Good use for old 'biners!

Cool to hear some of you are psyched on the designs! - Based on the feedback and your emails I had better order some aluminum and will certainly be busy in the shop for a while! For sure would make a cool gift!

Nice Amockalypse! Good to hear there are more metal makers out there! Thanks for the kind words for sure.

Dude these look great... how do you get the texture/surface look on the aluminum?

How are you attaching the biners? Welding?

Make a bunch of these, post them on Etsy. You will sell out as long as the price isn't insane.

Morgan Patterson wrote:Dude these look great... how do you get the texture/surface look on the aluminum?

Its a function of the tool used and tool path chosen.

Was going to say, these look awesome! Work on the tool path a bit (assuming CNC) and you could have yourself a nice side business.

thumbs up!

I mill the spines flat and drill, tap, and bolt the biners to the plate. I'm just using combos of end mills and fly cutters and playing with depth and feed speed to add effect and artistry!

Very nice work! Cool style & great execution

you could also use a dual action sander to create a swirl pattern. it might be a little more "artsy".

Or if you have access to a drill press, you could try this technique.
youtube.com/watch?v=5KmnVLU…

Im totally kicking my self in the ass for not seeing this before I got my coat hanger for the front door.

Cool ideas all, thanks! FYI I just stocked up on more aluminum and have been receiving lots of requests - so cool! Psyched to make these for folks that are interested! Send me a PM and let me know what size/style you are thinking about (even if it is larger than the ones in my pics) and I'll let you know if I can do it.

I LOVE these... I might have some biners that fit the bill. Definitely interested.

FYI I just posted up some more pics and information about the carabiner racks officially under the 'for sale' forum. Check them out! - I have been filling a few orders and am psyched to recycle your old gear and make it functional again! Also been experimenting with more cutters and I think they look pretty rad!

Thanks to your good ideas and psych I just posted my racks up on Etsy and my little shop is called DavesClimbDesigns just in case anyone cares! You'll note that the prices had to be adjusted a bit because of the fees associated with this type of listing so feel free to contact me directly if you'd like a rack. Now put down the cake and get out and climb! - Dave

Look pretty frickin sweet with new anodized biners too, although ultralights are tough to attach because their spines are so narrow!

Having too much fun I guess playing with aluminum - here's one inspired by my backcountry skiing trip in the Tetons this past weekend!

Damn, the Tetons rack looks great too!

Thanks T,

I've got the Cirque of the Towers, Patagonia skyline, and Yosemite Valley in the works as well as I just figured out how to cut more intricate patterns out of the plate. Still personally like the jagged mountain though...

And here's what I came up with for the Cirque of the Towers and Patagonia. Don't look half bad...... PM me if interested - Dave

OK, please don't blame Dave for how fucked up this looks:-) I had some old biners, 3 old Chouinards and 3 old Bonati Ds. In an attempt to clean them up (I paint my yellow/blue colors on everything with enamel) I dumped them into some crazy dangerous shit we use for Stainless steel. Never have used it on any Aluminum and I learned a lesson. Turned them near black. Deep black would have been fine, but they were not deep black. Plus for that to have worked I should have degreased them first, but I didn't so I didn't get a consistent look. And the paint I'd put on was still there but the paint on one Bonati was peeling off. Shit!

Anyway, Dave took a shot at cleaning up my mess and did a better than fair effort too. So, the reason this looks as good as it does is cause Dave did a great job. I sent in 6 old biners that I'd screwed up royally and got this back. I'm very happy! Thanks Dave!!

Big kudos to Dave for pulling my disaster out of the fire and making some art! You'd never know how bad I'd screwed it up if I hadn't told ya:-) You can click on the photo twice to see it fullsized. It's a little bitter sweet, I recall buying them new. They got old, I got old. At least there may be some little value still left in us both. LOL

Thanks for the kind words Bill - it was fun figuring out how to clean up the mess to make your hardware look good again! I really like the way older carabiners look on the racks - especially when they have personalized stamps, tape, or markings that show that they've been used for years on someone's rack. Working on a few new designs that folks might like - Mosquito Range from Breck, Maroon Bells, Boulder skyline, etc. Post some pics soon!