[TheForge] Re: Starting up

[Washington, Aubrey O.]

Mike,
My favorite, locally owned, office supply store still carries a nice selection of fountain pens, bottles of ink, desk blotters, and pencils from 4B to 4H.  But, I get blank stares at Office Depot.
 
Aubrey
Using fountain pens for 40 years

________________________________

From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Mike Spencer
Sent: Fri 1/6/2006 12:23 PM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] Re: Starting up





Dan> You mean somebody can still draw w/ a pencil????

Only us cranky old geezers, Dan, and then only when you can find a
pencil.  I reckon I must be a cranky old geezer (or at least old)
when:

  I go into the stationary store and ask for a 4B pencil.  They get
  "pencil" but think "Forbee" must be a brand name.

  At the stationary store, after much staff discussion, they finally
  find the oldest person in the joint.  She's about 40 an she's the
  only one who has ever head of "blotter paper" or "desk blotters".
  Of course, they don't have it.  [1]

  At the hardware store, even my favorite Old Guy has no idea what
  "waterglass" is.  The brightest young guy thinks it's the same as
  "Eisenglass".

  Don't even get me  started on (what now passes for) duct tape.

Dang.  Well, at least Singer still has needles for our 1910 treadle
sewing machine and the local Farmer's Co-op sells hand-knit wool
socks.

To get back on the topic of metal, how do I find chain that will fit
on an old chainfall?  I have a couple without either chain.  I don't
care if they're safe for their rated load capacity: I just want to rig
them up over heavy-ish things (say, swage block, big sheet-metal
jenny) to save my back between floor and benchtop.  But all the chain
I can find -- three different types -- in the hardware store or the
nearest industrial park has links that are too long for the link-slots
in the wheel.  The people who sell chainfalls seem not to have a clue
either and in any case want to sell me super-rated safety chain for
$$$/foot.


- Mike


[1] Yow!  Just discovered: even my spell-checker doesn't know the word
    "blotter".  Oy!

--
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
                                                           /V\
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
_______________________________________________
Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
theforge mail list group photo site is
http://www.photoaccess.com
Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
password:  anvil
___________