time and again, we find that the nickel content of failed 316 is below specification, until… Thanks to Josh Lyons of the Thaitanium Project for the heap of corroded hardware pulled from the walls of Railay/Tonsai. Without such real world samples, all is mere speculation. We find a broken bolt from Railay/Tonsai which is absolutely […]
Tag: Railay
Categories
Thailand Crags – 2
Sulphide Stress Cracking (SSC) The second part of a multi-part series For SCC see Part 1 Tonsai/Railay is where stainless-steel anchors go to die. We can now add, that the cause is SRB-mediated SSC. Introduction: I owe much to Martin Roberts of Titan Climbing for taking the initial steps of our great adventure into crag chemistry. […]
Categories
Thailand Crags – 1
Chasing Some Demons The first Part of a multi-Part Series Introduction: Tonsai/Railay is where stainless-steel anchors go to die. So, this is where it all began. Actually, I tell a lie, it began elsewhere, but, as far as notoriety within the climbing community is concerned, our story begins many years ago on the tropical beaches […]
Categories
More Evidence for the Agency of SRB
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 10th March 2020 Warning: This gets a bit geekey, but I’ll simplify as much as possible. For the past few years I have concentrated on providing sufficient evidence for the theory that all marine crags showing SCC of 304SS are associated with high sulphate levels. […]
Categories
Corrosion Observations for Heuco Wall
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 29 January 2020 The hero of this piece is Martin Roberts who burnt countless hours of quality time, when he could have been climbing, installing a large range of anchor types in a whole pile of locations across Railay/Tonsai. My motto is to “measure more and […]
Categories
Distance from the Sea ….Extra
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 27 January 2020 I promise this is the last “distance from the sea” post ….. for a little while at any rate I say extra, because here I’m talking about Heuco Wall (just 50m beyond Low Tide Wall), and this is one of a number […]
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 21 January 2020 Bit of a back story here…. When I first visited Railay, some 12 years ago, I had heard stories about perfectly good-looking SS bolts snapping under body-weight, but being ever the scientific skeptic, I thought I’ll believe that when I see it […]
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 16 January 2020 Today I measured spot sulphates at three points on the set of cliffs containing Diamond Cave, ending with a sample from Diamond Cave North climbing area itself. All showed zero levels as I would expect for a crag 300m from the sea. […]
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 16 January 2020 A consistent feature of the “sulphur crag” story, especially at Railay/Tonsai is that sulphate is not found any distance more than 100m or so from the sea. Thus it is no surprise that the white deposit found at Wee’s Present Wall shown […]
Categories
Notes from Railay – 2
This note was posted to the Titanium Bolting FB Group 14 January 2020 The large cave at the Pra Nang side of Klao Luk Choee is home to the classic Todd Skinner route Best Route in Minnesota. At the base of that route there is a white powdery material in great abundance. Analysis shows it […]