Removable Dacron Anklets

[murraym]

Anyone tried the removable Dacron anklets from Mikes? I like the idea and want to switch to removables I'm just worried about scale damage.

[rocgwp]

I currently have 2 coops and lanner hybrid wearing them. I have had no issues or scale damage. None of the birds have picked at them either. I really like them.

[goshawkr]

Anyone tried the removable Dacron anklets from Mikes? I like the idea and want to switch to removables I'm just worried about scale damage.

I have been using braided anklets for 8 or 9 years. On the whole, I think the leather anklet has been the achilies heel of modern leashes and jesses due to the way leather wears and breaks without warning, and the way its very suceptible to falcons and the occaisional hawk who chews on their gear.

One concern that I have had with braided and/or synthetic anklets is the abraision it would cause. I solved this for a while by glueing a leather patch on the inside.

For the last 4 or so I have been using spectra, which is very silky smooth, and dosnt cause any abraision problems. With my breeding birds I have been making thier anklets out of parachute cord - its a lot more abraisive than spectra, but since they are handled very rarely I realized it wouldnt be a problem.

I am very interested in how these Dacron ones behave. Are they lined with something? Dacron is not much, if any, less abraisive than the nylon in parachute cord.

I have been wondering if parachute cord would be safe to use for anklets, but I have not been willing to experiment when I have spectra around and KNOW how it will be. Parachute cord is a lot easier to get a hold of and work with though.

Hmmmmmm.............

[JRedig]

On the whole, I think the leather anklet has been the achilies heel of modern leashes and jesses due to the way leather wears and breaks without warning, and the way its very suceptible to falcons and the occaisional hawk who chews on their gear.

Call me crazy...but properly maintained and oiled anklets do not break without warning...even then, it's the responsibility of the falconer to keep an eye on them for chewing/wear etc and they should never get to the point where that is even a chance. If that happens without warning, it's due to nothing more than negligence on the part of the handler, not the fault of the leather...

[goshawkr]

Call me crazy...but properly maintained and oiled anklets do not break without warning...even then, it's the responsibility of the falconer to keep an eye on them for chewing/wear etc and they should never get to the point where that is even a chance. If that happens without warning, it's due to nothing more than negligence on the part of the handler, not the fault of the leather...

I used to think that way myself. Then I had both anklets fail at once just momements after giving them a visual inspection. They did show some wear, but they looked like they were still very serviceable. They werent even unsually stiff. Luckily, this happened in the house just after I put my old goshawk Angel on the screen perch. She had a habbit of giving a good solid bate just after being placed on the screen perch, and both of them gave way when she did this. The funny thing about it was that she was so surprised by the event that she fell out of the air.

I love leather. Love working with it, love looking at it, love the smell of it, love the feel of it.

But it has a lot of disadvantages. Especially if you have a goshawk that loves to soak her feet in the tub (most of them do I believe) and/or live in a climate hostile to leather, like say a rainforest.

Synthetic materials fail as well, but I am going on over 10 years of service life for some of my leashes, and they look like they did the day they were made (with a bit of grime thrown in for character).

[JRedig]

I used to think that way myself. Then I had both anklets fail at once just momements after giving them a visual inspection. Luckily, this happened in the house just after I put my old goshawk Angel on the screen perch. She had a habbit of giving a good solid bate just after being placed on the screen perch, and both of them gave way when she did this. The funny thing about it was that she was so surprised by the event that she fell out of the air.

I love leather. Love working with it, love looking at it, love the smell of it, love the feel of it.

But it has a lot of disadvantages. Especially if you have a goshawk that loves to soak her feet in the tub (most of them do I believe) and/or live in a climate hostile to leather, like say a rainforest.

Synthetic materials fail as well, but I am going on over 10 years of service life for some of my leashes, and they look like they did the day they were made (with a bit of grime thrown in for character).

Yeah, I get the whole climate thing and obviously maintaining leather out there would be a nightmare...did those anklets fail or did the grommets fail in some capacity? I have seen bad crimps fail over time. I've just never seen it with leather, maybe i'm lucky. I know of rehab birds that have worn the same anklets for more than 5 years when kept well oiled...

[goshawkr]

Yeah, I get the whole climate thing and obviously maintaining leather out there would be a nightmare...did those anklets fail or did the grommets fail in some capacity? I have seen bad crimps fail over time. I've just never seen it with leather, maybe i'm lucky. I know of rehab birds that have worn the same anklets for more than 5 years when kept well oiled...

There were no grommets involved with those particulare anklets. The design I used was largely based on the one Harry McElroy published in Desert Hawking III (and I believe II as well) where there is a tab on side and a slit on the other. As I recall, Harry described using this pattern with grommets, but if you make the jess holes just a little bigger the grommet is not needed, and it saves a potential problem point (down sides to grommets are they can cut the leather, they can work free of the leather and cut the foot, and its easier for the hawk to remove and toss the jesses because the grommet has less friction)

Makeing the anklets removeable allowed me to periodically remove them and oil them. I used to do that faithfully at least monthly, but I never really noticed it changing the service life in the leather for me. The frustration of looking for a leather treatment that would actually seem to extend the life of the leather is part of what drove me to an alternative to leather for anklets.

Also, to be fair, the incident where both anklets failed together happened during the molt when I wasnt handling the hawk much and it had been several non-rainy months since the anklets had been oiled. I did give them a quick visual check just after picking her up to bring inside for a visit. Prior to that I had anklets give out on several occaisions, but it was always one at a time, and usually when I was inspecting them for soundness.

I used leather for about 4 years after that incident, before Steve Layman and I did some head scratchin over the phone. He had done some experiments with braided anklets, and gave me some ideas to try.

One other key difference between leather and synthetic fiber materials - the synthetic materials display their wear in with frayed and broken strands. With leather, its very hard to tell between "cracked but strong and servicable" and "immenent failure". The wearing away can happen below the surface, hidden from view. Synthetic materials, at least all the ones I have tried, wear from the outside in.

[Lowachi]

As a leather freak, but with a couple peregrines w/an insatiable taste for leather, I switched to braided gear several years back. Since they never ate the bracelets, they remain, but since Murphy lives too d*mn close to me, I do check them at least once a week during the moult and pretty much daily duing season- the exception being the lofted birds. With a little jess grease applied while feeding on the fist, most of my bracelets go 2-3 years before I can't stand it and change them all out, for peace of mind. If the leather is good to begin with, it doesn't just suddenly fail. There are often inconsistancies in a hide, scars thin spots ect., ya just need to be on top of it when cutting your gear.
All this being said, and my love of leather set aside, I'd be interested in trying these braided bracelets out next time I'm switching/replacing gear. Which, on Brandon's prairie, is coming up quick.