"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...
On Sun, 14 May 2006 20:45:06 +0100, michael adams wrote
(in article ):



"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"UkJay" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi

My wife is usually the one who does the gardening, but today I
decided
I would
Clear a way to get through a path to our garage.
I got to work on cutting away at a quince bush (or whatever it's
called)


I now have a sore finger after a thorn attack
Any ideas how to remove this?

snip

As a result of regularly handling cacti, many years ago I bought
myself a jeweller's eye glass - the actual magnification number
wore off years ago, and a large pair of tweezers.



I also use an eyeglass handling really tiny seeds. I actually space
mammilaria seed singly when sowing. When there's less chance of causing
a
disturbance with an eye-glass.

With poorer eyesight these days, I'm really taken by the idea of a
jeweller's
eyeglass. Do you remember where you bought yours?

....

I've seen them for sale in the more old fashoned opticians - maybe not
the big chains such as Specsavers. And in old fashioned camera shops that
sell binoculars as well, but probably not in the likes of Dixons.
I bought mine in a shop in the Charing Cross Road in London around 20
years ago, which has probably closed down by now. But Ludlow sounds the sort
of
place that should still have its fair share of old fashioned opticians
and camera shops. Or maybe its all been "Dixonised" too.


There are some going on eBay right now - for a buy it now price of
£2.40 plus £1.20 postage.

That's if you yourself or someone you know is familiar with eBay.

http://tinyurl.com/n72wq

for -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Anchor-3-1-2-M...QQcmdZViewItem

Those are for 3.5 magnification which according to the ad is low-power.
The writing on mine has worn off, so I can't comment.

There are 4 others on here -

http://tinyurl.com/muw33

for -

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/sear...title=eyeglass
+watchmakers&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coacti on=com
pare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpo
s=Postcode&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&sa prchi=

varying magnifications x 10 to x 15 a lot more powerful at £3.90
each plus 1.50 p.p

You can also buy them in aluminium as well I believe, which are a bit
more expensive



michael adams

10 miles from Charing Cross Road


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

michael adams writes


No, they actually irritate the skin on the hands. More especially
the backs of the hands and the fingers. Don't ask me how they get
there. Within a very short time as well.

No, I don't have that problem. It's not until they've got to, for
example, soft skin on my thighs, and then it's pain when they're brushed
against, rather than irritation as such.

Otoh I do get irritation from some other plants, most notably
loganberries and their ilk - so much so that I've had to replace them by
thornless varieties

The most troublesome cacti IMO but not iritating are one variety
with prominent tubercles which have hooked spines and produce lots of
offsets. They were originally from mixed seed and are either dilicothele
(sp)
or m.longimamma (sp).

Have a vague feeling that Mamm. longimamma was at one time called
Dolicothele longimamma

It's impossibe to brush against them wearing a
jumper without carrying off at least one offset which is then like
disgorging (or whatever it is they do) a fish. All cacti with
hooked spines can be a pain in fact.

They're relatively easy to unhook using a cocktail stick or the edge of
a plant label. The ones I find irritating are the ones that shed the
whole cluster of spines, which disfigures the plant.



--
Kay

In message et, Sally
Thompson writes


With poorer eyesight these days, I'm really taken by the idea of a jeweller's
eyeglass. Do you remember where you bought yours?


Google for loupe. I have been looking for one too. Some cost in the
hundreds, but I am thinking of

http://www.norgeo.co.uk/field-equipm...nd-microscopes
/311.html

or even better Froogle for loupe, there is quite a lot of choice there!

(Incidentally, I also have a table lamp with built-in magnifier - best
buy I ever made, especially for sewing and such. Again, froogle for

lamp magnifier

(no quotation marks)

although I can no longer find the wonderful one I got - I wish I
remembered where - which is just like an ordinary desk lamp unless it is
opened up, and then it has a really large, useful lens. The Braun one
looks good, though, although it doesn't have a lid, which is very
useful.

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"UkJay" wrote in message

I can see that the thornny remains are just proud of my skin
so maybe it will be easy to remove it????

Boil an egg. Peel the egg. Take some of the white membrane of the egg
that adheres to the shell and put it to one side. Put some honey on
the thorn site, cover it with the membrane from the egg and put a
bandaid over the membrane and the honey so that they stay in place on
the thorn.

The honey acts as a drawing ointment but works better.

On Sun, 14 May 2006 22:47:11 +0100, michael adams wrote
(in article ):


"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...

snip
As a result of regularly handling cacti, many years ago I bought
myself a jeweller's eye glass - the actual magnification number
wore off years ago, and a large pair of tweezers.

With poorer eyesight these days, I'm really taken by the idea of a
jeweller's
eyeglass. Do you remember where you bought yours?

I've seen them for sale in the more old fashoned opticians - maybe not
the big chains such as Specsavers. And in old fashioned camera shops that
sell binoculars as well, but probably not in the likes of Dixons.
I bought mine in a shop in the Charing Cross Road in London around 20
years ago, which has probably closed down by now. But Ludlow sounds the sort
of
place that should still have its fair share of old fashioned opticians
and camera shops. Or maybe its all been "Dixonised" too.

g No Dixons in Ludlow I'm glad to say, but also sadly no camera shop.
However, a camera shop is a great idea and we could find such in Hereford or
Shrewsbury.

There are some going on eBay right now - for a buy it now price of
£2.40 plus £1.20 postage.

That's if you yourself or someone you know is familiar with eBay.

Yes, I am familiar with eBay and had in fact looked there before I asked the
question - but had no idea what was a reasonable price. Some things go on
eBay for more than they cost new!

