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Wild edge step bent

Njjb122 said:
So i spoke with wild edge great customer service after speaking with colby it sounds like there going to send me a new step...they still stack fine as the standoff isnt bent up or down its twisted into the foot rail...i also see a few people assuming the rope on the stationary side was placed over the standoff upon install but this wasnt the case it was installed with that rope running under the standoff like the directions and all the youtube videos i watched explained.. that step gave me an issue camming over out of the bag and all others cammed over fine...also to bend that standoff back to its intended position may cause the standoff to seperate off the foot rail because there is already evidence of porosity in that weld yes i could bend it back and reweld it but the question is why should i have to there brand new
Click to expand...
Good to hear they made things right. One thing that for sure bends the stand offs is throwing them against a tree or rock when you find a tree they won't stay tight on no matter how many times you've tried. I about left them in the woods that day....When they work they work great but there are certain trees that are a real PITA.
 
As someone who just bought these and as a structural engineer, this makes me second guess my purchase a bit.. for those of you simply bending them back, please be careful as bending steel beyond the yield point induces strain hardening resulting A) an increased yield strength and B) a hardening of the material... this means next time you apply force to it, it will take more force to bend it but if it does bend, it’s more likely to experience a brittle failure.... think of when you bend a paper clip back and forth a few times... gets a bit stiffer, then it snaps.... not saying you need to just trash em, but maybe use that one for your first step... or as above... see if wild edge will replace them
 
Toohey that was one of the main reason why i didn't want to bend it back ...its just an unnecessary risk ..after playing around with them for a few days i haven't seen anything that shows me its possible to bend them camming it into a tree besides really exerting your self putting an extreme amount of force to get it to cam over i cant see them bending... what ive noticed though is theres simply certain trees they dont work in and trying to make them work is where i could see them being bent...there definetly not a one stop shop for a climbing method as i fully intend on getting a set of sticks probably beast for the trees my we steps wont work in they shine in softer bark trees in hard barks or those flakey pines they just dont have enough bite.
 
As I had said, every individual needs to be inspecting their gear regularly. You are the only one who is responsible for your safety.
@Njjb122 - all due respect bud, you are flat out wrong about there being some types of trees they won't work in, sans a tree with a diameter large than the rope. In my experience, knowing your gear takes longer than a few days. If you know your gear and its limitations, you can do much more than expected. I've probably climbed over hundred times with these, in every tree type I could find, from white pine/hemlock to osage orange to shagbark hickory. All of the bands that I have experienced have occurred when camming and I was not paying attention to the situation, or I was pushing known limitations. Examples: I did not notice that both stand offs were not touching the tree, another is I was over reaching above by head and was not able to get the step high above the rope prior to camming, this resulted in the rope being set much higher on the step then normal, I was able to apply much more pressure with a lot less force. That second is and easy one for people to bend the standoff, you have to make sure to pull the step up above the rope line prior to camming over. All I'm trying to say is you have very little experience with piece of gear, once you gain that experience you'll change your mind about these, or not, doesn't matter because like everyone else here your gonna fall down the rabbit hole and end up with way more gear than you could ever use
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Yep back when they were still The Stepp Ladder system By Jim Stepp I bought and still have 24 of them
Was learning how to use them while fallowing the video put out by Mr Stepp himself and while caming one over bent a leg.
If I ever need to find private land to hunt I should go out and spend a sizable amount of $$$ on a public land legal stand or climbing system as every time I do I have gotten permission to hunt private land and don't actually need to use the strap on stands or climbing systems.
 
Something that hasn’t been mentioned you will bend the step if you dont have both standoffs against the tree and equal pressure when camming these over. This also happens to like others have said when the rope runs above the standoff
 
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