Brush Cutting Armor and Clothing

[Bird]

Yeah, Glenn, I think the doctors usually don't really know what causes it. Of course, my doctor thought it was too much time around the firearms. The police department didn't start using ear protectors on the firing range until I about halfway through my career. And of course, I had done a lot of shooting even before I got into law enforcement and never wore ear protection./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Bob,

That's probably why they are at Sierra Trading Post. That company specializes in very good discounted prices on name brand merchandise that is overstocked from other companies, or minor blems, or discontinued items. Maybe the navy blues didn't catch on.

I assume the sizes are chest sizes. Since I may buy from the net, do the sizes run true or large or small? Do you layer under one of those suits or over it? Both, I would guess.

 

[BobT]

Glenn,

I'm not sure if the denims caught on or not. With me they didn't.

The other site I referenced has a sizing chart for Carhartt's.

In my experience, on my body, they seem to run a lttile on the small side. That's why I suggested to try to find a farm or feed store in your area which stocks them, cause then you'll get a perfect fit.

You wear the Carhartt outfit OVER your regular clothing, so that is why you'll probably need to dress up and try one on. If it's wintertime, you'll have to test it out to see just how much clothing you need underneath. But the quilted one's are PLENTY warm, and I have gone out in zero weather with nothing but my underwear and a Carhartt on, and felt toasty warm the whole time. If the wind gets to blowing hard, you might want to add one of the Carhartt (or similar) hooded sweatshirts over it. Or, get one of the detachable hoods. Believe me, once you're bundled up like that, you don't get cold, not even in the cow barn at 4 am in February!

From your description of your work jobs and needs, though, it sounds like you won't being doing too much deep winter work outdoors. 'Cepting maybe snowplowing now and then.

BobT.

A Indiana Boy

 

[Billc]

Glenn, that's them. BobT had a better picture of them at his link. Like Bob, I like the regular colored Carhartts.

One thing I want to add again; I don't much care for the coveralls. I've had them and burn up in them if I'm working in them. When sitting on the tractor the coveralls are great. Get off and do some physical labor and you're sweating in no time. To cool down all you can do is unzip the front of the coveralls.

I use the overalls and a Carhartt coat. Together they are about the same price as the coveralls...maybe $20 more. The advantage is when doing physical labor you can take the coat off, and if you need to you can take some of your layered shirts off. For me, it's just more convenient. Plus, if you are running out to do a quick something (get wood, go to the shop, etc. You have a really warm, tough coat to wear. The overall/coat combo is more versatile.

As to what to wear underneath, I agree with everyone else, I usually have on jeans or sweat pants.

As to sizes, I bought bigger in waist because I knew I'd have on pants underneath. You sure don't want to buy too small.

Have to point out one other thing, I'm in north Georgia. Our winters are usually about 40 to 45 degress. That maybe why I get so hot in the coveralls. Hadn't thought about that.

 

[Billc]

Glenn, as to hearing protection: The ear muffs...what the heck are they really called? Anyway, I started using a combo of the little foamy, disposable ear plugs AND the ear muffs. The two together are better than either by themselves. Try it.

 

[TomG]

Yes, I think each cuts sound levels about 25db, and the effect would be cumulative. A 50 dB cut is going to take a big rock concert down to a whisper.

Quite is good, but you do have to hear to operator a tractor safely. The question is how much noise and for how long is damaging. Foam plugs cuts higher sound frequencies more than lower ones and make the sound you hear muddy. The higher frequencies are more damaging to the ear than lower ones, but the sounds you need to hear also are the higher ones.

When I engineered sound for live music, I had a pair of custom mineral fiber plugs made. They provided a 15db cut, and the cut is fairly even across all frequencies. A friend used 20db plugs. More than that, and you can't hear well enough to mix. Even so, we both have hearing damage. Of course, many of our audiences demanded peaks around 120db, which start to be painful. Anyway, the custom mineral fiber plugs are a good alternative for somebody who wants more cut than the ear muffs alone, but needs to hear some of the higher frequencies.

