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Your Most Treasured Gripper


Cannon

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5 hours ago, SkyHeart said:

what a gorgeous piece.. Well both of them are! i'm guessing this atomgripz model is no longer available in the market ? 

Thank you! To my knowledge they’ve been off the market since 2012, but @Cannon  would know better. 

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8 hours ago, SkyHeart said:

what a gorgeous piece.. Well both of them are! i'm guessing this atomgripz model is no longer available in the market ? 

Correct, no longer available. And pretty rare to find on the used market. 

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5 hours ago, ChimpGrip said:

Thank you! To my knowledge they’ve been off the market since 2012, but @Cannon  would know better. 

i find it odd how the few merchants who make grippers beyond a Ghp10 in difficulty end up not staying in business for very long, like compared to solid stores such as Captains of Crush, and others. good thing the ghp of that level is remaining in circulation :D maybe another company will some day come up with one of a 300 rcg caliber  

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2 hours ago, Cannon said:

Correct, no longer available. And pretty rare to find on the used market. 

thanks for the confirmation! only guess i have for my own out loud question about their discontinuation would be that not many people were purchasing them. 

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21 minutes ago, SkyHeart said:

i find it odd how the few merchants who make grippers beyond a Ghp10 in difficulty end up not staying in business for very long, like compared to solid stores such as Captains of Crush, and others. good thing the ghp of that level is remaining in circulation :D maybe another company will some day come up with one of a 300 rcg caliber  

Only 2 manufacturers I can think of that have done grippers above GHP 10 level would be Atomgripz and Tetting. The owner of Atomgripz died from what I remember and that is what ended his making them. Warren Tetting was literally the father of the modern grippers we know and love. First selling them as far as I know in 1964 up through just two years ago when he died. He made the first grippers for Ironmind that they sold as the CoCs in 1990.

Edited by acorn
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4 minutes ago, acorn said:

Only 2 manufacturers I can think of that have done grippers above GHP 10 level would be Atomgripz and Tetting. The owner of Atomgripz died from what I remember and that is what ended his making them. Warren Tetting was literally the father of the modern grippers we know and love. First selling them as far as I know in 1964 up through just two years ago when he died. He made the first grippers for Ironmind that they sold as the CoCs in 1990.

wow, 1964?? i would have guessed that they go back to the 1980s. thats seriously impressive. makes me want to research more on them. i remember on ebay there was a couple available. maybe last year or late 2020. and the seller was asking for hundreds of dollars. i can see why when considering the backstory of the brand

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Joe Roark that wrote this for it looks like Stark center some time ago before Mr. Tetting died runs the ironhistory.com forum and is a well respected historian of all aspects of the lifting game. Iron history has been affiliated with the gripboard forever and Mr. Roark is a member here on the Gripboard as well. Though I can't remember his screen name at the moment. Tetting grippers definitely have a very long history.

https://starkcenter.org/igh/igh-v1/igh-v1-n2/igh0102j.pdf

Edit: looks like he goes by just: Roark

Edited by acorn
adding url
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17 minutes ago, acorn said:

Joe Roark that wrote this for it looks like Stark center some time ago before Mr. Tetting died runs the ironhistory.com forum and is a well respected historian of all aspects of the lifting game. Iron history has been affiliated with the gripboard forever and Mr. Roark is a member here on the Gripboard as well. Though I can't remember his screen name at the moment. Tetting grippers definitely have a very long history.

https://starkcenter.org/igh/igh-v1/igh-v1-n2/igh0102j.pdf

Edit: looks like he goes by just: Roark

its ashame that he passed on. i hope it was nothing that involved him to suffer, and that his family is going strong in 2022. "iron man hand grippers" rings a bell. i feel like i may have seen that title before, or found it in a snapshot of an old magazine page. could be to do with what we're talking about right now actually.  

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2 hours ago, acorn said:

Only 2 manufacturers I can think of that have done grippers above GHP 10 level would be Atomgripz and Tetting. The owner of Atomgripz died from what I remember and that is what ended his making them. Warren Tetting was literally the father of the modern grippers we know and love. First selling them as far as I know in 1964 up through just two years ago when he died. He made the first grippers for Ironmind that they sold as the CoCs in 1990.

I don't think the owner of Atomgripz has died. You might be thinking of Piedmont Design Associates owner John Szimanski, who made the PDA grippers. Lloyd Kelly of Atomgripz is still alive to my knowledge unless this happened in recent years. Warren did pass away in 2019. He was a great friend to me and I still really miss him. As for companies that make the crazy strong grippers, not only did Warren make those and had a successful business, but Robert Baraban also made the WT (World's Toughest) gripper and he too, is still in business.

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2 hours ago, Brett H said:

I don't think the owner of Atomgripz has died. You might be thinking of Piedmont Design Associates owner John Szimanski, who made the PDA grippers. Lloyd Kelly of Atomgripz is still alive to my knowledge unless this happened in recent years. Warren did pass away in 2019. He was a great friend to me and I still really miss him. As for companies that make the crazy strong grippers, not only did Warren make those and had a successful business, but Robert Baraban also made the WT (World's Toughest) gripper and he too, is still in business.

