Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old Rubble, or Enduring Legacy ?

That wasn't squid, silly. It was octopus. The tool that originally came with the box was for measuring octopi to ensure they were of legal size. Of course, the device can be used for other applications, but you need to multiply by 8...

Here's an old box I have. I believe it was a portable electrical interrogation tool.

See the door at the bottom ?

That's for releasing a small horde of mice in a nightclub.

I would never do anything like that.

GTC

Nope, never, not you.

Wait - is that door for a small horde of mice, or a horde of small mice?

This took a full day longer than anticipated.

A fairly substantial "wreck" yesterday involving dogs and their proclivity to get into mischief sorta' delayed progress. The dogs are fine, and the mischief half repaired, and pretty much forgiven, but that's another story .

Rubber cement and admittedly bogus Wal-Mart "Felt" (made from re-processed and virgin unknown fibers). Wool felt it AIN'T.



Steve Redgewell's had a post running about cleaning up one's re-loading area.... I'll concur, it's always sorta' like CHRISTMAS, finding stuff you thought you'd misplaced , and discovering "Bargains" that were swept up, tossed into a drawer, and promptly forgotten. They say the devil's in the details. Today's detail is about losing a soul-less gray plastic tackle box, and replacing it with the warmth of wood.



Disregarding the poetic and romantic aspects entirely,....shaking out one's lurk periodically has GOT to contribute to both productivity, and efficient use of space. When you've only got a little , it becomes that much more important.



That old sewing machine salesman's box fit's into it's new space slicker than Willie Clinton's finger into Monica's azz.



GTC

Depends on the mission objective.

You show up with your repairman's box, and than just kinda' improvise, from their.

Those boxes have compartments for Tipping money for the peelers, Condoms, a reserve pack of smokes, and several bags of Beer Nuts.

It's rumored the last models had a small O2 cylinder and mask, for hangover abatement therapy.

I love Yankee ingenuity, even if Coonasses have the best abiding handle on it.

GTC

You speakee "Tin Cat" ?

GTC

crossfire;
I have to stop reading your posts sir, as they cause me too be conflicted to often.

You are doing a top notch job on the old tool chest by the way - it's very cool to see some of the old craftsmanship remain earning it's keep.

On the tin cat deal crossfire - this is where the conflict comes in for me as we had several on our Saskatchewan farm and it was my job to empty them.

One or two of them had this flexible metal hose running off the compartment - sort of a cousin to a slinky looking thing - that the mice could exit out of and then get dropped into a gallon jar half full of water.

That was supposed to be a marvelous improvement because you didn't have to empty the tin cat every day then and the mice didn't eat each other in the trap either.

Anyway crossfire, as you've been "around some", you can well imagine what a half gallon jar of mice smells like after a week in the summer.........

I very clearly recall the long conversation I had with my brother convincing him to let me switch the liquid in the jar to diesel fuel.

It still stunk after a week, but at very least I could burn the dead mice.

Unless a person has been on a prairie farm it's tough to have them understand what its like to have so many mice around isn't it crossfire?

Anyway sir, I do parlez vous tin cat a wee bit or at least once surely did semi fluidly - er fluently.

Have a good one crossfire and stay safe down there in your border home.

Dwayne

Dwayne,....

We have common ground, though my experience was not so much grain farming related as "End User, Delivery Chain".

We hauled a gazillion tons of raw grain into Ports all through Latin America in the 1960's. The Lower and 'tween decks were washed down, and lined with burlap and battens. We would than go to the grain elevators ( upriver from NOLA just a bit), and drive the vessel right down to her Plimsoll line with "Raw Grain".

At any number of ports in the Carib, we'd unload. Sometimes with pretty fancy clamshell buckets off a pier, sometimes with stevedores shoveling big old canvas slings full, and our own winches, tackle and booms flying it out, sometimes into barges, sometimes into rail cars, sometimes (rarely,) trucks.

After stripping the burlap and Battens (PART of the saleable / vended cargo) ALL hands would turn too, washing down the holds with the hatches open, whilst making way to pick up a return cargo.......the bilges would be FULL of grain, and Surprise, surprise,.......Dead Rats.

It was always fun, "Washing Down" after a good twist off in a fair tropical port, and the "overtime" welcomed. Picture a crowd of bairly sober, just laid sailors with salt water hoses and brooms.

I worked below decks,though, and one of my MAIN duties was maintaining a uninterrupted flow through our bilge pumps.

It took the better part of a MONTH to get all of the obnoxious debris clear.

Valving off and pulling a "Strainer" that needs a small chain hoist to lift, ....full of fermented grain and jellied rat remains was always an un-welcomed task.



GTC

crossfire;
I wonder if you didn't haul some of the stuff that we grew?

Maybe ours all went to Vancouver then, I'm not certain.

Do you have this feeling we could spend a few hours swapping stories if we ever had the chance crossfire?

Fermented grain and jellied rats indeed sir, yes that's a familiar essence to me I'm sorry to say.

When our big steel bins were empty we'd go block off the aeration fan with a chunk of plywood and then go inside the bin with however many farm cats we could bring along and then begin pulling up the flooring.

For one not used to seeing the floor moving it can be disconcerting.

The mice would be hiking up the rows of nuts that the held the bins together. The cats would have a mouse under each front paw, one in the mouth and be processing what to do next.

Man I don't like rodents crossfire - we've got pack rats here that ate a hole in two of my best saddle blankets and chewed both good bridles up beyond repair. No sir, I'm not a fan of the rodent one bit.

Its always a pleasure conversing with you over the ether space crossfire. Have a good one and stay safe.

Dwayne

Nice touch using the red felt.

The old green felt in my oak chest has seen better days so I may need to upgrade.

The "Kid Safe" Rubber Cement from Elmers works just fine.

Fit EXACTLY, or a touch smaller, slather the stuff all over the bottom of the cleaned drawer, ONLY.....the felt will stretch a bit once applied, and you have lotsa' time to adjust it's skew.

To big leaves unsightly lumps in the corners

I figure I'll tackle the upper works on another day,.....

GTC

Thanks for the tip. I'm glad to know that I have plenty of "work time" with that rubber cement because at my age I don't work too fast.

I used an improvised "Squeegee",....a 5" block of 1 x 1" hardwood, to iron the felt down, and stretch it.

One thing you DON'T want to do is start working that felt with rubber cement on your fingers.

.....sure nice to hit some common ground here,...based on a reverence for tools.

While I can't say I always hit the mark, I think that clean, sharp, and readily ACCESSIBLE tools make for better quality work, and finished projects.

GTC

Yep, I agree on all points.

I tend to be somewhat disorganized and always have a pile of tools laying on the bench.

I need to sharpen them more frequently and put them away when finished.

You're Hired.

Great, if the job has medical benefits and a snack wench, I'm all in.

Hey, Greg, really nice job on the tool box. And, thanks for the some of the experiences of the grain ship. I had a bit on petro haulers, but nowhere near the width and depth of yours.

Great job but that is what I expected from you.

Ya NEVER see shabby results when Greg is on the job.