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

[dantzk8]

So I have few questions. First, why do you have some double length split pieces? And how did you split them? An axe? Do you have a stove to fit a double length piece or do you have to saw them in half before use?

Once the tree has been felled i make of it 3 or 4 feet long logs. I try to don't include knotty parts by sawing around the knots. The biggest logs are then splitted with steel wedges and a heavy hammer. Once the wood is seasoned i saw the logs one foot long and split again some of them with an axe.

Dan.

 

[dantzk8]

Beautiful. Neatly stacked too.

Thanks. It's a controversial topic here. Most people just throw the logs in a corner and i'm considered an obsessive maniac but i see many advantages at stacking neatly. It takes less room, you can measure precisely the amount of wood you have, the amount you burn and,more important for me, it's beautiful. A wood worker who makes a chair or a table will see the result of his work for years; the result of the efforts at making heatwood will be turned into ashes in some months. At the end of a working day i drink a well deserved beer in my barn which becomes my "lounge" and i look at my wood pile. Happy.

Dan.

 

[dantzk8]

I seems like you are a real trendsetter, Dan!

Great! It took time but now i'm someone!

Dan.

 

[JM2]

Thanks. It's a controversial topic here. Most people just throw the logs in a corner and i'm considered an obsessive maniac but i see many advantages at stacking neatly. It takes less room, you can measure precisely the amount of wood you have, the amount you burn and,more important for me, it's beautiful. A wood worker who makes a chair or a table will see the result of his work for years; the result of the efforts at making heatwood will be turned into ashes in some months. At the end of a working day i drink a well deserved beer in my barn which becomes my "lounge" and i look at my wood pile. Happy.

Dan.

Most people here do the pile thing. I’ve done it myself but only with wood I plan to use immediately. Id rather have a stack. If I had the quantity of wood you do, I can’t imagine piling it. It be a huge mound.

What varieties do you like burning? I like cherry for the smoke smell, but I’ll burn whatever I have or can get. A piece of red cedar makes a nice smoke smell, and red oak is classic of course.

 

[5K Qs]

That origami canoe is the best of the portables that I've seen.
Plastic kayaks have gotten amazingly affordable, but I don't like the way they clamp you in.
And a canoe will throw you in, but a kayak will hold you under.
Obviously I speak from sparse expertise.

As the founder, in 1982, of Broomhall Canoe Club in Sheffield D ), I've bought and used plastic kayaks, and they're fine Jer. Back then, they weren't as manoeuvrable as some of the low-volume fibreglass ones, but they're very tough. I used to use a spray-deck, but even then you can get out of them easily enough. Of course, there's a lot to be said for a nice open canoe too. The last time I paddled was about 5 years ago in a 3-person aluminium Canadian canoe on the River Wye near the Welsh borders, which was very different to how the River Don in Sheffield used to be!

In my early 20s, I did a fair amount of canoeing, mostly on rivers, and my experience was that canoes were surprisingly unstable. It was a rare trip during which my canoe didn't capsize at least once (and one of those no-capsize trips shouldn't count because a tricky current swept me under a fallen tree, and as I put up my arm to protect my face, a tree limb caught my armpit and flipped me out of the canoe without tipping it over). Over the past 30 years, I've logged far more miles in a 15' kayak, and have never come close to capsizing, even when hit broadside by massive power boat wakes. My experiences convince me that a kayak is far more stable than a canoe.

- GT

 

[screened porch]

In my early 20s, I did a fair amount of canoeing, mostly on rivers, and my experience was that canoes were surprisingly unstable. It was a rare trip during which my canoe didn't capsize at least once (and one of those no-capsize trips shouldn't count because a tricky current swept me under a fallen tree, and as I put up my arm to protect my face, a tree limb caught my armpit and flipped me out of the canoe without tipping it over). Over the past 30 years, I've logged far more miles in a 15' kayak, and have never come close to capsizing, even when hit broadside by massive power boat wakes. My experiences convince me that a kayak is far more stable than a canoe.

- GT

I believe you. Canoes always throw me.

 

[Just Tom.]

In my early 20s, I did a fair amount of canoeing, mostly on rivers, and my experience was that canoes were surprisingly unstable

I believe you. Canoes always throw me.

