Slinging black diamond hexes?

So I have a set of hexes from the 90s.  Originally I think they were slung w/ 5mm gemini cord.  

That cord was crusty so I got rid of it, and tossed the hexes in my "bag of crap that I don't probably need".

However, I'm thinking that it might be cool to resling them for a couple of things....  mostly, I'd like a couple of cheap pieces that I could have in the bottom of my pack to bail off of.

Anyhow, what shoudl I sling them with?  I don't think that I can get cord bigger than 5mm through the holes, but maybe I'm wrong?  Is 5mm fine? I found some blue water stuff rated at 6kN, which seems like after knots and such it'd be okay to rap on.

IMO use tech cord to make it strong enough to lead on.  Having pieces for strictly bailing seems dumb.  Also I have yet to be on an Alpine climb where I couldn't use strictly slung horns or nuts to bail.  If you are carrying hexes make them strong enough to use.

Hexes are so cheap now. you could probably get a set of dmm torque nuts for double the cost of the cord for reslinging.

Edit: to be clear I like hexes.  I use them in winter, mellow Alpine stuff, and on climbs with cracks that cams open and fall out on.

^ Torque Nuts are really nice. I replaced my 90s-era BD hexes with them last year and use them constantly. They are color-coded to match BD/DMM/WC cam sizes. 

Use 5.5 Titan cord or equivalent.  Tie the triple fisherman's such that the knot is inside of the hex, that way you don't have a huge knot to worry about. I used a double fisherman's on sizes down to a #8.

I reslung mine with 5mm spectra cord and a triple fishermans

Hexes are awesome btw.  Esp in sandstone.  

Yep, agree with resling beta above. But also, don't dismiss them old hexes as crap. As you stated; great to bail from but they are also a great way to save some weight or use as doubles/triples.

For the record, I no longer own any hexes, but they were vital on any traddies rack BITD, they simply worked when a nut didn't and you didn't have a bong.

Torque nuts are nice for TR anchors and extra pieces in the larger sizes.  

Cool, I will go with 5.5 titan.

FWIW, I bought these new back in the day from mountian tools along with a 3 C4s, a set of nuts, and 3 rigid stem friends.  I still carry the nuts and sometimes the friends.

Whatever cord most people use to make wind chimes, fishing line maybe??

Back in the day.. they were slung with cord, as thick and stiff as possible. The bigger hexes took 9mm and were very substantial. Sometimes people would sling them with 1 inch tubular webbing, and make them long enough to carry around your neck, sort of a nut and sling together thing. It didn't work very well.
BTW, Hexes were mostly used sideways, or dropped into openings, as if they were big stoppers. Ahhh, God bless a good #9 hex in a tapering handcrack, it was all we had...

Kevin Mokracek wrote: Whatever cord most people use to make wind chimes, fishing line maybe??

Haha I'm tired but this one caught me off guard, made me laugh pretty hard.  

Buck Rio wrote:Tie the triple fisherman's such that the knot is inside of the hex

This man's a genius 

Domenic Contrino wrote: This man's a genius

I don't know about the genius part of putting the knot on the inside of the hexes.
That is the way most old school tradsters including me used to do it BITD.
The only ones we didn't put the fishermans in the middle were the smaller sizes.
Back then the  smaller Chouinard hexes still had bigger holes so you could use bigger mm cordage.

And question. Why use a triple fishermans when a double fisherman works just fine?


And yes, up until the day I had to stop climbing because of my back problems
I carried my drilled Chouinard hexes on my rack.
I love my hexes!!!

kgray wrote: Back in the day.. they were slung with cord, as thick and stiff as possible. The bigger hexes took 9mm and were very substantial. Sometimes people would sling them with 1 inch tubular webbing, and make them long enough to carry around your neck, sort of a nut and sling together thing. It didn't work very well.
BTW, Hexes were mostly used sideways, or dropped into openings, as if they were big stoppers. Ahhh, God bless a good #9 hex in a tapering handcrack, it was all we had...

