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

[Humppa]

Glad all is going well Andi

That title change is coming right along Uncle Andi. Great stuff!

ANDI...Congrats to you and your good lady..Excellent news for you both and well done.........FES

That is some awesome news Andi. My sincere condolences best of wishes

Hey, wow! That's great news, Andi!

Thanks for the kind words, fellows
Much appreciated to get the great statements from fine folks all over the world.

 

[Jack Black]

Here's another one. Hope it's OK.

An old gunslinger is sitting at the bar in a Wild West town, when a young man approaches him.
“Hey old timer”, says the younger feller, “Can I buy you a drink?”
The old man nods, and the bartender pours him another shot.
“I don’t mean to intrude sir”, says the young man, “but I heard you’re the oldest gunslinger in these here parts.” The older man cocks an eyebrow, and the youngster continues. “I’m a bit of a gunslinger myself, and I was wondering if you could perhaps give me a few tips.”
“Sure son”, says the old gunslinger. “Buy me another drink, and I’ll be glad to help.”
The young gun nods to the bar man again, and he pours another shot.
“Well first let me see your gun”, says the old guy.
The young man hands him his Colt, and the old feller studies it, cocks the hammer, spins the cylinder, and puts it close to his ear.
“Well, you see this pin here son”, says the old man, “that needs just a fraction filing off it.”
“Thanks sir”, says the young gunslinger, and he takes his gunslinger’s tool-roll out of his saddle-bag and rolls it out on the bar. He removes a needle-file, and while the bartender is pouring the old man another shot, he sets to work on the pin. Just a few strokes on the pin in question are all that is required, and putting the file back into his tool-roll, the young gun fires off a shot from his Colt. Faster than lightning, the bullet goes straight across the room and shoots the bow-tie off the piano player.
“Wow, thank you sir”, says the youngster. “That’s really made a difference, can I buy you another drink?”
The bar-keep pours another shot, and the young man continues, “And have you any more tips?”
The old gunslinger drinks the shot, and looks the younger man up and down. Then he says, “See your holster, try dropping it down lower, just a few inches.”
The youngster adjusts his belt so the holster sits real low down on his hip. He stands upright and quickly draws, firing off a shot which, this time, shoots off the piano-player’s cufflinks.
“Hey”, says the youngster. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever drawn. Thank you sir. Please, if you give me any more advice I’d be happy to pay for your drinks the rest of the night.”
The barman pours another shot, and the old gunslinger drinks it down.
“Leave the bottle bar-keep”, says the young gunslinger.
The old gunslinger turns and looks at the younger feller, he ponders a while, then says, “See that Colt, what you need to do is cover it in grease.”
“Any particular kind of grease?” The young man asks.
“Nope”, says the old guy. “Any kind of grease you can find will do.”
“OK”, says the young gun, “and where should I put the grease?”
“Oh, says the old timer, “Cover the whole thing, from the barrel right down to the butt.”
“The whole thing?” Says the young gunslinger. “Won’t that make it kind of slippery and hard to get a grip of?”
“Yes son”, says the old feller, as he raises his glass to his lips, “It probably will.”
“Then why would I do that?” The young man asks.
“Because when Wyatt Earp finishes playing that piano...”

 

[pmew]

You should be ashamed Jack!

 

[Jack Black]

You should be ashamed Jack!

That bad? Aw well, back to sweeping-up

 

[pmew]

I was told this one by a fourteen year old!...

The barman says 'we don't serve faster-than-light particles here'.

Then a tachyon walks into the bar.

 

[Jack Black]

You do realise Paul, that after 226 pages, your joke has killed this thread!

 

[black mamba]

You may remember I had a red fox come into the back yard chasing a squirrel, and failing to catch him, just sat down and posed.
Today I looked out the same window, and a female Cooper's hawk was just sitting on one of the corner solar lights.
She was about 6 feet from where the fox was a couple weeks before.

 

[pertinux]

You may remember I had a red fox come into the back yard chasing a squirrel, and failing to catch him, just sat down and posed.
Today I looked out the same window, and a female Cooper's hawk was just sitting on one of the corner solar lights.

You do realize that this means they're a'coming for you, right?

When you suddenly go missing, we'll look back at these photographs and think,

"Uh huh. It was right there the whole time...."



(Great pictures-- thanks!)

~ P.

