"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[Trout Hound]

We were camping once at Camp Grindstone in Virginia and decided to go on a quick day hike. We were only away from the campsite for a couple hours. We keep all our bread in a Rubbermaid type container that has the locking latches on either side of the lid. We forgot and left it on the picnic table. By the time we got back, the raccoons had gotten the lid off and ransacked the bread stash. When we got out of the car, we saw a squirrel making off with a whole slice of bread that had been left behind. He was running off through the woods dragging it in his mouth. We figure he probably ate for several days off that thing.

 

[joeradza]

He was running off through the woods dragging it in his mouth

Sounds like the infamous NYC pizza rat. (Google it).

 

[5K Qs]

Wooden knives and wooden nails, what will they invent next?

I think "wooden nails" have been around for a very long time. When I was growing up, my Dad used to rent land and buildings to grow and store more hay and corn for the dairy cows than we could on our own farm. Eventually he was able to buy more land not much more than a mile from our house. It had an old barn whose frame consisted of huge, hand-hewn wooden beams that were held together with large wooden pegs. I'd probably call them "wooden nails of biblical proportion", but I suppose they had an official name that I don't know.

This video from that article made me chuckle. “The researchers showed that these wooden nails could be used to hammer together three boards without any damage to the nail.” I think they were a bit generous there calling that “hammering” and those “boards.” I’m also fairly certain that at least the first “board” was pre-drilled.

Yeah, that "hammering" reminded me of Poe's The Raven:
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

I WOULD be interested to see what sort of fabulous feats a boffo baseball batter might be able to produce using a bat fashioned from wood treated in this new way.

- GT

 

[5K Qs]

5K Qs Thanks Gary! Right back atcha my friend, Happy Easter!

Great picture, GT... Happy Easter.

Great pic Gary, I hope you had a good one my friend

Belated (by an entire week ) thanks for your Easter greetings, guys!

- GT

 

[5K Qs]

They are glue traps, and I put them along the walls and appliances exactly in the spots I saw him run the night before. When I turned on the light he went right to the first one, stopped at the last second, ran to the second one and again stopped when he got to it, then went around and under the stove. I turned the oven on - hopefully he decides my kitchen is too hazardous to take up residence in.
I hate using glue traps because they are cruel, but the last time we had 2 mice, and that’s all that worked. As long as I hear them when they get stuck so I can take them out and dispatch them quickly, I’m ok with that, though.
...

Did your story have a happy ending (for at least some of the characters), Tom? (Apologies if I missed updates.)

We've lived in our house for 37 years and never had a mouse inside, until the week between Christmas and New Year's Day 2022. I was putting canned goods away in our basement pantry and spotted a mouse running along the pantry wall while I was standing right there - the nerve!! The next morning I discovered that an unopened bird seed "cake" on a dresser in our indoor back porch had been ripped open and there were seed hulls and mouse droppings all over the place! I was afraid that a colony of mice had found a breach in the foundation of our 90-year-old house and moved in. I wanted to set the old Victor wood-base-copper-striker traps that we always used when I was a kid, but my wife wanted live traps. We tried some cheap, small, finicky ones that kept shutting their doors before mice ever entered. My wife set up some Rube Goldberg conTRAPtion that involved a wooden dowel fastened over the open top of a 5-gallon plastic bucket, with a piece of peanut-butter-smeared PVC slipped over the dowel and a wooden ramp to invite the mice up to the top of the bucket. Supposedly, a mouse that scampers out on the PVC for peanut butter will be dumped into the bucket when the pipe spins around the dowel, but we must have had some log-rolling lumberjack mouse that got all the bait without falling into the bucket! She set up another live trap that was essentially a low steel box with a couple of one-way entrances, but that came up empty for a couple of days, too. I finally got my traditional guillotine-type traps and set those up, but no takers either. Finally, almost 2 weeks after I first saw the varmint, it entered the Hotel California steel box and my wife drove it to a nature preserve about 4 miles away and released it, Here are some photos she took.
Trap after prisoner's release, to indicate size:


Incarcerated rodent about to be released on its own recognizance (note the trap's name - Tin Cat - in the lid):


Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose:


- GT

 

[5K Qs]

You’re lucky they didn’t tie you up with the bungee cords and steal your wallet.