Thanks very much for the links and tips. Much appreciated.



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...
On Sun, 14 May 2006 22:47:11 +0100, michael adams wrote
(in article ):


"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...

snip
As a result of regularly handling cacti, many years ago I bought
myself a jeweller's eye glass - the actual magnification number
wore off years ago, and a large pair of tweezers.

With poorer eyesight these days, I'm really taken by the idea of a
jeweller's
eyeglass. Do you remember where you bought yours?

I've seen them for sale in the more old fashoned opticians - maybe not
the big chains such as Specsavers. And in old fashioned camera shops
that
sell binoculars as well, but probably not in the likes of Dixons.
I bought mine in a shop in the Charing Cross Road in London around 20
years ago, which has probably closed down by now. But Ludlow sounds the
sort
of
place that should still have its fair share of old fashioned opticians
and camera shops. Or maybe its all been "Dixonised" too.

g No Dixons in Ludlow I'm glad to say, but also sadly no camera shop.
However, a camera shop is a great idea and we could find such in Hereford
or
Shrewsbury.

There are some going on eBay right now - for a buy it now price of
£2.40 plus £1.20 postage.

That's if you yourself or someone you know is familiar with eBay.

Yes, I am familiar with eBay and had in fact looked there before I asked
the
question - but had no idea what was a reasonable price. Some things go on
eBay for more than they cost new!

Thanks very much for the links and tips. Much appreciated.

...

I bought mine before I wore specs of any sort. In another post Klara
leaves a link to all sorts of magnifiers, some of which are positioned
in front of spectacles.

http://tinyurl.com/geflo

for -

http://www.norgeo.co.uk/field-equipm...nd-microscopes
/311.html


Although I've seen people using these, because I already have an eye
glass which has served my needs adequately, I never considered the
possibility of using one of these instead. Or their possible
advantages. An eyeglass brings you up really close to the work,
whereas maybe other sorts of magnifiers allow you to stand back
a bit while still seeing what you're doing.

michael adams

....





--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

Sally Thompson wrote:
On Sun, 14 May 2006 22:47:11 +0100, michael adams wrote
(in article ):

There are some going on eBay right now - for a buy it now price of
£2.40 plus £1.20 postage.

That's if you yourself or someone you know is familiar with eBay.

Yes, I am familiar with eBay and had in fact looked there before I asked the
question - but had no idea what was a reasonable price. Some things go on
eBay for more than they cost new!

You can also buy a usable one from Maplins for about £2. Good enough
for occassional use to get spines out of fingers. Electronics hobby
shops have eyeglasses (and classic Sherlock Holmes magnifying glasses)
for close work on circuit boards.

Their tweezers as not as good as medical ones. But for 99p what do you
expect.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...EO&U=strat1 5
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...98&criter ia=

Regards,
Martin Brown

"K" wrote in message
...
michael adams writes


No, they actually irritate the skin on the hands. More especially
the backs of the hands and the fingers. Don't ask me how they get
there. Within a very short time as well.

No, I don't have that problem. It's not until they've got to, for
example, soft skin on my thighs, and then it's pain when they're brushed
against, rather than irritation as such.


They're very thin short bristles. It took me 24 hours to come
up with "bristles", but there you go. Only the odd one or two. Doing
a bit of googling apparently whole glochids can come off. That's
never happened to me. These things are very tiny, probably thinner
than hairs. It's necessary to look at the skin surface against
the light to spot them. I don't know if they'd be easily
transferred. Quite why they should come away from the glochids
quite so easily I'm not sure. As I can't see any immediate
evolutionary survival value in that. Its not as if seed is
being transferred etc. Or they consitute any sort of defence.

....


Otoh I do get irritation from some other plants, most notably
loganberries and their ilk - so much so that I've had to replace them by
thornless varieties

The most troublesome cacti IMO but not iritating are one variety
with prominent tubercles which have hooked spines and produce lots of
offsets. They were originally from mixed seed and are either dilicothele
(sp)
or m.longimamma (sp).

Have a vague feeling that Mamm. longimamma was at one time called
Dolicothele longimamma

....

When I first started growing cacti from mixed seed I use to scout out
cactus books from secondhand bookshops. And I use to take great delight
in identifying some of them from the ilustrations. So I thought at least.
Now I have a rather more cacti and around 50 books and I gave up
around 10 years ago. They all seem to thrive from the same general
treatment in any case. It's an interest rather than an obsession IOW
I suppose.

....

It's impossibe to brush against them wearing a
jumper without carrying off at least one offset which is then like
disgorging (or whatever it is they do) a fish. All cacti with
hooked spines can be a pain in fact.

They're relatively easy to unhook using a cocktail stick or the edge of
a plant label. The ones I find irritating are the ones that shed the
whole cluster of spines, which disfigures the plant.

....

The problem with hooked spines more generally - is that they usually
attach themselves in inconvenient places IME. Elbows or the underside
of arms etc. So it's necessary to take the jumper off first to remove
them. With small offsets that's no problem. The offset stays on the
jumper. However when you're leaning across a largish plant with hooked
spines, and your elbow becomes tangled up with the hooks, life is no
longer quite that simple. Moreover the hooks often go in different
directions. This means freeing up the other hand and lifting out the
pot, which invariably on this occasion should take two hands to accomplish
satisfactorily, with the other elbow remaining in close proximity to the top
of the plant, and putting it somewhere else where it can rest as you take
off the jumper in situ.


michael adams

....



--
Kay