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I was getting ready for the community yardsale and I found this treasure. It is so totally awesome it says "Mammoth Cave National Park" on the front. Anyways I've decided to save it from the yardsale bin. I'm gonna keep the .75 sticker though because I think it adds class. My only problem is that the chinstrap sucks. I'm not sure what I can do as far as getting a new one though. Your Suggestions Please.

Try this:

http://www.innermountainoutfitters.net/ ... &brand=IMO

What Rick said...

Also, as I'm sure you know, but just in case someone else doesn't, these helmets are not as safe as a climbing rated helmet. User beware.

What's more, I started out with a helmet just like this. Mine was from the VA Dept of Trans. Cutting the bill off literally opened my eyes to a whole new world. In crawls or stoops, the bill would obstruct my view. I cut it off with a band saw, but I'm sure a Dremel or any number of things could do it.

Good luck.

Yeah, I started out with a helmet like this too. Made my own chinstrap though.

I'm waiting for someone to try one of these...

http://www.discountsafetygear.com/vucohahatres.html

those are hilarious I would love to see someone with one of those

Gee, the first one looks like my current helmet sans logo. It's an MSA, too. This is probably a wild caving tourist helmet, though, not an NPS special.

--If you don't climb, why get a climbing helmet? --

Re the stetson hard hats-- they also come in blaze orange. If you'd like to see someone with one of them, look at a highway or RR crew person in Texas. I've seen them in use, and they are *very useful* in shedding rain and sun above ground.

They'd probably get stuck sideways in a crawl, though.

tallgirl wrote:Your Suggestions Please.

1. Stop animating.
2. Hold it...
3. Hold it...
4. Hold it...
.. ...... .....
.. ...... .....
.. ...... .....
At least be less obvious?

NZcaver wrote:Yeah, I started out with a helmet like this too. Made my own chinstrap though.

Me too! An MSA miner's helmet. I, too, cut the bill off of mine. It had the metal blade on the front for my carbide lamp holder to slide into. I wore it without a chin strap for several years.

sounds like I should start looking for a saw... this is gonna be fun

I had to cut the bills off a couple of dozen of helments like that, when I worked for a comercial cave. Your best bet is going to be a sawzall or jigsaw to cut the bill off with then go over it with some sand paper to clean it up the cut edges.

might as well just wear it backwards, hey even construction workers do that!

there's a student caving club near me that charges a whooping 800 pesos (bout 80 bucks) per semester, and they provide the cheaper construction helmets they find
and attach an even cheaper flashlight on top of it with tape that aint even duct tape

Nico wrote:might as well just wear it backwards, hey even construction workers do that!

Oh no I will find a saw I'm really looking forward to it actually.

Teresa wrote:Gee, the first one looks like my current helmet sans logo. It's an MSA, too. This is probably a wild caving tourist helmet, though, not an NPS special.

--If you don't climb, why get a climbing helmet? --
.

Actually it probably is a park ranger's helmet. The rangers at Mammoth are issued white MSA hardhats, I was kind of surprised.

Teresa wrote:--If you don't climb, why get a climbing helmet? --

Sure, a hard-hat type of helmet (and I also started caving with one) is great to hang your light on and stop annoying bumps on your head when the roof is low, but they are not so good in the event of a fall.

Because most head injuries which happen underground (at least here in the UK and I'm sure it will be the same in the US) are due to falls, it is better to use a helmet which is designed for climbing. British paramedics classify a fall from as low as 2 metres as life-threating, because hitting your head from that height can easily cause brain injury.

A climbing helmet, due to the way the strapping and harness are designed, is much more likely to stay on your head than a hard-hat type helmet, in a fall.