Interested in custom pitons?

Hey, I am getting into custom forging my own pitons.

Anybody, interested in a custom shape, etc. I could price them similar to new BD's.

Just seeing if there is any interest, I know that there is a good selection of new ones available, I am just doing it to save money myself. Probably won't have time to do much until mid November.

Hi Andrew, Got any pics?

Robert, I don't have them with me right now so I can grab them in about two weeks. School is rough right now and didn't want to be distracted but I got tired of studying and posted this. But I assume then if you think they are quality then you would want a couple?

Hey Andrew,
This sounds cool. I work with a bunch of hand and arm amputees who are always looking for cool customized gizmos to use for climbing. Shoot me an email at mdaly@paradoxsports.org with your digits. Lot's of ideas out there...
Mal

A glove full of birdbeaks...you could get up anything. i like itl

Andrew Luke wrote:Robert, I don't have them with me right now so I can grab them in about two weeks. School is rough right now and didn't want to be distracted but I got tired of studying and posted this. But I assume then if you think they are quality then you would want a couple?

Yes, I would be interested. Let me know when you can send some more info. Do you still have my email address?

Yes... I would be interested in large peckers that flute into "T" stock as they go deeper... if that makes sense. INstead of T stock, if the high ridge of the pecker were say 3mm while the low edge were 1/2 mm, that would be even better (for the rock!)
if you wanna chat about it you can email me here.

Ok, I will post back up here when I get pics of what I have made... Obviously there is enough interest for me to bring my equipment to school, that is what I was really wanting to know. I'll get back with ya'll when I get the stuff and figure out what everybody is wanting!

Andrew, what I am looking for, and I can think off a few other people who would be interested off the top of my head, is a pecker that is DESIGNED for soft rock. The current peckers work well in soft stone, when compared to other pitons, but the flutes or wider top ridge would be very useful in soft rock and not so much in granite.

Any way to make sawed offs but not like the Lucky brand ones? I'd buy a bunch of bird beaks too.

Zac

"This sounds cool. I work with a bunch of hand and arm amputees who are always looking for cool customized gizmos to use for climbing. Shoot me an email at mdaly@paradoxsports.org with your digits. Lot's of ideas out there... "

Pun intended?

Maybe a stupid question, but what is the difference between the A5 birdbeaks and the BD peckers?

And Sam not sure I understand exactly what it is you are wanting, we can worry about everybody's designs when I get some time.

Robert, sorry missed your post, I'll just post up pics and stuff after I get through these next loaded 2-3 weeks with school.

Keep in ind 90% off my aid experience is clean aid, (never been in areas long enough where it is acceptable to pull out a hammer). Spending most of my time in the Midwest and southern Arizona (Mount Lemon) I have been a bit sheltered from the specialty gear...

But really I need to get my head back in the books.

Actually if a couple of you want to make some drawings of what you want I'll make it and post the pics up in two-three weeks so you can see kind of what my work looks like.

But I really won't be able to get to making much till mid November

Hey there again, I also would be interested in checking out your offerings. When might you be getting some pictures available and possibly some pins. What kind of forge are you using, just curious. I've wanted to do metal work myself, mostly for art though. Have done some metallurgy, but mostly welding and brazing; again for art. How long have you been blacksmithing? I've always thought it to be quite interesting myself. I want to create an in ground forge, similar to what the Africans use in west Africa. Definitely not for hard metals like that of pitons. Do you do anything with aluminum? Good luck with the endeavor.

Juan
drblewndrr@yahoo.com

P.S. Kind of being a smart ass, but trying to be patriotic and buying goods from the U.S., don't be mad from the last posting. I hope you have a great day and good luck with the books.

Alright well it doesn't look like I am going to be able to get that ride to my parents house until I go back to visit at thanksgiving, sorry for the delays.

Juan I use a propane fired forge, much easier, I have been playing around with blacksmithing for about the last 4 yrs off and on. I am a senior in Metallurgical Engineering so this stuff is fun.

I'll post back up here when I get more info. Currently I am testing some scrap 4130 and 5160 to get the tempering right, trying to hit RC 35.

Andrew.... Please get in touch with me. I would like to show you my idea for a hook that will really help clean aid. I"m actually not sure why it doesn't exist already.

sam I replied to your pm, I guess you didn't get it.

aluke3692(at)hotmail.com

for anybody that wants get in touch, I have some steel on order and I should be able to make up some samples starting on the 22nd.

anybody happen to know the hardness commonly used for hooks?

Andrew Luke wrote:anybody happen to know the hardness commonly used for hooks?

If anyone local to SLC or Ogden has some, I can check the hardness at work. I have a Rockwell tester.

that would be great, probably easier than me buying one just to test myself. oh and in case anybody here wants to know early, aliens are not the T6 aging like they claim, they are about 10 rockwell B to low. My assumption is that they are under or over aged, I will be posting more in a new thread as I investigate further. All the other cams (BD camalot, metolius, and rock empire) were within the correct hardness range.

I'm curious, I've been thinking about modifying my peckers. What I was thinking would be useful would be to put a slight bend in the shaft, one set left and one set right so as to achieve a bit of camming. I figured that might make them more useful for hand placement. My concern is this, how would I need to go about bending it, obviously heat is an issue as too much could ruin the tensle strength of the hook, is it bad to bend these suckers cold? I would imagine the metal snapping instead of bending?

Also I would be interested in bird beaks, crack 'n' ups, and the old toucans if you can re-produce them, it would be nice if the blades were tapered so as to be able to hand place them more effectively like a stopper. Also slightly bent shafts for a bit of light camming.

alright, still alive after 2-4 hrs of sleep each night the last two and a half weeks, slept a whole 22hrs yesterday and tomorrow I am going out to work on some of this. I figured there wasn't a whole lot of need in posting the pics of my mild steel practice pieces until I can replicate it in a harder steel...
Sam I am going to try some smaller versions of your hook, so when I get the big forge built I will have some work already done.

And to Jason wanting to bend you hooks, cold working it might be a bad idea, but you can try it, but heating it up will require you to re-harden it...
Sorry it is taken so long, thought I would have had more time. But college is taking all of my effort. Dam society for saying I need a degree to be a metallurgist and I can't be self taught. But only two semesters left and they are mostly humanities and basic classes I skipped...