Waxed Shoe Laces

We sell quit a few waxed laces and if you have a hard time keeping your shoe laces tied tight these may be the answer. They are easier to grip, they stay tied and don’t loosen as easily as regular Taslan or Nylon laces. They also resist moisture better and that helps keep them tied better. So if you have a hard time keeping your laces tied waxed shoe laces may be the answer.

Brian

Hanks Clothing

Rugged Amish Belt

One question we get a lot here is what  size belt to buy. Unfortunately this is one question that is tough to give a definitive answer on. First off fit on belts is subjective as people like to have their belt longer or shorter and also based on what you are wearing the belt with. If you just wear light weight slacks and shirts you’ll need a smaller belt than if you wear heavy jeans and thick shirts. Also if you use your belt for carrying items you may need some extra length also.

If you are trying to figure out how to properly fit your belt and buy the right size there are a few guidelines that will help you get the right size. The most general rule is to buy the belt one size bigger than your pant size you wear. In 90% of the cases this will be the correct size. Take into account if you will be carrying items on the belt or if you will be wearing thicker pants or shirts and you may need to go up another size.

One thing you can’t do is measure an old belt or go off an old belts size. If you’ve had the belt awhile and have put on some weight then they can gradually stretch with you over time and can stretch as much as 1-2 sizes. Also be cautious of reviews customers leave about fit as again it is subjective and your not sure how they are using the belt.

So follow these guidelines and you should be able to get a good fit on your belt and avoid an exchange.

Brian
Hanks Clothing

Do your toes always feel a little cramped in your steel toe boots? If so you may may want to try some broad toe steel toe or composite toe boots. Designed with extra wide and extra high toe boxes these style shoes may be the answer to more comfortable steel toe boots…..  They come in a variety of styles, insulated or uninsulated and most are waterproof. Carolina Boot Company makes a great selection of broad toe steel or composite toe boots with superior comfort and price that won’t leave your pockets empty.  Remember though that the extra wide toe box won’t make up for the error of buying your shoes to short. Getting the proper length along with the broad toe will give you a boot with superior comfort if you have trouble with your toes rubbing in traditional steel or composite toe boots.

To view our broad toe boots on hanks clothing.com just go here to www.hanksclothing.com . Once there in the white search box at the top of the page type in “broad” without the quotes. It will then show you the selection of broad toe safety shoes and boots. These just may be the ticket to more comfortable steel toe boots for you.

Carolina Broad Toe Logger boot. 400 Grams Thinsulate, Waterproof membrane.

Brian
Hanks Clothing

Every Friday Hanks Clothing will select one of our lucky Facebook fans to win that weeks prize. From Acorn Slippers, to Muck Boots, to Carhartt clothing and more!
Check every Thursday to see what that weeks prize will be and then Friday by noon we will announce the winner on our Facebook page!
Don’t miss out! Head over to

facebook.com/hanksclothing

and hit that like button!

It was all in a day’s work at an unusual kind of summer school, one free of algebra problems and reading-comprehension drills.

In an age when Facebook and video games have conspired to keep adolescents tethered to a sofa, and the book “Last Child in the Woods” laments the loss of contact with nature, Paul Smith’s College, a small private college in the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains, is providing an outlet for young people who crave a different experience. Its new summer program — a two-week, college-credit course called the Adirondack Woodsmen’s School — is dedicated to traditional lumberjack skills and sports, like carving a dugout canoe, building a fire without matches and throwing an ax.

Indeed, there was nothing virtual about the heady scent of pine, the buzz of chainsaws or the flying wood chips last week as the first session began. And the two dozen young men who showed up, mostly high school seniors and college freshmen, had the blisters and sweaty brows to prove it.

“They’re a very anachronistic group,” said Brett McLeod, an assistant professor of forestry and natural resources at Paul Smith’s who directs the summer program. “They should have been born in the 1800s. They really like working with, and learning with, their hands.”

They came from rural and suburban towns in Northeastern states , many with an established interest in the outdoors, and some drawn, paradoxically, by lumberjack competitions they had seen on television.

“There’s some fulfillment for the couch outdoorsman who is watching a lot of this stuff on TV on the weekend,” Mr. McLeod said. “But there’s a higher level of appreciation that can be earned through getting out here and sleeping under the stars and getting bit by a few mosquitoes, as opposed to watching it from afar.”

A century ago, lumberjacks were a dominant feature of the Adirondack landscape, setting up temporary camps and working in harsh, dangerous conditions to get timber down the mountains and onto the rivers for transport. Starting in the 1920s, the term “lumberjack” gave way to “logger,” as men traded in hand tools for mechanized equipment. Today, the politically correct job title is “timber harvest professional.”

But the romance of the job persists. The lightning-fast skill set of the lumberjack — and the lumberjill, as the women are known — has evolved into a popular national competition, with events like speed climbing, chopping and birling (logrolling) held at the collegiate and professional levels.

