Printable View
Hey guys. Got a question about old fire hoses.
How wide were these.
Did they have a rubber core inside.
Questions being, i might have found some, and wanted to ask if it was the right stuff.
Its about 4" wide when flat.
Woven material outside, nylon type, not for sure.
And a rubber core inside.
I'll get pics sometime today.
Thanks
Mike
Early fire hoses were made of heavy cotton or linen thread, tightly knit into tubes.They were knitted as a tube and can be knitted as a tube or flat. There are companies that make various knit tubes and flats and sell them for various purposes. Only problem, you may need to buy 2000 yards or more to get some. What we now know as fire hose is a rubber or Gutta Percha and now plastic lined knit tube of modern materials which stand up to the job.Quote:
Originally Posted by outback
I received this information from a guy that did a study and collected a lot.
~Richard
I was told many moons ago that it might just gave way too many impurities to chance it, my son got me a hose, !( lots of fireman paramedics in the family) so I still have it and haven't done anything with it , buts it's cool! Tc
Here are the pics of the hose in question.
It is double walled, the inside wall has vulcanized rubber the outside is material
Attachment 207518Attachment 207519
I know nothing about firehouse but I would not put one of my blades on that.
If it has been used as a fire hose and drug over the pavement there could be embedded gravel which might not wash out. JMO
Thats why i would use the inside of the outer case.
To my knowledge it was never used, except the pieces we cut off of it years ago to cover the chains on our boat lift. Protection for the gelcoat finish of boats.
Other than that, its been sitting in a building for the last 16 yrs. Maybe 20, but 16 for sure
Why not sharpen one of your practice blades and strop it with the hose and see what happens. Please let us know how you fare.
Fire hose would have to be clean for use with a straight. All shiny and new.
That's why mine is still in the garage ,, and it's a fairly new piece that they kept clean at the academy for training purposes , but it's still been dragged around and sat with dust on it for years, tcQuote:
Originally Posted by RezDog
If it is still new but a little shelf dust on it toss it into the washer. We had a small piece at work that was left over from making chaffing gear and I put it in with my laundry and it came out quite nice, too small for a strop, but it made nice hinges on a box.
Wash in the washer with some Oxi-clean. Once it clean it makes excellent secondary stropping material.
Yea, the grit is a problem, a few years ago I tried using some used seatbelts and never could get all the grit out. I would expect a firehose has a lot more grit in it.
And I don’t know if it would be better that modern alternatives. I have had real good luck with Polyester Canvas Sailcloth. I just cut it and leave the ends raw, they fray a bit but not much.
I've service tested fire hose that was 1 call old, and it lost pressure at the coupler (the hose was perfect), so the hose had to be put out of service. Just faulty hose. This would probably work well. Even older hose is scrubbed after every use with soap & brush, and it should be well taken care of in most fire halls. Fire hose comes in many sizes, 38, 45, or 50mm (1-1/2, 1-3/4, or 2 inches). Bigger hand lines are 65 or 77mm (2-1/2 or 3 inch).
I would believe the inside of the outer cover, or the outside of the inner core would be fine to use for stropping, cause i dont see grit coming through that tight a weave.Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefighter2
Nothing is frayed along the length of this hose. Just alot of dust, and faded in comparison to the inside of the hose.[emoji6]
Yes, there is a jacket over the inner hose which would not be exposed to the elements.Quote:
Originally Posted by outback
Thanks i appreciate your experience with the subject.
Mike
No problem, only my experience lies with using it as fire hose, not a strop. Might have to try it. ;)
What I did was polish a bevel on a MAAS, pasted a piece of sailcloth. But you could just paste a piece of cardboard. 50-100 laps will remove all the stria on the bevel, then strop on your cleaned hose, in my case it was seat belt. If you see scratches on the polished bevel, there is still grit on the strop.
Once it gets in to the fabric & weave, I don’t think you can ever, get it all out, but give it a try…
Sounds good.
Thanks
Why bother? For a final, after honing strop, use a pad of newsprint, or half thickness of a magazine. The strop is the difference between a nice shave and a rash.
You can buy junk strops, hammer the seller down for bad leather but look for nice linen. Save the linen component. Wash it thoroughly, as above, and use it prior to a shave.
~Richard
That’s exactly what I have been doing, buying strops for 5-10 bucks for the linen, even got a couple nice horse hide strops that cleaned up well.
Repeated soaking in dollar store “woolite” and Oxiclean, scrub with a stiff brush and sun dry.
Thats been my biggest problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer
There have been none for me to find in my area.
I'll have to travel a bit farther out.
Try a few remote ol towns someday.
The AD's follow me everywhere i go. So i know i havent missed anything. [emoji6]
By the way, a plastic cement mixing tub, from Harbor Freight $5-6, works great with the strop placed diagonally in the tub, just fits, totally submerged.
Wall paper tray should work.
Got one at the house, I wont let the ol lady hang wallpaper anymore.
Thats another story.[emoji23]
