Tools-Large wrench on my shop

[dimwittedmoose51]

A space ship landed in the middle of Texas one night and I saw 3 little  1" tall aliens climb out of the ship.  I asked them if they were really just 1" tall and they said, "No, we're just really really far away...."

Guess ya had to be there....back to wrench stuff....

DM&FS

[Wrenchmensch]

Rusty:

I got a kick out of that!

Bob

[ToolsorDie]

I am on the Gulf Coast of Texas, less than 10 miles from the bay as the crow flies.

Ever been to San Leon?

[Papaw]

But of course! San Leon is not far from here by back roads and not much farther by main roads. I used to go there with my folks many years ago. These days I go there or close by for photo opportunities.

[ToolsorDie]

But of course! San Leon is not far from here by back roads and not much farther by main roads. I used to go there with my folks many years ago. These days I go there or close by for photo opportunities.

I visit down there 2-3 times a year off of Ave A, Topwater Grill is one of my favorite restaurants. Been visiting SL since 1991. Helped with Hurricane Ike cleanup on one visit, darn near wiped San Leon off the map. Buddy of mine lost a bunch of old tools in that disaster, nothing too valuable. Maybe we can hook up next time I am down. I heard Dusty Hill sold his mansion for a sweet deal after Ike.

[Papaw]

Sure, just let me know when you are coming.

[Wrenchmensch]

I have been in Texas a number of times on business. I was impressed by the heat and humidity and the art museum in Houston, all my cousins in College Station, and the aridity of El Paso (which is closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to Houston).  That's big!

[Papaw]

895 miles from the border of New Mexico on I-10 to the border of Louisiana on I-10 just outside of Orange.

The longest generally-southward straight-line path you can take through Texas North to South is about 806.2 miles. This would be a line in the SSE direction starting from the westernmost corner of the northern Texas "handle" and extending to Texas' southernmost tip, but unlike East to West, there is no one highway all the way.

[ToolsorDie]

895 miles from the border of New Mexico on I-10 to the border of Louisiana on I-10 just outside of Orange.

The longest generally-southward straight-line path you can take through Texas North to South is about 806.2 miles. This would be a line in the SSE direction starting from the westernmost corner of the northern Texas "handle" and extending to Texas' southernmost tip, but unlike East to West, there is no one highway all the way.

There may have been if the Trans Texas Corridor Scam got built, thank God it did not.

[Papaw]

Ah, but that would have been from Laredo to Texarkana, a short trip! 522 miles

[Stoney]

Bus, those pliers are cool.  Down here we call osage orange bo dock, a southern corruption of the French bois de arc, or we call it hedge apple or by it's scientific name Maclura pomifera. They are sexed, that means that the male flowers and the female flowers are on separate  trees. It is far superior to hickory for things like handles, single/double trees and to locust for fence post but you have to wait more that a year to put it in the ground or put it in the ground upside down or it will sprout and start growing.  the wood is very hard and durable.  It has an orange cast to the wood and has a milky/sticky sap.  I had a friend to make me two mallets of bo dock to use in blacksmithing to straighten twists.  The wood came from a bo dock I took down for a customer about 10 years ago.  He complained about how hard it was to work and about how often he had to sharpen his tools.

The round one has a head dimension of length 6"by diameter 4"  and the flat mallet has faces that are 2" by 3 1/2".  The side dimensions are top: 6" and bottom 5 1/2" which gives it a slightly angled face.  I got these just before my surgery and I've not yet put hoops on the round one to stop splitting.  Can anyone tell me how to stop the flat one from splitting?  The grain is quarter.

[Branson]

>Can anyone tell me how to stop the flat one from splitting?

Don't hit anything with it on the edges. <g>

Wonder how Bo Dock compares to maul oak...

[Stoney]

Branson, I'm thinking about a rawhide braid put on wet.  I don't know maul oak.

[Branson]

Maul oak is Quercus chrysolepis Liebman, aka canyon live oak.  Peattie describes it as "...tough, close grained, very hard, and heavy (53 pounds per cubic foot, dry weight)..."  Heavier, a bit, from Bo Dock.  The name, maul oak, came from its common use in making mauls and mallets in the past.

[Branson]

Branson, I'm thinking about a rawhide braid put on wet. 

I like that idea.  It ought to work fine.