All right, guys, it’s getting hot here in Alabama and the hip skin is gettin soft, and my tool belt is giving me terrible bruises and sores (sorry if that sounds gross to any) on my hips. Is there any way to get rid of this or at least help it? it’s getting to the point where I don’t even wanna wear my stuff anymore. BTW I’m only 125 soaking wet and gaining weight isn’t an option. Also, no store-bought belt pads fit my 29-inch waist. Please help, or I’m gonna have to start sticking gun nails in my boots instead of my bags.
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Well it is still cool here in Michigan, I can relate to you troubles but can only offer a couple of options. I have just added suspenders to my leather belt and have noticed an improvement to my hips. They really just transfer the discomfort to your shoulders so come hot weather they will have to be padded. A cloth belt may help, the trouble is, they are manufacturing these belts for 36" to 42" waists. Hey! How about you guys start worrying about you health and loose some weight so even us old slender guys can find stuff to fit us.
The suspenders did me a world of good but you need to wear at least a T-shirt or they rub the sweat and dirt into shoulder pores.
A word about the hip sores - as long as we're getting gross here. Keep 'em clean!
When I started roofing in Florida, it was with just a canvas tie-on apron. That string would dig deep and wear sores in my hip side. Apparently a fungus found it's way in to make a home. It moved around to the fatty tissue in my cheek butt where it still erupts whenever I'm under stress of some kind. .
Excellence is its own reward!
That extra bottle of Merlot during the day mught take off the edge of pain LOL!Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
During the day?
No Way!
Jose`
matter of fact, it took me four days to drink the last bottle I openned. Not much time for that lately. with the sun shining, it's time to get caught up on the jobs..
Excellence is its own reward!
Where you at in MI Graybeard?
Can totally relate.
130 on a good day. Most others more like 127 or so.
I think it may just be the bain of our lowly craftsman existence......
And what about the fact that everything, I mean everything on the job weighs more than me. Heck, even my tool belt loaded weighs more than me.
Just got a new tool belt recently, 3 or 4 months ago. Craftsman leather with the red stitched logo. Was able to find it in the smaller size. As for the bruises.... yea me too. I just figured that there wasn't much to do about it.
Rob Kress
I went to padded suspenders about 7 years ago and wouldn't be without 'em.
I think Occidental now makes a set of suspendered beltless bags that are supposed to be good, but I'd want to try 'em out for awhile first...Occidental's pretty proud of their stuff and must use sacred cows for the leather. ($$$)
Check out this beltless system...
http://www.occidentalleather.com/beltless.html
There was a thread on this topic a long while ago. Try doing a search.
Peace,
MartinHeads I win, tails you lose.
As long as we're talking about Oxy's and belts, I've been meaning to ask if anybody has any experience with their sheepskin lined belt. I'm going to be upgrading as soon as my old bags wear out, and almost for sure will go with Oxy. They have a 3" belt that's lined with sheepskin. They say warm in winter and cool in summer, but I have my doubts. Would sheepskin start stinking after the 4th week of high 90's temps? Is it worth it for comfort?
http://www.occidentalleather.com/belts/belt.html#5035s
Jon Blakemore
Wool seems to neutralize odors for some reason while cotton seems to provide a beneficial home for the bacteria that cause body odors. .
Excellence is its own reward!
I bought a set of their fleece-lined suspenders a few years ago, but never could get them to hang right. Probably not the suspenders fault, they just weren't designed for my frame or something.
However, sheepskin is pretty nice stuff. I wear those Uggs fleece slippers around the house (and outside a little) daily and a pair lasts about 3 years and they don't get foul smelling. I do clean them occasionally with warm water and soap, but that's it.
My folks lived in real cold country in the mountains for a number of years and DW and I got them a set of fleece seat covers for their Ford Bronco...they wore like iron and were pretty easy to keep clean.
I'd think the tool belt might be nice unless, like me, you're in a wet-winter climate.
Gonna make one suggestion to you Jon, I ordered a sheepskin lined belt from Occi and when I threw my bags on it I realized that the back of the bag (where the belt goes through) covers up the sheepskin in the most important parts....the hips! Even at the bottom of my back was covered as I wear a tail bag on my belt as well. I sent them back and ordered the sheepskin lined hip pads from Occi (around forty bucks). Your bags ride on top of the sheepskin and the sheepskin is in direct contact with your hips. Very, very nice! Skip the belt and order the pads....I recommend this to Captain Strap as well. No problems thus far with odors either. Nothing like those Neoprene gloves I wore all winter....wheeeeeeweeeee!
Thanks dieselpig! I have a set of Oxy bags (which BTW I have somewhat mixed feelings about), but I have seen their sheepskin-lined hip pads and belts and I'm considering ordering some. Gonna wait until the Bucket Boss Contractor's Rig gets here and I try the padded belt from that first, though.
