Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

As i am known locally as a bit of a collector of...well, things in general i guess, i from time to time is presented with "gifts" from friends and acquaintances.

Yesterday i was visiting a friend face to face for the first time since last spring, since he finally has gotten his full treatment of Wuhan bug repellant.

It was a nice reunion, and him being in the middle of a move, having sold his property, of course had made him track down a little treasure for me as well...that had been stashed away on a nail in the shed for the last 50 years.

Me being a certified electrician (an pretty obsolete bunch of papers these days, as i have been in the dieselengineering trade the last 2-3 decades), made him think that i couldnīt live without his old pole climbing shoes, for their amazing sentimental value to someone with my history.

Pretty pissed at myself that i didnīt shoot a before pic, as they really made the both of us laugh out loud, when we got them of that nail, and out into the daylight.
Completely rusty, with some thin clothes line kind of rope attached, to sort of tie them onto your boots, as the original leather belts appearently had been long gone well before they were stored.

Well, long story short, i took them home with me, if for nothing else than to help clean the property for him, fully expecting that theyīd end up in the trash eventually, looking as sad as they did.
Decided to give them a quick cleaning with a steel wirebrush on the anglegrinder, just to see if they could be saved, and much to my surprice most of the material still was present.
Then went on and cut a couple of 3/4" belts of a cowhide, and stiched those on there.

...and waddya know, i now am the proud owner of yet another fully functional tool here, that iīll most likely never find a need for.

Now all that remains for these, is that i go and bang a nail in my own shed attic 

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Nice leather work, they look original 

I could’ve used these the other day 


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Looking at the faded sticker, appears it may even be US made? 

Hello Jan,

nice that you saved the climbing shoes. Looks good. There will also be a nail somewhere on which the parts can be hung in a representative way.

As a child, I was always fascinated by the workers who repaired electricity and telephone lines as they strapped on these crampons and then climbed the wooden masts to carry out repairs at a lofty height. These things are a piece of work history.

Have a nice weekend

Jürgen

@crazydoug

Pretty neat find that appliance dolly, congrats!

Have a couple here as well, and being by myself most of the time when working around the property, i canīt count how many times they have saved me, from having to call in a favour of assistance.

...and yes, being a relatively slim tree like that, i do figure they couldīa been handy there 
These do have some restriction, since theyīre made for a relatively specific polesize, whereas woodmenīs versions, even if superfiscially alike, has an adjustment option to fit different diameters.

I do have a set that was bought on a lineman relatives auction and Lenn (Pitchy) gave me some longer spikes that were new in the box. I climbed a tree for fun with them once, but have never actually used them for work. Guess where my pair is... hanging on a nail in the basement 

Neat pole climbing shoes.
All you need now is a pair for concrete poles.