User error.

I spent a ton of time in canoes as a kid and young adult, and never capsized once - even in the canoe my dad made, which was extremely tippy compared to the Browning aluminum one we had. The riffles on the stretches of the Potomac I frequented were not particularly challenging, but could certainly capsize you or bang up your boat if you don’t know what you are doing - I have seen it happen. People go kayaking there for thrills…

I also did a little whitewater canoeing on the Youghiogheny river and got wet but stayed upright the whole way.

 

[Jack Black]

In my early 20s, I did a fair amount of canoeing, mostly on rivers, and my experience was that canoes were surprisingly unstable. It was a rare trip during which my canoe didn't capsize at least once (and one of those no-capsize trips shouldn't count because a tricky current swept me under a fallen tree, and as I put up my arm to protect my face, a tree limb caught my armpit and flipped me out of the canoe without tipping it over). Over the past 30 years, I've logged far more miles in a 15' kayak, and have never come close to capsizing, even when hit broadside by massive power boat wakes. My experiences convince me that a kayak is far more stable than a canoe.

- GT

I do think kayaks are much more stable than canoes. I used to do a lot of white-water kayaking, and if they do turn over, you can often turn them back over relatively easily, if you're wearing a spray-deck. I can only really remember capsizing when we were practicing capsizing, but my memory may be wrong, as it's a long time ago. The higher volume boats are MUCH more stable, but less manoeuvrable in white water, and harder to turn back over. I've never capsized in a canoe, but I've probably only canoed a dozen times, compared to hundreds of times kayaking

 

[btb01]

What I really want is a canoe. Or to make a lightweight version of the johnboat my brother and I made as kids (per dad’s design and under his supervision). That thing was just barely car-top portable - we didn’t have a trailer - but drew almost no water and you could paddle it like a canoe, or pole it through shallow channels between islands, scraping the bottom along as you went at times.

Whatever I make or get has to be solo portable because my wife and daughters are not interested it seems. I’m not a huge kayak fan, but I may have to go that route. Maybe I will rent one at the local reservoir next week and see if I can be persuaded..

I don’t think I could do a sit-in kayak, but I’ve enjoyed my sit-on-top kayak, which was designed specifically for fishing. For one thing, it’s very stable. I’m 6’1” and more than my fair share of lbs, and I can stand up in it to fish.

(Photo from when I first got it. I thought I had a more recent one, but I can’t find any, at least not any that show the whole boat.)

 

[Jack Black]

I don’t think I could do a sit-in kayak, but I’ve enjoyed my sit-on-top kayak, which was designed specifically for fishing. For one thing, it’s very stable. I’m 6’1” and more than my fair share of lbs, and I can stand up in it to fish.

(Photo from when I first got it. I thought I had a more recent one, but I can’t find any, at least not any that show the whole boat.)

I'd forgotten how cool that looked Barrett It looks a lot more comfortable too!

 

[paulhilborn]

I don’t think I could do a sit-in kayak, but I’ve enjoyed my sit-on-top kayak, which was designed specifically for fishing. For one thing, it’s very stable. I’m 6’1” and more than my fair share of lbs, and I can stand up in it to fish.

(Photo from when I first got it. I thought I had a more recent one, but I can’t find any, at least not any that show the whole boat.)

NICE Barrett!!! I had a sit on top as well but not as nice as yours, more of an entry level model. I loved it but just couldn't find the time to enjoy it. When I retire I may buy another...three yrs yet to go

 

[dantzk8]

What varieties do you like burning?

Oak, hornbeam, ash, cherry, birch, beech and my very favorite: alder. A very dense, hard and heavy wood which makes big burning coal pieces which last a long time in the stove. I've been said it was the one the bakers prefered to cook bread. The problem with such a wood is we have to utterly process it at the right log size when green, when seasoned it's too hard. Alder is the only tree i fell in spring unlike the other trees i fell in winter.

Here is the cross section of a alder log. You can see at the annual rings how dense it is.



Dan.

 

[JM2]

Oak, hornbeam, ash, cherry, birch, beech and my very favorite: alder. A very dense, hard and heavy wood which makes big burning coal pieces which last a long time in the stove. I've been said it was the one the bakers prefered to cook bread. The problem with such a wood is we have to utterly process it at the right log size when green, when seasoned it's too hard. Alder is the only tree i fell in spring unlike the other trees i fell in winter.

