UKC

Hi, I'm looking to set up some belay stakes. I've read a few web pages about what best to use but I would really appreciate it if someone who has some experience of placing stakes give me some suggestions as to what they used and where they got it from. 

Cheers, Brendan

In reply to Brendan:

Dirt with rocks use scaffolders putlogs, rock with dirt use buckrake tines.

In reply to jimtitt:

Thanks!

In reply to Brendan:

Not wanting to teach you to suck eggs, but some areas are sensitive about new stakes, Eg range on Anglesey.

Cheers

In reply to Fruit:

Cheers, no problem.

In reply to jimtitt:

That's a wee bit obscure, had to look up what they are. but i'm just an urbanite that wouldn't know which end of a ruminant their stake comes from.

I'd have gone for marquee pegs - possibly cheaper / easier to get a hold of......

 

In reply to Brendan:

I took a hacksaw to an old bed frame - worked fine! I think angle iron is easier to place than scaffold pole as it is more likely to push stones out the way. Placing two and equalising seems a good idea unless you're completely confident in the placement. 

Are you planning to leave them in situ or remove them? If they are close to the sea, they won't last long unless they are galvanised or some similar treatment.

In reply to Brendan:

As you'd expect, this is a topic that's been discussed before. See:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/gear/belay_stakes_made_of+how_long-509351...

HTH

Dave

In reply to Brendan:

I'm probably a bit old-fashioned, but I'm not fond of belay stakes.  My suggestion - and I mean this in the nicest possible way - is to hammer a few of them up your climbing partner's arse and see how much it makes them squirm.  Then think twice about doing the same to Mother Earth.  Belay stakes.  Come on!

In reply to DoctorYoghourt:

This makes almost no sense.

If you are saying they add to littering of the environment then say so .

In reply to DoctorYoghourt:

So... no belay stakes at Swanage?

Mick

 

In reply to Mick Ward:

Quite, or a lot of the Culm and South Pembroke for that matter. Although a well placed arse in a rabbit hole or legs round a molehill may just suffice at times, they don't really inspire confidence.

In reply to jimtitt:

Are they soft enough to smack in with a hammer safely?

jk

In reply to DoctorYoghourt:

Not climbed a lot in Pembroke then? Or shall we not bother climbing the most brilliant sea cliffs in the country, so as to avoid insulting Mother Earth/the barren MOD shithole, unless we can solo them?

In reply to DoctorYoghourt:

You do get all sorts on UKC. Though it could be a joke. ????

In reply to jkarran:

Can't say I have hit one myself but I'd assume that there is a bit of a graduation in the hardening? 

In reply to Reach>Talent:

They're probably tempered down to a relatively soft spring condition but likely still a lot harder than most things we hit hard with hammers. Perhaps not. I suppose they must work, Jim does seem to know his stakes but my curiosity was piqued.

jk

In reply to daWalt:

Not such good quality steel, they rust quicker/ there are more agricultural merchants than marquee supplies wholesalers! 

 

In reply to Mark Kemball:

That's the beauty of scaffold pole, galvanised inside and  out. Bed iron doesn't last long on sea cliffs.

 

In reply to jkarran:

Yes, I've done it, but of course you should be wearing gloves and eye protection whoever hitting metal with a hammer.

 

In reply to jkarran:

Our bottom tines are HBW450 so not particularly hard, the steel used is chosen more for abrasion resistance. The side tines on one we have are ChromeMolly.

In reply to Brendan:

Nut key? 

In reply to jimtitt:

IHi Jim, I had a look at some putlogs today, they're pretty hefty. What length do you use and how do you get them in?

Apologies for my ignorance, you can tell this isn't the sort of thing I do very often. 

In reply to Brendan:The one pictured is 1.5m long, the normal length of a ledger in scaffolding. Putlogs are hard to find these days, but had the advantage of being flattenned on one end. The hammer in the pic is 14lb , we needed that heavy to get through the stones at Swanage, but they are beasts to use if you have never swung a sledge before. 

In reply to daWalt:

Great, thanks!

In reply to scott titt:

Yeah, they're proper beasts. Reassuringly so, I guess. Thanks.

In reply to Brendan:

You could buy proper ones....https://www.abaris.co.uk/prod/anchors/Ground-Tee-stake-Anchor.htm

But anyone with more sense than money reads the stake part of this page:-

http://www.bolt-products.com/Glue-inBoltDesign.htm

....then finds somethign suitable at the scrappy.

Scaffold tubes - easy to get hold of (cut to length with an angle grinder) but struggle with the rocky ground found on most sea cliffs. Also pretty slippery to tie onto....

Solid bar - our cliff rescue team use solid steel bar formed to a point. No idea where they came from, but are bloody heavy. They do however work well on rocky ground.

WW2 German barbed wire stakes with a T-cross section are excellent once cut to length, given a point and the side plates removed. They're either 1and5/8ths" or 2" cross section and galvanised. Google "hindernisplattenpfahl" https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=178893

In reply to Toerag:

That's great, thank you. Initially thought the Lyon one was £12, was thinking "that's not too bad".