Update on the Pike Trail Gaiters

A while back I wrote a post reviewing the Pike Trail Gaiters

 I had been using for about 8 months while hiking the property to protect my legs from all the pokey things that had been tearing them up.

Well it's been about 10 more months and the gaiters are a little bit funkier now, but they still serve, almost daily, to keep my legs looking pristine and youthful.

OK, that youthful bit might have been going too far - - - In fact, pristine might be a bit of an exaggeration too - - - Oh well such is the hubris of vanity.

 

But yesterday morning, as I was putting them on, (to get back to the point)

I noticed an issue with one of the foot-straps.

In my original review I remarked on how my biggest concern, durability wise, was the foot-straps that, as I pointed out at the time, "are down there getting ground between my boot and the trail with every step"

Back then I estimated I had put about 300 miles on the gaiters and still couldn't find a nick or even a scuff mark on the straps.

Well now I've easily got 600 or more miles on the gaiters and the straps are not quite nick free anymore and one of them had failed, or almost failed, at the stitch-line.

But we're not the kind of household to give up on possessions that easily. I mean, it's a little worse for wear now, but I'm still wearing one of my old office-shirts every evening after I get out of the shower (It's been 10 years since I retired) and when my sister saw the battered and  taped-together folder I keep my Sumoko puzzles in while we were at the family reunion last summer she handed me a brand new folder - which I tucked away in a safe place for when I really need to replace the current one. 

So instead of panicking and hitting the "add to cart" button I dug the first-aid kit out of my backpack.

No, not because I'm going to fix it with a band-aid

but because that's where I keep my big-ass needle!

Which I threaded with some dental floss. - From my bathroom drawer. No sense in using up what I keep in my first-aid kit after all.

Strong stuff dental floss. Far stronger than any of the "normal" threads we have for the sewing machine.

With supplies ready I cut the strap the rest of the way loose, but not before marking where on the gaiter the strap went and which side of the strap faced up with a bit of chalk.

Then I began re-sewing the fresh, undamaged end of the strap back onto the gaiter.

Driving that needle through many layers of tough fabric wasn't easy

so I used the narrow slot between my bench-vise and bench to support the work while driving the needle down through the gap

with the help of the little wooden block I use to protect the tip of the needle when it's stored in my kit.

To help even more I also soaped the tip of the needle before every stitch.

And before long I had box-stitched the strap back onto the gaiter, not only along the two original stitch-lines but down both sides as well because - well, overkill is a hard habit to break,

and the gaiters are functional again! - If this photo looks harsh around the edges it's because the sun wasn't up yet this morning when I set out on my laps so I had to use the flash.

This whole process probably took me a half hour to do. Since it would have cost me $25 to replace the gaiters with a new set I figure I earned myself the equivalent of about $50 an hour there. And I don't even have to report it to the IRS!

Not bad for a retired old fart!