Re: [CH] OT - How It's made - fireman's hat
jim (jim@mail.wildpepper.com)
Fri, 23 May 2008 16:09:31 -0500
Nope- cool. Thanks! Was familiar with some, but not all of it. They also
fail to mention how *heavy* leather helmets are :-) Most folks are stunned
when I hand them mine at the shows. They are also very expensive as can be
guessed from all the hand labor that goes into one. They last almost
forever though.
They make an imitation plastic one that some of the guys (and gals) wear
that's only about 1/10th as heavy. Won't catch me in one though! Had a
pretty intense fire one time, a "good one" as we say, and vaporized
everything on my helmet that wasn't leather or metal. Hi-temp polycarbonate
face shield vanished & the decorative shield (plastic and leather- in the
video it was the part that was printed "How it's made", & had a French
phrase on it) was still on fire when I came out for re-hab :-)
"Hey- your helmets on fire."
"Yeah, right."
"No, really- your helmet's on fire!"
"WOW. Cool!!"
They questioned the integrity of my leather helmet after going through that
& wanted me to accept a plastic one as a replacement.
Let's see here. Everything plastic on *this* helmet is gone and you want to
replace it with one that's made up *entirely* of plastic? Ummm.... Yeah,
sure.
-Jim C
http://www.StepUpForCharity.org
Mild to Wild(R)