carabiners and scratches on the metal and using them for soft goods

I'm curious if you all have carabiners used only for clipping into metal, like at an anchor, and you would not use those carabiners later to girth hitch a sling because maybe the metal scratched your carabiner? Or you wouldn't use that as a bail biner to be lowered? I don't know, so I'm asking. 

Generally people avoid soft goods on the clipped side of their bolt-clipping biners.   But the soft gear wears out either way and needs replacing, so a lot of people aren’t too anal about it, it seems.  Some people will probably say to be super anal about it, but I’d say mostly just watch for bad gouges or sharp edges.  Small dents/scratches aren’t a big deal.   A lot of people do have dedicated quick draws for sport climbing, and separate draws for their trad rack, for this reason. 

Yeah this is something to be aware of for sure, generally more of an issue if you sport climb, whipping on bolts is the most likely way to cause a burr in a carabiner that could subsequently damage soft goods.  It’s a good idea to have a dedicated bolt side carabiner for your quickdraws, and/or inspect your gear regularly. 

It’s pretty easy to gently sand off burrs with some 300 or so grit sand paper.

Generally carabiners will not get notched up from use at an anchor, and will be fine for other uses. As mentioned, it is generally the whips on bolts that does this. That being said, inspect your gear! 

Jim T wrote:

Generally people avoid soft goods on the clipped side of their bolt-clipping biners.   But the soft gear wears out either way and needs replacing, so a lot of people aren’t too anal about it, it seems.  Some people will probably say to be super anal about it, but I’d say mostly just watch for bad gouges or sharp edges.  Small dents/scratches aren’t a big deal.   A lot of people do have dedicated quick draws for sport climbing, and separate draws for their trad rack, for this reason. 

thanks for the info and advice, i appreciate it!

nowhere wrote:

Yeah this is something to be aware of for sure, generally more of an issue if you sport climb, whipping on bolts is the most likely way to cause a burr in a carabiner that could subsequently damage soft goods.  It’s a good idea to have a dedicated bolt side carabiner for your quickdraws, and/or inspect your gear regularly. 

sounds good, thanks. Don't all premade quickdraws basically have a dedicated bolt side where the dogbone can slid around a bit?  Are you talking about alpine draws in particular?

a beach wrote:

It’s pretty easy to gently sand off burrs with some 300 or so grit sand paper.

good tip, thanks. have you done that yourself before? My understanding is if I do that, I'm going to "die".

Orion Belt wrote:

sounds good, thanks. Don't all premade quickdraws basically have a dedicated bolt side where the dogbone can slid around a bit?  Are you talking about alpine draws in particular?

Yes, premade quickdraws have a free moving bolt side and a stiffer side for clipping. 

Orion Belt wrote:

good tip, thanks. have you done that yourself before? My understanding is if I do that, I'm going to "die".

I haven't yet! looking at a lot of my draws the rope has sanded a way deeper groove than me knocking off some bits of metal