I had some suspenders made for me due to the hip and back problems referred to here. A former iron worker that now owns a western wear store made this type up for his brother that still works the iron and recommended them for me. What we used for the shoulder straps was a mohair breast collar that is normally used on western style saddles. The mohair stays soft and pliable and the straps are wide enough to spread the weight over my entire shoulders. We connected the end rings to the belt with some nylon webbing strap and adjustable buckles and the center ring to the middle of the back of the belt the same way. They look kind of funny and draw some comments but they worked for me. The only drawback that I know of is you have to keep the mohair packed away from where mice can get to it. They weren't all that expensive either.
Just another option you might want to consider.
Damn skinny carpenters around here. Y'all need to eat some food, and fast. A sheet of plywood could send you into the next county on a windy day(and for some reason the wind always kicks up when we set trusses or sheath roofs)
125#...wow......barely in triple digits.
Hey man, thank you very much I can tote two sheets of 7/16 OSB all day long, 5/8 on a good day. (LOL) I can relate to a windy day...passed OSB to my coworker on the roof from 7 til 5 today in 22 MPH winds...thought I'd broken my finger when a sheet picnhed my hand between it and the wall. It never blows until we go to deck or felt.
I have replaced my belt with several of those plastic tool totes (heavy duty models). I have them set up for different types of work and then move a few tools in or out depending on what is being done. Over the last 5 to 6 years I have got so used to the system that eventually I just quit carrying the tool belt in my truck. It hadn't been used in a year or two except to carry stuff in like I do with the totes. If you are doing finish or working inside on remodels take a movers quilt in to set the tools on so that you won't damage any delicate surfaces.
Clay is getting to the nub.
The entire thing is one of image instead of function. My revelation came when my instructor, George Stout [to give him proper credit for the insight], pointed out that no matter what task you are doing at the moment, you are only using a limited number of tools. Namely, 2 or 3. So what are you carrying around the other twenty pounds for? You only have two hands - altho three would be useful - so you can only use two tools or one tool and hold the workpiece or hang onto the ladder with the other at one time.
Maybe it is part of the image. Everybody else has a pick-up so, if you want to be a construction worker, you have to have a pick-up. And then you get an extended cab and a big box which takes up a third of of your bed room to protect your stuff from the thieves and the weather and you still don't have as much room as a van. And then there is this toolbelt obsession. Norm Abrams wears a toolbelt in his workshop. Why? To show he is a carpenter. In his shop? And then he picks his chisel up off the bench.
Why carry around twenty tools when you only need three? It becomes a sort of equation: time saved by having that once a day used tool right there on your hip versus the weight, sweat, aggravation of carrying around those other lumps of metal all day.
I do have a tool belt with a nice selection of tools. I can strap it on and walk a block or two and up the stairs with both hands free to carry my tool bucket [Bucket Boss] and maybe some material. But as soon as I reach the actual work site, off it comes - sort of like rolling up one's sleeves and loosening the neck tie. I do wear a canvas apron with a couple of big pockets (for fasteners) and the only tools are a utility knife, a small pair of ChannelLocks [GL-6] and a 6" half-round file. The other tools of the specific task go in the back pocket or in hand.
Go tool-bag-less. It's great to be able to walk between studs and polite to walk past an office desk without sweeping flower vases off in your wake.
~Peter Liited to stock on hand. One to a customer. No rain checks on this item. Tail-light guarantee applies. Offer not valid in some states.Contents may settle during shipping. Not responsible for typographical errors. 99% fat free. No artificial preservatives. Your mileage may vary depending...
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Perhaps all YOU need is three tools. I'm quite certain that a lot of us need a few more than that.
My 'essential' list:
tape
pencil
speed square
utility knife
prybar/catspaw
hammer
fasteners
That's kind of a bare minimum for 80% of the work I do. With those items stashed in my nailbags, they are as close as I can get them to me without actually being in my hands. Much more efficient, IMHO. And esp. true up on a ladder.
Ken Hill
Edited 5/10/2003 2:17:11 AM ET by Ken Hill
Ken..but he has a point.
I'm lazy...and mostly bagless.
I only work outta my bags if I'm the guy up that ladder all freaking day.
I have a very nice set of Occidental Leather bags my wife got me for graduation from trade school....and i'll bet they look the same in 10 yrs...as I almost never wear bags.
The more interior trim ya do...the less ya wear bags. As an all around carp...try to lighten the load. I say carry less on the hips and more in the bucket boss.
Don't wear too much on the hips...dirty secret from the Cop world is the hernia....smaller guys get them all the time from the BatMan belt....not for me.....
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Jeff-
Good points. Case in point the job I finished today. Drywall repair (no bags). Replaced window stools (apron only, bags in finished home a big no-no). There were my bags on the floor, though, used only to tote stuff in to where i was working. <G>
Yeah, yer right, Jeff, wouln't mind loosin' the bags. Hard not to have the apron on for finish work, though.
Ken Hill
I've had three hernias but not from the belt.
Two from 90# roll roofing to flip and set in hot tar
one from a fir beam 8x 12 x 14' - I was fine until the guy on the other end dropped his..
Excellence is its own reward!
I use at least 7 tools constantly. Every time I take the belt off and try to work from the thing lying on the floor etc, I waste time looking for what I need.
I got 2 rooster 10 pocket side bags and a set of suspenders. The bags hang off a cut down weight lifters belt. sooooo comfortable. No way i will ever go bag to the gawd awful split leg things I had before. Oooh the pain..........
