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

[r redden]

Me too, I used to be quite handy when I was young, but seem to get more useless for every year I get older!

I feel your pain my friend I feel your pain.

Great old photos this morning Jack.

 

[Jack Black]

Here is Rodgers' catalogue image of the Sheaf Island Works from the other side. These line drawings were often very misleading, making the factories look much grander than they actually were.

Cambertree should be able to see how close he was to the site when he had a pint in The Old Queen's Head pub, the timber-framed building in the middle of this photo

 

[Jack Black]

I feel your pain my friend I feel your pain.

Great old photos this morning Jack.

LOL!

Thanks Randy, I've moaned a lot about the internet lately, but it's incredible what you can find with just a few clicks of a mouse

 

[Ramrodmb]

Those are quite nice Mark. Second career?

Thanks Alan! Actually, my day job involves working with wood in some capacity too!

Nice display cases, Mark!
"Stackable" is a great space-saving feature!!

Thanks Charlie! Yes!

Very true!

Haha, nice stack!!

The fellow that made them lived about twenty miles from where I live now, they were all made to order. I ordered two, one a regular jon boat about 12' long, the other was my creek boat that was tapered on both ends kind of like a pirogue. I used it for blackwater creeks in south Georgia. The creek boat lasted about forty years. I stored it in a shed and it dry rotted at the transom. The other I sold to a buddy in southwest Georgia, it may be still kicking for all I know. I remember the guy telling me that as long as they were in water, they would last for years.

He built some really nice boats, tongue and groove, all brass screws, not a nail in them. He charged by the foot.

Interesting! 40 years is a good run! I remember hearing about the need to keep a wooden boat in water.

Interesting that cypress is better wet. I used to use cypress mulch until I read how the cypress swamps are being mowed down for the stuff. Lasted a long time.


Mark, I wish I had those kinds of skills. Beautiful and ingenious re-purposing that wood.

Thanks Tom! I appreciate the nice words!

Me too, I used to be quite handy when I was young, but seem to get more useless for every year I get older!

Don't I know that feeling. The eyesight alone makes it harder and harder!

 

[Jack Black]

Haha, nice stack!!

...

Don't I know that feeling. The eyesight alone makes it harder and harder!

Thanks

Yeah, I need to go and get some new specs myself

 

[Cambertree]

Thanks for those fascinating photos of Sheffield, Jack. I remember that area of Sheffield well, and walked around there a bit, both before we met up, and after you headed back to Leeds. I recall there was still quite a lot of construction going on in that quarter. I actually didn't realise when you were telling me that the railway station was part of an old cutlery and steelworks, that it was a Joseph Rodgers factory.

I was a bit saddened by the way the city's historical roots as a great cutlery manufacturing centre, seemed to be less celebrated than I would have expected. I was very glad to have visited when I did. I remember looking at a construction site, wondering how much of the city's history was being torn down and dug over every day.

In the cutlery and tool producing areas of Japan I visited - Seki, Sakai, Sanjo and Takefu - there were quite a lot of well patronised knife museums, and 'cutlery tourism' evident. You would see buses of primary school kids on excursions pulling up in front of the blade museums. I was quite intrigued that you could buy a high quality handforged carbon steel kitchen or gardening knife even in the highway 'comfort stations' - gives a whole other meaning to the US 'gas station knife' category!

In Sheffield I went looking for the plaque commemorating the Norfolk Street Rodgers works (never would have found it without your directions, Jack). I walked past it a couple of times, before I realised a delivery van was parked in front of it. It was tucked away around the side of a big bingo hall which now stands in its place:

The Old Queens Head (built in 1475!):

Quite a nice pint and toastie they did there too!



I wish the sites of the old cutlery houses of Sheffield were as respected as the great old pubs!

 

[Will Power]

Those chips...~

 

[Will Power]

The Tour goes through a notably hellish mountain stage today with a 27km descent to the finish

I think it goes near the birthplace of Opinel knives too. Another Birth of the Cool

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks for those fascinating photos of Sheffield, Jack. I remember that area of Sheffield well, and walked around there a bit, both before we met up, and after you headed back to Leeds. I recall there was still quite a lot of construction going on in that quarter. I actually didn't realise when you were telling me that the railway station was part of an old cutlery and steelworks, that it was a Joseph Rodgers factory.

I was a bit saddened by the way the city's historical roots as a great cutlery manufacturing centre, seemed to be less celebrated than I would have expected. I was very glad to have visited when I did. I remember looking at a construction site, wondering how much of the city's history was being torn down and dug over every day.

