291 pounds.

Most of the camping and hiking gear I owned as a scout were hand-me-downs from my parents.  I never felt sore about that.  My parents took good care of their packs, tents, and sleeping bags.  In any case, my father taught me that skill always trumped equipment.  This attitude was institutionally fostered in Boy Scouts as well.  One of the merit badges to loom large at scout camp was Wilderness Survival, which required the scout to spend a night outdoors with what he could carry in his pocket.  The point of the exercise, of course, was that the scout should demonstrate the he could make do without all the fabulous toys that are usually at his disposal.

As a result of this attitude, I am drawn to ultralight backpacking.  When we would go backpacking, we were taught to forgo  a lot of the equipment that other hikers would bring.  Instead of a pad, we would carry hammocks.  Instead of a tent or tarp, we would carry surplus army ponchos with reinforced grommets that could double as rain gear.  Instead of a bulky, heavy sleeping bag, we would carry an old, surplus wool blanket and poncho liner that could also be used to, well, line the poncho.

That didn’t mean that we refused every new development in camping equipment.  As a troop, we were very devoted to heavy duty, reflective “space blankets.”  No other piece of equipment could reflect 75% of our body heat back to us.  That, I think, was the rule of thumb.  We would happily adopt a piece of equipment that did something new and helpful, but would not replace a piece of equipment just because something was done more conveniently.

I swear by these "space blankets."

Now I am looking to replace some old equipment and I’m inundated with all sorts of new equipment to sort through.  I’m amazed by the things that have been replaced, “improved,” or made lighter.  As a result, I’m working out what I need to replace and what I should stick with.  For example, an ultralight sleeping bag weighs about 3-4 pounds less than my old wool blanket/poncho liner combo.  However, I am reluctant to give up this old sleeping arrangement.  Both items are just so versatile.  The wool blanket wicks moisture away from the body in the way a sleeping bag can’t and the poncho liner can insulate me as I hike on cold,wet days.  Furthermore, an old, trusty space blanket will make both useful in the early spring and late fall.

What’s especially galling are the titanium “trekking poles.”  By the way, “trekking pole” is the most ridiculous term since “hydration pack.”  The advantage to the poles is that they are light and collapsible.  I understand the goal of keeping your pack light, but for the life of me, I can’t see how a good old hiking stick can be that much of a burden.  One of my favorite parts of backpacking was cutting a good hiking stick on the first day and whittling on it throughout the hike.  I just can’t image replacing that organic experience with something as cold and metallic (literally and figuratively) as a titanium “trekking pole.”

Of course I’m not all opposed to new developments.  As I wrote before, I plan on using “hydration packs” (or “water bags” as my friend Dom suggested).  I’m also willing to take advantage of any new lightweight designs when it comes to getting a new pack.  So I suppose I need to decide what I mean by ultralight when choosing my new backpacking equipment.  The answer, I think, lies in backpacking philosophy I was brought up with.  It is better to rely on skill and knowledge than fancy equipment.  We cut things out of our pack because we do not need them and it reduces weight.  Sure, I need to get a new camp stove to replace a lost one and I will got out of my way to get a light one.  But it’s silly to sink money into light equipment when something I can do myself will work just as well.  I doubt John Muir ever worried about super light, synthetic equipment.  Dom suggested that the hunting community is less given to gimmicks that hikers and backpackers.  I certainly intend to look there for more equipment.

Other tips or suggestions are more than welcome.  As always, I’m interested in what knowledge and experience is out there.

No matter how many times I do it, starting to write a new book is always a surprising and foreign experience. There is never a real plan, never a well-worn path through the development process, never a clear guiding light to creating characters, sketching a plot, knitting a world together.

There is no formula, even when you know what it takes to succeed. Even when you know what you want, and what you need, and how to reconcile the two. Even then, you’re still in the dark.

The critical problem is one of causality. When breathing life into your characters, when imagining those fantastic set pieces, when world-building, everything depends upon causality. Your characters must create your events, the events must topple like dominoes through your plot, and as soon as one piece tumbles out of place, you must not only notice, but you must fix it. And sometimes fixing it is infinitely more difficult than reason dictates it should be. But noticing? There’s the rub!

Where to begin? What idea is central to your story? Is it about a person, their life, their feelings, their actions? Is it about a concept, a time and place, a possible scenario? You must find the center of your story and nail it fast to the wall, and from this point build outwards. Everything must flow together. Everything must fit perfectly. There cannot be people or events “just because.” Everything little thing matters.

