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The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

Monday, December 19, 2011

The new Petzl production light weight Nomic hammer?

Seen here, bottom of the page

http://www.petzl.com/files/all/technical-notice/Sport/Acc_LAME_PANNE_MARTEA_U195010B.pdf


Only took them 5 years after I gave them the original drawings to do it wrong, twice :)


This was in answer to the new Petzl hammer question from another forum.

"I have cut down the larger, current production, Petzl Nomic hammer, which is virtually what Petzl is doing for the LWT version from what I can tell by the drawings. The CT hammer isn't much of a hammer for pounding on things. The newest Petzl one even worse I suspect from my earlier efforts last year with the Petzl hammer. The bigger production hammer makes the Nomic unbalanced imo which is why there is a CT hammer. The Petzl LWT version will solve the balance problem but not be much of a hammer. For many a little "head protection" is all that will be required.

If that is all you require yes, the newest LWT Petzl "hammer" or cutting down the bigger Petzl production hammer will solve your problem I suspect.

But to be clear, the profile of the Petzl LWT version and Cold Thistle version are not similar in head coverage, head protection or hammer profile. Let alone their respective abilities as actual hammers.

What Petzl's hammers (any version) won't do is make it easy to change picks in the field.....ask those that have tried. Serious design flaw imo."

I'm out of CT hammers until or if I decide to build more.  That will depend on the future demand. 

15 comments:

Erik W said...

I actually am in the hunt for hammers for my new Nomics and so found this new Petzl lwt hammer interesting. Unfortunately there's only so much one can glean from a schematic, but I agree the striking face looks substantially smaller than the CT hammers. Why do you say these factory hammers make pick swaps in the field an issue? Actually, pick swaps at home on the couch have been an issue on the new Nomics... tight fit, and getting that washer lined up is a PITA relative to my previous BD setup. Anyway, curious to hear your reasoning on the difficulty for the Petzl hammers.

Dane said...

Petzl washer is hard to set up and get right when changing picks. Petzl adze is hard to get right because it is over size. Current Petzl hammer is over size and hard to fit. New Petzl hammer is made to the same spec as the other three is my bet and no bigger than the back side of the current production hammer is my guess. Which isn't an effective or protective hammer on the Nomic head. BTDT.

Drawing shows the same on the Petzl web site. In that case it isn't really a hammer. More of a "head cover" on the Nomic/Ergo or Quark. But as I said previos, I wouldn't call it a hammer.

FWIW I have 3 pair of CT hammers left from this production. There likely won't be any more.

Ridgerunner said...

Dane
Where can you find that Petzl washer if you want to remove the hammers? I am missing something...

Dane said...

Missing the washers I'd guess? Petzl has them. Not easy to duplicate as they are a weird size.

fulton said...

After looking at Petzl's idea of a light weight hammer it's obvious no one there has ever swung a framing hammer. Ergonomics of the shaft was never the issue as it would always be odd however the face of the new hammer offers little in the way of striking surface which ultimately is what you're after. Close Petzl but no cigar. You need less 'yes men' at the factory and more 'you're kidding, right?' men.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dane,

I'm in Canmore. How much for a pair of nomic hammers?

Are you back visiting soon.

Thanks

Cheers
Sylvain
vaniersattelusdotnet

SweBrian said...

When you say there wont be anymore, do you mean ever or this season? If not ever then I'll take a pair.

Dane said...

Hammers? You snooze, you loose :) Sorry guys.

James said...

Dane, I have never used a hammer to pound pitons, so I have no comment as to whether Petzl's hammers are any good for that, but I have noticed that they do make great pick weights. I like the swing of my quarks a whole lot more when they have hammers on the heads. Pity the adze sucks for the Quarks... Any chance you'll be making CT adzes? Do you use a CNC machine to make your stuff?

Dane said...

Hi James.
Better set up imo to climb with on the Quarks is simply adding the actual pick weights and ditching the Petzl hammer and adze or adding two of their new LWT hammers. You would be amazed at how the balance is changed for the better on the Quark when you do. Petzl was smart to go to one head design (the Nomic's) for all three new tools but who ever was the design engineer and testers for the adze and hammers (and pommel for that matter) dropped the ball IMO.

CNC on the hammers which are then heat treated to hammer spec. One off on my Quark Adze made from a original first gen Quark adze at a better angle and lighter in weight.

Anonymous said...

I measured the space available for the spacers from the hammer and adze.
It's basically a DIN washer at 8.4mm ID, 16mm OD and 3mm thick.

I was looking for the size of those spacers when I noticed the new hammer on the PETZL site.

SweBrian said...

bummer about those hammers being sold out, please email me if a buyer backs out!

Dane said...

Just found an additional 3 pair this morning that had been stashed away for some reason. Email me if you are interested.

SweBrian said...

email sent!

Dane said...

No mistake on your part Ralph. I have done a good bit of original work with design and production on BD and Petzl tools. I am critizing Petzl on both their engineering and production. Easy to better both imo.

You weren't the only one to share drawings with Petzl France early on.

The basic hammer/pick interface as your drawings clearly show was Petzl's idea. Nothing new there on anyone's part after the fact.

More at Cold Thistle tools on what I offer.