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Side load carabiner test

7 shots from a sledge hammer over the corner of a curb to break the gate on this cheep Chinese carabiner and it still holds my weight jumping on it.just for perspective.they are desighned to bend and elongate befor they break so you can visualy inspect them ,see that a force has been aplied,and take them out of service.they dont just snap in real life like they could in a nightmare.
 
There’s a less scientific one where a guy girth hitches around a stout tree branch in the same manner and then pulls on it with a hand winch.

He pulls until he is afraid he’ll break the branch off (the tree is bending a good bit) and the carabiner has embedded itself in the wood somewhat, at least leaving a decent dent.

Afterwards, the carabiner is not bent and opens, closes, and locks as if nothing happened.

I think the concerns regarding side and edge loading around trees suitable for climbing are in good faith but overblown.

I still use a stainless delta link but it’s somewhat out of habit and just liking how massively strong they are, and the unscrewing doesn’t bother me.
 
His test mimicked a horizontal branch if the directions of force he is applying represents pulling down towards the ground. In order to simulate it being around the vertical tree trunk he needs to flip his round “tree branch” 90 degrees.
The rope still breaks first but the biner will be effected differently.
 
Glenn said:
His test mimicked a horizontal branch if the directions of force he is applying represents pulling down towards the ground. In order to simulate it being around the vertical tree trunk he needs to flip his round “tree branch” 90 degrees.
The rope still breaks first but the biner will be effected differently.
Click to expand...

I had this thought in passing maybe his next YouTube video will cover it.

I would assume that this would shift the load to just 1 side of the carabiner which may cause it to bend earlier, but I would still assume at a force that saddle hunters should never be in position to apply.
 
raisins said:
There’s a less scientific one where a guy girth hitches around a stout tree branch in the same manner and then pulls on it with a hand winch.

He pulls until he is afraid he’ll break the branch off (the tree is bending a good bit) and the carabiner has embedded itself in the wood somewhat, at least leaving a decent dent.

Afterwards, the carabiner is not bent and opens, closes, and locks as if nothing happened.

I think the concerns regarding side and edge loading around trees suitable for climbing are in good faith but overblown.

I still use a stainless delta link but it’s somewhat out of habit and just liking how massively strong they are, and the unscrewing doesn’t bother me.
Click to expand...
I used to also be of that mindset that carabiners side load on trees = catastrophic failure but over the last couple years I have soften my stance and even used mine as a quick connect for an anchor. I haven’t seen a carabiner damaged from being used as a quick connect.. But I also have not seen what happens if it’s dynamically loaded while used like this. So I always err on the side of caution and tell guys they technically shouldn’t do it.
 
ryderofred said:
This is awesome. Closest test I’ve seen to our applications. Really hope we get a full video with different scenarios.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is a true representation. In our use the rope isn’t pulling across the round edge perfectly in line with major axis, instead ours hitches and is pulled downward which would place the force in a weird angle. However even then I would expect a carabiner with 20 plus kN to probably hold to around 14 or 15 kN as long as the tree or branch is wider than the carabiner
 
Turning the carabiner down the tree decreases the angle that the spine is against the tree .not increases it.this puts more of the spine on the tree not less.making it less likely to bend.atleast you understand it is not sideloading on a corner.and the threads we hang from will break first.still gunna use them
 
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tailgunner said:
Turning the carabiner down the tree decreases the angle that the spine is against the tree .not increases it.this puts more of the spine on the tree not less.making it less likely to bend.atleast you understand it is not sideloading on a corner.and the threads we hang from will break first.still gunna use them
Click to expand...
Unless u got the biner with the gate contacting the tree......I know..I know that's silly to do..but hey, I see it on some of these utubers and pics with the biner oriented that way
 
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