Look at your story. Does it happen because of your characters? Or does it happen to your characters? How many characters does it take to make the story work?

Think of your story as a long slender pole. The stronger it is, the fewer characters are needed to carry it intact. A single person can carry a strong metal pole on one shoulder, just as a single character can carry a strong story. But when the pole is fragile, brittle, patched together from random bits of twigs and trash, then it takes dozens and dozens of people to support it with both hands outstretched. So too, a story patched together with random plot points and non-sequential events, with vanishingly tenuous threads of causality, needs a cast of hundreds to hold together, each character popping up at just the right time and place to make their little corner of the story work.

• Whittle and fold. Whittle away the characters and events that are non-essential, that are not insightful or entertaining. Fold together people and plots that fit together, that belong together organically. E pluribus unum!

• Depth versus breadth. Depth is what captivates us, what brings us back to read again, what drives us to discuss and ponder and read yet again. Breadth is merely spectacle, what impresses or shocks or thrills, but is forgotten, and quickly at that.

• Step back, and step in. Step back from your beloved characters and your clever story and see its totality, its full shape, its full merit and failure. Then, step in, all the way in to the tiniest level of detail, and carefully sculpt your characters and events to become what they should be, instead of just what you thought they should be.

• Be humble, and be bold. Humility will make you a good student, eager to learn, eager to find your errors and to correct them. Boldness will drive you take chances, to try new things, to explore yourself and your writing to the limits of your ability.

• Shut up. Don’t talk about your work. Just work. Every minute you spend blogging about writing is time better spent on—

Bill Whittle hits another home run!

UPDATE: Bat Boy, er, Ed Anger at Weekly World News is getting tired of the logos, too.

Stoutcat

Here are a small selection of images from Dogstock in Chorley. The guys put on an excellent day from start to finish and it completely exceeded everyones expectionations… even the sun came out all day! to see more images take a look at my store and click here. I will be adding more images from the day very soon

I went to see Julie & Julia tonight (very good movie) and was immediately reminded of the story Gramma told us just yesterday.

First, I’ll say what a tremendous cook Gramma eventually became.  Not unlike Julia Childs herself, Gramma learned her cooking skills herself, by trial and error, and by fearlessly trying this and that and the other until she got it right. In our family, Gramma’s homemade noodles are legendary. Her homemade bread is equally as mouth watering and memorable. The list of her specialties goes on and on.

Still, by Gramma’s own admission, she did not know how to cook when, at 19 years of age, she married my grandfather. Gramma’s mother, the infamous Dora, was very territorial with her kitchen. My great grandmother was a marvelous cook. However,no one was allowed to cook in her kitchen but her, and certainly not a novice.  Apparently she had little need to pass on her skills in the kitchen, and so Gramma received little cooking training, other than what she was able to process by watching perhaps. And there was the self-talk. I think I’ve mentioned Great Grandma’s penchant for talking to herself. Perhaps some of her cooking recipes got “talked about”.

One night, in her trial and error experiments in cooking, my newly married grandmother decided to cook new potatoes.

[New potatoes are not a separate variety of potato, but younger versions of other varieties. The skin of new potatoes is generally thinner and flakier than the skin found on older potatoes. For this reason, new potatoes are rarely if ever peeled before cooking. ]

I don’t know when the early harvest of potatoes became all the rage, but the evening she decided to cook them was her first run-in with entire concept of “new potato”. She apparently took her regular bag of potatoes – old potatoes, as it were – and peeled them. Then, in order to make them new potatoes, she continued whittling away at them until she had formed much smaller, and nicely round, versions of themselves. Voila, new potatoes, right?

My grandfather was 19 years her senior. I imagine he may have suggested new potatoes to her and she rolled with the idea. Well, certainly all of us have some story of misunderstanding an idea or concept when it is first presented to us without specificity by the more learned souls around us. Very often people present things they are sure everyone knows, and take for granted that those to whom they are speaking know what they mean.

Myself, I remember when our Burmese cat, Suzy, was caught by a dog chasing her. He nearly took off one of her back legs. After rushing her to the vet, Mom and Dad returned to give us the news.

“They are going to have to put her to sleep,” Mom told us.

