Aluminium stirrups- as strong as steel?

FfionWinnie

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No, I would say aluminium cannot ever be as strong as steel, it will always bend and break before steel will. Whether that makes them unsuitable, I don't know.
 

teapot

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Depends on the weight/pressure ratio as if you think about it. Planes are made of aluminium...

I think I'd go for steel on the basis is can't just snap, has to take a lot of wear and tear first, unlike aluminium.
 

Mike007

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No they are not. Furthermore Aluminium alloy suffers from metal fatigue in a way that steel does not do. These are safety stirrups and there will be a constant flexing of the alloy at the shaped parts ultimately resulting in fracture. My old racing stirrups were of a far less complicated shape and far chunkier than these.I would not want to bet my life on these stirrups. OK for flat racing but I certainly wouldnt use them jumping. Incidentaly I always found it a lot harder to recover a lost lightweight iron .They just bounce about while you try to find them with your toe.
 

milliepops

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I wouldn't buy those ones, but I do have 2 pairs of aluminium stirrups that I am very happy with. I got the equiwing ones which are basically identical to mark todd alu stirrups. It said on the blurb that they were tested to 900kg. Tested, how, I'm not sure, but I'm very happy with them :)
 

Mike007

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I wouldn't buy those ones, but I do have 2 pairs of aluminium stirrups that I am very happy with. I got the equiwing ones which are basically identical to mark todd alu stirrups. It said on the blurb that they were tested to 900kg. Tested, how, I'm not sure, but I'm very happy with them :)

Being tested to 900kg is meaningless with alloy. Each time it is loaded it weakens a minute amount .This is called metal fatigue and it means that ultimately the stirrup that was capable of withstanding 900kg ,will snap like a carrot under a very modest load. We use alloy on aircraft because it is light weight ,the down side is that we have to put in enormous amounts of testing and inspection to monitor the inevitable fatigue.
 

seejay

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Lots of old stainless steel stirrups will have a weak spot a third down from the top, where the metal has been stressed and gone crystalline. Test your stirrups, especially old ones, by holding them up by the leather and ringing them with a hoof pick or tea spoon. If you hear a dull spot, throw them away. I was lucky I was schooling and not jumping when an old one of mine snapped.
 

Mike007

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Ah yes ,stainless steel is not like ordinary steel. It does suffer from fatigue ,perhaps not as badly as alloy but certainly a lot more than ordinary steel. Of course there is always a down side to everything ,and I have seen a steel stirrup that ,rather than fracture ,buckled around the jockeys foot and trapped it. He was fine so dont worry.
 

Cragrat

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Thank you all - advice noted - have bought some steel ones. Thank you Mike for the professionals view :)

Seejay - I didn't know that - will be out with a teaspoon tomorrow :)

I would rather deal with them bending than fracturing!
 
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