Biners under water

I dropped a set of draws, slings and biners in a bag into the river. It lay somewhere in the bottom for two months before being returned to me (what Karma!) I look at them and a couple of the lockers have some rust showing (from one cotter pin like dealy) but otherwise, the others look pretty good. A bit of whitish but not very bad.

Now I know the easy, safest answer is "don't use them" because my life is worth more than that. But then I think about the fact that we all rap off biners that have been left outside for much longer with alternating water and sun, which I'd think would be worse. And though I was originally thinking of just throwing the slings away, I start to think maybe even those might be OK. Any scientific thoughts on the subject?

If there is white powdery-looking spots on the aluminum biners it is probably oxidation(same thing that happens when steel rusts it's aluminum oxide rather than iron oxide) if this is the case they could be somewhat weakened.

chris21 wrote:If there is white powdery-looking spots on the aluminum biners it is probably oxidation(same thing that happens when steel rusts it's aluminum oxide rather than iron oxide) if this is the case they could be somewhat weakened.

Please....Yea I am sure that layer of aluminum oxide has decreased the strength of the biners by close to 0.001%, they are now only rated to 22.9996 kN.

Use some warm soapy water and a soft scotchbright or 0000 steel wool to clean off any oxidation. Rinse a few times with cold water, let them dry for a day and apply some triflow. Your biners will now be as good as new.

I agree. Keep the metal and ditch the slings except for bail gear. Now you have a nice stash.

ditto what others said. biners will be fine, clean them up via kevin's recommendations. scrap the runners or use them to hang up plants/tools/etc around the house.

nothing to add. just wanted to say hi kirk!

I can't offer any scientific advice, but I wouldn't worry about the strength of the biners. I have given up using lubricants on any of my gear. There is a short term benefit, but in the long term it just attracts a lot of dirt that makes the gates or cams worse than before. I clean as well as I can with a brush and hot water and leave it at that. You could try a dry lubricant like graphite, but that can be pretty messy; use sparingly. I wouldn't use the webbing particularly if it is stiff feeling.

Love to hear the full story on how the gear came back to you...

David Houston wrote: Love to hear the full story on how the gear came back to you...

No kidding, where did the gear get dropped, and was it found in the same place after it's two month nap?
I've lucked out and had gear returned to me after my car was broken into, probably the most useful thing about having a belay cert. card w/ my stuff, but this story definitely sounds better.

I was up in the North St Vrain doing a tyrolean. I thought I had clipped the bag pretty well but apparently not because it just dropped. Searched and searched but it dropped in high water in the middle and had heavy gear in it. There was a pill bottle with my name on it and a fisherman found the bag two months later completely submerged (another reason I think it may be OK...) The best though is that the bag is the top to an expedition pack. Losing that little bag kind of ruined a MUCH bigger more expensive pack which is now whole again!

Hey Darren, didn't know who it was... Long time! When's the next book coming out?

Kirk Woerner wrote:Hey Darren, didn't know who it was... Long time! When's the next book coming out?

ha! funny you mention that... there is something in the works but more of a longer term project. thats all i will say for now in public forum. ;)