First booty cam - identification and restoration?

Hey all,

I'm still new to trad climbing with only about 6 months under my belt. The cam pictured below was freed from it's captivity in the fall and given to me.  I have a few questions for y'all:

1) Anyone know the brand and model? I think it's a "0, .25" size based on the remnants of a sticker on the stem, and the only brand marking I see is the three leaves on the sling tag. Extensive Googling was unsuccessful :(

2) It seems in decent shape mechanically and visually, except that the wires need to be adjusted as one of the lobes is not sitting right. It contracts smoothly but doesn't reset to even when I release the trigger. Thoughts on how to do this?

3) I would assume re-slinging is a good idea since I don't know it's history, but no idea how to go about that since it's a sewn loop. What's the best practice here?

Overall, I'm just trying to decide if it's worth it for such a small cam that I already would hesitate trusting for more than mental pro. I have a pretty solid rack, but at the same time it never hurts to have more cams at the ready. Thoughts from any trad dads or moms out there?

Cheers,

Ben

Hey that’s mine! Did you find it in a crack?

Looks like a Wild Country Tech Friend #1.  Possibly reslung at some point.

Should be fine to use as is.

It is not a WC Tech Friend 

This is a tech friend: 

I don't know what your cam is, though. My guess would be an eastern European brand. Sling reminds me of the old Ocun? logo. Should be fine to use.  You should be able to shuffle the cables into the correct position. Whatever happened to the nutmuseum? That guy was very well informed. 

Isn't that a Micro Camalot? The lobes are weird though, they don't match other photos of them.

Austin Donisan wrote:

Isn't that a Micro Camalot? The lobes are weird though, they don't match other photos of them.

yeah it looks like one of the smaller camalot they released in the late 90s/early 2000s, but the lobes are different so it could be some brand of camalot rip-off?

Graham Johnson wrote:

It is not a WC Tech Friend 

This is a tech friend: 

I don't know what your cam is, though. My guess would be an eastern European brand. Sling reminds me of the old Ocun? logo. Should be fine to use.  You should be able to shuffle the cables into the correct position. Whatever happened to the nutmuseum? That guy was very well informed. 

that's a newer #1 tech friend. the older ones had yellow webbing.  the cam in question looks like an older #1 tech friend, or some off brand (like clog, etc).  i used to have 4 of the clog #1's.

It's actually an Ocun cam with the original sling. I can't find anything on that size but here are some bigger ones:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/111953952/help-me-id-these-cams
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/113776538/cleaning-out-the-closet-cams-shoes-harness-prices-lowered

Possibly manufactured by Wild Country?

Based on an earlier Mountain Project thread, it's an Ocun cam from the 1990's. So the sling is prolly at least 20 years old.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/111953952/help-me-id-these-cams

slim wrote:

that's a newer #1 tech friend. the older ones had yellow webbing.  the cam in question looks like an older #1 tech friend, or some off brand (like clog, etc).  i used to have 4 of the clog #1's.

Older Tech Friends (actual name was FlexiFriends) did not have a plastic sleeve of any sorts. The sling was always color coded, but around the mid 90s WC switched from nylon to dynema. I’m thinking Ocun/Rock Empire/Robot/Trango circa late nineties to early teens, all of which came from the same Czech factory. 

Marc H wrote:

Hey that’s mine! Did you find it in a crack?

Sorry Marc, this was found stuck inside an arete! 

Congrats. Found a cam like that, wires torqued and messed up... but still worked.  For years it was my abuse cam.  Always put it as the piece that took the crux move/fall.  Lol.