"Puppet_Sock" <puppet_sock@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:242ef682-29c7-47bf-811e-e940ce83d299@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Aug 27, 8:05 pm, HawaiiEye <Hawaiian...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
[snip]
>> I guess I'm just a Luddite. I use a 6ft rattan pole. I put some
>> 'shoe-goo' on the bottom end, about 1/2" thick on the bottom, and a
coat
>> of it going up about 8 inches to protect from rock abrasion. I've had
it
>> for 30 years, put thousands of miles on it over those years, and it
>> still looks new. I tried the aluminum telescoping poles, even the shock
>> absorbing ones, but went right back to my old rattan pole.
>
>If a hiking strategy works for you for many 100's of km, it's
>probably not too bad. There is something to be said for
>personal style. A fit with your pattern is usually more
>im****tant than doing this "right" or "perfect."
>
>What is "shoe-goo"? Do you think it would stick to the end of
>my metal pole? The tip is supposed to be this tungsten-steel
>alloy, and it does stand up. Hasn't eroded noticeably over the
>five years I've been using it. But I'd prefer a rubber tip to keep
>it from scratching up the trail. Or when I'm on sidewalks in the
>city. And the tap-tap-tap on rock is annoying to me, and I'd
>expect to other hikers, and probably decreases the amount
>of wildlife I see.
>
>I had a teflon tip, but it degraded after a couple 100 km.
>
>Since this pole is never going back to the snow, I'm fairly
>happy to have it permanently covered with some rubber.
>Socks
-
I switched from the pointed metal tips to rubber about 10 years ago. My
wife had a nice single unit metal pole with a rubber tip. The tip pulled
off during a hike and was lost, and I couldn't find a replacement tip with
such a small diameter.
So, I bought the smallest diameter rubber crutch tip I could find at a
drug
store. I dropped a metal washer into the crutch tip to keep the metal
tubing from trying to push through the bottom, and filled the crutch tip
with epoxy ("Magum Steel" from Lowe's/Home Depot). This is the 2 part
epoxy
in a tootsie roll configuration. You cut off a slice and knead it by
hand,
then pack it into the crutch tip. Then the end of the pole is pushed into
the center of the epoxy glob, centered, and put away to dry.
Since then, I have done other pole tips the same way as they wear out or
are
lost. None of the epoxy sealed tips have been lost. I have replaced one
pair of tips by cutting them off with a hacksaw.
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