UKC

The gate on my belay screwgate was jammed the other night at the wall. I gave it to my friend who couldn't undo it, he then shrieked and told me that the krab was spent.

On the gate, either side of the screw, the metal was rough to the touch, and the fibres in the metal were plain to see, some very small bits were actually flaking off. 'Chuck it' he told me.

Rather worried I inspected the rest of my krabs last night. Much of my gear stayed in a bag which was damp for a few days during/after return from the Alps. Some of the other krabs feel a bit rough to the touch.

Am I paranoid? Or will my beloved krabs disintegrate in my moment of need? What's going on?

In reply to clams: Aluminium has oxidised a bit, i guess. Give them a soak in clean water and totally douse them in WD40 for a while, then check them individually. Some have little springs inside that may have been damaged.

In reply to clams:

... and at the end of the day if your not 100% confident in any of your gear, don't use it.

In reply to clams:

An excellent title, though is hould have been DTP at first!!

If you don't trust your gear, don't use it

In reply to clams:

The gates on a few of my older Krabs have gone like this - exfoliated I think is the term.

Where the damage is restricted to the gate, I still use them in less exacting applications (racking wires and hexes etc.) whilst embarking on a slow time campaign of replacement with wire gates.

Assuming you use an indirect belay (the you tie into a belay and the belay plate attaches to you)the actual forces imparted through your belay HMS are pretty small, even holding a fall. Its almost certainly safe but if there is any doubt in yours or your partners mind you have to replace it. So much of climbing is in the head and if you have lost confidence in your gear....

In reply to clams:

Salt corrosion does a very similar thing - the metal comes off in flakes along the stress lines. I suggest you bin the krab as they have a habit of going snap when they're like that.

In reply to GrahamD:

Exfoliation indeed...
Ta for that, looked it up. There is an interesting article at

http://www.bstorage.com/speleo/carab/agecarab.htm

Fook it, looks like I'm gonna have to chuck some bits out.

In reply to clams: It sounds as though your krabs are suffering from exfoliation corrosion due to being left in a damp bag. This consists of corrosion along the grain boundaries resulting in a rough, flakey surface. This type of attack has been seen before, usually on gear that's been used on sea cliffs. It's usually a surface phenomenon but if gear is left damp for some time it can go fairly deep. If it is superficial the main problem is that you've got a rough surface that could damage your ropes. Without seeing it I would tend to agree with your friend and chuck it. Better still, send it to the BMC (there's an incident form on their website) and ask them to look at it.

In reply to clams:

Crikey! It's bad enough having Krabs in the first place, but to have the whole area rotting too!

In reply to clams:Best send all the gear to me. I will inspect and send you back any good bits...

In reply to clams:
Wow, has anyone read this article fully? There's a line very near to the end of the article which talks of using an I-beam section to produce lightweight krabs, a la WC heliums (doesn't mention how to avoid making them faulty though ; ) ). Considering the article was written in 1994, it's a very insightful observation, years ahead of its time. And a practical application of basic engineering principles to boot!

In reply to clams:

I have seen caving gear that had been stored in a drum with wet caving clothes for about 6 months. There was literally no metal left - the krabs were about 2mm thick ! The gear looked liked it had come from the Mary Rose.

Get some more, you'll never trust them again now. Besides, the bit in the article about reduced strength is scary.