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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Bryden Allen Crack-a-jack 2-Nov-2022 At 4:44:56 PM Hayds13

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I remember John mentioning it at Escalade 93.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2292864/Ironmongers-of-the-Dreamtime
"The best contraption was the thing Bryden called the crackajack, which didn’t work at all but was a great idea. It was made from two lengths of rod, each about three inches long. One piece was solid, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, with an external thread. The other was hollow with a larger diameter and a corresponding internal thread. This piece had a winding lever attached to it, and both pieces had sharp teeth filed into the ends, if you can picture it. The Inquisition would have loved it. The idea was to crank it up in any crack from three to six inches wide, hang from it on a sling and then place a bolt. The trouble was you needed two hands to get it started! Also, the lever wasn’t long enough to exert enough torque to get the teeth to bite. None of this mattered to us. We loved it any¬way and carried it everywhere in its own special bag made from green japara cotton. I favored wooden wedges. At one stage I was so crazy about them that a casual observer would have thought I was on the way to build a small bungalow at the top of the cliff"