Yvon Chouinard, photo by Tom Frost - from wikipedia

Use triple fisherman on tech/dyneema cord, as stated elsewhere the cord is stiff and doesn't hold well enough with double fisherman's.
Also for tech cord, when cutting it, melt the sheath a bit more and pull it/melt it over the core or else the ends get all fuzzy with time.

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: I don't know about the genius part of putting the knot on the inside of the hexes.
That is the way most old school tradsters including me used to do it BITD.
The only ones we didn't put the fishermans in the middle were the smaller sizes.
Back then the  smaller Chouinard hexes still had bigger holes so you could use bigger mm cordage.

And question. Why use a triple fishermans when a double fisherman works just fine?

I used the recommended triple on 9-11 IIRC, until the knot would no longer fit into the hex, then go to a double, and I would melt the ends into a glob of melted Dyneema so they couldn't possible slip.  I would stand and bounce on those babies until the knot was rock hard. Never ever had one slip.

I would also carry them by pulling a bight from the top of the hex and folding them in half so they didn't hang so fucking low when racking on the harness(which I do occasionally).

  The new wired ones are worthless. 

I gave them away...

Buck Rio wrote:

I used the recommended triple on 9-11 IIRC, until the knot would no longer fit into the hex, then go to a double, and I would melt the ends into a glob of melted Dyneema so they couldn't possible slip.  I would stand and bounce on those babies until the knot was rock hard. Never ever had one slip.

I would also carry them by pulling a bight from the top of the hex and folding them in half so they didn't hang so fucking low when racking on the harness(which I do occasionally).

  The new wired ones are worthless. 

I gave them away...

None of my cordage or webbing is dynema.
Nylon all the way.

I still have all my drilled Chouinard hexes from when they first came out,
and are still on my rack. I never leave the ground without them unless it's a sport route.  :-)

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: None of my cordage or webbing is dynema.
Nylon all the way.

I still have all my drilled Chouinard hexes from when they first came out,
and are still on my rack. I never leave the ground without them unless it's a sport route.  :-)

On the slightly newer hexes, the drilled hole is not large enough for webbing or anything larger than the 5.5 mm Sterling Dyneema stuff. The 5mm Titan cord is even better. 

So, are you climbing again?  I had the same back surgery (L4-L5) and the dead nerve down my right leg and corresponding sciatica.

I can still pound a nail through my big toe and not feel a thing...

Took about 5-6 years for me to get back into climbing, but I'll never climb 5.11 again.

FWIW, I had a set of the old BD drilled hexes that I reslung with nice cord. Still never used them and gave them away to someone who appreciated them more. Then I tried a set of the newer DMM hexes and really like them. The key with the DMMs is that they're actually LIGHTER than the corresponding cams by a long way and confer that advantage. And they seem to place better.

Señor Arroz wrote: FWIW, I had a set of the old BD drilled hexes that I reslung with nice cord. Still never used them and gave them away to someone who appreciated them more. Then I tried a set of the newer DMM hexes and really like them. The key with the DMMs is that they're actually LIGHTER than the corresponding cams by a long way and confer that advantage. And they seem to place better.

Yup - gave away my old hexes and now have the 4 Torque nuts...I still rarely use them on lead. Use them a LOT for top rope setups.

Buck Rio wrote:

On the slightly newer hexes, the drilled hole is not large enough for webbing or anything larger than the 5.5 mm Sterling Dyneema stuff. The 5mm Titan cord is even better. 

So, are you climbing again?  I had the same back surgery (L4-L5) and the dead nerve down my right leg and corresponding sciatica.

I can still pound a nail through my big toe and not feel a thing...

Took about 5-6 years for me to get back into climbing, but I'll never climb 5.11 again.

No not yet. Still waiting on the surgery. Hopefully between end of Nov to Jan.
Are your toes still numb, if so how do you climb with numb feet and not being able to feel the rock?

My surgery will be on the L3-L4 and L4-L5