Compact Bulldog Bone

Hey, @Timothytree; Welcome to the TreeBuzz forum! I think you are going to like it here! Congratulations on making your first post!

I gotta say, I find it a bit unfair that a new guy has managed to get his hands on one of the finest climbing devices on planet earth before his keyboard has even gotten warmed up yet! I'm so jealous!

I hope you have a great time climbing on Gordon's Compact Adjustable Bulldog Bone. Some climbers have said that it is a complete game-changer for them. Hopefully you can share your experiences with it here on the forum.

Also, I hope you have a happy and healthy New Year!

Tim
 
TimBr said:
Hey, @Timothytree; Welcome to the TreeBuzz forum! I think you are going to like it here! Congratulations on making your first post!

I gotta say, I find it a bit unfair that a new guy has managed to get his hands on one of the finest climbing devices on planet earth before his keyboard has even gotten warmed up yet! I'm so jealous!

I hope you have a great time climbing on Gordon's Compact Adjustable Bulldog Bone. Some climbers have said that it is a complete game-changer for them. Hopefully you can share your experiences with it here on the forum.

Also, I hope you have a happy and healthy New Year!

Tim
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Thank you, Tim!!!

I have seen some amazing videos of climbers using new tech gear and one thing I see is that the most impressive style and freedom I notice is people usiing Gordon's tools. Had to try it. Have been a gaff a flipline cutter out west where the safety briefing comes in two words. ""Dont fall". But am concerned about the amount of blue green fungus that is wipj g out trees here in the south. Gaffs have to be spreading it tree to tree like an infected needle.
Got the package from gordon yesterday and had him send a Bolo too. Got so involved with practice that I corgot about dinner in the oven. Want a slice.
 
I had the BDB for more than a year but I haven’t use it that much, where I work I had to use the Samson true blue and the Samson blue streak and I feeld them kinda tight, I’m going to try to use the BDB in my lanyard maybe it’s not a good idea but I’ll give it a try.
 
JCJC7 said:
I had the BDB for more than a year but I haven’t use it that much, where I work I had to use the Samson true blue and the Samson blue streak and I feeld them kinda tight, I’m going to try to use the BDB in my lanyard maybe it’s not a good idea but I’ll give it a try.
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If the bone isn't working for you w/half inch line, you may want to give the rope wrench a try. It's also a little tight w/ 1/2" rope, but the bottom is a hitch, so you can adjust your knot and hitch cord. I've found a 9mm cord like the blue epicord or RIT to work pretty well w/ 1/2". If you're coming from a more traditional system, the Michoacán is tied almost exactly the same as a Blake's hitch and should work pretty well with a wrench. It's also less expensive than a BDB, especially if you already have the climbing system.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
fall_risk said:
If the bone isn't working for you w/half inch line, you may want to give the rope wrench a try. It's also a little tight w/ 1/2" rope, but the bottom is a hitch, so you can adjust your knot and hitch cord. I've found a 9mm cord like the blue epicord or RIT to work pretty well w/ 1/2". If you're coming from a more traditional system, the Michoacán is tied almost exactly the same as a Blake's hitch and should work pretty well with a wrench. It's also less expensive than a BDB, especially if you already have the climbing system.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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Would love to see that system. Always interested in new tricks. Send me a pic or a video of how to tie the knot and "the rope wrench". Did some climbing today with a foot and hand ascender. But did have to gaff to clean all the gear I hung in the tree. I was able to successfully pull my friction saver down with just a square knot.
 
fall_risk said:
If the bone isn't working for you w/half inch line, you may want to give the rope wrench a try. It's also a little tight w/ 1/2" rope, but the bottom is a hitch, so you can adjust your knot and hitch cord. I've found a 9mm cord like the blue epicord or RIT to work pretty well w/ 1/2". If you're coming from a more traditional system, the Michoacán is tied almost exactly the same as a Blake's hitch and should work pretty well with a wrench. It's also less expensive than a BDB, especially if you already have the climbing system.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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I have the rope wrench and I been using the distel hitch, going to try the Kornel hitch tomorrow, I also have the zig zag but I can’t use it cause my rope has two eye splices, I like how the spiderjack works I climb SRT and then work DRT with the Spiderjack or the hitch climber pulley.
 
