Introduction

Today we are discussing the testing and strength of the 2 different bGebz Knots, shown in our previous Slack Science article here: Anchoring the Alpine WebLock 4.0.

Background

With the two versions of the bGebz knot being so similar, it was thought that they would test out with similar strengths. After seeing the test results, this was far from true!

Procedure

For each test, we configured the spanset with either Method 1 or Method 2 of the bGebz knot and attached it between 2 shackles. The theoretical maximum strength should be 2x the strength of the spanset being used, which was our Blue Spanset, which has an MBS of 25,800 lbf. Thus, the theoretical maximum strength either bGebz knot method should hold is 25,800 x = 51,600 lbf.

Analysis

Method 1

As you can see in the picture below, Method 1 came out with a strength of 25,730 lbf, or just 49.7% of the theoretical max.

Method 2

As seen in the picture below, Method 2 came out with a strength of 37,550 lbf! That's over 12,000 lbf stronger than Method 1! This is 72.8% of the theoretical max.

Here is a table showing the results:

Conclusion

The difference in strength between the 2 different methods of the bGebz knot is quite shocking! With this information, I can only recommend using Method 2 if you plan to use the bGebz Knot in the field.

If you are using our Blue Spanset, we recommend a Working Load Limit (WLL) of 5,000 lbf for Method 1 and 7,000 lbf for Method 2. This information will be added to the Blue Spanset product page.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask any questions or make any comments below.