More Random Thoughts.

[skiny]

I was back in the elevator again today. A woman got in and pushed the 7 button 5 times. I'm not sure why. We don't have a 35th floor.

How does turbulence know when I'm about to drink?

I flew to Toronto and back last week. All I brought was a carry on bag. The security at the airport took my toothpaste. She told me if it was a smaller tube I could have kept it. Somehow she must have known I was only going for a couple of days and apparently they frown upon people carrying unnecessarily large amounts of toothpaste. I would have really liked to have just squirted half of it on the counter and asked "Can I bring the rest?" but like most travelers I fear security at the airport.

I saw another one of those news clips today about the BP oil spill. One of the ones with a couple of guys standing on the shore holding a bird covered in oil and I thought "This could work... but we're going to need a lot more birds."

 

[jelsmith]

seriously funny! omfg....hahahahahahahaha

 

[maxd]

I saw another one of those news clips today about the BP oil spill. One of the ones with a couple of guys standing on the shore holding a bird covered in oil and I thought "This could work... but we're going to need a lot more birds.

A lot of BP executives have hair, they should keep stuffing them in the hole until it stops.

 

[bgermain1985]

A lot of BP executives have hair, they should keep stuffing them in the hole until it stops.

God, that just reminds me of Bryans post yesterday on the BP coffee thing. I'm not sure they are ever going to save their image after this.

Even things like this are funny (ie. its a good thing we have to clean up our own )

 

[felicie]

I was back in the elevator again today. A woman got in and pushed the 7 button 5 times. I'm not sure why. We don't have a 35th floor.

How does turbulence know when I'm about to drink?

I flew to Toronto and back last week. All I brought was a carry on bag. The security at the airport took my toothpaste. She told me if it was a smaller tube I could have kept it. Somehow she must have known I was only going for a couple of days and apparently they frown upon people carrying unnecessarily large amounts of toothpaste. I would have really liked to have just squirted half of it on the counter and asked "Can I bring the rest?" but like most travelers I fear security at the airport.

I saw another one of those news clips today about the BP oil spill. One of the ones with a couple of guys standing on the shore holding a bird covered in oil and I thought "This could work... but we're going to need a lot more birds."

I have been doing research on the amazing things that toothpaste can be used for. I'm not kidding! I'll let you know if anything pops up that may have been the cause of this unwarranted confiscation of your tube man.

 

[skiny]

A lot of BP executives have hair, they should keep stuffing them in the hole until it stops.

This also works with shower drains.... Trust me.

I have been doing research on the amazing things that toothpaste can be used for. I'm not kidding! I'll let you know if anything pops up that may have been the cause of this unwarranted confiscation of your tube man.

The weird thing is, she never took my lighter. There's even a sign at the security check point that points out various things that you're not allowed to bring. Lighters is on the list. Large tubes of toothpaste is not. To be quite honest I think she was just out of toothpaste. The whole day is probably just an 8 hour shopping spree for her. "Is this shampoo safe for colour treated hair? You'll have to leave that here.... And that Bananarama CD should probably stay too."

 

[chayton]

Once I picked up a friend at the Phoenix airport and went to meet him at the gate - I had my purse with me and my car keys in my hand. Security stopped me because I had a tiny little silverleaf knife on my keychain, they told me I'd have to go back and put it in my car. I hoofed back to the parking lot, dropped my keychain in the car, ran back in - threw my purse in the xray machine, breezed through security, met my friend, went back to the car, opened my purse and realized that I had a Buck knife with a 7" blade in my purse that security hadn't even noticed.

 

[jelsmith]

Once I picked up a friend at the Phoenix airport and went to meet him at the gate - I had my purse with me and my car keys in my hand. Security stopped me because I had a tiny little silverleaf knife on my keychain, they told me I'd have to go back and put it in my car. I hoofed back to the parking lot, dropped my keychain in the car, ran back in - threw my purse in the xray machine, breezed through security, met my friend, went back to the car, opened my purse and realized that I had a Buck knife with a 7" blade in my purse that security hadn't even noticed.

