Broken aluminum gaff

[Mitchell]

al gaffs

My Al Bashlin upper adjustment pieces were bending and obviously going to fail. I used some old steel bashlin or kline pieces instead. Months later a steel spur itself snapped clean in half on one of the lads. luckily, as he fell a couple feet, he was just starting his cut so the saw was not revved yet. Looking at the spurs later you could see the slot for the steel spur to sit in had wore out creating enough slop that put different strain on the spur nut then had been intended.

The spurs were old but not used regularly, fine for steel but Al obviously has a shelf life.

 

[outofmytree]

And people wonder why I will not use ANY aluminium in my life line system!

Al has it's place but after starting out in the metal industry I have never been able to completely trust a substance that can break with "almost" no indication. Which is not to say that steel never breaks, just that good maintenance and inspection will find faults before they result in a freshly packed daiper. Or worse.

 

[treeslayer]

Tell em what ya weigh John, most of us have no worries with AL gaffs.