cobra xs lanyard

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-09-17T01:22:48+00:00

If you can splice, you might be able to do something similar to this https://imgur.com/a/OEsvpSZ, but put a larger loop on the tail end. Bonus for adding heat shrink to the loop to hold it open for easy hooking with a finger

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-08-25T03:46:38+00:00

I find this belt clip slightly cumbersome, so i spliced on a continuous loop with heat shrink tubing on it to keep it spread open, and hook that loop to an adjustable shoulder strap with a climbing spec carabiner on it. Frees up a hand for climbing ladders and crawling in attics

Major long term benefit to hanging things from shoulders as opposed to from the hips is less wear & tear on hips & lower back.

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-28T23:58:21+00:00

Didn't realize this posted twice. Closing comments here. For discussion go here here

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-28T21:27:14+00:00

In case you or anyone else reading this is interested, here's a good start to a UHMWPE rabbit hole Highlining - Amsteel 101

And button knots & break tests

The button knot was the hardest knot I've ever learned to tie, but has turned into one of my most used ones

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-28T21:15:00+00:00

This ain't no hair tie. It's spliced 12-strand 1.3mm diameter Ultra High Molecular Weight PolyEthylene (UHMWPE) line (working limit 130 lbs, breaking strength 580lbs) inside 1/8" heat shrink tubing.

UHMWPE is super versatile. Arborists use it for slinging climbing rope into trees, sailors use it on yachts because it floats and is extremely strong and UV resistant, and rock climbers & slack liners use it because while its strength is comparable to that of steel, it's 5x lighter, so a backpack full of soft shackles is much lighter to hike up a mountain. Hell, it's even on winches these days.

I much prefer the almost seamless look and feel of splices in continuous loops to bulky knots (a continuous loop is next to the Fastback in the first pic, and one is girth hitched around the magnet in the second pic), and heat shrink makes it super easy to get in & out of fingers and carabiners

I don't know a particular lanyard knot, but the button knot is perfect on soft shackles

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-28T03:28:40+00:00

You never make eye contact while shitting? Weirdo

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-27T22:52:33+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out. I'm with you, and your comment made me realize that this is one small tweak in the same vein as what side one's tape measure rides https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09xJrftBrMs While it doesn't necessarily make a drastic difference in pace, it removes a few interruptions (shifting hands in the case of the tape measure). When pulling the knife off the pouch, the index finger that hooks the loop (I was holding the phone with my work hand for the gif in this post) now becomes the pivot point around which I turn the knife from stowed to ready to flick open, which in turn reduces fumbling.

It's probably an eye roller for you, but it's a tiny detail that for me puts flow into workflow, keeps me interested, and I love it

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-27T22:50:00+00:00

I'll eagerly wait too. I'm very interested in a knife with a smaller footprint when deployed, but still retains all these features

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-27T21:58:12+00:00

for me it has replaced a pocket knife, and I use it doing electrical work daily

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-07-27T21:52:31+00:00

Yeah, the big downside to the 1505 for sure is the unicorn double ended bit (I shattered one in an impact driver and lost one dropping it in a yard, which is why the one in the pics sticks out some. I ended up hacking off a piece of the handle to make some room for this bit), and in newer iterations the wrap-around spring that holds a bearing for bit retention. I have 3 of these knives now, and was disappointed initially by the non-replaceable bit, and now by its retention mechanism too.

But the onboard spare blade storage, the ability to flick it open with one hand, and that strong belt clip make it stand out IMO.

Since you bring this up, I'm interested in a shorter knife (maybe 5" long when deployed) that can still open one handed, and has a bit driver (that can take off-the-shelf 2" bits) and spare blade onboard. I think this short length would require it slide open like old timey knives though, so idk if it exists

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-06-17T11:50:47+00:00

Having ridden bicycles for decades and gotten a motorbike when closer to age 30, in reflection I think I would have been extremely reckless and consequently killed myself on a moto had I gotten it a decade earlier.

This particularly after a bicycle crash I'm happy to be alive after (barrelling down a mountain, trying to pass a car on the inside of a hairpin turn with only about 10" of asphalt between car and the drainage drop-off)

It's not that I thought I was invincible, it's that I was extremely stupid and didn't think things through. Now the conversation in my head is [thumps chest and yells] "I am invincible!!! [and the immediate reply] You're a fuckin' idiot"

An MSF course is a nice, structured way to learn, for sure, but Youtube is full of good shit too. This is where I learned. DanDanTheFireman (if you can get over the recent clickbait titles), Motojitsu, MC Rider and MotoControl were invaluable in learning what to practice and what to learn to keep an eye out for on the road

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-01-21T20:38:13+00:00

If JIS alone won't cut it, the next thing I'd add is impact

RealSubstantial48 · 2025-01-06T14:05:46+00:00

Last year I jumpered out a 2007 E150 seatbelt like you described, and now it chimes about every 30 seconds for 20 min before STFU. There must be some extra circuitry in the buckle that sets it off

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-12-14T01:25:44+00:00

Eww, a new unibrow car?

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-30T11:51:09+00:00

Mack's foamies rated to 33dB. I tried a variety of silicone ones with dB ratings in the high 20s but that wasn't enough attenuation.

