Showing posts with label rope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rope. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Review: County Comm - Minnow Gripper

String, rope and string accessories. I like them. One such accessory that caught my eye was the Minnow Grippers offered by gear treasure source County Com.

What are they ? They are tarp clips. Clipping onto tarps to provide an anchor point where grommets don't exist. They can be used to hold onto and fasten plastic sheeting, drop cloths, tarps. canopies, awnings, pool covers, towels, BBQ covers, sails, cables and bags, netting and hunting blinds. All manner of covers you don't want flapping about.

 These clips clamp down on a surface  by means of  a two piece jaw which closes on the surface with friction locks on the back end of the scissor arms, much like those found on locking forceps. The jaws of the Minnow are cross-hatch grooved to provide "teeth" by which it holds fast  to many materials.
Made from molded fiberglass reinforced polypropylene, the Minnow is a dense and sturdy piece. The central pin has a over-hang lip and channel to feed through at full-open position, otherwise holding the clip together with little or no lateral movement. The jaws themselves open wide enough for clamping materials up to ¼" thick and the molded locking teeth have 6 positions to allow it to cinch down onto material in increments for a very secure bind.


At the back of the jaws, behind the "teeth" where cables can be secured without damage from  the teeth. This gap can also hold paracord to create a perpendicular attachment on a running cord.  Either in the locked teeth or in the gap behind the teeth in a sliding configuration.   The material is reported to crack resistant to 35° below zero (-37C). it is chemically stable and resistant to most solvents and marine conditions.

The tail end of the Gripper features a hefty hook on each arm for capturing cordage. the tips of the hooks are double wide, matching the maximum width of the Gripper. This means it is stable and flat on it's side. the base of the hook features a hole which is a perfect match for standard paracord, but will also accommodate thicker cords, especially if they compress a little. The hooks are 15mm deep and are angled, providing a depth of capture to reduce slippage of cord coming loose in vigorous flapping.

The twin tail hooks allow cordage to be looped over, one, the other or both hooks as the need arises or situation permits. Fixing one guy line or two or rigging  a single cord perpendicularly from the clamped material. The twin hooks also allow for some creative knot-free attachment, not unlike those possible with the Fishbone and Piranha knotless ties. Forces pulling back on the Minnow will act to tighten their grip , with an action not unlike squeezing on a pair of pliers.

The locking teeth of the Minnow Gripper first engage at around 9mm (4/10") at the tip which is about 6mm at the " back" of the jaws. That puts the maximum thickness of material they can close on, but each Minnow Gripper is purported to hold 175 lbs (80kg) whist only weighing 0.35oz (10g).

I haven't tried this for max weight, but the sail-cloth awnings I strapped down with it flapped a fair bit in the wind overnight without coming loose. That seems fit-for-purpose to me. Not a single Minnow came loose, in several configurations. I'm quite pleased with the utility, form factor and ruggedness of The Minnow

 
They come in two colour options: Tactical black and Coast Guard Orange. I opted for dont-loose-me orange for my 8. (two tarps worth) half od which I store clamped to my redoutable Mystery Ranch 1DAP  it's my regular day to day and Get Home Bag  so it seemed apt to keep some there too.

Friday, August 9, 2019

Review: NiteIze - CamJam

I love cordage and carabiners, and always keep an eye out for new systems. One such was coming up in my social media feeds were the CamJam Cord Tightener from NiteIze Innovation. The device is simple enough. a High-Density plastic hook, with a sping-wire gated closure, a cord feed hole, and a built-in toothed cam for binding and locking the cord under tension.  This particular version of the Cam-Jam is suited to 1/16th' (2mm) to 3/16th" (5mm) cordage and its feed hole is sized to accommodate this.  It weighs only a slight 1.69oz (16.00g) and measures 2.70" (68.57mm) x 1.35" (34.30mm ) x 0.58" (15.34mm).  The cam is a tear-drop shaped piece of the same material as the rest of the clip. It has a hollow on the underside which friction lock onto a knob on the body of the clip. A tensioning bar at the rear of the clip fits into a ridge on the back of the cam, presses the cam into the body.

