Yep. He saw it somewhere else, diy'd it, then some folks wanted one and an industry was born. Same for climber's and lock-on's.
Correct. But imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery. If you don’t understand why something has a certain shape, what material is best in what application, or why it is reinforced in certain areas, then you create a thing that looks similar to something else, but doesn’t perform similarly. In that instance DIY is creating an unsafe situation. While you don’t want to fall ever, lineman loops can and have become a portion of fall arrest while climbing. Because of this, the loops need to be attached to the life safety portions of the saddle. In my opinion, It’s extremely important to understand these things with life safety. A guy on Facebook is selling “saddles” he makes for $150 or less. His lineman loops are webbing sewn directly to cordura or whatever fabric he is using. The loops have no attachment to the main chassis of the saddle, nor the waist belt. Cordura rips around 350 to 500 lbs depending on the type and denier. I assume his machine isn’t capable of going through the multiplie layers of webbing or perhaps he just doesn’t understand what he’s making. If I am not mistaken, A certain company was doing the same when they started out back in 2018. After they did some real testing, they completely changed how the lineman loops were on the saddle… do you think that was coincidental or do you think they discovered that the lineman loops strength, wasn’t sufficient without attaching them either to the safety belt or to the chassis? I am willing to bet it’s the latter. So while I myself am a DIY guy and love seeing guys make their own stuff (yes even ol
@tailgunner lol) I also want to see people get home safely because whether we like it or not, potential for shock loading or dynamic events will always be a part of our sport. We can minimize opportunities and maximize our safe practices but we can never fully remove the danger. For that reason, it’s important to have well built and safe gear.