giving old spurs new life, need straps

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

I have a set of old gaffs I got from my neighbors father-in-law, he used to be a lineman and moonlighted as a tree guy I guess 40 years ago. Either way he saw me taking some chunks off a tree in my yard and mentioned it, and when he said he had old gear I couldn't help myself. I don't own gaffs, so i bought his probably for a litttle more than I should have but that's life.photos will come in an update, my camera is acting up, but they are old school steel with leather pads with modest wear but definitely dry and aged leather, so I'm thinking I should spend some money on fresh straps and pads. I did a single test climb and I'd hate to wear these to earn a paycheck, but for the once or twice a year I'll actually need them, they're good enough. stamping says

Stringer brooks climber
utilities safety supply 00
lees summit missouri

so now I'm looking online and it seems most lower straps use belt style closings, i would think that's not really ideal for adjustability? Buckingham FastStrap Quick Connect Climber Foot Straps seem the nicest that will work with my gaffs, but I'm curious what people think? again this is just for fun, maybe one or two trees a year tops, I do much more pruning than removal and I mostly only do it for fun or puting up radio arials so I don't really need to invest in qauality, but I'm happy to spend up to 100 for some comfort/ease of use.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Be warned, you're probably going to get flak for using gaffs on non-removals, but I won't be that guy...

As far as the gaffs go, if he was a linemen, they probably have the smaller spur for pole climbing, which isn't ideal for tree climbing. They can work ok on thin barked hardwoods, but not so much on other trees.

I've got a couple different styles of lower straps. My main pair of climbers(big old Buckinghams) I put the Buckingham velcro straps on. I like them a lot, just because they're convenient to take on/off. My back up set are an el-cheapo pair of Kliens that have the buckle style straps. They aren't as easy to adjust, but I don't even think about once they're on.

Pic I took to demonstrate the different styles of spurs. A pole climber on the left, a 2.75" tree gaff that is pretty common nowadays, and my old Buckinghams w/ the old school 3.5" gaffs(awesome for the thick barked trees I usually climb.)

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I'll be that guy... spurs are only to be used for removals, not trims.

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

while the spikes are a little short, I live in new england so most bark is pretty thin, i think/hope they will work ok for me. That said I hope to only use them for removals (I have three on the to-do list). I ended out ordering a set of the buckinham straps to start with, velcro sounds better than belt holes imo. I've gotten pretty dang good with a throwball so they shouldn't get used much for anything but removal.

 

[Lightning Performance]

@Oldtoolsnewproblems

I still climb with the old hammer welded spur Buckingham on the right. I did update to older steel wrap wide Velcro upper pads now made from aluminum. You'll never go back to those miserably miserable T-pads. They will skin you good when your sweating bullets. If you go with wide uppers or T-pads carpet padding under them is your new friend if your skinny like me.

The wrap upper pad plate can be taken off and bent to fit your shin. Aluminum is much easier to deal with but they crack over time so back to the steel ones now.

Using short gaff spurs sucks on red oak and fatter bark. If the bark is loose doing removals peel it off with those short hooks. After owning four sets, even the nice aluminum ones I still prefer the heavy old steel types. I did bend my shank back five degrees. The newer ones come in straight or ten degree setback.

Changed over to nylon lowers and quickly went back to leather with buckles. Never tried the nylon Velcro lowers over the the boot. Also hate steel shank boots and can't climb with them comfortably. Everybody seems have a different take on climbers. The worst ones I tried were those fiberglass short jobs. They suck and cost five hundred or more now.

Sold off that middle set pictured above and all the other accessories. Kept the aluminum lowers with steel uppers as a spare set just in case I need the west coast long spikes on my hooks.

My lowers do not have split rings on them.