I was about eight or nine years old at the time. I didn’t understand how in the world it was possible that just by sleeping for awhile, Suzy was going to be fine and home again, but I was so willing to roll with that idea, I was noticeably happy with Mom’s news. I think it was the first time I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian – so like magicians or miracle workers they must be. Luckily, Mom’s confusion over my happiness to such sad news triggered her to my misunderstanding. Once she explained what “putting to sleep” meant, I was no longer happy. Indignantly, I refused to consent to having Suzy put down. The alternative was to amputate her leg. That was finally the choice we came up with, and Suzy was still living when I went away to college. She lived a happy, very ambulatory life for nearly 11 years after her amputation, until finally arthritis in her other hip made it necessary to put her down.

While my grandmother was dutifully and laboriously whittling old potatoes into new, I am sure she was having much the same kind of thoughts. As she had grown up during the Great Depression, I imagine her thoughts of the whole new potato thing as she whittled away were like this:

Well, I don’t get it. Why in the world would you want to waste half a perfectly good potato just to make a little potato. What do you do with the rest of it? Throw it away? Seems crazy to me, but if that’s what he wants, well…

Eventually my grandfather walked in the room. Seeing what she was doing, he asked her with some surprise, “What in the world are you doing?”

“Making little potatoes. New potatoes,” Gramma replied.

“I thought he’d never stop laughing,” Gramma told us last night to end her story.

 We had a hard time stopping as well.

The art of whittling is fading.

In days gone-by, whittling was very much a part of everyday life. Cowboys whittled around the campfire. Old men whittled while out front of the corner store. Whittling was a skill taught to Boy Scouts. Knife companies sponsored whittling contests and produced “How to Whittle” pamphlets to keep folks scraping wood with their knives. There were even whittling classes taught after the Great Depression- government sponsored classes. And as a part of the pubic works program, the gov actually paid folks to whittle.

In case, you missed how we got to this point, over the last few weeks we have looked specifically at how times have changed and how boys (and adults) no longer whittle as a hobby or pastime. Now there are other recreations used to entertain and occupy our time. Then we talked about boys not carrying pocket knives like they used to.

Donald Mertz

With this as the backdrop, I’m excited to report I met a professional whittler. The minute I met him I knew I had to record our encounter. His name is Donald Mertz- He is a master whittler. Listen in on my conversation with Don about his life and his craft.

How long have you been whittling?

“Ever since childhood, I am sixty seven now, so at least sixty years.”

Is there a difference between whittling and carving? If so, how would you describe them.

“Whittling is the art of shaping a hand held piece of wood in one hand and a knife in the other removing wood chips in a slicing action. It could be as simple as drawing the knife blade in a slicing action down the length of a piece of wood to create a thin, curling shaving the entire length of the wood.

A common mental picture of this type of whittling is a couple of ‘old timers’ sitting on the court house bench or the porch of a general store pulling shaving off a piece of wood with a pile of such shavings growing about their feet. It is also whimsical objects like a ball in a cage, a wooden chain with each link carved inner locking with the next link to form a chain, inner locking puzzles or those items often called ‘whimsies.’  Such an activity could also be called ‘carving with a knife.‘ If only a knife is used to shape and carve the object that is hand held while carving, then it is technically called ‘whittling.‘ As soon as another cutting tool is used, even if it be abrasive paper (which is a cutting tool) then it ceases to be ‘whittling’ and becomes ‘carving or sculpturing.’

Carving means to cut wood with several cutting tools into an artistic or  decorative manner, to sculpt or to engrave..  Sculpture is the art of carving, cutting or hewing wood, stone, plastic into figures or designs of an artistic appeal.  Carving and sculpturing require the use of many carving tools such as chisels, gouges, adzes, rifflers and abrasive material of hand powered  tools or motorized cutting tools like a chain saw or a rotary grinding tools especially designed for carving.

Whittling is carving only with a knife.  Carving is using many carving tools including a knife.  Thus ‘Carving is not whittling’ but ‘Whittling can be carving.’  Whittle-Carving is a style of carving using only a knife.”

Did you start our being a whittler?

“As a boy growing up on the farm in the late forties and early fifties, every boy carried a pocket knife.  If you had a knife then you would whittle, not always knowing what one was doing, but always trying to make something, a toy, a wooden boat, wooden rifles, animals.  It was not until 1973 that I met a wood carver who showed me the A-B-C’s basics about carving that started me to take carving seriously.  But having grown up with a pocket knife, it only seemed natural to use the knife in carving, supplemented by a few carving tools.  Whittling and carving is very much a ‘learning by doing’ craft in that the more you do the better you become.  This caused me to first call my self the ‘WOOD BEE CARVER’ as a play on the phrase of ‘would be’ as one who aspires to be, and from my experience of learning by doing I developed a philosophy that says, ‘Would be Carvers would be Carvers if they would carve wood.’”