I was reluctant to go out and confront the mob of marauding raccoons for that very reason!

- GT

 

[Jack Black]

I think "wooden nails" have been around for a very long time. When I was growing up, my Dad used to rent land and buildings to grow and store more hay and corn for the dairy cows than we could on our own farm. Eventually he was able to buy more land not much more than a mile from our house. It had an old barn whose frame consisted of huge, hand-hewn wooden beams that were held together with large wooden pegs. I'd probably call them "wooden nails of biblical proportion", but I suppose they had an official name that I don't know.

They sure have my friend! I have a tool for making them, though it's a modern one (I guess I could also use my Lambsfoot)

 

[waynorth]

I was reluctant to go out and confront the mob of marauding raccoons for that very reason!

- GT

While canoeing in Algonquin Park, Ontario, my first wife and I camped on a small remote island. We walked around picking up deadfall for a campfire, for just a few minutes - small island - and I walked back into the cleared area to find a huge racoon standing at my frame backpack!! He/she was holding up the large flap with one hand, and rummaging around with the other, when I shouted "Hey"!! It quickly ran to the edge of the brush, about five feet, then spun around and eyed me, and the pack!! Judging the distance I guess, because it ran back to the pack, grabbed the brown sugar out of it, and made it into the woods before I could bash it with a stick!! Fast Racoon!!!
Oatmeal with no sweetener in the morning!! Ugh!!

 

[Jack Black]

While canoeing in Algonquin Park, Ontario, my first wife and I camped on a small remote island. We walked around picking up deadfall for a campfire, for just a few minutes - small island - and I walked back into the cleared area to find a huge racoon standing at my frame backpack!! He/she was holding up the large flap with one hand, and rummaging around with the other, when I shouted "Hey"!! It quickly ran to the edge of the brush, about five feet, then spun around and eyed me, and the pack!! Judging the distance I guess, because it ran back to the pack, grabbed the brown sugar out of it, and made it into the woods before I could bash it with a stick!! Oatmeal with no sweetener in the morning!! Ugh!!

I've only ever come across a racoon on Deputy Dawg, and (despite that), I didn't realise what clever/crafty/sneaky animals they were! I think I'm going to have to watch some educational videos

 

[Peregrin]

We're having racoon trouble right now. Rocky is raiding my bird feeders to the point I have to take them down in the evening, and put them back up in the morning. What nuisance! Then yesterday I had a contractor here cleaning out our gutters. He found a mound of racoon scat right beside my chimney. He shoveled it into a plastic bag and took it with him. Needless to say he got a nice tip. I'm glad I've had all 3 of our chimney flues capped. I know they like taking up residence in chimneys.
I've got my bb/pellet gun out on the porch now. When I've had trouble with them in the past I shot them a few times, and after a few days they'd stay away. Hopefully I still have a good aim, and Rocky has a good memory.

Years ago I used to keep a big garden. One year I planted corn, and just when the crop was ready to pick the raccoons had a corn party. They left one ear on a stalk. I stopped planting corn....

 

[5K Qs]

They sure have my friend! I have a tool for making them, though it's a modern one (I guess I could also use my Lambsfoot)

Interesting!
What is the tool called? Do you know any "official" term for those big wooden pegs? (Seems like something I should have come across while doing crossword puzzles. )

- GT

 

[screened porch]

I'd probably call them "wooden nails of biblical proportion", but I suppose they had an official name that I don't know.

Eric Sloane called them "tree nails" or "trunnels".

to have to watch some educational videos

And read Rascal.

