Compact Bulldog Bone

Worthaug. Did you happen to read the issue I was having with my bone? I too am a cougar user. Puke color is what I've got. It's got some miles on it and isn't very stiff anymore but still in good shape and not fuzzy. How has the bone performs for you? How old is your rope that you usually use? Do you notice Andy difference between newer and older cougar when boning? Just trying to get dialed in. I like cougar a lot and have ended up there over the years having used many ropes. Don't really want to switch it up so I'm wondering your take.
 
I did. I am on a relatively new hank of Puke (that sounds funny) and the 5/8" bollard with the newest tending spot. I ascend with a left foot ascender and Haas tended by a homemade "Swing" inspired chest harness (both the Haas and Bone are attached to the front) with a saddle attachment at the rear. When standing, everything is very tight, my bridge, the Haas bungee and the chest harness is trying to pull me into a hunched posture. Ascent is smooth and is very similar to when I'm on the RW (which I still use quite regularly). Descent is smooth because I have developed good hand positioning and touch. As my Cougar/ Bone gets more used I will note the changes if any and report them here. I haven't tried it yet, but I want to make my bridge adjustable, so that on descent I can put the Bone higher up so I have more room to tend the tail with my opposite hand to improve control on bigger swings and moves. Also note that a lot of my Bone days have been removals on spurs not large widespread canopy prunes. Keep at it.
 
Steve Connally said:
Oceans you know I was pulling your leg man.
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Oh totally, man. I sometimes look back on old posts of mine and think "wow, I probably sound too serious or uptight or something." All good, Steve. I'm just hoping you get your Bone straightened out...uh, I mean... Hhhhhhhh, you know what I mean. :)
 
When the "cross loading" possibility was reported back on page 13, I sketched an idea for upper arms milled from thicker stock as an alternative to adding bolt on "handles". I finally got around to making a BDB (copy) using the idea. The upper arm hole spacing was also decreased to 1-5/16" to optimize performance with the Yale 11.7 ropes. 7075-T651 aluminum was used.

I still have to repair my lathe before I can make the various spacers and also have to modify the links so in the mean time, I used these parts from my 'real' BDB to give it a test run today. I also still need to contour the handles for comfort and touch up the finish.

After today's test climb, I am very pleased with the results.

IMG_4877 (Small).webp
 
gmcttr said:
When the "cross loading" possibility was reported back on page 13, I sketched an idea for upper arms milled from thicker stock as an alternative to adding bolt on "handles". I finally got around to making a BDB (copy) using the idea. The upper arm hole spacing was also decreased to 1-5/16" to optimize performance with the Yale 11.7 ropes. 7075-T651 aluminum was used.

I still have to repair my lathe before I can make the various spacers and also have to modify the links so in the mean time, I used these parts from my 'real' BDB to give it a test run today. I also still need to contour the handles for comfort and touch up the finish.

After today's test climb, I am very pleased with the results.

View attachment 29908
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Very nice! But, don't you know there's a new T-spot!? Have you not read the other 60 pages? Jk, lol.
 
gmcttr said:
When the "cross loading" possibility was reported back on page 13, I sketched an idea for upper arms milled from thicker stock as an alternative to adding bolt on "handles". I finally got around to making a BDB (copy) using the idea. The upper arm hole spacing was also decreased to 1-5/16" to optimize performance with the Yale 11.7 ropes. 7075-T651 aluminum was used.

I still have to repair my lathe before I can make the various spacers and also have to modify the links so in the mean time, I used these parts from my 'real' BDB to give it a test run today. I also still need to contour the handles for comfort and touch up the finish.

After today's test climb, I am very pleased with the results.

View attachment 29908
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That thing looks dead sexy! I was going to weld more material on the end of my upper arms and re-shape but was out of straight Argon for the spool gun, so I went with the bolts. That looks RAD! I may have to revisit mine sometime soon. Beautiful work.
 
Wow, what a difference.

I washed my Cougar Blue after a year of use, yesterday I was dismantling Sweet Chestnuts in a duck/Goose enclosure. Imagine the crap (Literally) my rope was rolling around in. I decided to wash the CB this morning for obvious reasons. The Bone now glides like glass on this line. Problem solved, I think. Problem being now I am off for a week snowboarding so Ill have to wait for a climb on it...
 
Okay so I manned up and took the Bones for thier first session, nice very nice. Well done Gordon! My set came with the middle bushings installed and one was set at the end pivot and one in the middle pivot (upper arm). It didn't take me long to figure out that my Vortex liked the middle pivot. I stayed really low so I have not tried the T-Spot other than by hand, and I think it will work great from there. I flew it SRT & DSRT and it worked great in both cases. I run twin bridges and swivels and like that setup, I did put them on the same biner once and it works but I just prefer my setup. Now single bridge with a Rook pulley and Nano swivels might also be a sweet setup, I just like a little room between my ascenders. Because I only run Vortex I may tweek the grooves a little as others have for the wide ropes. Unless they discontinue Vortex I won't be changing ropes any time soon, I have all my ascenders set for it and all my hitch cords are matched to it. As I play with the bones more I might have more to say but for now just three more words...Money well spent.
 
Thanks, ML. Were you using a new line or an older one? As biggun noted, how clean your rope is can make a big difference on how smooth the Dogbone runs. I think that most climbers using the BDB would be surprised just how much better it is with a clean rope and the washing also removes any flattening that it may have acquired.
 
It was my older rope but it is still like new compared to most on here, probably less than a few hundred hours and been washed twiced. It doesn't even have fuzz yet.
 
DSMc said:
Thanks, ML. Were you using a new line or an older one? As biggun noted, how clean your rope is can make a big difference on how smooth the Dogbone runs.
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Crikey, maybe a BDB won't be a good choice for me.
My rope gets washed by the rain after it falls in a stagnant pond!
Lol!
 
FWIW I'm not sure I've ever washed my Tachyon and it's working great. I'm sure it's one of those things that you'll know it's time to do when performance changes. I'd wager that most mechanicals would need similar treatment, i.e. a reasonably clean rope running through them.
 
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