You sure do carry a lot of weapons LOL

 

[skiny]

Once I picked up a friend at the Phoenix airport and went to meet him at the gate - I had my purse with me and my car keys in my hand. Security stopped me because I had a tiny little silverleaf knife on my keychain, they told me I'd have to go back and put it in my car. I hoofed back to the parking lot, dropped my keychain in the car, ran back in - threw my purse in the xray machine, breezed through security, met my friend, went back to the car, opened my purse and realized that I had a Buck knife with a 7" blade in my purse that security hadn't even noticed.

Is there a reason you carry a 7 inch knife around? Are you hoping that one day someone will pull a knife on you and you can say "That's not a knife.....THIS is a knife."

 

[jetset]

Is there a reason you carry a 7 inch knife around? Are you hoping that one day someone will pull a knife on you and you can say "That's not a knife.....THIS is a knife."

I loved that clip from Crocodile Dundee!

 

[chayton]

You sure do carry a lot of weapons LOL

Lol, I don't carry them around usually, I just kinda forgot I had that one in my purse and the little one on my keychain could hardly cut paper.

I'm a bit of a collector, I have a bunch of knives - and some old cavalry swords and a couple of sword bayonets too that might be worth some $ if I ever decide to get rid of them.

 

[maxd]

[derail]

Cool! I loved edged things too. Since I arrived in France I've started collecting French regional folding knives. As you can see from this cool interactive map -- from a local shop -- that could go on a while:

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My favourites are from the South-East. Great knives, all elegantly simple and unique. The little plexiglass display chest beside my monitor has about 14 different styles. A pleasant diversion when your mind wanders from webby things.

[/derail]

 

[chayton]

[derail]

Cool! I loved edged things too. Since I arrived in France I've started collecting French regional folding knives. As you can see from this cool interactive map -- from a local shop -- that could go on a while:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

My favourites are from the South-East. Great knives, all elegantly simple and unique. The little plexiglass display chest beside my monitor has about 14 different styles. A pleasant diversion when your mind wanders from webby things.

[/derail]

Got any pics? I'll show you mine if you show me yours!!!

 

[maxd]

I'll see what I can scare up and get back to you.

 

[just play]

Got any pics? I'll show you mine if you show me yours!!!

 

[maxd]

Ok, couldn't find any good old pics so I just plopped some out on the desk and took a quick shot. Bit blurry and poor lighting but I reckon you get the idea.

They're all French regional knives except the one at the back. My old Da made that years ago out of a planer blade, his take on the Bowie concept. Not much to look at but a joy to have when you're out in the bush: blade is 26cm (10.5in) and she's balanced for throwing. That's a wine cork on the left near the handle to give things a little perspective.

The four knives pointing up on the left are variations of the __very__ French Laguiole: from the far left, bone handled, then rosewood, wild boar tusk with the corkscrew (custom made for moi), and olivewood.

 

[skiny]

[derail]

Cool! I loved edged things too. Since I arrived in France I've started collecting French regional folding knives. As you can see from this cool interactive map -- from a local shop -- that could go on a while:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

My favourites are from the South-East. Great knives, all elegantly simple and unique. The little plexiglass display chest beside my monitor has about 14 different styles. A pleasant diversion when your mind wanders from webby things.

[/derail]

I'm not sure this thread started with a rail to begin with.

 

[chayton]

Ok, couldn't find any good old pics so I just plopped some out on the desk and took a quick shot. Bit blurry and poor lighting but I reckon you get the idea.

They're all French regional knives except the one at the back. My old Da made that years ago out of a planer blade, his take on the Bowie concept. Not much to look at but a joy to have when you're out in the bush: blade is 26cm (10.5in) and she's balanced for throwing. That's a wine cork on the left near the handle to give things a little perspective.

The four knives pointing up on the left are variations of the __very__ French Laguiole: from the far left, bone handled, then rosewood, wild boar tusk with the corkscrew (custom made for moi), and olivewood.

Wow Max, that's VERY cool! It's amazing how different they all are, if I lived there I'd be collecting them too! I really love the shape of the second from the bottom on the right, what region is that one from?

lol, and your dad knew the whole "Now that's a knife!" thing.

Interesting, my dad made knives too! He also made guns, mostly just the stocks (for rifles) but he had some other stuff that he either made or modified that unfortunately was completely illegal here in Canada. After he died I had to turn over 14 illegal guns to the police to be destroyed. On top of that he had 12 legal rifles and several muzzleloaders - and a working cannon! He probably had over a hundred knives but some scummy member of my family lifted almost everything while we were in the hospital and they're long gone now.

