Repurposing gear.

[Burnham]

Yea, but reality is I'm gonna forget something, and have to fetch it, and taking the spurs off for a 5 second trip is a pita. I'm not at all worried about my safety. My goal is protecting my points. I can concentrate enough for a few seconds that I won't stab myself, especially if I don't have to waddle like a penguin trying to keep the points off the ground.

I get your point, John. What you are suggesting is a far cry from what some folks do, which is walk all around doing ground based work while wearing gaffs.

 

[lxskllr]

That sounds awful. I couldn't imagine wearing spurs on the ground outside an "emergency" situation. Aside from not being particularly comfortable, you're gonna trash your gaffs pretty quick, even if you aren't on especially rocky ground.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

It isn't walking on the ground the problem. You can pay attention all you want, there's always a trip hazard somewhere, like stone, root, hole, limb, rope, vine, stub... Even a twig can be enough if it takes you off guard. Then you have a jerky / reflex move and you control nothing anymore.

I do put my foot ascender with the spurs at each dismantling, but I don't walk around with the spurs on. They stay where the rope is, even if it's just to refuel my chainsaw or to get a forgotten item.
So far, in 11 years of treework, I only made a couple holes in my pants

The onliest wound I got by the spurs is at a hand. An other great dumb moment !
At the bottom of my spurs, there's a steel grip to avoid slipping on the bark (horizontal limbs). Some dirt was stuck here and I loosened it with a nail. to remove the wet debris, I had the bright idea to tap-tap with my hand. I realized very quickly that that will not end good, but the order to the muscles was already sent and my palm landed on the spike. Ouch !

 

[Danthetree1]

In my early days I put my foot on a limb to step up. With that motion I stuck a brand new Bashlin gaff into my knee. I still have a v shaped scar where I kneed the gaff. It was in there pretty far before I knew what I did.

 

[Jonny]

I got some 3”- 4” scraps of garden hose I put over the spikes for storage. They’re just to protect my bag and everything in my bag. One day I’ll probably buy some real gaff guards.

 

[lxskllr]

Dunno. Those Burnham hoses look as good as anything commercial I've seen. Not as polished I guess, but at least as functional, if not moreso.

I've spiked myself once so far. Went through the side of my boot. It was enough to draw blood, but not particularly bad.

 

[pantheraba]

The Burnham hoses work great.