Good use for old 'biners!

Nice! Always good to see people applying their creativity.

David, have you tried playing with copper yet? It's fun to work with, also, and might be nice with certain colors, or for folks who prefer some warm accents.

Make sure you charge enough if you are selling to the general public. Hand made is special, and should be appreciated as such.

Best, Helen

An ElCap rack could easily entice me and Half Dome as well. Even better, the view with both profiles.

Helen - haven't experimented with copper yet, but might try - good idea as I have a smaller mill and can't use materials much harder than aluminum. Think I'm priced pretty fairly - check out my etsy shop at davesclimbdesigns.etsy.com

Jeff - I've been tooling around and the Valley is pretty hard to do as it takes lots of raised detail work (I'm all manual - no cnc.) No excuses - I think it would rock so I'll keep trying!

And the valley in metal. Looks pretty good I think.

Locker - yes, good idea. I usually mill off the sharp part so jackets don't snag. Keylock biners are preferable for sure. Also much easier to pin the gates open. Wire gates are a bitch but look pretty good once they are done.

Been experimenting with some copper and hammered copper coated steel as a background behind the silhouettes because I think it can make them pop a bit more when put on busy walls.

Decided to add some cutout detail to the Yosemite rack and I think it really makes a difference and makes the Valley pop more than it did before. Also have spent so much of my life in Breck staring up at the Ten Mile range that I decided to try a take on it as well! davesclimbdesigns.etsy.com

Nice! I enjoyed futzing around with metal, now and then, over the years, almost all of it by hand. In recent times, I've played with wire, recycling it. Hard part there is stripping the stuff, and finding the needle nosed pliers again, which tend to get "borrowed".

Keep up the nice work!

Best, Helen

The black 'biners' look nice. How did you make them black? Is it paint, or a dip coating?

Also, it seems like the tapping process to mount the biners would take a bit of time, so did you consider using epoxy instead?

Anyway, thanks for posting. The pics look great. Your store on Etsy is well-done too.

Jon Nelson wrote:The black 'biners' look nice. How did you make them black? Is it paint, or a dip coating? Also, it seems like the tapping process to mount the biners would take a bit of time, so did you consider using epoxy instead? Anyway, thanks for posting. The pics look great. Your store on Etsy is well-done too.

Black Diamond positrons are easiest to find in black these days.

Thanks for the kind words! Psyched to have the shop open. Yes - those are stock new positrons that come painted black - epoxy coat or something. While I HATE to mill down new carabiners to make racks, some folks wanted this as an option. Using and showing off old gear is DEFINITELY the point and I hope to make most of the racks in this style! Just got a box load of really great old lockers and mixed biners that have been used and abused up in the Winds and can't wait to mount them up!

SinRopa - got your message, replied back - can certainly do your custom rack and really like to make new silhouettes.

I have not thought about epoxying the carabiners to the plates but I guess I could somewhere down the line. Bolting them just makes them so darn strong and I don't mind the manual work. Kind of therapy, really! -Dave

Hey, I looked at this thread and got inspired. I am in the process of making one out of wood. I tend to be on call some weekends, so I create projects around the house.

I'm not finished with mine yet, so no completed pics. I think I'll do a dark stain on the wood. If it turns out well, I'll probably remake it out of a nice wood.

Thanks for the inspiration. I'm not selling anything, just having fun with some hand tools.

highaltitude...how are you planning to affix the biner to the wood? I have been toying with a similar concept but haven't nailed down this piece.

I bought some J fasteners at Lowes. They look like the linked pic.

I'm going to recess the back, then cut and grind the excess metal in the back off. I don't expect it to work great because of the soft pine. This is just one of the $6 pieces of "craft project" wood that Home Depot sells.

I have a tremendous amount of hardwood scraps, so if I like how this turns out, I'll glue a bunch together and do it over. If I go that route, it'll look a lot like a fancy cutting board with biners on it.

The question is whether to leave the biners old and tarnished or to give them the industrial look with the wire wheel.

OP, sorry for the hijack, you make beautiful stuff. I'm just dicking around in the backyard.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:I bought some J fasteners at Lowes.

I mounted some biners to an old ski for a coat rack. I ended up buying mounting hardware for a hand rail and just using the little tab that goes on the bottom of the handrail. I went with the mega cheap black painted version, but you can get some pretty classy looking stuff, or match the color to the biner, or steel wool it all for a uniform look. Unfortunately I don't have photos of the rack. They went away when my last phone died and I gave the coat rack away. Something like this for the hardware:

If Pinterest only knew how amazing you all are.

HiAltitude and JK - Awesome to see you psyched on making stuff! Keep experimenting with hardware and I'm sure you'll make hangars that rock! I love working with wood but have never tried to craft anything out of skis. Seems tricky as they are metal/plastic/maybe wood?

David Heerschap wrote:HiAltitude and JK - Awesome to see you psyched on making stuff! Keep experimenting with hardware and I'm sure you'll make hangars that rock! I love working with wood but have never tried to craft anything out of skis. Seems tricky as they are metal/plastic/maybe wood?

Worked pretty well. Just used short little wood screws. Turned out all right. Not as sexy as threaded from the back like you're doing, but I don't know that the wood core of the ski would hold up that.

Damn - pretty psyched on the Maroon Bells silhouette! You never really know how new designs are going to look until you start letting the metal chips fly!

Holding the back part of slide in camper to bumper. I also have very heavy duty ratchet straps holding the front of it to my bed and will add a backup strap across the back of camper