Core77

Objects I Use: Cheapie Carabiners

By Rain Noe - May 14, 2013

in Object Culture

Like my train pass wallet, these objects fall into the category of things I touch and use every day. Carabiners are intended for mountain climbing, but their simple design and great utility make them super-useful to city dwellers like me, who only climb subway steps. I use them in the photo studio, during event coverage, and for my dogs, and I now wonder how I ever got by without them.

Leash Splitter

These were initially pet-driven purchases. I own two dogs and was looking for a way to hold both of their leashes in one hand without them becoming entwined. First I bought this thing, which is called a rotor swivel:

I spotted it at a mountain climbing equipment store across the street from Core77 HQ. It's just two aluminum loops attached by an enclosed bearing that allows them to rotate independently, and it set me back forty bucks. Being designed for climbing, I figured it's got to be watertight, which I'd need to weather thunderstorms (I'm out with the dogs for up to two hours a day, rain or shine).

Next I sewed a length of webbing through it to serve as a handle. (If any of you are interested in working with canvas webbing but don't know how to sew, please pipe up in the comments and I'll prepare a basic tutorial. With a simple trick, someone with no skill can use even a junky sewing machine to sew canvas webbing.)

Then I needed a carabiner to attach the two leashes to the rotor. Mistakenly thinking beefier would be better, I initially bought this Omega Pacific locking carabiner at the same equipment store for ten bucks.

However, I found this carabiner too bulky, and together with the rotor it added too much weight to the leashes for my taste. But at the hardware store I spotted these cheapie "key holder" carabiners for just a few bucks.

They appear to be made from aluminum and one can be used to handily attach the rotor to the two leash handles.

Tethering

As an added bonus of using the smaller carabiner, I found they are the perfect diameter to fit through the hole in a rolldown gate padlock bracket, a common building protrusion in the city. This provides a convenient tethering point when I am taking a break with the dogs or need both hands free.

And if the gate is rolled down, like after business hours, you can just shackle the carabiner to the padlock.

Gloves

Being outside for long stretches in the winter necessitates gloves, but I find myself constantly needing to take them on and off. The phone rings, studio texts come in that require an immediate answer, or I need to manipulate dog bags. I used to remove my gloves and hold them under my armpits while I did whatever I needed to do, and as you can guess, I lost a lot of gloves this way. (The worst is losing just one glove, as the other is still perfectly good but essentially rendered useless.) With carabiners I now just hang them from my belt loop when not in use, and I haven't lost a glove ever since.

Camera

Event coverage: In crowded exhibition halls where you have a lot of ground to cover and don't have time to backtrack, it's nice to have a high-quality camera handy. When the iPhone won't cut it, I use a carabiner to keep my Canon on a belt loop for quickdraws. It's much faster than fishing it out of a bag.

Studio Rigging

In the photo studio, I mounted a system of pulleys and cables to the ceiling to raise and lower backdrops. I designed the system so that the cables, at full extension, hold the backdrop low enough to mount it to the side rollers; to hoist it, the cable must be shortened. The carabiners came in handy for this task--one end goes through a loop in the cable, the other attaches to a wall-mounted bracket.

A second carabiner holds the chain drive in a fixed position, so that the backdrop does not unfurl.

I also use them to suspend the side rollers themselves, as they occasionally need to be removed for servicing, and to keep studio tools handy.

How Does the Object Wear?

The one that sees the heaviest use is the purple one you see here, which I've had on the leashes for about three years. Despite weathering its fair share of downpours, snowstorms, and summertime humidity, it hasn't rusted.

Most of the paint has worn away, which doesn't bother me. Aside from the paint loss, the surface seems to handle abrasion and friction well, even with the metal-on-metal contact from rubbing on the rotor swivel.

Will You Continue to Use This Object?

For everything except the dog leashes, yes. But I'll shortly be replacing the purple one. It expressly says "Not for Climbing Use" on it, indicating it's not meant to carry a load heavier than keys; and while I've found it strong enough to prevent two 30-pound dogs from lunging free, close inspection reveals the spring doesn't have the "oomph" it used to, and the latch feels a bit loose.

Three years is decent service life for this application. But I'm worried about it eventually breaking, and I'm going to upgrade to a sturdier carabiner of the same size that was actually designed for climbing.

o

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Comments

Danny

11 years ago

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I am generally a fan of Petzl as they make some of the best feeling gear and, as mentioned earlier, metolious. I love the action of the Petzl Ange L (large) but the S (small) would also work for your problem. Another vote for the FS Mini or Black Diamond's Neutrino which like the FS Mini is available in a few colors.

almost all climbing gear is aluminum so it wont rust.

for years I used a small steel carabiner (with a high working load) and even that didn't rust from its continued handling, put on a shelf for a while and i have noticed some rust. after that i switched to an S-Biner with integrated bottle opener but found it would catch on things easier and occasionally drop keys.

I get a lot of wear on the belt loop i usually hook things to so i've opted for something a little lighter and elegant with the Corter Leather Bottle Hook. with 3 keys on it and any extras on my steel carabiner that stays in my car. Its also the best small bottle opener i've ever used.
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terzible

11 years ago

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Metolius and Camp make tiny carabiners (FS Mini, Nano respectively) rated for climbing. Black Diamond makes the Micron. It isn't rated, but I use it on my dog leash. It's half the price of the FS Mini.
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Franxou

11 years ago

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I would like to see the sewing tutorial too, and I'd also like to add that in order to not lose gloves anymore, you can run a cord from one to the other through the arms of your jacket and attach the gloves to each end of the string. That way, when you need your hands, you can just take them out and leave them hanging from their string and do whatever you need. It's often built-in children mittens too.
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Nora

11 years ago

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Agreed, I would also love to see a tutorial on sewing webbing.
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Ken J

11 years ago

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You could beef up those cheapy caribiners by adding a sheath to prevent incidental unlatching like the real deals do.
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Jamie

11 years ago

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carabiners are like binder clips. they're versatile!
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Adam Ales

11 years ago

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Your little caribiners will never rust. They are aluminum. The cheapy ones sometimes use a steel spring that may rust but never the actual C. They do make steel ones but none you pictured are. On a side note, you can't anodize steel so if it's anodized, good bet its aluminum.
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James Patrick

11 years ago

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If you lose one glove, the other one does not become useless. It's okay to have mismatched gloves.

Do the tutorial please.
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James Hance

11 years ago

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Carabiners are excellent and versatile and look fab. Check out s-biners; a clever improvement on the standard carabiner.
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Mark Tallisin

11 years ago

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Yes! Would be great to have a tutorial on how to sew webbing. Got to walk 2 dogs as well.
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