I thought I had heard that but not seeing any mention of it now in the forum. Yes I am aware of Szimanski passing in 2009 I think it was. Was just looking at a PDA Devils Advocate setup I bought from him before he passed, this morning and all the emails receipts, etc on it in my email. Thinking of putting it up for sale if I can find all of the additional pieces listed in the purchase order.

That's right on Baraban, I always forget about that one. Thanks for the additional info.

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21 hours ago, SkyHeart said:

i find it odd how the few merchants who make grippers beyond a Ghp10 in difficulty end up not staying in business for very long, like compared to solid stores such as Captains of Crush, and others. good thing the ghp of that level is remaining in circulation :D maybe another company will some day come up with one of a 300 rcg caliber  

I’m currently trying to design two different monster grippers, for collectors purposes 

One will be called the “Jupiter” gripper, named after the planet. If you’re not familiar with the incredible pressures and events on Jupiter, check it out. The pressure at a certain point is over a million times greater than that on Earth’s equator. Maybe a little nerdy, but why not? 
 

The other one will be the Orangutan gripper. 

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1 minute ago, ChimpGrip said:

I’m currently trying to design two different monster grippers, for collectors purposes 

One will be called the “Jupiter” gripper, named after the planet. If you’re not familiar with the incredible pressures and events on Jupiter, check it out. The pressure at a certain point is over a million times greater than that on Earth’s equator. Maybe a little nerdy, but why not? 
 

The other one will be the Orangutan gripper. 

@Cannon thoughts on this?

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17 hours ago, acorn said:

I thought I had heard that but not seeing any mention of it now in the forum. Yes I am aware of Szimanski passing in 2009 I think it was. Was just looking at a PDA Devils Advocate setup I bought from him before he passed, this morning and all the emails receipts, etc on it in my email. Thinking of putting it up for sale if I can find all of the additional pieces listed in the purchase order.

That's right on Baraban, I always forget about that one. Thanks for the additional info.

Yes, I believe 2009 is correct regarding Szimanski. For some reason I always liked much of that old PDA stuff. It was expensive but some cool stuff. The Devil's Advocate was one of those cool items.

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13 minutes ago, Cannon said:

You should do it. 

Gahhh I just can’t come up with a creative, unique design for such a gripper. 

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1 hour ago, Brett H said:

For some reason I always liked much of that old PDA stuff.

Their grippers are one of the most rare collector items at this point too. I cannot remember the last time I saw one go for sale. We've only had two come through Rate and Return... ever. One in 2019 and one in 2020. One was a PDA304 rated 138 and one was a PDA262 rated 110.  

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36 minutes ago, Cannon said:

Their grippers are one of the most rare collector items at this point too. I cannot remember the last time I saw one go for sale. We've only had two come through Rate and Return... ever. One in 2019 and one in 2020. One was a PDA304 rated 138 and one was a PDA262 rated 110.  

Yes, they are not only fairly old grippers, but quantities were probably not very high. I think I currently only have 4 of their grippers.

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3 hours ago, ChimpGrip said:

I’m currently trying to design two different monster grippers, for collectors purposes 

One will be called the “Jupiter” gripper, named after the planet. If you’re not familiar with the incredible pressures and events on Jupiter, check it out. The pressure at a certain point is over a million times greater than that on Earth’s equator. Maybe a little nerdy, but why not? 
 

The other one will be the Orangutan gripper. 

i think its a great idea ! good way to explore with springs and possibly discover something that makes a break through in the gripper world , in my opinion 

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That’s one of the best gifts you can get from a friend

very nice 

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/7/2020 at 12:35 PM, Kluv#0 said:

Here is my GHP 8 rated 161. I like that it is a unique strength & challenging gripper for me but also its the lowest GHP 8, CPW has rated-No, I will never cert ON GHP 8, LOL.

ghp8.jpg.e97f14b6202d086c2aa8752cdbf019c7.jpg

I would buy that in a second.

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I'm gonna say my 40th gripper, a CoC 3.5 rated at 159, with slightly uneven handles that are not that noticeable. I spent a very long time trying to find something in the high 150's, eventually got a super wide Standard Fe rated 158 however it's literally over 3" spread (same spread as a 154 coc 3 I have). I had already closed a 167 CoC 3.5 by the time I got the 159 so it was not just to say I closed a 3.5 lol, just to train at the heavier end of what a heavy 3 could rate at without it being 3+ inches wide. I am enjoying it a lot. I have 38 mm block setted the 159 coc 3.5, and am just now starting to work on credit card setting it (got a few mm from CCS on it yesterday). I think it is a great tool to prepare for the coc3 cert.

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  • 4 weeks later...

One of my favorites. Imagine the crushing power one would have if you could close it? The #4 would be in your lineup of warm-up grippers. 

ED1CC7EC-F47B-425E-94A3-1624D90B74FC.jpeg

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By being able to close that gripper, could you crush a brick? Bone? Squeeze a #3 so hard it’d break? 

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18 minutes ago, ChimpGrip said:

One of my favorites. Imagine the crushing power one would have if you could close it? The #4 would be in your lineup of warm-up grippers. 

ED1CC7EC-F47B-425E-94A3-1624D90B74FC.jpeg

This was fun. He wanted an estimated rating so we came up with one using math and devised a way to designate on the tag it was estimated. The ø symbol. 

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