The Filson brand is known for gear made to last the trials of time. This gear test on a pair of tin chaps begins back in 1978.
To follow this review, you’ve got to know Phil. I know Phil because he and my family share a passion for hunting throughout the Flint Hills of northeast Kansas. In particular, we go upland bird hunting through native prairie grass and plum thickets.
What’s more, Phil has logged 37-plus years wearing Filson Single Tin Chaps. That makes this review, with Phil’s input, the longest gear test I’ve ever written about.
Filson Single Tin Chaps: Hunting Pants Review
At some point in the late 1970s, I got tired of briars and brambles. Specifically, I was tired of thorny plants poking through my pants while I was hunting pheasants and quail on the Kansas plains. Feeling unsatisfied with the nylon chaps I was wearing, I impulse purchased a pair of Filson Single Tin Chaps (now $110) when I saw them.
I spent every opportunity I had in the field watching my Brittany retrievers point and retrieve game birds (or an occasional prairie chicken). And whenever I was afield, the Single Tin Chaps protected my legs from thorny plants.
The chaps blocked the wind on cold and sometimes snowy Kansas bird hunts. And 40, 50, 60 days a year in the field hunting wouldn’t have been uncommon for me back in the ’80s and ’90s.
Filson Chaps: Farm Chore Pants
When I wasn’t hunting, the chaps saw a lot of duty while cutting up thorn-filled hedge trees for firewood. The chaps were fabulous at deflecting branches and protecting my legs from skin-piercing thorns that laughed at heavy denim.
Occasionally over the years, a barbed-wire fence would make a V-tear in the chaps. But that was quickly mended by a needle and thread.