Just dropped $800 on a new climbing rope and it already has a core shot

Bought the rope brand new for a big oak removal job last month. Second day using it, I was working near the trunk and felt a weird catch. Looked down and there's a clear core shot about six feet from the end, probably from a tiny hidden nail. That's a $800 safety item basically junk now. Anyone got a good way to check for metal in bark before you set your line?

4 comments

4 Comments

ivan_murphy802mo agoTop Commenter

My buddy had that happen with a brand new rigging line. He started running a cheap detector over the bark before tying in, found a bunch of old screws.

morgan_king361mo agoTop Commenter

Totally get what leewalker is saying. My cheap detector beeps like crazy in my yard, and then I'm stuck digging for an hour only to find a rusty bottle cap from 1998. Feels like the detector just gives me homework. Found a spoon last week. A whole spoon. Who loses a spoon in the grass?

blair_nguyen2mo ago

Yeah, a metal detector seems like the only real fix.

leewalker2mo ago

Actually, a metal detector just finds the problem. It doesn't fix anything. You still have to dig up the ground and remove whatever metal is causing the issue. The real fix is the physical removal, which is a lot more work. The detector is just the tool that tells you where to start digging. Calling it the fix is missing the bigger, messier part of the job.