chocolate fireguard said:It does seem a shame to throw the rope away, but I assume you are only thinking about getting one set of cowstails from it and dumping the rest?
If it was my rope and I was as confident of its past history as you are then I would use it for cowstails.
I remember seeing some of my old 9mm semi static pitch rope, with perhaps 10 years hard use and another 5 years in a bag in the cellar, drop tested (probably FF1 80kg) and surviving at least 1 drop.
So you could cut the rest of your rope into 10 or 15m lengths for use on those short pitches or handline climbs that sometimes use up and waste longer ropes, and where the extra bounce isn't excessive.
Or you could compromise, buy new cowstails and use the whole rope for that.