What do you enjoy the most about working with wood and creating?

“I enjoy the very process of carving, what I call, ‘Wood carving is more the journey than the destination,’ by which I mean it is the actual carving process rather than the completed carving that brings the greatest enjoyment.  I enjoy sharpening an old pocket knife into a workable carving knife; I enjoy the creative process of an idea being shaped into a piece of wood that takes on a personality of its own; I enjoy the friendship of other carvers and the sharing of ideas, how-to’s and the thrill of creating; I enjoy seeing and feeling a shaving or chip of wood come off the block of wood during the slicing action the the cutting tool, so much so that there is almost a little music as the chip flies free from the wood; I enjoy setting free the carving subject that is imprisoned in a block of wood setting it free by removing everything that does not look like the carving subject. I enjoy writing and showing photographs of my carvings along with how-to instructions in my web log www.woodbeecarver.com”

Any thing about the history of whittling you can share with us?

“I will be working on ‘A Century of Whittling’ as a history of the rise of whittling in our country between 1865 and 1965 since whittling got its big push during and after the civil war, thriving for 100 years as a ‘Folk Art’ (whittling is the art of the common folk) but since the electronic explosion after 1965 boys got away from pocket knives in exchange for video games.  Kids not longer make things to entertain themselves rather they are entertained electronically with little imagination stimulation or hands-on dexterity of doing hand creativity.  Industrial arts and the arts were done away with in most schools, so there was little opportunity to do creative-make it yourself kinds of activities.”

I see you are a teacher of this art- tell us how long you have taught and where?

“I have taught organized classes for fifteen years and given many one-to-one carving instructions.  Because I teach “carving only with a knife” every student works hard at learning to carve only with a knife, having used a knife only as a secondary tool, but each student is eager to learn because of the unique look of ‘Whittle-Carving’ style of cuts, since I teach ’slicing cuts’ as the way to clean and slick carving appearance.”

Can you gives us a high-level concept overview of what you teach in your classes?

“I start off teaching the basics of learning to use a ’slicing cut’ by carving a ‘ball’ on the end of a square stick.  Then I teach about the ‘Rule of Three’ Proportions of both the face and human figure, so that figure carvings will look right if everything is in proper proportions.  Besides the verbal instructions about the class project, I also will demonstrate carving with a knife the steps with each student following the verbal description.  I carve on a demonstration block of wood, and the student then carves on their own block of wood trying to remember what they had observed as I carved and also from ‘go-by’s’ which are carvings in various stages of completion for the student to look at while carving their own.”

What type of tools/knives do you use?

“SHARP KNIVES!  for Whittle-Carving projects.  Regular carving tools for larger carving projects. The photograph of the knife is a rose wood handled Challenger two bladed jack knife that has sentimental value to me.”

How do you keep them sharp?

“Knives are sharpened by hand using  three diamond plates the size of a credit card + a coarse, a fine and an extra fine .  I keep the blade flat on its side rubbing back and forth on both sides until a burr edge appears on the coarse diamond plate and then continue on the other  diamond plates. This is followed by stropping on a leather strop fixed to a wooden paddle that has aluminum oxide compound applied for a fine polishing away of the burr edge to expose the cutting teeth.  It is during the extra fine diamond and the leather stropping that a micro bevel is applied, but for my slicing kind of knife carving I do not want a wide or thick bevel, the narrower the better.  While carving, all that is required is an occasional stropping.  Sharpening only occurs in there is is knick in the cutting edge or the cutting edge has gotten rounded by repeated stropping.”

You mentioned different steels are better for whittling, can you elaborate on this for us?

“High Carbon Steel, the kind found in old pocket knives (the blades that will rust) make the best carving knives.  In the old pocket knives, the brand name does not make that much difference.  If an old pocket knife has survived over fifty years of mistreatment, it must have enough mettle in its carbon steel blades to still have carving life to be restored through reshaping and sharpening.  Even the cheap dime store type of pocket knives with tin shell handles, have excellent blades that make good carving knives.”

How do you decide what to whittle-carve?

“There as so many subject awaiting to be carved as well as themes like: hobos, gnomes, Indians, cowboys, caricature human figures.  Ideas come from wood carving magazines — Wood Carving Illustrated — Carving Magazine — Chip Chats; ideas come from various carving books, observation of life, cartoons, ideas that pop into my head and also taking a wood carving class to learn something new.  There is no end to where the ideas come from, the only end is that there is not enough time to carve all that one wants to carve.”