 

[black mamba]

LOL! Thanks for the laugh, ~ P.

 

[scruffuk]

BM - That's wonderful. I have never seen one of those before either. Thanks for such a great photo.

My pa is still trying to get a good few snaps of the sparrow hawk that swoops over my parents garden daily.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Will Power]

Fine sanctuary you have there Jeff!

Reminds me of the Sparrow Hawk who sometimes makes sorties on the diners at the bird feeder! The small birds just freeze if the hawk lands in a tree, eerie to watch. Also get Kestrels and Marsh Harriers around the fields, once saw a Peregrin, breathtaking! I suppose these European hawks are similar to American birds of prey?

Regards, Will

 

[black mamba]

Will, I would think so. We have plenty of Kestrels here too, beautiful little hunters, and also the large Red-tailed hawks, which are almost twice the size of the Cooper's.

Last summer I caught a couple pics of a Red-shouldered hawk hunting, which is in between the other two for size.

 

[festerfromnzed]

Like most hunters i too am a birdwatcher....This is a TUI (too eeee)...that frequents the backyard at certain times of the year...a splendid and most vocal bird.........FES

 

[Humppa]

Thanks for the great pics of the birds-of-prey. I really like them. I have a couple of owls around here (old buildings everywhere - the oldest part of town, most buildings built between 1840 - 1910) as well as bats. But each of these guys (and gals) is pretty shy and let me make a pic of them....

 

[Jack Black]

I had a depressing visit yesterday, to the last remaining shop in Sheffield city centre where they sell Sheffield knives. It's a tourist shop, rather than a cutlers, but they stock a fair range of Sheffield-made knives, albeit at somewhat inflated prices. Unusually, yesterday, they even had one of Stan Shaw's lovelies on sale - at £300. I always call in the shop when I'm in Sheffield, mainly to buy local history books and anything else I can find relating to the Sheffield cutlery industry. I usually have a chat with the lady behind the counter, and sometimes I'll show her the pocket-knife I'm carrying that day. Yesterday, there were two ladies behind the counter, and I dealt with a different one, though I know she's worked there a long time. She showed me the Stan Shaw they had and we chatted about how business was. However, when I showed her the 1920's MOP handled Wostenholm pen-knife I was carrying, she chided me for having it in my pocket on the basis that it was supposedly against the law to carry it! I gave her a thorough explanation of the UK knife laws I think, an explanation she seemed to view with scepticism, because she claimed to have been told "by someone" that it was illegal to carry ANY knife here in England! How depressing that Sheffield's last remaining knife shop are disseminating this kind of misinformation to their customers, when they could quite easily check the facts for themselves. It can hardly encourage sales to tell your customers that they will be commiting a crime by carrying the pocket-knife they have purchased in their pocket!

 

[Robert.B]

I had a depressing visit yesterday, to the last remaining shop in Sheffield city centre where they sell Sheffield knives. It's a tourist shop, rather than a cutlers, but they stock a fair range of Sheffield-made knives, albeit at somewhat inflated prices. Unusually, yesterday, they even had one of Stan Shaw's lovelies on sale - at £300. I always call in the shop when I'm in Sheffield, mainly to buy local history books and anything else I can find relating to the Sheffield cutlery industry. I usually have a chat with the lady behind the counter, and sometimes I'll show her the pocket-knife I'm carrying that day. Yesterday, there were two ladies behind the counter, and I dealt with a different one, though I know she's worked there a long time. She showed me the Stan Shaw they had and we chatted about how business was. However, when I showed her the 1920's MOP handled Wostenholm pen-knife I was carrying, she chided me for having it in my pocket on the basis that it was supposedly against the law to carry it! I gave her a thorough explanation of the UK knife laws I think, an explanation she seemed to view with scepticism, because she claimed to have been told "by someone" that it was illegal to carry ANY knife here in England! How depressing that Sheffield's last remaining knife shop are disseminating this kind of misinformation to their customers, when they could quite easily check the facts for themselves. It can hardly encourage sales to tell your customers that they will be commiting a crime by carrying the pocket-knife they have purchased in their pocket!

That is upsetting its came to that, can't even carry a tool which man has had since the inception of our evolution and where you can its heavily regulated...the knife is one of the greatest advancements of humanity IMO, we went from beating something open with a rock to knapping a precise piece of flint, to metal tools of various forms to what we have now. I don't get what went so wrong, in 3 generations countries like the UK and Aus went from strong countries in support of fundamental tools like a pocket knife to controlled drones.