 

[Jack Black]

We're having racoon trouble right now. Rocky is raiding my bird feeders to the point I have to take them down in the evening, and put them back up in the morning. What nuisance! Then yesterday I had a contractor here cleaning out our gutters. He found a mound of racoon scat right beside my chimney. He shoveled it into a plastic bag and took it with him. Needless to say he got a nice tip. I'm glad I've had all 3 of our chimney flues capped. I know they like taking up residence in chimneys.
I've got my bb/pellet gun out on the porch now. When I've had trouble with them in the past I shot them a few times, and after a few days they'd stay away. Hopefully I still have a good aim, and Rocky has a good memory.

Years ago I used to keep a big garden. One year I planted corn, and just when the crop was ready to pick the raccoons had a corn party. They left one ear on a stalk. I stopped planting corn....

That's crazy! I did a YouTube search on 'Raccoon', and in the first video, this guy had 30 raccoons outside his back door. "Where do they all come from?" he said! Probably from 2 states away, 'cos you keep feeding them! Less for the rest of you I guess

Interesting!
What is the tool called? Do you know any "official" term for those big wooden pegs? (Seems like something I should have come across while doing crossword puzzles. )

- GT

It's a variation on a Scotch-Eyed Auger they're calling a 'Settler's Wrench Gary

I can't think of a name for the pegs, but I've had a few beers! Dowels?

 

[screened porch]

Some people might call them pegs.

 

[Peregrin]

That's crazy! I did a YouTube search on 'Raccoon', and in the first video, this guy had 30 raccoons outside his back door. "Where do they all come from?" he said! Probably from 2 states away, 'cos you keep feeding them! Less for the rest of you I guess

LOL! Thank the Lord he's not my neighbor! Sorry, but that guy is certifiable!

 

[Jack Black]

Some people might call them pegs.

LOL! Fair point!

LOL! Thank the Lord he's not my neighbor! Sorry, but that guy is certifiable!

You're not kidding! I'm thankful the crazies in my neighbourhood can't find anything bigger than pigeons to feed, though they're bad enough!

 

[5K Qs]

Eric Sloane called them "tree nails" or "trunnels"

Thanks, that's definitely a new term for me!

Some people might call them pegs.

I'm one of those people, but we don't know any better.

It's a variation on a Scotch-Eyed Auger they're calling a 'Settler's Wrench Gary

Thanks for the name and the video, Jack.
When I first saw your tool, I thought that the "tapered cylinder" on top was used to make a peg, but then I thought, "No, that's really only there to fit a handle." But I couldn't figure out how the "auger" could make a solid peg. The video made usage crystal clear.

- GT

 

[Just Tom.]

Did your story have a happy ending (for at least some of the characters), Tom? (Apologies if I missed updates.)

Thanks for asking! So far no resolution to the problem. I had no sightings for several days, but yesterday I saw a mouse in the small shed attached to the back of my house (accessible only from outside), and then this morning I caught another glimpse of one in the kitchen. I have not yet seen signs of droppings or nesting or food damage though, which is good.

I am dealing with an assortment of more pressing crises at the moment, so besides just leaving the traps and poison baits in place I don’t have time to pursue the wee beasties.

 

[Just Tom.]

Eric Sloane called them "tree nails" or "trunnels".

I believe treenails/trunnels are more specific to shipbuilding.

My dad told me that folks in shipbuilding towns used to be able to make extra money by carving them and selling them to the shipyards. He majored in history (master’s I believe), and is a big fan of all things maritime, so I suppose he read that somewhere. His house if full of books and magazines about ships and boats.

He brought it up when I showed him a knife handle I made of black locust, which he said was a good material for trunnels.

 

[screened porch]

I believe treenails/trunnels are more specific to shipbuilding.

My dad told me that folks in shipbuilding towns used to be able to make extra money by carving them and selling them to the shipyards. He majored in history (master’s I believe), and is a big fan of all things maritime, so I suppose he read that somewhere. His house if full of books and magazines about ships and boats.

He brought it up when I showed him a knife handle I made of black locust, which he said was a good material for trunnels.

Eric Sloane didn't think so or I misremember, which could happen.

My big fat old dictionary agrees with you and your dad.