In the cutlery and tool producing areas of Japan I visited - Seki, Sakai, Sanjo and Takefu - there were quite a lot of well patronised knife museums, and 'cutlery tourism' evident. You would see buses of primary school kids on excursions pulling up in front of the blade museums. I was quite intrigued that you could buy a high quality handforged carbon steel kitchen or gardening knife even in the highway 'comfort stations' - gives a whole other meaning to the US 'gas station knife' category!

In Sheffield I went looking for the plaque commemorating the Norfolk Street Rodgers works (never would have found it without your directions, Jack). I walked past it a couple of times, before I realised a delivery van was parked in front of it. It was tucked away around the side of a big bingo hall which now stands in its place:

The Old Queens Head (built in 1475!):

Quite a nice pint and toastie they did there too!

View attachment 736867

I wish the sites of the old cutlery houses of Sheffield were as respected as the great old pubs!

The Rodgers factory didn't actually extend as far as the railway station Chin, the River Sheaf and a road were in between them. Sheaf Island Works was called that because the area of land it sat on was between the River Sheaf, and a row of goits and dams or ponds (from which Pond Street Bus Station gets it's name, though some of the ponds existed before industrialisation). Here's a map which shows the location of the Rodgers works. The area where the bus station is now is on the left of the map. Note the weir. The railway tracks can be seen on the right of the map. I have a map from 1771 too, but the area is unrecognisable!



The steel works I spoke about was John Brown's Atlas Steel Works, which by that time would have moved further to the East End of Sheffield I think. It can be seen on one of your old postcards, this one...



The railway would have been new then, and there are just one or two tracks, but much of the wall adjacent to the wall is still there, and looked very much like it did in the picture, with the arched entrance and gatehouse, until relatively recently (I can't find any pics online, because it was just a grotty old wall to most folk!).

I share your sadness about the way things are in Sheffield my friend, the city has never even had a tourist information office, there are less knives in the museums everytime I visit, and they have been knocking down old buildings with abandon since I was a kid. Frankly, it's a disgrace The tiny Rodgers plaque was not even erected by the city council, but by Eggington, who own the Rodgers name today. As for the pub (you're making me both hungry and thirsty!), it's a Grade 1 listed building, but the council still allowed one of the walls to be knocked out, along with the interior walls, so that it could be modernized! The only building in Sheffield they seem intent on preserving are those ugly flats atop the hill!

I am glad you were able to see a little bit of old Sheffield where there anything at all exists my friend

As for your adventures in Japan, if you ever get the time, I think that would make for a fascinating thread

 

[Jack Black]

I was just looking through some pics from my Wizard's Quest posts a few years back, and came across this one which gave me a chuckle

 

[JB in SC]

I remember that one Jack, the brown sauce

 

[Jack Black]

I remember that one Jack, the brown sauce

Really Jerry? I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw it while going through my Photobucket account (all the non-knife photos are unsorted, but I don't want to move them and break the links). I do remember this pic of a woman sucking heavily on the last of her cigarette outside the 'Healthy Life' health food shop, which I think I took on the same day

 

[Mason Knives]

Great Photo Jack, made me laugh! She is not the best advert for the shop

 

[r redden]

That's hilarious Jack.

 

[JB in SC]

Jack, I remember that one, comical. The Henderson's relish in Cambertree's posting made me smile, similar to our Lea & Perrin's. I've always liked the stuff on fries (chips) too. This is probably a redundant story; when my parents and I vacationed in Florida in the 50's and early 60's there were several British couples that vacationed at the same place every year. They brought HP Brown sauce, Henderson's and other condiments I can no longer recall. It was a great experience.

 

[Bartleby]

She is not the best advert for the shop

She isn't on her way out, she's on her way in.

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks a lot guys

I've not had HP Brown Sauce since I was very young Jerry, but Herder's lad seemed to take a liking to it, as he did Henderson's Yes, I'm sure there are still British families who wouldn't dream of travelling without their condiments!

 

[Jack Black]

She isn't on her way out, she's on her way in.

Just finishing her cig first!

I went down to the Forest of Dean about 5 years ago to spend Christmas with some friends there. It's a very rural area, and we walked through the woods to a small traditional pub. When I was at the bar, I was surprised to see a middle-aged woman using some kind of breathing apparatus in a back-room, she really looked like she was struggling with her breath. The machine must have worked, because five minutes later, she was standing outside the pub smoking!

 

[Mason Knives]

well you encouraged me Jack. I had never smoked till you sent me that fag holder

 

[Jack Black]

LOL! I was just thinking of that photo Paul! Good to see it again my friend