Yes that is it.............they work like a ladder lock on a backpacks shoulder strap. As weight is applied to the hammock or buckle the outer ring squeezes the strap between the sliding bar and the inner edge of the outer ring. The slider bar usually has a ribbed or tooth section that bites into the strapcoming fromt eh tree locking it into place.
Easier example would be a Chinese Finger Trap.............the harder you pull your fingers apart the more the trap squeezes on you fingers.
Par Si Vis Pace Para Bellum
Originally Posted by ice man
I have used my cinch buckles on my Claytor for several years, always work great. You do need to take a second or 2 and make sure the little movable center metal bar is lined up just right with the rest of the buckle and straps. And not at even the slightest angle/diagonal, or it will slip. If lined up correctly(easy to do), it never moves. Of course, you could always do a slippery half hitch for extra assurance. How long does that take, 5 or 10 seconds? But I have not found it needed at all, unless I get careless.
As long as I am able to pull even a smidgeon of slack into the suspension- which is very likely after I have been in the hammock a while- it always can be loosened easily. Now if you use the cinch buckles to tighten the heck out of a ridgeline ( don't know why you would do that) then you might have some trouble undoing it. But even then, after you sleep in it things should stretch just enough for undoing the cinch buckles with ease.
Thanks for the insight into this setup.
I am sure that these are the same type and manufacturer cinch buckles that I carry and use for all my hangs. To me they are the fastest, easiest and probably the strongest way to go.
The manufacturer claims that these buckles have been tested up to 1200 lbs without showing a scratch. Although they could not produce the test info at the time.
I believe it though since they are stamped out and don't seem to show any weak spots or seams. Hopefully I will have a chance to test them myself soon and come up with a reliable breaking strength that can be documented and posted.
Meanwhile, I will continue to use these everywhere from back yard hangs to cliff hangs.
Do they look something like these ?
Anyone find that the webbing used in these cinch buckle systems holds more rain water that runs down into the hammock than a whoopie sling setup?
Well. This is coming from a guy who have military equipment and uses the military specifications on his equipment....... YMMV....
that said; I have a continuous loop of 1.75" SUPER HEAVY DUTY Nylon cargo strap from a surplus store...they used what amounts to fishing line and around 4-6mm stitch length, straight stitching, box style with overlapping Xs over a sleeve of cordura, and it was nearly impossible to cut through the stitching, broke a couple X-acto blades trying to separate them....
NO bartacking on this strap. in fact, most of the equipment shoulder straps have either one bartack, and overlapped X box stitches, or just box stitches, where load is to be put on...and I've noticed a difference between some of my ALICE gear webbing, some of them have just 3 lines of 3mm stitch lengths on straight stitches, next to each other, others have bartacks, and still others have one straight and one zig-zag.... these are all for attaching pouches and equipment to......and on the riggers' belts I have, which have the SAME cinch buckle system as shown in this thread; they're usually box stitched with 2-3 overlapping Xs and maybe one bar-tack near the buckle's edge....
for Poly webbing, I would reduce stitch length to maybe 3mm stitch length, and then do 2-3 more Xs on the box stitch, basically making a bunch of diamond crossovers.
another name for these buckles I've heard from UK users, "Roll-Pin" buckles, looks a little different, and uses a knurled pin with slots on the ends in the same style loop, not sure what their load limits are though...
the little slot is for 25mm/1" webbing, and is NOT load bearing, it's to make it easier to undo the buckle; shown here
you could do a search for Rigger's Belt buckles...there's another that is a trapezoid with a triangular end, that is meant for attaching a rope or carabiner..... and you might find there are other styles of cinch buckles that could release quickly but hold a lot of weight....
hope this helps
just picked mine up today, now to wait. while i was at it i bought a glow in the dark nalgene bottle for only 9.50. Normally i use a whoopie sling and some tree huggers, but i have to try these to see if i like one more than the other.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
-Henry David Thoreau
I have been using cinch buckles similar to the Crazy Creek ones shown here and twice now the webbing has shredded, causing the hammock to fall. The first time it was very clearly because the buckles were twisted or were not centered nicely, but ever since then I have paid fairly close attention to making sure they were set up as "flat and centered" as I could get them without wasting time on it. Then it happened a second time. Is it a fault of the buckle system, or is the webbing not strong enough? I am about ready to abandon the concept unless there's a foolproof change I can make that's not too expensive.
I don't think it's the buckle itself....I think it is more the webbing. What webbing are you using? Is it possible the webbing is too light or thin?
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