So I’ve had an adjustable bdb for awhile. I remember messing with it a bit when I first got it but it’s always felt fine and I haven’t had any need to adjust it. Anyways, I was looking it over today and was playing with the set screw a bit and I hate to admit it, but I’m not exactly sure how it’s supposed to work (and I may have stripped the copper bollard [emoji1750]‍[emoji3603])...

So my question is, what’s the proper way to adjust it? Just turn the screw and leave the jam but where it is and have a fairly limited range? Or do I somehow hold the jam nut too? Should it be threading into the copper or just going into it, pushing it?

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The jamb nut should turn as one with the adjustment screw. I put a drop of red locktite on the threads and turn it down tight against the baffle, then back it off about 1/4 turn so that it acts as a stopper but turns easily with the ss machine screw. your ss jamb nut has turned and is not in the correct position. The upshot is that your brass bollard is not adjustable until the nut is put back in its proper position. (there are not threads through the baffle, only in the brass bollard)
you can restore the adjustment function by holding the nut and turning it back to the baffle.
 
Thanks for the help Gordon, got the adjustability all sorted out! Anyways..


With too much time in the warm indoors I believe I’ve perfected the tending points on my bdb’s with the magnetic tender....

Older style - remove D-ring, put screw through holes from where the D-ring was capturing magnets eye hook...(it probably could use a cap or a slightly shorter screw and ny-lock would be better but this was what I had in my basement)...

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Adjustable bdb - open eye on magnet with pliers and fit it around the pin...

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@stheis004; Thanks for posting that really nice series of photos of your magnetic tending lanyard setup. Interesting idea. Is the main purpose of the magnetic lanyard to act as a breakaway to prevent strangulation in the event something unexpected were to happen? And it seems strong enough to never break away when you do not wish it to, correct?

That is a well-used Compact Adjustable Bulldog Bone. I would love to hear any comments you would have to make about how the Bone has affected your day to day climbing experience.

Thanks to @surveyor for always being so quick to answer people's questions.

Tim
 
TimBr said:
@stheis004; Thanks for posting that really nice series of photos of your magnetic tending lanyard setup. Interesting idea. Is the main purpose of the magnetic lanyard to act as a breakaway to prevent strangulation in the event something unexpected were to happen? And it seems strong enough to never break away when you do not wish it to, correct?

That is a well-used Compact Adjustable Bulldog Bone. I would love to hear any comments you would have to make about how the Bone has affected your day to day climbing experience.

Thanks to @surveyor for always being so quick to answer people's questions.

Tim
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- The purpose is to save you a few seconds of fumbling around clipping into and out of "tending mode" every time you need to ascend/go into work positioning.

- Strong enough to usually not break away when you don't want it to (but occasionally something snags and the connection will break when you don't want it to, but it's just a tad bit of inconvenience at worst).

- The not-much-stronger-than-a-paper-clip cheapo blue carabiner is the intended breakaway if something goes wrong, as that is what's holding the rope around one's neck

As far as my day to day experience with the bdb, it is awesome. The fast, midline attach-ability with no parts to drop is what has really set it apart for me; my climbing style/routes in a tree are totally influenced by that single feature. I used to learn, study and be fascinated with all of the remotely retrievable redirects and now it's as simple as leaving the tail of my rope somewhere where I can reach it.
 
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climbers Bone from Norway. I asked if I could share his pictures. This Bone has been in use for about 18 months. The last picture is the bottom of the spine. I groove the spine and the bottom arms on each and every Bone I make, and the rope smoothes it as seen. He has added the shackle on the spine as a tending aid.
 
I bought my BDB a year or so ago and just rec climb so not a lot of use on it. The original spine was still in like-new condition. But I made a new spine (sorry, I own a machine shop - couldn't resist just making one up to try it) based on Surveyor's recent photo of the new design and it made a huge difference. Much smoother on descent, noticeably easier to control. I definitely recommend the new spine to anyone already owning a BDB.
 
So, I met with Chris in Dec. and he has sent me the DMM rubber grommets which are used to minimize cross loading at the attach point. He thought they would fit in the Bone teardrops, and they do... perfectly. I highly recommend them to Bone (and BOLA) users, and the next 5 Bones sold will have them installed, thanks to his generosity. (He also sent 2 small DMM swivels to see if they fit, so I will be trying those out soon) such beautiful gear! Thanks Chris.
 
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