How to: carabiner key strap

[Miking]

Inspired by Proctor's awesome post I began looking for a solution to be able to clip in some non-Tom Bihn accessories I often travel with. I ended up using a cheap keychain carabiner I had laying around the house by threading it through one of the loops of the keystrap.

Shown here threaded through the handle loop of my travel document/receipt wallet that is serving it's purpose until my next TB order.

I have left the plastic snap hook on in case I change my mind/to make the strap multi-functional, but may take it off later.

[Le_Pied]

nice. it's a Tom Bihn quick draw for climbing your everyday challenges.

[ChrisG]

I usually carry my keys on a simple 'biner like this. I went ahead and added a keystrap like in your example and found that I can still use the 'biner pretty much the same as normal with the extra strap hanging down about the same length as the keys.



And then flipped around the other way it clips on an O-ring.

[Darcy]

So cool -- we love seeing stuff like this!

[Miking]

I upgraded the carabiner with a NiteIze #3 S-biner and removed the plastic snap hook permanently, here are the results:
You can fit a whole lot of stuff on this biner! Keys, knives, tons of pouches! It also sits flat in the strap.

[dnarud13]

I like it! I have one of these S-biners on the outside of my BB. I think I'll do this with it instead.

[ceb]

Those S-biners are great. Many of us have those cheap, junky wrist straps in a drawer somewhere The fiddly little snap at the end can be attached to one of the o rings in TB bags while the s-biner goes on the other end to function just like the strap miking describes.

[Fat Crip]

Snap!

Mine's looking a bit tired, but it's seen plenty of service! As it's my favourite colour and it's my only wasabi one, I'm loathed to cut off the plastic clip, but maybe next order I'll get another one and cut this one off. It would certainly look better!

[Miking]

**UPDATE**
I found one of these neat little gadgets loosely based off of the Kong Frog connector in a souvenir shop so I added it to the end of my solar keystrap, it can be operated one handed and fits O-rings quite well. It's a shame they didn't include the automatic closing feature of the frog, pesky patents! Oh well, it's still handy!

To open:

Attached to 3D cube


To attach you remove the plastic clip from the keystrap then use pliers to unscrew the knurled bolt on the sides and thread bolt through loop in end of keystrap.

The connectors are available from Amazon

Another benefit of a bigger connector like this one or either of the carabiners is that you can "choke" it to itself. That is you can wrap it around an object and then clip the connector back to the keystrap to secure it. If anyone doesn't understand my obscure rigger terms and poor explanation let me know and I'll take a photo.

[jmoz]

This looks nice, but the reviews on Amazon are appallingly terrible. I wonder if there's another source for decently-made versions of this?

[Miking]

This looks nice, but the reviews on Amazon are appallingly terrible. I wonder if there's another source for decently-made versions of this?

I hadn't actually noticed the reviews, mine looks identical and while not being the finest piece of modern engineering by far it seems solid enough. I think the bad reviews are 50% very bad quality control and 50% people not being realistic with their expectations for a $1.50 carabiner. I have been using mine for a few weeks without a problem.

I think something like this would be a prime candidate for being molded like the resin buckles. It is pretty basic especially if the webbing attachment was molded in instead of a separate bolt, after that it is only an axel pin, two wings and a spring. I know in the interview Tom did with "The Setup" he mentioned an interest in designing more of the plastic parts used for the bags and something like this would be an excellent addition. I bet the EDC/tactical crowd would eat it up!