On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:52:17 -0500, Rusty Mase wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:32:23 GMT, animaux wrote:
So, am I the devil now?

No, I am just mad that you have no rocks in your soils to dull your
spades.

What's the icon for sticking out my tongue!?

The main tool I have is a 25 pound breaker bar that I sharpen by
dragging it up and down my concrete driveway. I have broken two post
hole diggers putting in fence post holes. One of my neighbors got all
the permits and training to use dynamite to get through the rocks and
I thought of doing that too.

Rusty Mase

Can't you make raised beds?

There is so much beauty and countless reasons to live in and around Austin, but
it is difficult to garden in the hills. I don't mean to be condescending, but
have you read Scott Ogden's book "Gardening in Difficult Soils?" I know you had
trouble with the posts, but how do you do with gardening in the rock?

v

I agree with you about Martha Stewart and the correlation of her troubles being
linked with some disregard. This is one aspect of Martha I don't connect with.
Another example would be her showing people how to roast a whole piglet over
coals on a spigot...things like that. Things I could never consider doing, nor
could I attend such a meal or look at it.

The one great thing about this thread has taught me to do more research on woods
and other materials being used. I liken endangered wood to poaching of tusks,
killing huge, very old male elephants to...I can't even write any more on the
subject.

All I feel I can do is recognize what I have done and never do it again.

I adore animals, but I cannot watch animal shows for fear something awful
happens. I have no idea how anybody can watch Emergency Vet, or other animal
rescue shows. It literally chunks away at my soul and kills a piece of my
spirit. I am thankful for the thousands of people who are veterinarians. I
don't know that I could ever do that.

I digress...I've learned from this topic. Thanks to all who contributed.

Victoria


On 18 Jun 2003 12:35:36 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

Howdy folks,
I'm enjoying this thread on the various woods and the attention to
the endangered woods. Back in the seventies I used to do a lot of wood
sculpture that I would carve from rare woods.
I had a friend from Costa Rica who works with the Botanical
Science center in the National forest come to visit. The guy lives
without electricity in a shack overgrown with tropicals, doesn't speak
english, acts as a guide for pharmacuetical companies, and National
Geographic and travels by horse so trips to the US are really a
culture shock for him. I enjoyed taking a guy from the jungle and
dumping him off at a 7-11.

We had a good time until he started looking closely at some of my
sculptures, carved from Coca Bola and other rare woods. He was very
polite but I could tell he was dismayed to see the end result of the
deforestation of his part of the world. For myself, as much as I was
raised with a western notion of art with a capital 'A' I had to admit
to myself in the scheme of things the wood would have been better off
left in the tree than decorating mine or anyone else's home.

I think that is something to consider when looking at high end
tools using exotic woods as chi chi selling points. Maybe there is
some sort of cosmic connection between Ms.Stewart's problems and rare
woods from Uganda.
Back in 1980 I worked for two years building on a bank building
at 15th anbd Guadelupe. When we got to doing the individual board
members offices on the top floor, the first board member had his
office trimmed out in mahogony, the second not wanting to look the
same, had his done in Walnut, the third wanting to top them both asked
what was a more expensive wood than either of those, and the architect
says, "Well, there's teak ?" And teak it was. Most expensive door I
ever mortised and hung.
Needless to say, the bank went belly up and somewhere down the line us
tax payers in the bailout bought a bunch of rare wood.

As wood sources are being depleted, the free market forces are at
work and at some point in the not too distant future, falling steel
prices will intersect with rising wood prices and a lot of house
framers are going to be learning a new set of skills.
Even the 'renewable' wood sources don't have time to attain any
size of much worth, so we are now replacing solid wooden floor joists
with composite beams made from two by fours and a panel of compressed
wood shavings glued together in a laminate. I was walking through a
house under cosntruction checking out the composite I-Beams over head,
thinking, 'That is a lot of faith to put into glue', time will tell.

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 15:22:58 -0700, des weges wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:32:23 GMT, animaux wrote:

So, am I the devil now?


I think the devil is male...she devil maybe? LOL

I was just curious and posted what I found, anal retentive of me but I
found it interesting. Nothing more!

"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson



tomj

Well, I don't much believe in a creator or creation so that's a moot point!
I've learned a great deal from this thread both here and over in austin.gardens.
Thanks for making me more aware of these things.

Victoria

On 17 Jun 2003 17:22:20 -0700, (Beecrofter) wrote:


More important, stainless steel is very hard, which is why better kitchen
knives are NOT stainless. The material is almost impossible to sharpen
without a machine, and chefs need to touch up knives constantly, using a
steel.

Bullshit, you just have to bear down a little harder.

I have great cutlery and they are stainless, one piece with wooden handles.
They are the sharpest knives I have. Now and then I have to hone the edge, but
I use a steel to sharpen them and they cut through everything perfectly well.

Others may have other experiences.