Good morning readers. Thanks for coming by for a read this morning.
Different world. This is one of the first adult jokes I ever remember hearing:
First morning on her new job in a hardware store a man approached her. “I need a flat bastard.”
“Cad!” She slapped him and he rushed out.
The manager was aghast, but she explained the customer swore at her, so he just shook his head and went back to his business as another man approached her.
“I need a flat bastard.”
“Cad!” She slapped him and he ran from the store.
This time, the manager questioned her and she explained the offending language.
“Ahh. It’s okay. They were asking for bastard files. See,” pointing to a bin of files, “Those are called bastard files.”
She apologized, and he went back to work. Another customer approached her. “I need a file.”
“How about one of these flat bastards?” Glowing with new-found knowledge.
“No, I think I’ll take this little round son-of-a-bitch.”
Trying to dress my tools, all the little bastards I could find around here were Chinese s-o-bs. Worthless. I ended up using that grinding wheel as a whetstone, which was slow, but worked. But the stone soaked up a lot of oil while I used it.
While I was dressing those blades and working linseed oil into the handles I found myself wondering whether anyone does that anymore. As a kid I was taught that nobody would respect a person who didn’t take care of his tools. But I suspect there aren’t enough people doing any hoe work anymore to cause them to bother with it.
And of course, the tools aren’t made to last, anyway. Aren’t even made to do the job they’re shaped for.
I’m going to keep my eye out at auctions and thrift stores for some broken tools with metal D-handles, I reckons. That shovel has a lot of life left in it if I can find a handle that was made when the folks making it thought someone would use it eventually.
Old Jules
Today on Ask Old Jules: Open Range Ranching?
Old Jules, what can you tell me about open range ranching in the 1800s?
So Far From Heaven 