I'll also admit that I'm not getting much joy out of staying warm since the chimney fire a couple of weeks ago. Every time I get the fire really crackling, all I can think of is a column of fire trying to set my roof alight and I want to hit it with a fire extinguisher. I'm kinda back in wear-a-sweater mode, which is stupid. It feels stupid, and I hate feeling stupid. Gotta shake this.
My old TMM friend Ilo Jones sent a very generous care package, which I put to the intended use over the weekend. She asked me how much it would cost to get the chimney brushes and poles I need, then sent five times that much. Thanks, Ilo! So this weekend I finally got on Amazon and ordered the tools, plus some other wood-cutting stuff. The remainder goes into the TUAK fund.
The other stuff includes a fiberglass handle for my axe, which supposedly is secured with epoxy instead of a wedge. The one I've got is only on its second season and is already about to come right off. I could fix it with more wedges, but I know a failing game when I see one and really hate it when axeheads are flying around the yard. Still, sometimes I get into a worrying mood and the notion of epoxying my good axehead to anything gives me a mild case of the hives. This'll likely be the last handle it ever sees, and I hope it's a good one. As I've said before, good axes are expensive and hard to come by. Crappy ones are everywhere.
Still, the other "tool" purchase definitely belongs under the "extravagance" heading. M has this great little Fiskars hatchet...
...which I've been using all winter and it has really impressed me. Decent small hatchets are hard to find, though like axes the crappy ones are everywhere evident. For splitting kindling, a good hatchet is not what I'd call first-tier essential but can make a cold morning go away quicker and with less chance of a dull blade sliding off the grain and mashing a couple of fingers into gangrenous pulp. (Yes, it's been that kind of mood.) So this one has found a place in my heart (not literally) but I need to give it back. And so while I was buying stuff on-line I impulsively bought one just like it. Except mine won't say Gerber.
That's the sort of purchase that always leaves me feeling like a self-indulgent fool. I can live without it and arguably should, since there are other, more useful and less sexy things the money can go for. But sometimes, y'know, you put your hand on a tool and think, "This is just right. I need one just like this." Knowing all along that you don't really need it, that you could spend less money on something that would work almost as well, but...
Aw, screw it. I've gotta shake this mood. I'm gonna turn this thing off and go for a walk with the boys.
6 comments:
"Aw, screw it. I've gotta shake this mood. I'm gonna turn this thing off and go for a walk with the boys."
When I get in a mood like that a walk in the woods with my four legged friends usually gets me back in a functional state. Canine therapy works wonders.
Hey, Joel,
The check? That was not from me. It was from MOI, so you will continue to rabble-rouse, laugh robustly at the continual contradictions of government idiots, and otherwise keep many of us amused.
ilo
Well - the business with the chimney smoulder was not for naught. Aside from the 'keeping many of us amused part' - it was a cautionary tale which moved the matter of getting a set of brushes much higher on my list. I wouldn't want to say how many years my woodstove's been in use without a cleaning - and I have a tendency to be pretty pinche with the damper...
There's been some speculation for years that some people are more sensitive to windy conditions - something to do with the changes in barometric pressure - and that might bring out some dark moods for them. Seems to work that way for me. There was even some speculation that the windy conditions where Van Gogh was living contributed to his depressions.
Those Gerber hatchets looked nice...a buddy of mine is a knife dealer, and they had a closeout special on the little hatchet plus the slightly bigger camp hatchets. I bought 2 of each, plus the ax. Only thing I'm not sure about with them is the plastic handle. As at the moment, I rent, and have no fireplace, they were mostly bought in my quest for tools. Would appreciate a longevity report on this.
Given the size of this 8" hatchet, its uses are obviously limited. The only thing I use this one for is splitting kindling, which is pretty light duty. But I've seen an awful lot of cheap hatchets put to the same use, and they're invariably blunted and nicked and generally look scary to use. This one has gone through a whole season, plus whatever M did with it, and its edge is still true and sharp. As for the plastic handle - yeah, it'd give me pause if it were a real splitting axe but it's not. This one shows no wear or threat of wear.
My neighbor J has a big Fiskars splitting axe and he thinks it's the greatest thing ever. Sometimes juniper splits as easy as looking at it, and sometimes you've really got to bash it. His axe is holding up to that beautifully.
I like hatchets, but definitely wear gloves. Sooner or later, the wood you are hitting takes offense and jumps right at your knuckles, causing much cussing and lightning shooting out of your eye sockets. But they work and make a pretty decent carving tool as well, though a draw knife will kick its a$$.
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