Screw drive types..........and they STILL make slotted????

I used to work at a local industrial supply company and was familiar with the various types of screw drives that were available. At the time (early 1980's), I only had to know the basic drives to know what the customers were looking for. Lets see.........there was slotted or straight, Phillips, hex or Allen, square or Robertson, spanner and clutch.

There were also the tamper-proof or security screws. I personally don't know of anyone who ever installed this type of screw. I think there was a widely held belief of an elite troop of Marines who snuck in and installed these. They're the ones with the little pegs inside the holes, for which you never have a screwdriver and the ever present and often cursed "one way" screws. If you ever had to remove one of these, you know what I'm talking about. Once installed, these little b@$+&#*s had to be drilled out. Yes, there was a tool available that was supposed to remove them, but as far as I know, anyone who tried to use it, was left with a puncture wound, blood, sweat and tears.

Then there is of course all of the sizes available in each of the types of drives. From what seems to be size 0000 where you need a magnifying glass just to hit the slot, all the way up to size 4XL that requires help to hold the screwdriver.

DAMN the engineers and bring out the bandaides.

Now there seems to be what can only be described as an endless, cold-hearted and yet creative co-conspiracy thought up by someone at Area 51 with alien technology and the diabolical manufacturers of fasteners and screwdrivers. I'll bet the crew down at Kleindorfers Hardware knows what I'm talking about!  Just look at the chart of known screw drives available today and yes I mean known. I'm sure that there are many types out there we don't know about, yet. A perfect example being the new Pentalobe, crapple or "sphincter" screws that Apple computer has started using. I'm told if you send them your iPhone4 to be repaired, it will now be returned with the new harder-to-remove screws.

Couldn't you at least made it......you know....apple shaped?
                                                                  

Thank You Steve Jobs !!

Having said that, the only real nemesis I still run into, is the ever present one straight or slotted screw amongst the two dozen phillips screws I'm trying to remove and someone before me has already turned it into a "one-way" screw !?!?
Check out this link!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives

WOW, talk about God's country!

 
Sitting here in Portland Oregon, writing this blog, I can't believe just how beautiful it is here. Judy and I spent our first day driving out to Astoria and along the coast down to Cannon Beach. While in Astoria, we had to climb the Astoria Column (in photo above) and take a look around. The column is 125 feet high, built atop the hill above the town, with an inner spiral staircase (love it) of 164 steps to climb, to view the town, the surrounding lands, and the Columbia flowing into the Pacific. The column was built by the Astor family in 1926 to commemorate the region's early history. The new spiral staircase was installed in 2008 at a cost of $600 thousand.  In another photo, you can see Astoria, the ocean and river from atop the column. The very top photo is the jetty point, where the river and ocean actually meet. There is so much important history regarding Fort Stevens, which occupied the jetty point off Astoria, that I wouldn't know where to start or have enough room to tell it. It is of course online, if you would like to know.

I was in awe at the size of the pine trees we saw on the drive along the way. Some of them must have been 4 to 6 feet across at the base and well over 100 feet tall. Certainly nothing like these in Indiana ! We got in some birding and I can add some new species to my life list. It was cool and very breezy, but who cares, we got to touch where the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River meet and saw lots of people enjoying the beach and nice weather. You can see the coast line at Cannon Beach, in the bottom photo above. It was surreal and one of the most beautiful natural vistas I've ever seen. It looks like a scene that was thought up by a special effects artist, only better
 
A Short History of Astoria:
Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. Captain Robert Gray first visited Astoria in 1792, and by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery in 1805 that stayed through 1806.  The expedition had hoped a ship would come by to take them back east, but instead endured a torturous winter of rain and cold, then returned east the way they came. Today the fort has been recreated and is now a national monument In 1811, five years after the departure of Lewis & Clark, John Jacob Astor, a New York financier, sent fur traders aboard the ship Tonquin to establish a trading post. The first U.S. Post Office west of the Rocky Mountains was established in Astoria in 1847. In 1876, the community was incorporated by the state.

