The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1158.2014.1(a-b)
Homemade chock\wedge
17/10/2014
Hermione Cooper
17/10/2014
Homemade chock and homemade wedge on ropes.
aluminium(?)
wedge-2.3 x 2.3 x 1.8cm chock 4 x 2cms
2
silver
unknown
It's sometimes quite hard to tell if something is homemade or manufactured. Early chocks and wedges dating from the 1970's were pretty crude affairs even when made in a factory such as Clog in North Wales where the workers were sort of hand making things albeit on an industrial scale.
Though looking very much homemade the rounder of the two we have here could be a Peck Cracker that has been filed, at an acute angle, at either end. This was common practice back in th early days when there was a much smaller variety of gear available and climbers would customise what they had to increase the range. The wedge could be an early Troll or Clog though these would nearly always have the maker's stamp on and this one doesn't, though it could have been filed removing the maker's stamp in the process - somehow though, it looks homemade!
So- possible Peck, possible Clog, possible Joe Bloggs in his shed. Unfortunately, we don't know where they came from, but we have kept them together as the rope on both is the same, indicating one owner.
Check out the related items below to see where we are getting our comparisons.
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Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
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