Wood Hoon
You might want to get one of the Bucket Boss's "rear guards".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004TBFG/qid=1052603693/br=1-12/ref=br_lf_hi_12//102-1101372-4555363?v=glance&s=hi&n=502444
While they mention putting it in your rear pocket I think that it might be a tad too big. But it has a loop and snap and I put it on my pants belt all of the time.
I find it handly for electrical work.
Thanks man but I'm in production framing so one minute I might be handing plywood up to someone on the roof and the next shooting in window sills on the other side of the house.
While I'm at it, let me say I've tried several different brands of tool rigs/bags/belts, and so far none has come close to being perfect for me. My current setup is two "Nailer's Pouches" from HD, one on each side, with a Craftsman hammer holder in back. All on a Craftsman 3" leather belt. They work well (other than not having a hammer hanger on my right side.) I have also used a set of Oxy famers bags but the belt and bags are so stiff they cut into my skin--I wore them for three moths straight and still couldn't break them in! I dunno maybe I'm too picky. I just ordered the Bucket Boss Contractor's Rig from Duluth for $30, so maybe it will be OK.
C. Strap-
Bought a set of the B.Boss Contractor Rig about 4 yrs ago, excellent set-up and organization, low marks for durabity as the material was light, read: thin and soft. The tunnel loops in the bags had no velcro or other fastening to the belt, so the bags tended to bunch up on the belt and then pooch out from from your body, swinging all over the place with each step. Very annoying.
Other than that, they were just cheap bags. maybe Bucket Boss has since improved them.
Doesn't matter to me anyway, since I'm on 'Brother Buck's Lose-Your-Bags' program! LOL <G> :O)
Ken Hill
I got the same rig from bucket boss about 5 yrs. ago, hoping the padded belt would give me some relief. It didn't. My solution was to get one of the 3" leather belts from Sears, put the bags on it and adjust them to suit my needs. Once I was happy with the locations, I went to a saddle shop and had metal grommets installed so I could clip a surplus military H harness onto the belt. The suspenders really help distribute the weight and once the straps are attached they keep the bags pretty much in place.
Of course now unless I absolutely MUST wear my bags the speed square goes in a back pocket, pencil under my cap, and my tape on a front pocket with a tool bag in the room I am working in.TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
in the last couple of years i've taken to wearing snickers work trousers.
i.ve got the ones with the knee pads and big pockets.
i never knew how much i would appreciate having knee pads in all the time.
they really do make good trousers.
for most of my work i don't need to wear a belt it all fits in the pockets of my trousers, fixings tape pens pencils square leatherman phone pda etc....
http://www.snickers-original.ltd.uk
it doesn't get much above 80 degrees here in the UK so i can't comment on what they are like in extreme heat. altough we've had about 8 weeks without any substantial rain. very bizzare.
aleks
Those look like nice work duds, but I'm just a Western US country boy where fringed buckskins and coonskin caps are still the rage! :-)
Truthfully, the only Snickers I've seen on this side of the pond is a candybar....is the Snickers work clothes selection available in the US?
Hey, Notchman-
Snickers are the Euro version of Skillers. check Skillers.com, or as I recall Duluth Trading also sells 'em.
Ken Hill
i checked the website http://www.snickers.se and it looks like they are only availiable in europe.
i'm sure that there are other clothes similar .
i know that dewalt have a range of clothes with knee pads in i don't know about the other stuff, or whether they are availiable in the US.
aleks
You need three things.
Those plastic totes, or a bucket with bags.
A single, electricians pouch.
A separate hammer hoop that slides onto your belt.
Keep all the heavy, seldom used stuff in the bucket or tote.
Hammer hoop speaks for itself. It can be postioned anywhere on your belt that you want the hammer to hang.
The single electricians pouch that I have will carry almost all of Ken Hill's list. Tape, pencil, speed square, utility knife. Plus a pair of pliers and/or nippers. The hammer is taken care of with the loop. The catspaw is a bit more difficult, unless you use a small one. A place can be made for a small one. If you need more than two handfuls of nails, go back and get some more when the pouch is empty. Gives you an excuse to stand up straight when you been stooping all day. Or, bring the bucket along with you, near to where you are using the nails.
A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
I bought two tool belts from a company in California called Diamondback. Its run by a retired carpenter named Jim. He builds an awesome rig and they are semi custom. He used to run an add in FH all the time but I haven't noticed it lately. I wear an 8 inch wide belt and keep it above the hips and snugged up. He can probably build you a belt to fit your size. Wearing the belt up a bit higher takes some getting used to but it is easier on the hips. Jim also includes a pants belt that has the hook side of Velcro on it and the tool belt has the fuzzy side. This helps with the bags sliding down. good luck
IIRC, Diamondback is no longer in business. I think that's why you don't see the ads anymore.
Can anyone confirm this? I googled for it and came up empty.If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
Yes. Confirmed- Diamondback is no more.
Ken Hill
Yeah I looked at Diamondback before I bought my Oxy's, but now I hear that Diamondback is out of business.