Anyhoo...I probably inherited my appreciation for weapons from my dad - although I'm not into guns as much as he was.

Tomorrow I need to take some photos of my swords for another website, I'll post a pic here too.

EDIT: Sorry for hijacking your thread skiny....

 

[winbig]

I wouldn't be surprised if a serial killer gets caught in France in the near future...

 

[maxd]

Wow Max, that's VERY cool! It's amazing how different they all are, if I lived there I'd be collecting them too! I really love the shape of the second from the bottom on the right, what region is that one from?

That "second from the bottom on the right" knife is Corsican. I know generalities suck but IMHO everything from Corsica is cool: knives, cheese, wine, you name it. All great stuff!

One of the very cool things about the French regional knives is the fact that they often do really beautiful file work on the back-springs, all done-by-hand stuff. I'll see if I can't get a snap of a few to show you what I mean.

I hear you about handing over guns when someone in your family dies. When my Da died we had a number of unregistered guns to fork over too: 9mm S&W, sawed-off shotguns, a Czech sniper rifle, a 357 Python, a Dirty Harry 44 Mag, etc. Broke my heart to see some of those go. Much of my youth was spent taking care of those guns, and firing off a mountain of ammo. Simpler days those were, much harder to have fun with a sawed-off shotgun these days.

Ditto on the apologies for the derail, memory lane and all.

I wouldn't be surprised if a serial killer gets caught in France in the near future...

 

[chayton]

..much harder to have fun with a sawed-off shotgun these days.

 

[maxd]

Ok, here's a pic of the back-spring detailing I talked about.

The two on the left are Laguiole knives, their trademark symbol is a blue-bottle fly which you can see carved in as the terminus of the spring. The white handled one is done in boar tusk, absolutely beautiful.

The one on the back right is a vintner's knife and the front right is from Thiers, a famous knife-making area of France: inset into it's backspring is a disc of mother-of-pearl.

 

[chayton]

Ok, here's a pic of the back-spring detailing I talked about.

The two on the left are Laguiole knives, their trademark symbol is a blue-bottle fly which you can see carved in as the terminus of the spring. The white handled one is done in boar tusk, absolutely beautiful.

The one on the back right is a vintner's knife and the front right is from Thiers, a famous knife-making area of France: inset into it's backspring is a disc of mother-of-pearl.

oh I see what you mean! Real craftsmanship involved there huh? I wonder how long it takes to make a knife like that? You think they have a factory pumping them out or would they be done by hand? Do you know?

Well you win - I can't compete with your knife collection! :notworthy

I don't have a lot of mine anymore (couldn't bring them across the border) but I do have a couple pics to share. These were a couple of things of my dads that I was able to save from the pawnshop (or drug dealer )

I don't know much about them so I was posting pics of the identifying marks on a historical sword forum I joined to see if they can give me more info. All I know is that they were all from Solingen. The swords have a 35.5" blade, the bayonets have 14.5" blades.

The swords are a little pitted, I believe that dad had them hanging on his wall for awhile. The bayonets are perfect though.

EDIT: I just got my first response about these from the sword forum.

Looks like you have a South American theme running here.The swords are Brazilian M1880 Cavalry sabres made on contract in Germany. You also have one Argentinian M1909 bayonet and an Argentinian M1909 machete/bolo knife, both also manufactured on contract in Germany.They appear to retain the Argentinian crest which is usually ground off. A couple of nice pieces.

South American! I wouldn't have guessed it.

 

[maxd]

oh I see what you mean! Real craftsmanship involved there huh? I wonder how long it takes to make a knife like that? You think they have a factory pumping them out or would they be done by hand? Do you know?

From what I've seen the process varies considerably depending on the knife being made. The blades on all my knives are factory work. You take a big jump in price if you go for handmade blades, almost always reserved for exotic materials like damascus steel or whatever.

Something like the vintner's knife, for example, is largely pre-cut pieces assembled by hand and given a final polish: less than 15 minutes actual labour involved.

The boar tusk knife has a lot more hand work in it, although everything starts as pre-cut, roughed blanks that require very little effort to actually assemble.

