improvised chainsaw trousers

[defenderjack]

this is a very technical area you are getting into which would take foreever to explain. The internal chainsaw protection is affected by all the stiching that is attached to it. If you place a simple 5mm width of stitching at the top this can be enough to stop the fibres releasing allowing a saw to cut through. Same on any of the seams. You may think this is silly but we have seen enough chainsaw tests on trousers to understand what effects stitching has on the protection material. CE is a very technical document to ensure what you are wearing is safe. It can take over two years to design and produce chainsaw trousers due to the testing and re-testing.

 

so once the outer layer is ripped your saying that they should be replaced ??? im not sure i inderstand that correctly ? i presume you mean stitching patches directly to the kevler will stop them from working propally ,

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

i dont climb so cant comment on the length of time they last jumping around the tops of trees , but pruneing and doing ground work always use mine with a doiler suit on i find its the snaggs and thorns that do the worst damage to them.

 

 

Wearing another layer over an already excessive set of layers while trying to climb a tree efficiently is no option IMO.

 

The weight in a pair of ballistics and chainsaw boots is considerable and contributes more to fatigue than I suspect we give them credit for.

 

try running in them!

[Nigel]

i presume you mean stitching patches directly to the kevler will stop them from working propally ,

 

This is a strict no go. You should never interfer with the inter protection with any stitching.

[Mark Bolam]

IME most ballistic nylon inserts are attached at onl a few pionts, I would not think it too hard (ive cut them out of old trousers) to put them back in the same way.

 

If only from a sustainable point of view this area needs addressing, but were also being very obviously ripped off on trousers at it would not take much to up their wear characteristics.

 

stretch airs are the worst, they have claimed for the last three years that thier zips are high quality, and yet they break within weeks of ourchase and my dry cleaner puts in a new one for 7 quid that lasts the life of the trousers.

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

Re the stitching thing, if the inserts were designed to fit back into the shells with poppers/buttons/loops/velcro etc. this wouldn't be an issue, would it? It's not rocket science.

 

If the spare outers were realistically priced I'm sure most of us would replace them regularly and smarten our image up.

 

Hama's right - we are being very obviously ripped off at the moment.

 

2011 Stretch Airs RRP? £300 inc VAT. It's a joke, and a bad one.

[tommer9]

I wouldnt entertain buying stretch airs out of principal. We are doing this jjob to make money for ourselves not Pfanner. I see now that the stihl tissue-flex are up around £200 inc the dreaded now. WTF?????

 

Like you say Mark- a joke, and a bad one at that.

[tommer9]

In fact, i cant see any justification at all. The 2 years it takes in R&D and CE marking is no justification at all given the number of items sold worldwide, the minimal (apparently) changes/ improvements oover the last few years, and on top of that the miniscule number of times that these things are actually needed. I mean, how many of us chuck away these garments because they have been cut with a saw and have actually served their intended purpose??? Very few indeed. I imagine that the number of memebrs of this forum that have had a chainsaw actually cut into the kevlar layer is minute.

 

One gets a bit bored of hearing the rhetoric from the makers and HSE etc TBH.

[danroker1987]

its a joke really, well what il be doing is ....cutting the legs of the old chaps leaving the waiste band thats hanging the kevlar,buying me some nice arborwear trousers and just sew one side of the bottom of eace leg in,just like stihl tisssue flex lol,i do not work for a firm now so i dont have them supplied,and i dont have the greatest amount of work so i,l have to make do.

http://static.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/8/2/1/large/12819.jpg

[danroker1987]

also is fletcher stewart a shop??

[Les Cork]

Well it seems the trend demands don't meet the usage demands from your comments.

 

For years beaver nylon outer shells were chosen as hard wearing and forgiving, then every one wanted stretchy, so Schoeller and other type material fitted this demand but the downside was it rips more easily.

 

Chainsaw protective layers were designed originally like quilts, now 5 and 6 layers are very thin and lightweight and more comfortable to wear and a lot more expensive from the few manufacturers that make them. The costs of bringing a garment to market have quadrupled and test houses get their share.

 

Now the rules on stitching the layers of protection to the outer garment are strict, you cannot interupt the flow of the chainsaw layers to dismantle on impact, hence why you can only repair the outer shell with a patch.

 

Take a look at the new trousers on the market like Waipoua A's and C's from yes you guessed it !! available now from most of the major Arb dealers in the UK.

[White Noise]

Years ago before the stretch fabric came out I used to rip the crotch out and sew in a few extra inches as it all counts