 
On the "back-side" of the clip where the cord feed hole (the "eye") comes out has a channel to guide the cord "downwards" away from the clip. this ensures the standing end of the cord is held in parallel with the cam. This, in turn, maintains pressure on the cam, reducing lateral slippage on the working end.  This is important as the teeth of the cam are not especially aggressive nor is the tensioning bar especially tight.

The CamJam works by having anchored cord fed through the hole and passed beside the cam where the hole is, the clip end can the be clipped onto whatever it's being fixed to. The working end of the cord can be pulled taught through the eye and "set" with the cam. 

NiteIze recommends fitting some kind of stopper-knot on the working end. and I think some kind of hitch on the bright is the best way to go, to prevent total failure, should the cam-slip. Which it does, quite a bit.
One thing I found was that the Cam Jam did assist in belaying the line in order for me to set a more secure knot in place, such as a hitch on a bight or a truckers hitch. The "eye " and feed channel feature are useful regardless of the reliability of the cam and the spring wire clip of the carabiner might be light-duty but the whole unit is. It's not climbing rated, which means you don't want to put your life on the line with it.  
Have a bundle of firewood to haul? have a tarp or tent fly to secure? This should do the job. Need to lash the escape ship to a pier? Get a heftier tool. 

The CamJam Cord Tightener features the strong plastic body of a carabiner combined with a locking cam mechanism for a knot-free way to tighten, tension, and secure light loads. The CamJam can be clipped to fixed anchor points and the cam mechanism will lock cord in place with the desired amount of tension.   There is a smaller version of the Cam Jam, the CamJam Mini is meant to be used with cord 1.8mm - 3mm. Which is to say, dummy cord, hootchie cord  and guy lines and only weighs 0.18oz | 5.00gand measuring only  a slight 1.75" (44.60mm)x 0.90" (22.63mm) x 0.37"(9.50mm) but smaller and lighter doesn't really equate to stronger and chunkier, though the smaller cam does bite quite well on the paracord.


Friday, September 1, 2017

Review: Cinch'n'Clinch gear hangers


This was a Kickstarter that was a really simple idea, that was really just polishing up and producing a marketable product. The concept is simple enough, ad looped cord, with two slipping barrel knots forming a loop that tightens to bind in tightly around whatever piece of gear you want to hang. The creators of this Kickstarter just took a pretty common way of lashing items, and added a little flare, with shrink-wrapping around the knots and at the "handle" end of the over loop.

The idea with this is that you can drop the slipping loop over whatever you want to carry, and tighten both sides of the knots to bind it tight and give you a secure grab around your bottle.






We are currently using Type III mil spec 550 parachute cord. This is an inexpensive, lightweight, tough, and durable Kernmantle rope with truly extraordinary breaking strength, especially relative to its small diameter. We continue to research the best materials for the Cinch-N-Clinch, but our four most important factors in our decision will never change: durability, resistance to abrasion, UV resistance, and environmental footprint.




Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Home Front: making braided rope


I wanted to have a go at making rope from plastic bags, a project I had seen online from a few sources, like MAKE magazine which I had a subscription to for some time (thanks Wombles) and Instructables, both excellent sites for finding crafts to engage in, especially to check out a range of ways to do similar things. There are certainly projects that would suit a range of needs, check them both out.

I started collecting plastic shopping bags when we went shopping, bags I would have ordinarily recycled either when we did our fortnightly recycling bin, or back to the supermarket to the dedicated bag-recycling point. I also had a friend bring a butt-load of them as well.

The primary construction of a strand of bags rope is to cut the bag from the bottom of the handle loops, on both sides, down to the bottom sealed hem. this gives you a double loop of plastic fabric, that is very sturdy in the up-down axis.

It's possible to then loop one bag into another with the working bag looping through the exposed loop of the standing bag, and then through itself, and when the knot is sured up, a very solid join is made.

Repeating this process, with a fresh bag being looped into the end of the standing end, the chain is continued for as long as you want. I wanted to braid my strands, so I created three fifty-bag chains, and lined them up. This was a mistake.