Portland, in the two photos above, is truly a "Tree City"and has been referred to as one of the most environmentally friendly or "green" cities in the world. In the top photo you can see Mount Hood and in the bottom photo is a typical tree lined street. We took a hike down into the moderately rugged trails of Forest Park, which one of the most heavily forested "city parks" I've ever seen. It had a large creek running the length, with waterfalls, rapids and lots of people out for a morning hike. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings!

The man who invented Super Glue has died.

Harry Coover, the inventor of the adhesive Super Glue, has passed away in his home in Kingsport, Tenn., at the age of 94. He originally developed it while working with high strength clear plastics for gun sights, during World War II and was most proud of its' use as a spray for battlefield medics to use to help stop bleeding. As a woodworker, I once believed myself to be an adhesive purest and would only use "real" wood glue. You know, the yellow woodworking glue, which is really just white glue with color added. I stuck with my lofty ideals for years until one day working on a job, I had a splinter of walnut trim come off in the worst place possible. With no good way to repair it using yellow glue, the stuff just doesn't work well on small repairs, a fellow carpenter placed a drop of quick drying Super Glue on the spot, replaced the very small, but very visible splinter of walnut back into its position, held it with the tip of his razor knife for a few seconds and the repair was invisible ! WOW, ok, no longer a glue virgin, I was sold. Although the yellow glue is still my primary adhesive, this stuff was amazing and I've kept it on hand ever since. It's now the only adhesive I use for the miniature spiral stairs the I make. Thank you, Mr Coover

Interesting fact on spiral stairs

As a builder of both full size and miniature spiral staircases, I was fascinated to find the following history on spiral stairs. As with many architectural designs, the spiral staircase has its roots in old European history. They were used as a defense mechanism for castles. When looking up from the bottom, exterior stairs were typically built against the walls of the towers in a clock-wise direction and in a counter-clock wise direction when on the inside of the tower walls. With the majority of swordsmen being right-handed, this design allowed the defending swordsman to swing his sword freely while either coming down the stairs or backing up in reverse, while the attacker, who again was usually right-handed, would have his swing blocked by the walls and the lack of a handrail made it easier to knock your opponent off the stairs. Also interesting, if you happened to be a left-handed swordsman, you were worth more than twice the price of a right-handed swordsman. Who knew. Go southpaws !!!   

Sam Maloof

Chairs by Sam Maloof Woodworking

Images by Gene Sasse

Sam Maloof was probably one of the most famous, recognized and successful woodworkers of the 20th century. Sadly, he passed away in 2009 at the age of 93. He has been a mentor of mine for over 30 years. His book Sam Maloof - Woodworker is about his life, how he started as a woodworker and made it his life long passion. It has been and continues to be a major source of inspiration for all of my woodworking and furniture. While I cannot pretend to be the craftsman Sam was, I can attempt to build everything I make to highest level of workmanship possible, as Sam would do.. His eye for simple design, balance and his "hard line" through out all of the many pieces he built, was extraordinary. His work is exhibited in famous collections such as the Smithsonian and the White House and is shown in galleries around the world. The furniture he built can sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction, if and when it becomes available. I especially like how he used the term , woodworker,  to describe who he is and what he does.
As Sam would say "It's an honest word and that's what I am: a woodworker"
Get his autobiography "Sam Maloof - Woodworker" and enjoy it.
Or you can follow this link to his site Sam Maloof Woodworking

                                                                     

Goodbye winter ?!?

At last the Crocus are croaking, so maybe spring is actually on it's way. I know it wasn't a hard or real cold winter, but it seemed to snow more times than usual, so it felt like a longer season. The wood stove has been going full blast and I'm looking forward to letting it cool down. I think we've gone through about 8 rick of wood. On the positive side, we've used only about 1-1/2 tanks of gas compared to 4 tanks last year. Guess I'll start piling up the wood for next year! Maybe I should stockpile 10 rick this time.

Computer woes

Well...........just when I thought I had things under control and began to get on a roll.  WHAM!    The hard drive in my computer failed. If it isn't possible to recover files, I stand to loose about 4 years of work and pics I had on it. I know it's not the end of the world , but WOW what a pain. Life goes on................ I guess it's time to start backing up everything. Anyone else experienced this?