grenfell wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 8:23 am
I've mentioned that I re-enact a medieval carpenter and use an axe as part of the display. Despite being surrounded by carved chairs , chests and tables I tend to make a lot of tent pegs. I use the axe to make them , it's quick in that people can see a log turned into a finished product in a minute or two depending upon the size of the log. Love it when the kids ask "do you ever chop your fingers off?"
On one event I was asked that question by a youngish child . I put my axe down and held my hands up and said " there we are , more than the average number of fingers" . The child and a few others counted the ten and looked a little puzzled . I explained that people sometimes cut their fingers off so the average for us all would be ever so slightly less than ten. The kids still seemed a bit puzzled but their parents understood it but then one person in the crowd piped up with "figures" of how many people are born with eleven fingers. Can't win 'em all...
Ah , been some time since I've read any Tolkien. I did try many years ago to reduce my average . It was cold , I was on a roof and wearing gloves. I slipped with my saw and cut into the thumb of my glove. I didn't feel anything because of the cold and only noticed when blood started coming out. I had almost sawn through the end of my thumb , it had a sort of flip top. Still A&E was warmer than the roof...
Sorry if I've drailled your thread into " my scars bigger than your scar"...
grenfell wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 7:31 pm
Ah , been some time since I've read any Tolkien. I did try many years ago to reduce my average . It was cold , I was on a roof and wearing gloves. I slipped with my saw and cut into the thumb of my glove. I didn't feel anything because of the cold and only noticed when blood started coming out. I had almost sawn through the end of my thumb , it had a sort of flip top. Still A&E was warmer than the roof...
Sorry if I've drailled your thread into " my scars bigger than your scar"...
Standard butchers accident that one.Hands so cold you don’t feel your knife doing damage!
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
Axe and camping knife are being sharpened later today by the best method possible.
My mate is doing them both!
I hadn’t spoken to him in a few months as he’s busy writing another book about cycling (plug for book ) but he randomly called me up yesterday to ask my opinion on a candidate in the council election. Blethering away and I mentioned I was getting stuff ready for camping etc and that I was going to attempt to sharpen my axe and he went ‘I’m doing loads of stuff like that so bring it round and I will do it’.
Not axes but another hand tool the saw came up yesterday on a different forum. It's a trade/diy forum and someone had asked a question about a bike rack he was making , how to ensure it was square.. One thing I said was to ensure all the timbers are cut to the same length and this went on to him asking how to do that. Others talked about rigging up stops so the timber could be cut on a chop saw. I replied that it just sounded a faff and said to carefully measure and cut the first piece and use it as a template to mark the other timbers. I added that for the handful of timbers in the job I'd just cut it by hand. Well that got a response from someone who labels himself as a pro carpenter saying he would never use a handsaw if there was a chopsaw and his reasoning was that the chopsaw would ensure square cuts and consistency. It hasn't been the first post where the suggestion of using hand tools has been derided but I'd class myself as a pro carpenter ( well I've been doing it for over 40 years) and I'd frankly be embarrased to admit that I need help to cut square and consistent cuts.
For what it's worth I don't think the majority of modern carpenters actually carry an axe nowadays although they often have a van full of battery tools...
) but he randomly called me up yesterday to ask my opinion on a candidate in the council election. Blethering away and I mentioned I was getting stuff ready for camping etc and that I was going to attempt to sharpen my axe and he went ‘I’m doing loads of stuff like that so bring it round and I will do it’.