Making aV-thread Tool

This is real easy and way cheap. If you are a homemade climbing gear nerd like me, you might even have all the materials you need in the bins of scrap gear strewn across your living room/climbing-wall-room/gear storage area. First bend a tiny loop into one end of a 13" length of coat hanger. Bend a roughly 1" diameter loop into the other end. The result should be just a bit longer than a 22cm ice screw. Tie some thin shock cord onto a 2 inch length of 1/2" I.D. clear flexible tubing. This works best if the cord goes into the tube, exits via a small hole about in the middle, and then goes back through a pair of holes at the end (see drawing). Tie the cord to the handle of the tool so that the tubing is tensioned a bit when it is slipped over the hook. Wrap the handle loop and cord knot with duct tape. Voila, your own V-Thread hooking tool. Vitaly would be proud of you.

Materials: maybe 75 cents. Labor: $1.00 (pay yourself a beer). Satisfaction: Priceless.