Many years ago Jim Bridwell gave me a interesting Dolt Bashchock. I say it is interesting because the Bashchock is not the usual square one hole design, but it is elongated and has two holes. I came to the conclusion on this piece being marked 66 that is not actually number 66, but 6-space-6. It is a number 6 Bashchock, but a longer version. These longer Bashchocks were not advertised as being created, or even available to the public so already I knew that the Dolt Bashchock that Jim gave me was extra special. I wonder if the longer Bashchocks were actually the end of the aluminum bar stock that Bill Dolt was cutting squares out of, and instead of cutting and throwing away the small extra bit of material, Bill just left them longer and then put the Dolt mark onto them. The longer Bashchock is heavier, but serves as two different placement possibilities, over it only being one. A few years later I came across a 5-space-5 Bashchock with two holes which showed that Bill created more than only one of these longer Bashchocks. Now in the 2024 Christmas season, Tim Ryan put on eBay auction a 2-space-2 Dolt Bashchock in mint condition. This is the longer Bashchock version, but what makes Tim’s 2-space-2 Bashchock extra special, is that it has only one hole, instead of two. So this is the first time I have seen the longer Bashchock version, only having one hole. Super cool!!!!
" Museum Props"
Dolt #5 Bashchock, Photo from: vintageclimbing.com, gear for sale, 11/2023 - #5 stamped over #10
Summit magazine Dolt ad
This is possibly when Dolt made the Purple #6 Spidernut and #10 Trunut. Dolts usual line was 14 nuts, but the Dolt ad in the March 1971 Summit magazine shows 16 Colornuts. All of the Spidernuts and Trunuts at this time possibly became colored.
Dolt Nutcracker nut tool. Nut tools made by Don Lauria and Ken Boche in 1975. The Nutcrackers were made from the left over Dolt piton blanks that Bill Feuerer still had in his shop after his death. The Nutcrackers were sold as a long piton blade, where some people that purchased them grinded a notch into the blade to create a hook shape to assist in removing stuck climbing nuts. Ten Nutcrackers were made of Titanium (Titanium sample is the bottom piton in the photo).