Amsteel or Webbing failing

**jokerr** · 12-31-2012, 00:14

Has anyone had either webbing or amsteel actually break?

I don't mean slipping or poor setups but total failure of the material.
I know both are very strong and amsteel is much stronger than it looks
but with thousands of hangers using them I have not seen a post about
either one just snapping apart.

**Brute1100** · 12-31-2012, 00:17

Interesting question... Tagged for responses...

**gmcttr** · 12-31-2012, 00:33

I believe I've seen a few posts about webbing failures due to not paying attention to wear/fraying, hardware used wrong or insufficient stitching of an end loop.

I have a vague recollection of a hanger being awoken by knife applied to suspension by fellow campers.

**dejoha** · 12-31-2012, 00:49

I've had a set of DIY straps fail due to weak thread. I was using polyester thread but it was a spool for clothing. Once I realized my mistake, I switched to my gutterman thread and havn't had a problem.

I've been using some amsteel now that is a few years old and it is still going strong. I recommend always inspecting your gear prior to any hang to check for damage and fraying. Replace at any sign of wear that makes you uncomfortable. Err with caution. Never hang any higher than you are willing to fall.

**DemostiX** · 12-31-2012, 02:27

because it is Guetermann. It is just another thread company making a range of threads, some appropriate, and others not --(including a full range of embroidery threads.) Still, with enough stitches of thread heavy enough not to be abraded and frayed or decomposed to the core by UV, strap-loops and channels can be sewn securely even with the wrong thread.

That said, if you bought Guetermann from a an outdoor specialist, it is likely the right thread in the Guetermann lineup.

On Amsteel breakage. Yes, it has been reported here, in structural ridge-lines (SRL), How? Well, start with 450lb bs material. then degrade it by tying knots in it instead of splicing, and the bs may be just 300lb. Now put a transient or "dynamic" load on it, and a cord explicitly designed to have no stretch and no energy absorbing capacity will snap.

Who to blame? Not the designer and fabricator, who expects the SRL to be no tighter than making it easy to make a horizontal Z in, between thumb and forefinger, which may be just 7% of the effective breaking strength.

**gmcttr** · 12-31-2012, 09:23

Originally Posted by DemostiX

...On Amsteel breakage. Yes, it has been reported here, in structural ridge-lines (SRL), How? Well, start with 450lb bs material...

I suspect you're thinking of a material other than the Amsteel Blue we use. The smallest diameter has an average breaking strength of 1600 lb.

**DemostiX** · 12-31-2012, 13:27

Originally Posted by gmcttr

I suspect you're thinking of a material other than the Amsteel Blue we use. The smallest diameter has an average breaking strength of 1600 lb.

Right: Amsteel is the registered brand name for Samson's UHDPE cordage. In almost two years of reading, Amsteel here is to UHDPE as Kleenex (tm) is to tissue.

But, anyone who looked at their brand name Zing-It and Lash-It would know that the fiber and construction are the same. Check the bs, by weight, for further evidence.

Some, besides me, have voiced caution and reluctance about use of another UHDPE cord, Dynaglide (tm), for hanging. (Listed bs of 1000lb.) I don't recall a reported failure. Had the OP excluded it from his concern / curiosity? Likely not.

I implied important factors in keeping UHDPE cordage failure low: being conservative in selection of bs, terminating it in a way to retain maximum strength, and not snapping it with temporary high loads.

Some failures in straps have been reported here, and others have done well to ask about whether strand separations in UHDPE cordage, are signs of pending failure. Still others retire what they suspend from on schedule, climbers for example.

If outright failures went unreported, did they not occur? That's not a lesson from the sciences of surveillance and fragility estimation.

**gmcttr** · 12-31-2012, 13:41

Originally Posted by DemostiX

Right: Amsteel is the registered brand name for Samson's UHDPE cordage. In almost two years of reading, Amsteel here is to UHDPE as Kleenex (tm) is to tissue.

But, anyone who looked at their brand name Zing-It and Lash-It would know that the fiber and construction are the same. Check the bs, by weight, for further evidence....

Dyneema would better fit as the "generic" for amsteel, zing-it, dynaglide, etc.

I'm done now.

**MAD777** · 12-31-2012, 06:29

I've read a few tales of straps breaking. I've replaced a set of straps that looked a bit frayed.

I look at hammock suspensions like brakes on a car. It's just something that needs to be replaced periodically.

**Risk** · 12-31-2012, 09:40

I can't remember anyone having failure of hammock strap or line material, even when we were using yellow polypro and tying knots in it. I think the rated strength of that braid was < 500 pounds.

Knots have failed, splices have failed, thread has failed. Hammock material has failed.

I have had yellow polypro break with other uses - but only when it was left outdoors in the sun for long periods - greater than a year. UV degrades many of the materials.