Ring Failure

[ QUOTE ]
steele is too heavy.

[/ QUOTE ]

you trying to tell me something?
tongue.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
How about the Tree Austria II. The ring is silver and says "ART 28 KN"? Is that ring considered unsafe? ANYONE?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like its rated to 28kn to me? The rings in question have NO markings on them.
 
Heat treated aluminum alloys are plenty strong... it's when the the process goes wrong that you get a weak part. That can happen with ANY metal and that's why proof loading is the best solution.

I know it happens but I've never seen a piece of broken aluminum hardware, that is, snapped right in half with no warning signs. And I've used lots of it.

When you get into Strengths of Materials the math and terminology get confusing unless you're a practicing engineer or physicist... and I'm not so I can't get down and dirty on this. It's been decades since I've done structural computations.

But, it's fairly obvious that a piece of metal hardware designed for life support should not break without warning and it shouldn't break under even a high dynamic load from body weight. Something was wrong with those Kong rings and it should not be a reflection on the typical strength of aluminum hardware.

Titanium rings are cool, I might buy one just to say I have one... since I'm a gear weenie and all. But I'm using rated aluminum on my bridge right now and I'm not worried about it. Most of my biners are aluminum, my snaps are aluminum, blablabla. It's good, tried and true stuff.

Titanium has a killer strength to weight ratio, but they compensate by making smaller, lighter pieces, The Safe working loads for similar uses are not much different from aluminum.

Time for another thread on working load because that's become foggy through all this...


And one last thing I should say about the Treeflex harness... Knowing what i know now, I recant without equivocation my statement about having no confidence in the harness or the designer. I made that statement based on a lack of communication from the maker. I trust the CT rings and I trust the design. If I wasn't so stinking happy with my BFII I might just buy one.
 
Titanium is sexy, though. Great thread. I think the biggest thing reminding us all that we're only as safe as our oldest, most abused gear...
Big Kudos to Sherrill for leading the way even though it costs them up front for long term gain.
 
the ring that broke was mine. it was in good shape and had been in use six months or so.it had not been abused. i would also like to thank toby for the manner in which he dealt with me and the more important situation of the recall. he was very honest and treated me like aperson not a problem.i would also like to thank the limb walker crew for all the help post accident,they have always been stand up guys and i am glad to know them. thanks also to the rest of the tree comunity for being concerned,the attention is nice but i hope this is the last one i take for the team.
 
Treebutcher, glad your OK and welcome! I would rather talk to ya than about ya!

You know your going to get lots of questions, perhaps a chronological history of the ring and the events of the fateful day would clear the air.

Again welcome, and very happy it wasn't worse!
 
Just noticed this is the Sherill catalog:

Sit Harness

Sit harness (saddles) certified to Europe's stringent EN 813 and EN 358 standards (like those certified to ANSI) are designe for work positioning and not fall arrest. The Sequioa, TreeMotion and Butterfly saddles are tested as followed:

STATIC TEST: approved attachment points must withstand a 15kN (3,372 lbf) static load for 3 minutes. Actual strenght is generaly much higher than that required by the standard.

DYNAMIC TEST: attachment points designed to be used in pairs must withstand a 100kg 1-meter drop test; those designed to be used individually must withstand a 2-meter drop.





That doesnt mean that every harness is tested, does it? Or do they test them in batches?
 
I don't think they do drop tests on harnesses for sale.

The EN standards are a test of the design itself. It's different from QA testing, which is to assure every harness made complies with the specifications of that design.
 
Does this only apply to the larger 1 1/4" rings that Sherrill sells? How about the smaller ones? My adjustable friction saver has the larger ring marked, as well as the one I bought as my bridge attachment point, but the smaller ring on my fs and I have one other small ring I was going to use on my bridge and both of those are unmarked. Any input anyone?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Does this only apply to the larger 1 1/4" rings that Sherrill sells? How about the smaller ones? My adjustable friction saver has the larger ring marked, as well as the one I bought as my bridge attachment point, but the smaller ring on my fs and I have one other small ring I was going to use on my bridge and both of those are unmarked. Any input anyone?

[/ QUOTE ]
Jeff,
Go to SherrillTrees website. It describes their recall.

I got my rings from Wesspur. The small polished aluminum rings with no markings and no color are what they are recalling.
Be safe,
Kramer
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does this only apply to the larger 1 1/4" rings that Sherrill sells? How about the smaller ones? My adjustable friction saver has the larger ring marked, as well as the one I bought as my bridge attachment point, but the smaller ring on my fs and I have one other small ring I was going to use on my bridge and both of those are unmarked. Any input anyone?

[/ QUOTE ]
Jeff,
Go to SherrillTrees website. It describes their recall.

I got my rings from Wesspur. The small polished aluminum rings with no markings and no color are what they are recalling.
Be safe,
Kramer

[/ QUOTE ]

They sell and use two different sized rings for friction savers and individual use, there's no mention in the recall letter I got from Sherrill as to which size this pertains to. Just curious.
 
The recall is for the SMALL ring. No large Kong rings have failed that anybody knows about.

If you have a large unmarked, polished ring and you want to keep using it, you should try to find out if it came from Kong and ditch it if it did. Kong is not to be trusted.
 
Blinky- please correct me if I'm wrong, but in reading the Product Recall as posted on their website, it doesn't specify the size of the ring. All rings should be sent back, right?

As I reread it, I see that it does specify only the silver (non colored) rings.

love
nick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom