Build My Own FeedQC Lab: Gear from Ukraine
I received an email a while ago from a gentleman who had some old gear laying around. He said it was from Ukraine, most with no manufacturers markings, ratings, etc—it had been sitting around for quite a while and he was never about to use it so asked if I would be interested in breaking it—just to see how strong it was. I thought, why not?
The Gear
There were some cams from the Ukraine, unknown cams, a handful of stoppers and a few carabiners.
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Tests
We tested the gear in the tensile testing machine using the same fixtures we would when testing comparable BD gear. Cams were tested at 50% retracted; biners were tested in Closed Gate; Stoppers were tested in standard wedge jig. We also compared the results to similar size of BD product for relative comparative purposes.
Results
|
escription |
Rating |
Tested |
Failure Mode |
BD Compare |
Rating
(kN) |
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Cam—Large Ukraine |
1800 kg |
17.65 |
15.72 |
Cable Midspan |
#1 Camalot
|
14
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Cam—Small Ukraine |
1800 kg
|
17.65
|
13.70
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Axle Shear
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#.5 Camalot
|
12
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Cam—Titan |
15 kN
|
15
|
11.07
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Runner
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#.75 Camalot
|
14
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15.81
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Runner |
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17.84
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Ball Swage Failure |
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Cam – Small Unknown |
NA |
13.59 |
Axle Bend / Cam Shear
|
.4 Camalot
|
10
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Biner – D |
2200 kg
|
21.57
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28.76
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Nose Hook Failure
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Light D
|
24
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Biner – D |
2200 kg
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21.57
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28.76
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Nose Hook Failure
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Light D
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24
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Chock—Silver Taper
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NA
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11.02
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Swage Pullout
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#9 Stopper
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10
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Chock—Pink Taper
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NA
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7.40
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Swage Pullout
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#9 Stopper
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10
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Chock—Large Curved
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NA
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8.76
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Cable at Nut
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#11 Stopper
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10
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Chock—Medium Curved
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NA
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9.61
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Cable at Nut
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#10 Stopper
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10
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Chock—Small Yellow |
NA
|
3.79 |
Cable at Nut |
#5 Stopper
|
6
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Chock—Small Purple |
NA
|
4.32 |
Cable at Nut |
#4 Stopper
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6
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Observations & Comments
Cams
- None of the cams met their rating. In two of the three cases, the failure mode was peculiar and undesirable (e.g., cable failure midspan, and axle shear).
- The Titan cam runner broke below rating. We tested with another piece of tied cord, it broke there again. Then we tested without any webbing in the system and got the ball swage to fail at above the product rating.
These undesirable failure modes could be a result of age of the product, material selection, previous abuse, or a combination of all three.
Biners
The biners were burly strong—stronger than their rating, and exhibited typical failure modes for these types of biners.
Nuts
- Nuts usually fail “Cable at Nut”. Two of the six failed by the cable pulling out of the swage—though one above a comparable sized BD Stopper’s rating and one significantly lower. This failure mode is probably the result of poor swaging. The medium and larger size nuts were slightly weaker than a comparable size BD Stopper.
- The smaller nuts were significantly weaker that a comparable size BD stopper.
Bottom Line
Climbing is a serious game—buy your equipment from reputable manufacturers. Be careful of knock-offs and small-time garage-shop gear. I’m not saying that there can’t be good small-shop gear out there—but in most cases these companies don’t go through the certification processes and have the quality systems in place in order to ensure repeatable manufacturing processes and that the gear they are producing consistently meets its intended ratings. Thanks to Jim Thompson for sacrificing his old, unknown, questionable gear so we could maybe all learn something.
Be safe in the hills—KP
United States / English 
