We attended church on-line.
I bought three splitting wedges. They are still $11 at Menards but are over $20 in many places. Inflation? Maybe rolling in the price of shipping to my doorstep? Hard to know.
Mrs ERJ and I have a date scheduled for mid-week. We are going out to the hunting lease to collect some dead ash wood.
I did a little cutting in our woods. I gave a haircut to an apple tree that has never paid its rent. I will graft it over to another variety, probably Kerr, this spring. I also removed the lower branches from some young oak trees.
In a few days the apple branches will be a magnet for rabbits. They love the bark from fruit trees and seem to love apple twigs most of all. If a fellow were hungry, it would be a good place to put a few snares...
The Shepherds have been my buddies.
Zeus is particularly good in the woods. He keeps an eye on me. He is like a Cocker Spaniel because he has a 20 yard string between him and me and he rarely gets farther away than that.
Herc is more of a hunter. He is more like a Beagle than a Cocker Spaniel. I have to keep an eye on him but he is fine driving around in the truck in spite of his impressive ability to fog the windshield. I have to arm-wrestle him to determine who drives, though. So far I have been winning by default. I will be in trouble if he ever sprouts a set of arms.
Ah yes, dogs DO have distinct 'personalities'...
ReplyDeleteInflation is hitting everywhere, but not everything. I buy a lot of steel and the prices are up everyday. Online church is too easy and makes us lazy. I really need to get back in church, but the closest one of my faith that doesn't require face diapers is an hour away.
ReplyDeleteFind another "faith".
DeleteOne that believes in the liberty we have in Christ.
Maintain your splitting wedges or suffer the medical costs.
ReplyDeleteSons 1 and 2 borrowed my garage sale wedges. They were well used. I sharpened the tips but did not clean up the peened over curlicues where the sledgehammer had hit 8,000 times previously.
Sure enough, #2 son swings a mighty swing into the edge and the curlicue breaks off and flies into the leg of son #1.
T'was a piece of steel the size of a .22 bullet that entered next to the shinbone and stopped mid calf.
The boneheads at the local hospital, bait shop, and used tire emporium operated. Play the Benny Hill yakety sax theme song in your head..
I suppose that in civil war era medicine it would be OK to make a horizontal cut across the calf to go in and extract the projectile.
Since the muscle fibers in the calf are oriented vertically, this gorps up an enormous number of important muscles.
If I had access to 3D imaging (they did), I would have made a vertical incision and pushed the muscle fibers aside in my quest for the little hunk o steel.
But I guess that common sense approach has no place in modern medicine.
Anyway, dodge that bullet by keeping the wide end of the wedge dressed on your grinding wheel or other implement.
Or learn the hard way like we did.
Very, Very good advice.
DeleteI trim mine on a bandsaw and leave a (more or less) 45 degree bevel to the striking surface. Prevents the peening from curling as fast.
THose pieces fly far, and fast, and carry a LOT of energy.
Wow, very sorry to hear about your son. I hope the injury to his calf muscles is not permanent. Great advice. My wedges are sorta mushroom-shaped; I'll have to check for ridges on them that need to be dressed.
DeleteI won't shop Menard's for being face diaper nazis.
ReplyDeletePity. I was beginning to enjoy shopping there.
I have to agree with you! I was also getting used to shopping there, but Lowe’s is much more friendly to liberties... I even heard a friend saw a guy open carrying in the Muskegon store and didn’t have any troubles... YMMV
DeleteInstead of buying the soft Chineesium wedges at retail, might I recommend your local gun show or "antique" market. I have bought good old US of A Axes, Mauls, Wedges, etc. very reasonably.
ReplyDelete