I found that having the full lengths meant that when I was braiding the lengths were constantly getting tangled with each other.

My solution was to bundle up the three lengths into some of the heavier bags I had left over. These gave me a far more manageable bundle to braid with, but were still bulky.

A far better idea would have been to make short lengths of 6-7 bags long and added more as the braid progressed.

One trick is to ensure that the three chains are off-set such that the knots don't bunch up in the braid, and this gives the rope something that ALL "primitive" non-monofilament ropes benefit from. Weakness in individual strands are overcome by the braiding (or twisting in twisted ropes) and whilst there may be individual components of the cords that have damage, or weak points, the overall effect balance that out, and supports itself.

One thing I found during the braiding process, I encountered many of the sides of the cut edges hanging outside the braid, and these tags of plastic can be woven back into the rope fairly easily. Where I could, I knotted them and ensured they would not spring loose. I could have twisted the chains in order to capture the tags, but that would have increased the effort needed to make the rope considerably. All in all, once I had my three strands of chained bag-loops, the weaving process took around an hour, and was a reasonably simple process. Keeping a uniform braid is the key aspect for this, and those first few meters were the hardest to keep even, mostly because of the super-long chains I started with.

Making the chains was another time consuming but simple process, light work made quick by my Big Wet cyberpunk pals one evening as we watched John Wick (epic, awesome movie!) one evening. Ensuring the side-seam cut was correctly made, and didn't cut too far to either side, leading to failure of the loop, was one problem, and lead to some wastage. Generally, the plastic gags were remarkably robust, and the chains themselves were quite sturdy, especially if given a slight twist to gather them up.

Once braided, the resulting rope was really quite sturdy. I was able to loop it over a post and pull on both ends with all my strengths without any problem, and lean back with all my weight on it. I had hoped to get some better way to test it, but I'd say that for a static load, they are quite stable. I suspect they could be used for any number of lashing, binding or dragging tasks, but I wouldn't want to use them for any life-sustaining tasks unless there were no alternative.

So, from approximately 150 bags, I made a 10m length of braided, 3-strand chain rope, purely from salvaged shopping bags. None too shabby.



Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Review: Fishbones - Carry-all hook

Here is an interesting piece of kit that came from the same minds as the Gravity Hook, and Fishbones, Piranhas gear ties. It's the kind of thing that I would probably make for myself if I had a metalwork workshop myself, where Brent & Eldrick Garcia of Out-Tek, LLC saw a need, and made something to fit the need.  This is the Carry-All.

Basically, Brent didn’t want to see his guitar constantly getting knocked over. So he made this thing. It’s basically a stainless steel hanger that can be fitted with either a length of nylon webbing or paracord.

Massively over-engineered, it is way stronger than it needs be, and that opens it up to my favourite kind of gear. Rugged, multifunctional and simple.

The body of the Carry-All is cut from a single piece of 3/16" stainless steel, the main hook opening is based around a 4cm (1.6") radius opening, much like a regular coat-hanger hook, and certainly wide enough to loop over all manner of pipes, racks, ledges and branches.

There is a finger grip section much like on a trench knife, with has a 2.5cm (1.0") radius opening, which is plenty of room for even a gloved finger, and there is enough room for two fingers, and along with the back side thumb-riser "guard" allows for a very secure grip which in turns allows for a quite comfortable hold-point for using the Carry-All as a carry-handle.

It isn't climbing rated, and Brent only mentions holding up to 45kg (100lbs) but I suspect you could carry more than would be comfortable before it breaks.


Designed to primarily take 1" webbing, the Carry-All has two sets of twin webbing slots, one narrower, one wider. These enable you to friction lick the webbing easily, as well as doubling the feed over to ensure a really secure lock. Looping both ends of the webbing through the eyes forms a webbing loop that can then be used for the Carry-All's primary purpose, to grab and hang awkward, unusually shaped and odd pieces of kit, be they the neck's of guitars, a pole to form hangers, or any other sort of webbing strapable item, which could do wit ha hook to attach it to a suspension point.

So hang your awkward stuff up to 100 pounds. I would like you to have one too.

