Tenex Hitch Cord

Fernhorn

Fernhorn

Location
Southern Appalachian Mtns, NC
Wanted to get you Buzzer's take on this:

I just got a Tenex hitch cord that had heat shrink wrap around the splice and it appeared that someone got a little carried away with the heat gun and melted some of the fibers on the eye, compromising at least one strand. I'm just wondering if heat shrink wrap around the splice of tenex is such a good idea given it's lower melting point.

Thoughts?
 
i dont like tenex for this reason. obviously this is a manufacturers fault, but it has a low melting point to begin with. i dont like how easily you can burn it just by buzzing out of a tree
 
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good eye fernhorn, send it back. Curious, was it hand spliced or stitched?

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It was stitched. I'm attaching a pic.. If you look closely at the ends of the broken fibers you can see where they melted together.
 

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I'd send it back unused.

I've been using Tenex more lately, I just love how reliably it catches with a VT. I'm not uptight about the melting point, I don't smoke down a rope very often and I've never heard of a Tenex split tail burning through to failure.

I don't use gloves though, I imagine a lot of folks who do are more likely to rip down the rope day in, day out.
 
I did send it back immediately. It did create somewhat of a hassle for me as I needed it for a job but oh well that's the way it goes I guess.

My main concern is for the way the Tenex reacts to a heat gun when heat shrinking. Perhaps a serial# tag could be sewn into the stitching? It's just common sense to not use heat on something that has a relatively low melting point.
 
Im not a fan of tenex for a friction hitch to begin with.Its great for other applications,but it would be a better to use something with a higher melting point for your hitches.Ice tail is similiar in size and a hollow braid,but has alot higher melting point.Seems like you would get more wear life with a different fiber.
 
I'm unfamiliar with using Tenex for hitch cord.

Is Tenex's good qualities strength and good action as a climbing friction hitch?
Negative: low melting point?

I thought that I've seen them for rigging for MA and progress capture. Just curious about its pro's/ con's/ applications.

Thanks.
 
I love Tenex Tec for hitch cord. I like unspliced because i feel the hollow braid really grabs on the rope. Also I use a bigger diameter and its easy to grip in my hand.

Since I climb SRT the hitch doesn't see near the heat a tradition Ddrt system does, so Tenex's lack of heat resistance doesnt really effect my climbing style. (I like very fast descents)
 
I'm eying up some 3/8 tenex myself for splicing hitch cord. I've been using the cheaper 3/8 double braid sold by wesspur that is not heat resistant and it has held up well for me. It's just time consuming to splice. I'll give tenex a try.
 
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I've never seen red tenex before. Where did you get that?

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I'm not really inclined to get into who's selling the red tenex because I don't wish to come across as vindictive.
I want to bring about consciousness of an issue not who's to blame.

I got my replacement yesterday and guess what- Same problem.

It's really not hard to identify melted fibers, they are hard and clump together. A couple of light scratches with my finger nail and they separate. I don't think it's being taken very seriously.

I'm not sending this one back, it's just too much hassle for me. And the likelyhood of getting another defective product is to high. One would think that someone in QC could catch stuff like this. After the last one I caught it took me about 3 seconds to find the defect. I did raise the issue with the company on the first one and told them exactly what and where to look for the defect and the likely cause. Lots of good that did lol.

I ask again - what's the point of heat shrinking on products that are vulnerable to heat damage? Can the product ID not be sewn into the splice?


Picture of the replacement is attached.
 

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Tenex is polyester, second to nylon it has one of the lowest melting points of all fibers available to arborists.

Its tensile strength, low weight, and hollow construction make it ideal for prussik hitches and false crotch slings.

When it was introduced to our industry it was meant for applications such as building 3to 1 Z-rigs, adjustable false crotches, and lanyard prussiks, not climbing hitches where heat resistance becomes an issue.
 
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