You'd think something like the file-carved back-spring would be horribly labour intensive but these guys have done these patterns 1000s of times so they know what they're about. I've seen them tick off the markings from a template and carve those back-springs in less than 10 minutes, believe it of not. And all they are using is a rat-tail file and a tri-square. The only tricky bit is that this work is usually done before they are tempered, at least if you're making the knife by hand. I supposed the same work could be done on a tempered and hardened back-spring if you used power tools to do the actual carving.

The delicate work comes in fitting and fixing something like the tusk handle parts. They're fairly delicate and there's not a lot of wiggle room to fix up errors. The fitting and riveting on these is almost certainly a manual effort because they are prone to cracking under pressure, though it's not a complicated or time-consuming process.

From what I've seen something like the wild boar knife could be done in less than an hour. Considering that I paid about $200 for it -- it was a custom order -- that would work out to a not terrible hourly wage for the craftsman.

Cool swords and bayonets by the way, odd the South American connection.

 

[incrediblestuff]

funny stuff as usual skiny ^^

on the knife/edgy things subject:

i used to collect them too, since i was 11, i had a LOT of them, including an old (plated) golden saber from the V.O.C (united east indonesian compagny)
for which my great-great granddad used to sail, and a mean ass knight blade..
then, as i was imagining another dragonslaying episode, and accidently (i think) killed two walls (those walls in modern houses arent that solid afterall)
my father killed my collection for the first time

then i restarted, and when i was about 14, two big bullies came into our neighboorhood, and started their "professional routine" on the small kids, including myself, i pulled out one of my knifes and told them to go, and let go of my bike, on which they started laughing and said: you wouldnt dare!
on which i cut one of the boys hands (really just a scratch) to prove my point: they fled, but unfortunately my father was peering out the window, and interpreted the situation differently, resulting in the second removal of my collection

after that i never bothered to restart that hobby, but i still am attracted to edgy objects, and love to see them: this thread just got me back to my childhood love ^^

 

[winbig]

Anything shiny does it for me. Double bonus if it's shiny and purple.

 

[chayton]

Anything shiny does it for me. Double bonus if it's shiny and purple.

that reminds me of this website I found a few days ago when I was looking for the sword forum.

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where you can buy dressup clothes and replica weapons and stuff. And it ain't cheap either! Check out the "realms of fantasy" link....it's hilarious. We'll all pitch in and get you the Phantom outfit Winbig....it's shiny and purple!


Seriously though....would anyone pay $400 for an Iron Man helmet? Really?

 

[Jasminebed]

I'm shiny too.

 

[chayton]

I'm shiny too.

Shiny, purple AND sharp!

 

[winbig]

I'm shiny too.

Wanna get hitched?

 

[winbig]

that reminds me of this website I found a few days ago when I was looking for the sword forum.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

where you can buy dressup clothes and replica weapons and stuff. And it ain't cheap either! Check out the "realms of fantasy" link....it's hilarious. We'll all pitch in and get you the Phantom outfit Winbig....it's shiny and purple!


Seriously though....would anyone pay $400 for an Iron Man helmet? Really?

Any uniform is fine, as long as it's not a star trek: TOS uniform with a red shirt.

We all know what happens to people wearing red shirts on star trek.

and lmao @ the "300" briefs..

 

[chayton]

and lmao @ the "300" briefs..

heh heh....from small to xtra large. Gotta love the internet.

 

[skiny]

Any uniform is fine, as long as it's not a star trek: TOS uniform with a red shirt.

We all know what happens to people wearing red shirts on star trek.

and lmao @ the "300" briefs..

Gene" Roddenberry had a dream. A distant future where people no longer would strive for the accumulation of independent wealth. A planet where greed and hunger were things of the past. A future where there was no war, humankind enjoyed religious harmony and all women wore miniskirts and go-go boots.

Ahhh to dream.

 

[felicie]

Get outta here.

 

[winbig]

Gene" Roddenberry had a dream. A distant future where people no longer would strive for the accumulation of independent wealth. A planet where greed and hunger were things of the past. A future where there was no war, humankind enjoyed religious harmony and all women wore miniskirts and go-go boots.

Ahhh to dream.

Don't forget the hot green skinned alien chicks.