With an overall length 12.5cm (5") and 7cm (2.8") wide, the 3/16" stainless steel is hefty and as sturdy as you could want, whilst still being essentially pocket-sized. The 18" 1" webbing supplied could be swapped out with any other 1" webbing, but as well as this, there are three paracod sized holes drilled into the base of the hook to facilitate stringing it with paracord instead.

It seems a odd piece of gear, it served a particular role, but also with a whole bunch of new options available for hanging, strapping and suspending, especially if traveling and you want to keep a bag of wet ground, for example. The balance points are well placed, and the stonewashed finish is easy on webbing and paracord alike.

I also envisage using these for picking up cast-iron pots from firepits, carrying twine-bundled loads of kindling, and stringing guy-lines for tarps.









Sunday, April 17, 2016

Review: Gearlex Ear Clip


I wanted to upgrade my accessory carrying capacity without adding my weight, or adding to my magnetic signature. (I rarely go through metal detectors, but whenever I do, it's a bigger and bigger pain each time). I use ITW Grimloc's on a bunch of my bags and harnesses, which are good, but have a "pop-open" thresh-hold that I have had come open at inopportune times.  

I saw that Hornest SG was stocking a bioplastic carabiner that looked to be suiting my needs. These are the Gearlex Ear Carabiners.  These weather and chemical resistant clips are made from 62% renewable materials and ends up being 15% lighter than nylon materials and are reported to retain that toughness down to  -60oC, in case you are intending to go yomping in Vladivostok or Mawson Station.

At the broad top of the "ear" shapes, the clips feature a 1" webbing loop, with a split notch for feeding it into the location of your choice. 

Unlike the webing notch of the of the Grimloc, the Gearlex webbing loop is on the outside of the carabiner, not the inside. This frees up the internal area of the carabiner to give more space for attached objects, and adds freedom of movement. 

However, it makes me worry about how much of a load the clip can take. The large Ear clips are rated to a max of 78kg and the small to 60kg, which is vastly more than the Grimloc's 36kg break-point. I rather empirically tested it manually by pulling it looped through my webbing , and it held in place to the point of hurting my hand and with the stitching straining.

The gate of the carabiner is fitted with a dovetail locking mechanism which adds to the strength of the gate and is one of several locks now standard throughout the climbing world.  The inside, weight bearing rim of the carabiner is thicker, to distribute the load, but the back edges have a broad rib for stability and strength, without adding too much mass. 

The carabiners are clearly not climbing rated, and come with warnings not to be "load-bearing" but that said, for the strapping of accessories, like water bottles, dummy cords or even strapping on smaller packs to bigger packs, such as the Hill People Gear Runner's Bag, or the Zulu Nylon Gear CAOS admin pack or even perhaps a daypack, for those of us who pack like we're about to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.  

Gearlex produce these in Black, Coyote and Ranger Green, and I got one of the clips in black, one in ranger green and a small one in Ranger Green as well, to give me some options when I am setting them up and using them, to match or contrast the gear they are attached to.


Not as hardy and load-bearing as an aluminium or steel climbing carabiner, bigger and more stable than a Grimloc, the Gearlex Ear Clips fill the niche between a light accessory clip and a heavy-duty carabiner.

Both have their places and uses, but for something in-between, you might find that the Gearlex clips, in big and small suits your needs.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Review: SpiffyLab - Tactical Marker

I back a lot of Kickstarter projects, and sometimes they're just on a whim. I have plenty of tactical pens, I like the metal body construction, and the durability that comes with that, not to mention the ability to increase the tool-bearing nature of an every day item like the common pen, so when the chance to get a tactical pen that is built around a Sharpie permanent marker, I jumped at it.

The Tactical Marker upgrades the Sharpie refill from a simple writing implement into a rugged multi-function writing tool, making it a value-added item for camping, work or using as part of your EDC.

As well as the casing for the Sharpie Refill pen, the Tactical Marker includes 3 tool tips machined from  7075 alloy different to the more lightweight but durable 6061 alloy the barrel is made from. The cap and tip tools are made from super tough 7075 alloy (7075 is even used in the M16 series of rifles), which is useful, given the intended uses.