 

[Jack Black]

That is upsetting its came to that, can't even carry a tool which man has had since the inception of our evolution and where you can its heavily regulated...the knife is one of the greatest advancements of humanity IMO, we went from beating something open with a rock to knapping a precise piece of flint, to metal tools of various forms to what we have now. I don't get what went so wrong, in 3 generations countries like the UK and Aus went from strong countries in support of fundamental tools like a pocket knife to controlled drones.

Yes, it seems to have happened so quickly Robert. Even worse than the laws here though, are the lies that are circulated (often deliberately I think) EXAGGERATING those laws. The woman in the shop should have known better, but many people now think it's illegal to possess so much as a pen-knife.

In the Royal Armouries in Leeds, there's a prominent display, where it's implied that it is illegal to carry a SAK. My girlfriend is a college lecturer and they routinely host a policeman who comes in to talk to the students about 'knife crime, and he tells them it's against the law for them to carry a knife of any type or size, something which is untrue. Market traders and antique shop owners, as well as the owners of other shops which used to sell knives, have also told me they've been put under pressure not to sell them. There are also well-publicised cases of people who have been arrested for carrying the smallest of penknives, an elderly doctor for example, was arrested at Leeds train station because he had a Vic Classic in his pocket! The UK knife laws as they stand are bad enough, but this kind of relentless propaganda and policing which is based on ignorance of those laws, is even worse.

 

[Robert.B]

Yes, it seems to have happened so quickly Robert. Even worse than the laws here though, are the lies that are circulated (often deliberately I think) EXAGGERATING those laws. The woman in the shop should have known better, but many people now think it's illegal to possess so much as a pen-knife.

In the Royal Armouries in Leeds, there's a prominent display, where it's implied that it is illegal to carry a SAK. My girlfriend is a college lecturer and they routinely host a policeman who comes in to talk to the students about 'knife crime, and he tells them it's against the law for them to carry a knife of any type or size, something which is untrue. Market traders and antique shop owners, as well as the owners of other shops which used to sell knives, have also told me they've been put under pressure not to sell them. There are also well-publicised cases of people who have been arrested for carrying the smallest of penknives, an elderly doctor for example, was arrested at Leeds train station because he had a Vic Classic in his pocket! The UK knife laws as they stand are bad enough, but this kind of relentless propaganda and policing which is based on ignorance of those laws, is even worse.

Couldn't agree more, I worry about the world I'm wanting to bring children into.

 

[Jack Black]

Couldn't agree more, I worry about the world I'm wanting to bring children into.

Indeed Robert. I'd say we're fighting a losing battle over here in Europe, but the battle may be already lost

 

[jackknife]

Yes, it seems to have happened so quickly Robert. Even worse than the laws here though, are the lies that are circulated (often deliberately I think) EXAGGERATING those laws. The woman in the shop should have known better, but many people now think it's illegal to possess so much as a pen-knife.

In the Royal Armouries in Leeds, there's a prominent display, where it's implied that it is illegal to carry a SAK. My girlfriend is a college lecturer and they routinely host a policeman who comes in to talk to the students about 'knife crime, and he tells them it's against the law for them to carry a knife of any type or size, something which is untrue. Market traders and antique shop owners, as well as the owners of other shops which used to sell knives, have also told me they've been put under pressure not to sell them. There are also well-publicised cases of people who have been arrested for carrying the smallest of penknives, an elderly doctor for example, was arrested at Leeds train station because he had a Vic Classic in his pocket! The UK knife laws as they stand are bad enough, but this kind of relentless propaganda and policing which is based on ignorance of those laws, is even worse.

Jack, how do the police get away with arresting someone for something that is not against the law, as in the case of the elderly doctor? Don't the police or courts have punitive actions against over zealous police officers? As I understand UK law, anything under 3 inches and with no lock on the blade is okay. So when a over zelious cop pulls in a person with a legal knife, doesn't his superiors chew him a new butt, or the judge toss the case out of court with a stern warning to the cop? And what venue do the people have to file a complaint against the police?

It sounds like there's two sets of laws over there, the one on the books, and the one that the police are making up as they go along. Wow.

Carl.