Wood blocks
As my b key is still out to lunch, I will refrain from capitalizing it in the title. There has got to be a better way.
Anyway, I am talking about blocks, not keyboards. A friend introduced me to a recycling concern that is currently in posession of a mountain of 4x4 timbers from demolished houses. These people also dispose of concrete (by crushing it for re-use) and asphalt (ditto). They take trees from construction sites and chip them to make mulch, but the timbers are a pain. Someone has to pull all the nails (and there are certainly a lot of nails) before they can be chipped. So, the owner is quite happy to have me truck the stuff off for my woodstove. I, in my turn, have to be very careful as I chainsaw them up into 30 cm long chunks (my woodstove has a modestly-sized chamber) or I will soon have a very dull saw chain. From the wood's point of view, the advantage is definitely with the sawyer, so I guess that levels the playing field a bit. The timbers also have the advantage of being jumbled in a huge, slippery pile, with nails and splinters all over the place.
Anyway, as I was poking around recently looking for pieces that could a) be removed without causing a hernia or a landslide and b) were not 50% steel nails, I found a piece of keyaki!
Why the excliamation point? because keyaki (aka Zelkova, or Russian Elm) is a hard, decorative wood that is right up there with ivory and hen's teeth in terms of difficulty of procurement. This piece had probably once graced the entrance hall of an old, traditional farmhouse, but was torn up and cast aside as not worth the effort of saving. Obviously. It was cracked, nailed, glued and odd-shaped. What could anyone do with it?
How about this? It took a lot of sawing and planing, but by reducing the 4x4 piece to 1 inch squares, I got enough material to make 2 sets of blocks for my grandkids (#2 is still in the oven, so for once I'm ahead of the game).
So far, #1 grandchild, Emma Grace Elliot, has only this paltry set of plastic things to pile up. Pitiful! Wait till she gets the set I made! Won't she use them to the full advantage!Won't her mom and dad have fun finding all the bits scattered around the house and under the furniture! Won't they enjoy finding that last, elusive bit the next morning when they step on it in their bare feet!
It's great being a Grandad.
Anyway, I am talking about blocks, not keyboards. A friend introduced me to a recycling concern that is currently in posession of a mountain of 4x4 timbers from demolished houses. These people also dispose of concrete (by crushing it for re-use) and asphalt (ditto). They take trees from construction sites and chip them to make mulch, but the timbers are a pain. Someone has to pull all the nails (and there are certainly a lot of nails) before they can be chipped. So, the owner is quite happy to have me truck the stuff off for my woodstove. I, in my turn, have to be very careful as I chainsaw them up into 30 cm long chunks (my woodstove has a modestly-sized chamber) or I will soon have a very dull saw chain. From the wood's point of view, the advantage is definitely with the sawyer, so I guess that levels the playing field a bit. The timbers also have the advantage of being jumbled in a huge, slippery pile, with nails and splinters all over the place.
Anyway, as I was poking around recently looking for pieces that could a) be removed without causing a hernia or a landslide and b) were not 50% steel nails, I found a piece of keyaki!
Why the excliamation point? because keyaki (aka Zelkova, or Russian Elm) is a hard, decorative wood that is right up there with ivory and hen's teeth in terms of difficulty of procurement. This piece had probably once graced the entrance hall of an old, traditional farmhouse, but was torn up and cast aside as not worth the effort of saving. Obviously. It was cracked, nailed, glued and odd-shaped. What could anyone do with it?
How about this? It took a lot of sawing and planing, but by reducing the 4x4 piece to 1 inch squares, I got enough material to make 2 sets of blocks for my grandkids (#2 is still in the oven, so for once I'm ahead of the game). So far, #1 grandchild, Emma Grace Elliot, has only this paltry set of plastic things to pile up. Pitiful! Wait till she gets the set I made! Won't she use them to the full advantage!Won't her mom and dad have fun finding all the bits scattered around the house and under the furniture! Won't they enjoy finding that last, elusive bit the next morning when they step on it in their bare feet!It's great being a Grandad.
posted by John Elliot | 8:42 PM
2 Comments:
I can't wait to play with those blocks! Grace will have to aggressively compete with me for them.
Good to have you back on-line Daddy! I am jealous of those blocks! Hope you can find another piece of Keyaki in the next few years so you are ready to make a set of those for my future kids :)
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