Version A	Version B	Version C

Overview

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Version A
(#341)

Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired this eight from John E. Weinel, Inc. in 1992.

The SMK is forged from aluminum alloy and then painted. Mine is 145 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. The rope hole is 51 mm. high and 51 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 45 mm and 28 mm., respectively. The eye measures 26 mm. by 26 mm. My eight weighs 152 g.

The SMK is marked with "SMK" on one side and a logo on the other.

Comments

The SMK, Version A is a member of a family of nearly identical full-sized, forged, aluminum eights that includes the following eights:

Image Eight Finish Clog Small, Version A Soft Anodized Clog Small, Version B Soft Anodized Clog Small, Version C Hard Anodized, Black	Image Eight Finish Clog Small, Version D Hard Anodized, Bronze Clog Small, Version E Hard Anodized, Black Clog Small, Version F Soft Anodized DMM Standard, Version A Soft Anodized	Image Eight Finish SMK, Version A Painted SMK, Version B Soft Anodized Stubai, Version C Soft Anodized

Each of these eights is 145±1 mm. tall and 76±1 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance.

These eight have plenty of metal, but there are some sudden corners on the shank that tend to make the eights grab on dirty rope. The corners will wear initially faster than the other parts of the eights. The hard-anodized eights should wear better than the others.

None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not designed for that purpose.

The silver specks in the photo are places where the paint chipped off. I do not like using painted descenders, since the paint rubs off on the rope, leaving a mess.

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Version B
(#1399)

Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my SMK, Version B from Ondřej Belica / Climbing CZ sro in 2013.

The SMK, Version B is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 147 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, and 18 mm. thick. The rope hole is 51 mm. high and 52 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 28 mm., respectively. The eye measures 26 mm. by 27 mm. My eight weighs 143 g.

Version B is marked with "SMK" on one side and a logo on the other.

Comments

The SMK, Version B is a member of a family of nearly identical full-sized, forged, aluminum eights that includes the following eights:

Image Eight Finish Clog Small, Version A Soft Anodized Clog Small, Version B Soft Anodized Clog Small, Version C Hard Anodized, Black	Image Eight Finish Clog Small, Version D Hard Anodized, Bronze Clog Small, Version E Hard Anodized, Black Clog Small, Version F Soft Anodized DMM Standard, Version A Soft Anodized	Image Eight Finish SMK, Version A Painted SMK, Version B Soft Anodized Stubai, Version C Soft Anodized

Each of these eights is 145±1 mm. tall and 76±1 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance.

These eight have plenty of metal, but there are some sudden corners on the shank that tend to make the eights grab on dirty rope. The corners will wear initially faster than the other parts of the eights. The hard-anodized eights should wear better than the others.

None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not designed for that purpose.

Ondřej provided the following additional information on this eight:

It used to be produced by SMK Strojmetal Kamenice (Strojmetal - Machine Metal, Kamenice - name of town where it was located). This company was founded in 1820 and started to produce copper and brass parts for breweries. Later it started with metallurgical production, it was working with aluminum and its compounds. Now it produces parts for energetic aircraft, cars, and other machinery. I don't know how and why it started to produce figure eights, but I think that the reason was very similar as Let was producing Spelets.

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Version C
(#3350)

Front	Rear

Technical Details

Ondřej Belica of Climbing CZ sro sent me two of these eights in 2023.

The SMK, Version B is forged from aluminum alloy, polished and clear anodized. Mine is 114 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, and 14 mm. thick. The rope hole is 46 mm. high and 40 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 4 mm. and 21 mm., respectively. The eye measures 19 mm. by 24 mm. My eight weighs 86 g.

Version B is marked with "SMK" in raised letters on each side of the shaft.

Comments

The SMK, Version C is one of several nearly identical "mini"-size forged aluminum eights. I have the following ones in my collection:

Image Eight C.A.M.P., Version A C.A.M.P., Version B	Image Eight Mammut, Version E Salewa Mini SMK, Version C	Image Eight Trango Mini VauDe

Each of these eights is 114±1 mm. tall and 68 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Except for the 86 g. SMK, Version C, their weights fall in the 99±3 g. range. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.

These eights are smaller and lighter than most eights. While the advantages are manifest, there are two practical disadvantages:

1. These eights give too much friction on stiff, muddy rope. This will not affect climbers using clean, limp climbing ropes, but for cavers using stiff ropes such as PMI pit rope, this is a concern. I've found times that I could not descend without hand-forcing the rope through my eight, and I'm nearly 90 kg. (198 lb.), not exactly light (even for being 1.93 m. tall).
2. Their small size does not not work well with doubled rope. While climbers may be able to work around this, especiallly if they are using thinner ropes, cavers using stiff pit rope will find it difficult to rig a double-rope rappel. If they succeed, descent may be impossible.

For these reasons, I rarely use "mini-size" eights.

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