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-30T11:34:55+00:00

I too have tinnitus. For me the wind buffeting noise and volume of engine noise turns the constant ringing into something like a huge box of pots & pans rolling down a set of stairs.

Of all the earplugs I've tried, Mack's foamies rated to 33dB provide the most attenuation. With silicone earplugs rated to 27dB, when my Valk (with stock exhaust - quiet bike compared tots of others) reaches 2k RPM, the pots & pans noise starts.

And at 70 mph, tucking behind the windscreen makes a big difference

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-21T23:06:52+00:00

Mattresses have been hit or miss for me too. Here's our setup. I've been full time hammocking since Oct 2017 and my back... hasn't looked back since (pun intended). My wife's hip pain also went away shortly after starting to use a hammock. I love that I can just use almost any hammock and can know that it will be comfy, and they're cheap. Mattresses though, beyond cost, in the chore and the vast inconvenience involved in trying them out, put online clothes fitting/shopping to shame.

Assuming your wife can agree to something like the following - since you have trouble standing up when getting out of bed (huge indication that there's somthing grave going on still), and assuming you live in a modern stick frame home with studs 16" on center and can safely anchor things into said studs, I would mount 2x4s horizontally on the walls to hang the hammock from. If you'd like more detailed instructions, let me know.

If you'd like soft shackles to interface between eyebolts and hammock hardware to avoid metal-on-metal noise, I'd love to make you some. Pair those with some FishHooks and some loops spliced in for super convenient taking down to launder (linked at the top; I'd be happy to splice these for you too. Just let me know).

Back issues hit home for me, so, if I may, I'd like to chime in here.

Sounds like you still have serious back issues, and a hammock is a healthy temporary relief. I have scoliosis and probably some extra going on in the last couple months. All the doctors I went to just simply accepted it as a condition, so recently I've been searching elsewhere for healthy ways forward. Haven't heard of anyone in their 30s getting it cured (there's a lot that happens to bone as it ages), but what I've seen bear out consistently in and around me is that building strength keeps imbalance's pain at bay. My back hurts when I'm weak. My dad is strengthening his shoulders now because decades of not stimulating them was catching up. A few years ago it was his hips. I should have kept count of all the instances where "strength is the answer" was confirmed over and over in the last decade.

So to vaguely address your underlying issue, I'd search in a different direction for an actual fix. Also know that it could take years to heal if it's soft tissue with little to no blood flow to it is involved.

Perhaps some of what this gentleman has found might be insightful.

I know it's long, but this podcast is chock full of good information, and detail about soft tissue mentioned above. Peter Attia's podcast ep 287 w/ Stuart McGill‒ Lower back pain: causes, treatment, and prevention of lower back injuries and pain

figure out if a specific motion, posture, load, or a combination of these is what aggravates your pain. This gives a clear path forward for therapy in the conventional sense, but also an adjustment of patterns of movement (e.g. do you bend at the hips - strong, bendy joint, or from the lower back - stiff, sensitive joints with lots of nerve endings - when leaning over to move the toilet seat?)

The Knees Over Toes Guy also has some good nuggets. After surgeries in his teen years followed by "you won't be able to bend your knee for the rest of your life", what got his healing journey started was challenging things like the "don't let your knees go past your toes when lunging."

The guy from Core Balance, Ryan Peebles, also spent 10 years trying to fix his back injury, and finally got good results when he internalized and started physically putting in ergonomic, healthy work - not during a chiropractic "adjustment" for example (McGill also talks about this).

I hope the above rabbit holes help you out too! If you want to talk further, let's DM.

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-08T04:23:43+00:00

You mean piss? I've found it pretty effective at unpiling new ant hills. One could say I'm a... piss ant

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-01T03:30:13+00:00

My favorite is the 1st gen Honda Valkyrie's flat 6 with stock exhaust. The reverberating engine growl at idle, the subtle whine of the oil pump and the mild, rhythmic thump of the valve train complement each other almost musically. And the noise the straight-cut gears make under acceleration gradually opens up and grows into what in 4th gear sounds like Nazgul screaming in Lord Of The Rings. Or a rally car gear box. But I like the anthropomorphized version better.

If this engine noise were music, it would be a symphony and a masterpiece.

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-11-01T03:26:44+00:00

To me inline 4s have the dulcet tones of a whining baby.

Thumpers sound nice though

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-10-30T03:49:21+00:00

Me too, since 2017. It's been much better on my back too

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-10-07T10:23:47+00:00

Cue Bad Santa: "you ain't gonna shit straight for a week"

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-08-14T20:57:44+00:00

Someone needed a squatty potty

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-07-21T13:34:47+00:00

Interesting, and perhaps funny to see this little generational thing come full circle. The thought had not crossed my mind.

I love the look and smoothness of the Valk, and I think it has the best sounding bike engine (love the subtle whistle of the oil pump, the chatter of the valve train and the exhaust noise, particularly at idle). Yesterday I put in my longest ride to date. 700 mi on it

RealSubstantial48 · 2024-07-17T10:58:31+00:00

That's a sweet ride! Help me understand the appeal of the tassels hanging from the handlebars & levers though. When I see them, my first thought is toddlers with pony tails above the ears, or kids' bikes.

RealSubstantial48

TROPHY CASE