snaps - tell me why

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well, this one has hit rock bottom. Thank you all that contributed factual information, both here and outside this thread.
 
This is FAR from rock bottom! LOL.. I actually think this has been civil.

As for the butterfly snap, I do not use them because the the added area acts as a guide or funnel if anything gets in it. A line can get stuck in that area and pulled right through the gate of the bolt snap.


The ones that Bob posted do not actually look bad as far as being a line trap IMO. I just like all my snap to be the same, so I stick strictly with regular bolt snaps. "Suicide clips" are something I stay clear of. I have had them catch things on my body armor, I don't want tat to happen underwater.
 
The whole "Don't use Brass because it will cut you" is a load of crap IMO.
I never heard of anybody having a problem or mentioned anything about that until DIR came on the scene and made it one of their OCD policies.
Divers have been using brass since diving began.
The spring is exactly the same as a stainless snap - their both stainless springs (302)
Brass is available and relatively inexpensive.
Don't buy silver shiny chrome plated steel at Home Depot or your local ordinary hardware store thinking it's stainless because it's not. Those will rust out.

If you're worried about a brass barrel guide cutting you then all you have to do is take a ulitity knife and shave the two edges of the channel down so they are bevelled and the edge rounded down. It takes about five seconds.
Brass is plenty strong too, you're not hoisting engine blocks after all.
I've checked all the brass bolt snaps I have used for years and there is no sign of sharpening on any of them.
If they get salt corrosion then lube them up. Brass is a nautical metal.

Stainless is a prestige thing, it looks cool, that's it.

The top snap shown by the OP not only is a hazard because unwanted things can get clipped on it, but a line loop can also come back around on it and open it and you will lose whatever it was you had clipped off.

I've had fishing line catch the button on a regular bolt snap, as where on the snap with the spike sticking out fishing line may hang up on it but will also slide off easily.
 
The stainless ones will slice you, too. But the stainless ones, in general, hold up better than the brass ones. I've had more brass ones seize up over than years than stainless (which I've had maybe 1 or two). I don't want to futz with gear if I don't have to, and stainless prevents a lot of futzing.
 
\

So that is why your tanks is SS :wink:


Sorry I could not resist.....
Look closer, it polished aluminum. I am unaware of a scuba tank made out of stainless.
The reason the AL 80 is polished is because it's mainenance free and doesn't develop white rust. Water doesn't penetrate a polished surface and it also stays cooler in the sun.
When I was using AL tanks I polished every one from brand new.

It just so happened that it also worked as a product shot for the plate, which is also polished... you know why? because a polished surface resists corrosion.

...And it looks cool... a by-product of function.
 
As for the butterfly snap, I do not use them because the the added area acts as a guide or funnel if anything gets in it. A line can get stuck in that area and pulled right through the gate of the bolt snap.

Gotta admit - had to go experiment with that one - guess it could happen but . . .
 
The whole "Don't use Brass because it will cut you" is a load of crap IMO.
I never heard of anybody having a problem or mentioned anything about that until DIR came on the scene and made it one of their OCD policies.
Divers have been using brass since diving began.
The spring is exactly the same as a stainless snap - their both stainless springs (302)
Brass is available and relatively inexpensive.
Don't buy silver shiny chrome plated steel at Home Depot or your local ordinary hardware store thinking it's stainless because it's not. Those will rust out.

If you're worried about a brass barrel guide cutting you then all you have to do is take a ulitity knife and shave the two edges of the channel down so they are bevelled and the edge rounded down. It takes about five seconds.
Brass is plenty strong too, you're not hoisting engine blocks after all.
I've checked all the brass bolt snaps I have used for years and there is no sign of sharpening on any of them.
If they get salt corrosion then lube them up. Brass is a nautical metal.

Stainless is a prestige thing, it looks cool, that's it.

The top snap shown by the OP not only is a hazard because unwanted things can get clipped on it, but a line loop can also come back around on it and open it and you will lose whatever it was you had clipped off.

I've had fishing line catch the button on a regular bolt snap, as where on the snap with the spike sticking out fishing line may hang up on it but will also slide off easily.

I agree with all of this. I've used brass clips, many from home depot without a problem. I've also ordered some from Spain, I think they were bronze (and looked the same as brass). Occasionally I will squirt some oil in the barrel and work the clip, but they really are not a problem.

As for the sharpening of the bolt, never had that. In fact, I had a large brass snapp on a commercial dive belt that eventually wore COMPLETELY through from an object hanging from it, over who knows how many dives. I threw it out, I wish i had saved it now for the curiousity factor.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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