Colleges like Paul Smith’s, which has an extensive forestry program, cheer on their co-ed woodsmen’s teams the way other campuses support their football squads.

Rosey Santerre, a senior here and an instructor for the woodsmen’s summer program, was one of several students at Paul Smith’s who dominated the Stihl Timbersports Northeast Collegiate Challenge this spring, capturing the women’s title.

Ms. Santerre and another Paul Smith’s student, Tyler Rothe, who won the prestigious Ironjack competition at the same event, were fine-tuning the chopping technique of Ben St. Amand, an 18-year-old from New Boston, N.H., who will attend the college this fall.

He was alternating his swings among four different 45-degree cuts that he had made in the wood block.

“Nice job, Ben,” Ms. Santerre said. “Show me your top hits. Avoid windmilling it.”

Mr. Rothe added, “Pretend there’s a wall behind you and you can’t touch that wall.”

The outdoors has beckoned Mr. St. Amand since he was a child. The summer school here provided him with the structure to pursue the kinds of activities (hurling axes, making fires) that would at best make most parents nervous, and would turn some into furious scolds.

“I really love the ax throwing,” he said. “Everybody can hold it and swing it, but throwing it — and hitting the target — is awesome. The third time I threw the ax I got a bull’s-eye.”

The experience does not come cheaply: tuition is $1,095 per week. Indeed, Mr. McLeod conceived of the summer school a couple of years ago but was stymied by the expense.

By the end of the two-week session, students will have used $10,000 worth of hand tools and $5,000 worth of power tools. While much of the equipment is already owned by the college, the beating the tools take will require costly repairs. “You can only sharpen axes six times before they’re completely done,” Mr. McLeod said. “Those axes are $400 to $500 apiece.”

So he enlisted corporate aid. Carhartt donated work clothes, while the tool manufacturer Stihl lent power equipment, underwrote the salaries of three instructors and helped in recruiting, distributing 1,500 brochures at the collegiate competitions it sponsors around the country. Paul Smith’s also sent mailings to incoming freshmen who had indicated an interest in trying out for the woodsmen’s team.

The college ended up turning away some interested students because it wanted an intimate atmosphere, Mr. McLeod said. But next year, he said, the college could add additional sessions if there is sufficient demand. And it may try to reach beyond a core audience of young men who are already well versed in hand tools to young men and women who are more comfortable with a remote control.

Still, logrolling and other lumberjack sports are tougher than they look on a TV screen. Bill Barnik of Binghamton, N.Y., who signed up with his 17-year-old son, Dan, for the woodsmen’s program, learned that the hard way after giving the two-man saw a go. “I thought they were going to have to pull out the defibrillator, I was so winded,” he said.

Some instructors made a point of sharing their own battle scars from when they were novice lumberjacks.

“It’s important because I’ve chopped about 9,000 logs, so 9,000 logs later, yeah, I can chop it really fast,” said Mr. McLeod, a Paul Smith’s alumnus who, while growing up in rural Connecticut, got his first ax at age 5 and his first chain saw at 7. “But when I was starting out it was very discouraging.”

Mr. McLeod told a frustrated student about his initial attempt at the standing-block chop, which simulates felling a tree. “My first time was not pretty at all,” he said. “I ruined my coach’s personal ax, and it looked like a beaver had chewed the log when I was done.”

41 years ago today man first walked on the moon. What a feat based on the technology of the day. Article on Wired here.

Hey if you have a tough Job Carhartt wants to hear about it. Just go here and tell them about your tough job. Have a picture ready to of you in your Carhartt gear. Maybe your job will show up online!

Brian

Ok so now I am happy. Just finished listening to the Apple press conference on the iPhone 4 antenna problem and Apple made good by me. They offered to take the phones back with no-restocking fee and give everyone a free case to fix the reception problem.

Myself, now that Apple has more or less admitted there may be a small issue and offered to make it right, I don’t want the free case. I would gladly pay for it. All along I just think they needed to acknowledge there is or may be an issue. Thank you Apple. I feel better now.

Brian

Carhartt has a great contest going on and you could win one of 89 pair of 1889 jeans given away every week or $1889 dollars! Simply go to Carhartt’s Facebook page here for details. While your at it join our Facebook Fan Page here. Nothong beats Carhartt and this is a really neat contest with lots of prizes. Like them now on Facebook!

Brian

Well it’s pretty much confirmed that the iPhone 4.1 software upgrade did nothing to fix the signal drop issue. I installed it and I can still repeatedly get the signal to drop from 4 bars to 1 just by covering the antenna gap. Set it down on the table and it comes back to 4 bars. I’ll just wait to see what Apple says at their press conference tomorrow and if they say there is no issue then I will conclude I must have a bad phone and I’ll return it to the ATT store for a replacement.

Brian