As for how long, your body provides some pretty good protection. The fastest muscle in your body is a little one that attaches one of the middle ear bones to surrounding immovable bone. When a loud sound is experienced, the muscle contracts, which reduces the energy transferred from the ear diaphragm to the inner ear, thus protecting the inner ear. Of course, it does take some time for the muscle to react, and the initial sound from things like gun shots can do damage. The muscle also contracts during speech. That's why babies can cry without damaging their hearing, and why artillerymen say 'ahhhh' before firing.

The muscle gets fatigued and stops doing its job very well after about 20 minutes if sound levels are sufficient to keep the muscle contracted. That's when a lot of hearing damage occurs. For sound that has a lot of peaks, the trick is to cut ambient sound levels enough so the muscle relaxes and doesn't fatigue, then the body's own mechanism continues to provide decent protection. Music and chain saw sound has a lot of peaks. Unfortunately, many tractor jobs don't.

 

[Harv]

Tom -

Now that's some interesting reading!

I never ceased to be amazed at the sheer expanse of knowledge available throught this board. I now have some insights into the world of hearing which might very well save me from some discomfort and/or damage in the future.

Thanks, Dude! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[bpence]

When venturing out to "run the hog", like Bird I usually wear jeans and often (when the weather is cooler) a denim jacket. I always wear ear plugs and have safety sunglasses I wear.

When opening up a couple of "wild" acres at the back of my place last year, I took a whole different approach than has been discussed here. I could have borrowed a neighbor's JD 790 with a HD 5' cutter, but considering the area was a bit rolling, was partially wooded with heavy undergrowth, full of vines and picker bushes, I hired the job out. I didn't think by little B7100 was up to the task.

Cost $100 to have someone come in, look it over, say yes or no (1st fellow wouldn't do it), and do the job. Saved a lot of wear & tear on a friends equipment (or even mine) and I didn't have to worry about damage or all of the other "what-ifs".

The guy that did the job took about 3 hours to bush hog the 2 acres. He complained when he was done about all of the debris, rocks, logs, etc. that he encountered. Sounds kind of like your place, glennmac. Made sure I saw the big dents in the bush hog, but he took the $100 and said I should mention him to any friends or neighbors looking for someone to bush hog.

Bottom line; I can maintain the area now with my B7100 and 4' bush hog. I had to clear out some of the downed limbs and logs and move a few rocks, but that was OK. The are was cleared enough for me to get into safely.

Maybe there are times when the safest and least costly way to operate is to give the job to someone else.

Bob Pence

 

[glennmac]

Bob, three hours to hog 2 acres! You must have just had a field of angel fluff. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I spent about 15 hours over the past 3 days and cut maybe 1/2 an acre. That's all on the flat areas. Haven't even got to the hilly, rocky areas yet.

I may have exaggerated about the cutter. There are only push-in dents by the rear wheel caused by backing into immovable objects.

Nope, I bought this equipment because I got sick and tired of paying thousands of dollars to other people to maintain my land -- and not very well, either.

Us novice weekend diggers have a powerful agricultural weapon on our sides: ignorance. Plus, after a year and a half of brush cutting and mowing with a DR walk-behind machine, all of this so far is a piece of cake. So what if it takes a while. I don't have anything better to do, really. And it gives me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Tractoring is a process, not an end-result.

Glenn

 

[Harv]

Okay -- just to show that I do pay attention to what Glenn says, I stopped off at a chainsaw store today and picked up one of them safety helmet things y'all have talked about.

Interestingly, the guy brought out 2 hats - one had "Peltor" written all over it and the other "Stihl". I jumped all over the Peltor one 'cuz I recognized the name from the messages on this board. Much to my disappointment, it was lacking a feature I had expected to see -- namely the 6-point ratchet system. When I checked out the Stihl, it was sturdier, it had the 6-point ratchet and the faceplate was a heavier guage than the Peltor.

They were exactly the same price, so I went with the Stihl. It just so happens my chainsaw is a Stihl, plus I got the feeling that the Peltor was last year's model, and I wouldn't be at all surprised it the Stihl version was made by Peltor.

You know I have to post a picture, but since you're probably fed up with my ugly puss on this board, I hired a professional model this time (see attachment).