The smaller "Tapper" is fine great for little tasks such as dislodging items, or tack-driving and other small tasks. The "Hammer" is especially handy when you want to leave the house without dragging your tool box along. Neither are especially weighty, and won't effectively drive nails into timber, but for breaking small things, and dislodging items, defrosting a freezer or the like. If you need a proper hammer, get a proper hammer.

The “Spike" end works for punching leather, plastic and sheet metal or using as an awl, breaking hard ground, breaking and gripping ice, boating, prying, rope work and the like. Even being a hard-wearing alloy, the 7075 is still just aluminium however, and the end will bur and bend under hard use.  Again, if you intend to do hard punching work, get a hardened steel tool.



Without the cap, it measures about 145mm (5.75") in the standard configuration and about 165mm (6.5") with cap in the standard configuration. The "Spike" adds and is about 2.30" making the tool a fairly sizable 215mm (8.5") long. The “Hammer” end puts it at around 195mm (7.75") long. The TM weighs in at about  60g, for the "Tapper" 70g, for the "Spike" and 80g for the "Hammer". 80g isn't much for a hammer, but it's not bad for a tactical pen.
 
The Tactical Marker pen cap attaches with a screw cap requires two hands, but holds very tightly, with o-rings at both cap and tool ends, to ensure the ends stay snug, without putting undue strain on he threads. One problem I had with the tool is that the tool-ends and pen-cap ends are not interchangeable, and their threads are not compatible. It would have been nice if the cap and tool could have been combined into a smaller tool.

The Tactical Marker is also available in 'non-sparking’ Aluminum-Bronze, for use in high risk work environments, which is a nice thought, as well as a carbon-fiber barrel option, for extra fancy flair. I mostly got this tool to help with rope-work and rough and ready hole-punching in sacks and hags and the like when camping, but it's a well thought out tool for what it is. Good for hobby-use and workshop tasks when a light touch is needed. 

Monday, November 23, 2015

Review: Fishbones - Gravity Hook (production)

Production on the left, prototype on the right
I covered the original release of the prototype Gravity Hook back in March, when the prototype was sent my way by the guys from FishBones. Not long ago the final production version of the Gravity Hook arrived, with some improvements.

The Gravity Hook is a combination grappling hook, and gravity claw. (Here's their promotional video...) By removing the middle cross-bar the more than serviceable grappling hook can be quickly converted into a claw-machine like grabbing claw. The clever design allows you to swap between these two features in just moments.
Production on the right, prototype on the left

The whole assembly weighs around 360g in its stainless steel configuration, a complete assembly includes 3 links, 3 "hammers", a cross hook, and hardware, in bolts and self-locking nuts.

One of the production improvements is the notches cut into the throat of the hammer, these allow the cross hook to seat much more securely that in the prototype, where it was held in place solely via the notch cut into top of the cross hooks. 

Production on the right, prototype on the left
The stainless Gravity Hook is made out of 1/8" thick 304 stainless steel and all of the Gravity Hooks hardware hardware is also stainless. When the hook is fully open, the 1.5" mouth will hold over 165lbs when biting into a 2x4.

When fitted, the cross hooks set in the jaws of the hammers, the Gravity Hook up as a quite effective grapple. The jaws are held in place and stopped from opening the by the twin o-rings which seat in a set of notches cut into the link pieces, and hold the jaws surprisingly tightly.

Production on the bottom, prototype on the top
 Given their design, any the pull on the tines of the hook only act to pull it further closed, the effect of the o-rings is really quite sufficient.

FishBones have suggested that an after market modification, drilling a hole in the middle of the hammer arms to fit a locking pin, for extra security, but so far, I haven't felt the need myself.

The bolts and locking nuts supplied with the production model are a much slimmer profile than the nuts and bolts I picked up at the hardware store, that was a big help.

