Well made piece. Nice and light for its size. The finish is good. I'm a little skeptical about its strength for all holes that intersect at a critical point. Surely he will survive with a cleated rod - time will tell. Bindings for doubles shoes are good (more on that later). Changing the direction of the handle is easy enough. My biggest complaint is the length of the handle. Perhaps they shortened it for weight reasons or to remove torque from the aforementioned weak point. But my hand doesn't seem to have a firm grip on that grip. The grip would be affected even more if you were using one of the Cold Boots - I couldn't imagine it working as a grip if you were using both. . This gives you extra support without a lot of weight. I will test it some more and use it more and let you know. I may be too biased. The grip I'm replacing was very strong, comfortable and durable. It just didn't allow for easy disassembly for packaging, like this handle from the NATO railroad.