TUBULAR WEBBING

Tubular climbing webbing

Tubular nylon webbing has long served for a multitude of uses in climbing, caving, outdoor instruction, adventure activities, and industrial operations at height. At Aspiring Enterprises we have used tubular webbing for 27 years, having first introduced our sewn webbing slings in 1981.

During this time we have worked with many different webbings from a variety of suppliers, both in New Zealand and overseas. For a long period we relied mainly on locally made webbing produced by Donaghys Industries in Christchurch, only 3 km from our own site in Waltham. Donaghys ceased manufacturing webbing several years ago, and we are now importing tubular webbing from the USA.

Construction methods

There have been two main methods for making tubular webbing: spiral weaving on a shuttle loom, and chain weaving on a shuttle-less (needle) loom. Both are perfectly adequate for safety purposes. European weavers have always used the chain-woven method, while American users have favoured the spiral weave webbings. There is no doubt that spiral weaving is preferable to chain weaving as the webbing is more uniform, and therefore less prone to damage. However shuttle looms are more expensive to run, and coupled with the predominance of needle-loom machines, this makes shuttle-loom webbing more expensive.

Marking and strength

The two main manufacturing countries for climbing webbing are the USA and France, and each has a very different tradition. The French use chain weaving and favour complex multi-coloured patterns. Under the European standard, the webbing must have a pattern of stripes on one side, with each stripe representing 5 kN of strength. Most European webbings have three strips, indicating a minimum strength of 15 kN.

American tubular climbing webbing derives from a military specification called MIL-W-5625, which specified that the webbing must be spiral woven. This specification requires a minimum strength of 4000 lbs - about 18 kN - for a 25 mm width webbing. It also specifies a yellow or black marker yarn to be woven down the centre of one face. The strength rating and other properties required under MIL-W-5625 are often carried over to American "commercial" webbing, as it is called, which is manufactured for the general market rather than the military.

THE BLACK MARKER

Climbing lore abounds with stories about the thin black marker yarn that appears on the face of some tubular climbing webbings. This was originally a marking requirement of the US military, since copied by other manufacturers outside the USA, and it has no structural significance whatsoever. It is not included to indicate over-stressed webbing. After hundreds of tests on webbings with markers, we can assure you that the marker never breaks before the webbing does.

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Product range

Recently we have consolidated all our tubular nylon webbing with the American webbing mill Narricot Industries.

Our standard webbing is a very good quality finely woven tubular nylon webbing of 25 mm width, which we stock in four colours: red, blue, black, and purple. We purchase this webbing with stabilisers added against ultra-violet light, which are not included as standard practice in Europe and the USA. Narricot's marking for climbing webbing is two blue lines. This is rolled on to 90 metre spools.

For uses requiring a narrower webbing, particularly in mountaineering, we have a 16 mm version of the Narricot tubular webbing. This is available in blue and green.

We also have a Mil-Spec 25 mm webbing from Narricot, in one colour only, olive drab. This is a spiral-woven webbing and is considerably more expensive.

In the absence of a webbing standard for climbing webbing in the USA, Narricot have developed their own in-house standard. This is based on the military specification.

 We supply the range of climbing webbings shown below ex stock.

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Copyright Aspiring Enterprises, revised 21 April, 2008.
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