The production version has nicely rounded notches cut into the links, where as the prototype version is rather a bit more rough making it rougher on and harder to remove the o-rings.
Production on the right, prototype on the left
One of the other backers of the Gravity hooks asked if they wanted to use it as a boat anchor for an inflatable lake boat, how they would dislodge it should it hook onto something on the bottom. Another backer suggested it could be set up with a failable style link like this  where if you pull hard enough the top link breaks and lets you pull the anchor from the bottom. A second way would be to use 2 ropes; one attached to the shackle, and the other looped through the claw to act as an emergency release in case the hook snags.


Here's me testing the grappling hook


Here's me testing the claw feature on a variety of dropped gear.


Two kinds of cross hook: plain and gear-tie batarang!
 You might ask "what makes it high performance?" well, this is probably a matter of its features:
  • It can be used either as a 2 or 4 pronged grappling hook.
  • In the claw mode it "bites" objects that might slip out of a grapnel.
  • Compact enough to be stowed on a back pack strap, by clamping the jaws over the strap and feeding the tail end through a loop
  • Can be dismantled into its base components for more compact storage. 
  • It's available in stainless steel, titanium or even non metalic Derlin.
There are also two options for the cross hooks, with the classic solid hook, as well as a version with cut-aways, both lightening the cross hook, and also offering a place to use it as a gear tie, not unlike the FishBones and Piranha gear ties these guys came to the front with. 

Ss, you have a very cool tool in the Gravity Hook, but what are its limits? Well, the Gravity Hook was specifically designed for retrieving. It has not been tested or certified to bear human weight. The makers strongly state that you should never use it in a situation where it's failure or dislodging might cause bodily harm or property damage. In a pinch though, it can certainly take a fairly hefty load: 
How do you get the Gravity Hook to release something whilst under tension?



Here's their testing underwater!


As well as being a really useful dropped-gear and treasure retrieving claw, and a sturdy and rugged grapple, the Gravity hook is also a really well made piece of engineering. I really appreciate its design and functionality. I've got a small CountyComm grapple, which is billed as a trip-wire clearer, but for bigger jobs, when you want to snag, yank and retrieve gear, or haul something you would do well with one of the FishBones Gravity hooks.

Better yet, the guys at FishBones have just launched a NEW project, the Gravity Hook XS, a pocket sized version, in just two-pronged format, on KickStarter. You should totally go check it out, and add some grabby, grapply goodness to your loadout.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Review: McNett - Gruntline

The Gruntline - braided rubber goodness
As first seen on BreachBangClear. Inexpensive and useful they say, just like me!

Here's an unusual bit of kit that I've recently added to my regular load. I've covered a number of uses for paracord previously, and it's pretty ubiquitous in the preparedness world, but it lacks in some areas. It has very little give, over short lengths, but has a minimum 30% elasticity over long lengths

Usually for smaller elastic jobs
you could use shock-cord
but it's usually not up to big tasks in small diameter cords seen on gear. The usual alternative is to use the metal hook-ended bungee ocky-straps but these have a long history of being flying eye-ball gouging flails of doom.

The Gruntline - Boots, blades and baggies
The good folks at McNett have come up with a solution, the GruntLine. Consisting of braided natural dry rubber tubing, with cords affixed at either end which in turn end with plastic clip hooks. The line is 1.10m (43") long, all told but when stretched out, it will reach up to 2.15m (7'), when all played out.

The braiding gives you as many no-peg points where you can feed and bind up whatever you are wanting to hang. It's just a matter of feeding a part through the braid, and it will bind it up and hold it pretty tight.

The Gruntline - MOLLE storable

The Gruntline is rated for up to 9kg (20lbs) of gear, although the braid-feeding of any single items wont come near to bearing that load, (but when taut they hold tighter). It will hold as many items as you can fit it with, up to that weight limit. I don't know how well the cords are attached to the webbing, as they are secured under loops of rubber, so might be a potential weak point.

As well as acting as a clothesline, and a gear suspender the Gruntline could be put to any number of other uses. McNett also suggest it can be used as a lanyard, and gear retention, but also as a tie-down strap, pack strap. I have been keeping mine fed through three loops of PALS/MOLLE on the side of my pack, so I can have it on-hand wherever I go. They also suggest it could work as an emergency medical tool, for use as an arm sling, I.V. support and even as a tourniquet.

