Climbers that wear chainsaw pants

jcarufel

jcarufel

New member
Location
Michigan
How many of you are wearing chainsaw pants 100% of the time while climbing? I have been 100% since December 2013 and feel really comfortable in all types of weather. Is anyone having major issues with theirs?

I have a pair of Pfanner Gladiators, Francital Everest, and the Clogger Arbormax. Each have their own trade offs. I find that the Francitals are my personal favorite with Cloggers coming in a close second. The Francitals seem to have more grip to the material on the knees where the Cloggers tend to be a bit slippery when attempting to use my knees while climbing.

The Cloggers are the cooloest out of any I've tried and the fitting is pretty good with elastic around the waist. The elastic works well enough that I don't need a belt most of the time.

The Pfanners seem like they will last 100 years. They are stiff and tough. I took them off one day after work and they stood up on their own. No joke...
 
Today was the first day in at least a year that I did a removal without saw pants. Felt a little naked, but I was definitely a bit cooler than I would have been. I think my new policy is going to be wearing them on days when I have a lot of chainsaw work, and otherwise wear my canopy pants, which are the most comfortable thing I have ever worn.

Once you get used to the saw pant set are not so bad.
 
I wear saw pants all day everyday and have for the last 6 or 7 years. I was getting my pants from a company in Quebec for a while but the crotches didn't seem to last for too long so I switched a few years ago. I have a pair of the Francital pants and they are pretty good but my personal favourite has to be the pfanner vent saw pants. Those pants are awesome to climb in and the zippers on the back of your legs are nice when its hot. I've had a pair of the pfanners for close to six months and they look almost new except for a few oil stains.
If your going to wear saw pants everyday its worth spending the money for the pfanners.
 
I also wear the pfanner ventilations everyday. Mine have held up well over the last 6 months since I got them, with only some superficial stitching coming out. They are in incredibly well engineered product. My coworkers couldn't believe I wore them all summer, but once I was climbing, I never even thought about/felt the heat. Dragging brush was a different story, but so it goes...
 
Agreed. I had the old Pfanner's for the past two and a half years. Worn 4-5 days a week year round. Started to tear holes in the exterior fabric but mostly they had stretched out. Just got a pair of the Pfanner vents and they are substantially cooler than the old Pfanners. I don't even notice them in the tree, but they can get hot on the ground. I hate wearing chaps so this was my way of forcing myself to actually wear saw protection.
 
I also have the Phanner vents and absolutely love them. I got them in the beginning of January.Definitely cold in winter need long johns. For summer there not to bad I personally don't like the heat of summer. I'm also wearing the Stihl hi-flex and they're lighter than the phanners and yes when I'm not wearing them in the tree I feel naked.:)
 
a store here used to have a display with a cut up pair of chainsaw pants and a sign which read " $150.oo dollars or a wooden leg which would you prefer?
doesn't matter how hot it gets in summer I always wear my chainsaw pants.
 
I think it is cool that even though US climbers aren't required to wear them, unlike Canadian and Euro climbers, many of us opt to, in spite of the apparent high price tag. (Granted, stitching up a chainsaw wound is much more expensive.)

I hope this is a sign that the culture of US climbing is headed in the right direction, i.e. away from the no-shirt-jean-shorts-climber&cowboy image that we seem to be cultivating in earnest.
 
I'm sorry Tuttle but that is an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We're running chainsaws while climbing trees. It is dangerous by default. Wearing saw protection, helmets, glasses, really any PPE is about mitigating that danger. Anyone who thinks they are "too skilled" to cut themselves with a saw is overconfident and complacent and ripe for an injury. Don't wear saw pants if you don't want to, but don't go telling people that with "skill and care ... no danger happens".
Robinia, I'm interested in checking out those SIP's as well, but I don't feel like importing a pair. The Pfanner vents are miles better than my old Pfanner's (actually I just worked in my old ones today and am even more amazed at the difference). The vents on the legs make a HUGE difference and the cut protection is substantially lighter.
 
From the first day I worked with a chainsaw I've worn pants, Stihl and Husky's and now Pfanners and Francital. I put them on in morning before I leave for work and don't take them off until I get home at the end of the day. My crew now wear chaps, putting them as soon as they roll up on a job. They're worn whether the temp is -27 or 100. I'll hydrate when necessary. Soak my head to cool down, or take a short break. Considering the average chainsaw accident costs are upwards of $12K for 110 stitches, with slightly over a 1/3 of accidents happening to knees and legs, even the Pfanners at $270 are cheap insurance. It's not a negotiable option.
 
Since many medical insurance companies will pay for gym memberships because good heathly people cost them less, I wonder how they would feel about PPE. Might be worth a call to see if they have any thoughts on the subject. Like stated above.... $270 vs $12,000, seams like a no brainer to me.
 
monkeylove said:
Since many medical insurance companies will pay for gym memberships because good heathly people cost them less, I wonder how they would feel about PPE. Might be worth a call to see if they have any thoughts on the subject. Like stated above.... $270 vs $12,000, seams like a no brainer to me.
Click to expand...

This is where TCIA and ISA can be our advocates for such efforts. They can represent the industry as a whole and bring buying power to the table.
 
wyoclimber said:
I'm sorry Tuttle but that is an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We're running chainsaws while climbing trees. It is dangerous by default. Wearing saw protection, helmets, glasses, really any PPE is about mitigating that danger. Anyone who thinks they are "too skilled" to cut themselves with a saw is overconfident and complacent and ripe for an injury. Don't wear saw pants if you don't want to, but don't go telling people that with "skill and care ... no danger happens".
Click to expand...

I tend to agree. Murphy's Law doesn't apply to chainsaw trousers or any other PPE; because that which can go wrong usually wont. Past success is not a guarantee of future safety, it is simply an indicator of past success (by what ever measure). Skill and care will promote the prospects of future safety, but they will not guarantee safety. Aside from anything else - there's no way of knowing when a person becomes suitably skilled, or is sufficiently careful to discard PPE. [I assume Tuttle accepts that beginners should wear PPE.] I wonder how many of those on the receiving end of the chaos in Awakenings had thought that they had the requisite skill to be clear of harm, and were also exercising appropriate care at the time their 'notifiable incident' occurred? When you think about it a non-PPE attitude is disrespectful of those who wear it, and of those who could have had a better outcome if they had have been wearing it.
 
Safety is like security, it doesn't stop things from happening it makes it more difficult to happen. If one is attentive then you'll become aware of the situation before anything really bad can happen.
 
I am not trying to push the thought, Its my life and my choice to remain as comfortable as possible.

I'm not an insurance chaser...never have been and never will be.
The UK has a different medical system to the US, so we all get saved for free.
 
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