Acceptable cord diameter for anchors

Buff Johnson wrote:What would be the true test of the 6 considering the anchor in entirety? While a single component can easily be measured, the anchor is a load distributor. What can the entire anchor take if loaded in the direction intended?

buff-

assuming the 6mm could handle each arm effectively, i would feel comfortable with it as a whole. theoretically, the 6mm cord could behave a little differently than the 7mm cord when the entire equalized anchor is considered (for example, individual arms might stretch a bit more or the entire anchor might lose a bit more strength when the knot is tied) - but my guess is that these differences wouldn't have a significant impact in real-world application. if you really would like an answer, i could pull test some 6mm anchors and find out for sure.

again, though, since i use 7mm nylon, it's not something that i have really put a lot of effort into researching.

When I only climbed with skinny guys I used 6mm. Now that I regularly climb with normal sized guys, and often have 2 seconds, I use nothing but 7mm.

6, 7, or 8 mm... most seem to use 7mm nylon.

But, has anyone EVER heard of an anchor chord breaking? Seriously... the only anchor failures I've heard of (and I have looked into this...) involved the protection pieces popping after other errors.

I'm not being a jerk, I'm seriously interested in if this is a legitimate concern?

Happy Climbing