The Gruntline - wrap that hat and conceal your melon
You could also use it as a slingshot elastic, an animal snare and as a natural camouflage holder, much like the netting on a helmet or as part of a ghillie suit.

Those same braids that can be used to secure foliage and other materials to break up your silhouette and conceal yourself. It loops nicely around a hat, so should serve this use well. Even crisscrossed over a pack, or the like, it would give good purchase to attach your foliage coverage. The downsides of the GruntLine are only few; the plastic clips on the ends are pretty narrow, and don't open wide enough to clip over some of the points I tried to use, and there is always the worry that it might give out, or the cord used might give out. However, I've had no such trouble so far, and kept both my eyes, so there is that.




Monday, May 18, 2015

Update: Go! hammock stretch goal.

I covered the Go! Hammock a little while ago as a Wish-Lust item. Jason Montgomery, creator of the Go! Hammock Kickstarter tells me he has had lots of people asking about the possibility of adding a bug net option. He is pleased to announce that all backers will have the option to upgrade, for a fee. He isn't yet sure about the upgrade price yet. 

This version of the hammock will have an integrated bug net that is sewn on.


A long zipper will be set along one side of the net to close it. The hammock can be used without the bug net by removing the ridgeline from inside the net, flipping the hammock over. The upgrade will include four stakes and four pieces of shock cord for tying off the net to keep it our of the way. 

Go check out the Kickstarter here!


Monday, May 11, 2015

Review: Rhino Ropeworks - Hornet marlin spike


I do like a tool that has double duty. This is the Hornet from Rhino Ropework which I commissioned in both its olive green Cerakote, but also with a custom kydex scabbard.

This marlin spike is part rope working tool and part CQB weapon. Milled from marine grade 316 stainless steel right here in Australia, the Hornet is a smaller sibling of the Mad Stick, which I covered a while ago, and it's heft and no frills design is indicative of this.




With its grooved body, the Hornet is easy to grip, and the working end, which is separated from the body of the tool by a deep notch, tapers down to a working tip, which whilst not sharp, is a solid rope working end.

The 316 stainless steel makes for a good tool, for the kind of work it is designed for. Weighing in at 110g (3.9oz) and measuring
180mm (7") in length, and 12mm (just less than 0.5") in diameter the Hornet is a substantial tool.

I've used the tool for working knots, as fits its purpose, but I have also find it useful for a variety of other tasks, from flipping steaks on the BBQ to punching holes in cans.

The Cerakote coating adds further to the innate chemical and wear resistance of the steel the Hornet is made from, but I managed to wear it off the tip all the same in my testing and regular use. It's still smooth and fit for purpose, for all my abuse.

One of the nice additional features is the lanyard hole, which whilst a tight fit for even this lacing cord, would probably manage to feed paracord through it, with some careful melting if the end and some hard work.

As a marlin spike, I've found the Hornet is both robust and substantial. Its easier to work with than the clasp knife one I have. The angle of the spike allow you to really get some leverage into the splicing and loosening knots and other rope.

The tip is rounded so you don't have to worry about digging into the threads of cord you're working with. It works really nicely with paracord, as well as higher diameter cords and ropes. The tip isn't really suited to cords much finer than that, a 5mm dummy-cord is pretty much the finest I have managed to use it with.

It's a treat in the hand, the beveled tail-cap fits in the palm nicely, and the groves are slight enough to not grate on the fingers, but sufficient to grip the tool for even the toughest knotwork.

I received a tan Kydex scabbard in my package from Rhino Ropeworks, which was fitted by a third party, and I'm afraid to say that it isn't as well fitted as I might have liked.

It has a pinch-point around the mid-notch , but it just isn't -quite- tight enough. No fault to Rhino Ropeworks, it's just a very tight design, with very few features to "catch" on a friction lock.

I have used the eyelets to lash it to my American Kami Super Colubris and it has been a faithful accessory as my belt-carry when I am adventuring. It's proven itself useful in a variety of settings, and I'm glad that I have it.

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