Here is the cross section of a alder log. You can see at the annual rings how dense it is.

View attachment 1868843

Dan.

I’ve used alder before in a limited capacity for furniture. But we bought it in a 3/4”x30” round from panels. I don’t really remember it other than it routed and sanded with its own personality. It was pretty with that pink hue. I didn’t burn any though.

I like burning locust. It has a nice crackle to it.

 

[dantzk8]

I like burning locust. It has a nice crackle to it.

The locust has been imported in France in 1601 by Jean Robin, that's why we call it a "Robinier". It's now considered as an invasive species but the only ones i remember having seen was on a Parisian boulevard, not in the forest where i live.

Dan.

 

[mbkr]

Ah...canoeing
Way back in the early eighties I and my newish girlfriend go on a canoe trip on the Eleven Point River in southern Missouri. The put in was in a tributary (i.e. creek) about a hundred yards (meters) from the Eleven Point. Even though she was the experienced canoeist, I'm in back because I was heavier. We proceeded down the creek, first zigging into the bank, then zagging into the other bank, then zigging back to the first bank, then zagging...you get the idea.

After the third or fourth crash - we still haven't made it to the river - I said,
"I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Silence...then, "I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Turns out, neither of us had a clue
Good times

We figured it out without flipping the canoe. In fact, it wasn't until our fourth trip that we flipped one.
Never did get to try a kayak. Always thought they looked like fun.

 

[Jack Black]

Ah...canoeing
Way back in the early eighties I and my newish girlfriend go on a canoe trip on the Eleven Point River in southern Missouri. The put in was in a tributary (i.e. creek) about a hundred yards (meters) from the Eleven Point. Even though she was the experienced canoeist, I'm in back because I was heavier. We proceeded down the creek, first zigging into the bank, then zagging into the other bank, then zigging back to the first bank, then zagging...you get the idea.

After the third or fourth crash - we still haven't made it to the river View attachment 1868947 - I said,
"I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Silence...then, "I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Turns out, neither of us had a clue
Good times

We figured it out without flipping the canoe. In fact, it wasn't until our fourth trip that we flipped one.
Never did get to try a kayak. Always thought they looked like fun.

Hilarious!

 

[screened porch]

https://d.lib.rochester.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/jcarthur2.jpg?itok=oDU_wAKX
Me after my last canoe outing. I had good insurance.

 

[bigfish64]

Ah...canoeing
Way back in the early eighties I and my newish girlfriend go on a canoe trip on the Eleven Point River in southern Missouri. The put in was in a tributary (i.e. creek) about a hundred yards (meters) from the Eleven Point. Even though she was the experienced canoeist, I'm in back because I was heavier. We proceeded down the creek, first zigging into the bank, then zagging into the other bank, then zigging back to the first bank, then zagging...you get the idea.

After the third or fourth crash - we still haven't made it to the river View attachment 1868947 - I said,
"I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Silence...then, "I thought you said you knew how to canoe."
Turns out, neither of us had a clue
Good times

We figured it out without flipping the canoe. In fact, it wasn't until our fourth trip that we flipped one.
Never did get to try a kayak. Always thought they looked like fun.

I think I’ve read somewhere that canoeing with your spouse is a leading cause of divorce!

 

[JM2]

Well I want to share with y’all. I got my best word ever at scrabble. Mightier, across two triple word score tiles. 167 points using a blank. Anyways, that gave me my best score ever. 521. Wife had 253. She’s been into the high 300s and I get into 400s with a few over 450. So anyways. I am a scrabble junky and thought I’d share the accomplishment.

 

[dantzk8]

Well I want to share with y’all. I got my best word ever at scrabble. Mightier, across two triple word score tiles. 167 points using a blank. Anyways, that gave me my best score ever. 521. Wife had 253. She’s been into the high 300s and I get into 400s with a few over 450. So anyways. I am a scrabble junky and thought I’d share the accomplishment.

Congratulations. The problem with Scrabble is I have enough vocabulary to play but I can't count well. I've never won a game.

Dan.