What types of wood are best for this? Does it depend on any factors?

“The carvers’ choice is ‘basswood’ that comes from the Linden Tree.  Also ‘butternut’ is a favorite as well at catalpa, but for that matter, any wood can be carved, although the harder woods take more effort.  Basswood is a fairly soft wood with even grain that is not to distinct and basswood receives paint very well.”

On average how long does it take to complete a figurine?

“It depends upon the size: for a six inch tall figure one inch square, it takes about eight hours, a three inch figure would take maybe four hours, while a larger piece may take forty to a hundred hours depending upon the difficulty of the design.  Of course, carving is normally not done at one sitting.”

At what point, do you consider a piece to be completed?

“Experience teaches one to know ‘enough is enough.’ “

I see there is an association of Wood Carvers you belong to- what is the purpose of that association? How many members does it have?

“The National Wood Carvers Association exists to promote and encourage carving and whittling, primarily through the publication of ‘Chip Chats’ a bi-monthly magazine that has show reports with photographs of carving entries in competition, some how-to articles and resources for tools, classes and supplies.  30,000 members world wide, although most are in the United States, which is unique in promoting ‘hobby Carving’ while in other countries carving is a trade, occupation learned in apprenticeship.”

You work is amazing. Are there any pieces that are your favorite?

“My favorite pieces are the ones I am carving now for that is the meaning of ‘Woodcarving is more the journey than the destination,’ in that it is in the carving process that the carver finds the greatest fulfillment.  The completed carving is nice, but it is the next carving project that motivates me.  My favorite piece is the one I am working on at the moment. And they are all my favorites.  It is like knives, of all the hundreds of knives I have, my favorite is the one I have in my hand at the time and I am thrilled with it as it is slicing singingly through the wood, the music of the creative spirit whittling away time, the best time of one’s life.”

#End of interview

Thank you Don for taking the time to share your life and work with us. Your work is fascinating.

I intentionally did not include photos of Don’s work. Instead, you must visit his virtual shop. He has hundreds of images, plus his blog is chocked full of details and tidbits. Take the time to visit- it’ll be the highlight of your day! Here it is WoodBeCarver. Say “Hello” to Don while you’re there.

This whittle train

(whittle is a amarican brand www.woodentrain.com)

A short powerpoint presentation on carbenes that I did for a chemistry class.  I can’t figure out how to post it so its viewable online, so you can download the file.

Carbene Powerpoint

- Chalmer

Whittle / Whittall /Whittell

Robert’s WHITTLE family etc., are from Yorkshire, England. His son and their families (with 1 grandson and 3 ggchildren) live in W. Australia. His daughter and her family (with  a grandson and granddaughter ) live in BC., Canada. His siblings and their families, live in Yorkshire, England and Ballarat area, Australia. To read more of Robert’s own personal history, go to Bob’s Bio.

Robert’s Surnames:
BOTTOM, JACKSON, MCALPINE, SPIVEY, WHITTLE/WHITTAL (mainly all in Yorkshire.
WHITTLE (Ballarat, Australia), WHITTLE (Perth area, Australia)

If you find your surname in this list … BEFORE you contact us please go to the more detailed listing  THE TABLE (above or find the link on the right side of this page).

To find out more about J. Robert Whittle, the bestselling author of historical novels, or to contact him, go to www.jrobertwhittle.com

]]> http://landsend.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/the-last-time-we-were-all-together/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:34:44 +0000 marymazmouse http://landsend.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/the-last-time-we-were-all-together/

This was taken the weekend we decided to do this trip….perhaps we were all alittle crazy back then, but riding the length of Britain seemed like such a good idea to us three amigos at the time. Now, with just a few days to go, as I lay out all my kit out in the lounge, wondering how it will all fit in my panniers* ( and how I’m going to move my bike when they are on) i am beginning to feel the reality of it all and I’m feeling somewhat nervioso… lets hope that being a bit loco is the key factor to succeeding this ride….!

*Panniers = bike bags “I’m not a geek, just practical…” Isn’t that right Miss Whittle….!

سلام

این پوسترهای زیبا برای تبلیغ یک چاقوی آلمانی طراحی شده به نام WMF Knives که شعارش هم هست ” برای آنها که به دقت اهمیت میدهند ” واقعا زیباست ما که خیلی خوشمان آمد .

(ادامه در ادامه)