Do they still make wooden pencils? https://i.imgur.com/3d5oMxF.mp4
I haven't had a need to use my electric sharpener for about twenty years now.
Pencil Sharpener
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Re: Pencil Sharpener
Wow, that one works like my grandpa's did, but his was a different brand I'm sure.
I have an El Casco pencil sharpener I use at least once a week when I run out of sharp pencils.
I saw them advertised on eBay for $1,300.00 used. Also for $850.00 used, hi hi.
I got it as a graduation gift and back then they only only cost like $200.00 I think.
It is solid gold plated, and does a great job sharpening pencils.
I have a dozen sharp pencils laying on my desk right now, because I use pencils a lot.
WHY?
Because a pencil mark will never go away. Papers can get wet, smeared on, get oil on them, etc., and they will always still be readable.
I have some old paperwork done in a ball point pen, and if you look at it now, the ink has spread and there is a band of oil around all the writing. And newer pens are mostly water based, so anything written with them gets obliterated when wet.
So, it is pencils I use most often, and not mechanical pencils either, because I don't like them.
I only buy REAL WOOD Pencils, not the plastic ones they make now.
But the plastic ones you can heat up and form them into crazy shapes, hi hi.
Albeit, the way I shake now, nobody could read what I have written anymore, hi hi.
The only place I use a permanent ink pen, aka waterproof gel pen, is when I'm writing checks.
But you have to be careful there too, some brands that were waterproof are not anymore.
I have an El Casco pencil sharpener I use at least once a week when I run out of sharp pencils.
I saw them advertised on eBay for $1,300.00 used. Also for $850.00 used, hi hi.
I got it as a graduation gift and back then they only only cost like $200.00 I think.
It is solid gold plated, and does a great job sharpening pencils.
I have a dozen sharp pencils laying on my desk right now, because I use pencils a lot.
WHY?
Because a pencil mark will never go away. Papers can get wet, smeared on, get oil on them, etc., and they will always still be readable.
I have some old paperwork done in a ball point pen, and if you look at it now, the ink has spread and there is a band of oil around all the writing. And newer pens are mostly water based, so anything written with them gets obliterated when wet.
So, it is pencils I use most often, and not mechanical pencils either, because I don't like them.
I only buy REAL WOOD Pencils, not the plastic ones they make now.
But the plastic ones you can heat up and form them into crazy shapes, hi hi.
Albeit, the way I shake now, nobody could read what I have written anymore, hi hi.
The only place I use a permanent ink pen, aka waterproof gel pen, is when I'm writing checks.
But you have to be careful there too, some brands that were waterproof are not anymore.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
I recall hand cranked pencil sharpeners from when I was a kid in school, but none of them looked like the one in the video clip. Quite a few years ago, before we migrated to Missouri, I did a search of local office supply stands and could not find any pencils made from wood. I did find the plastic ones and ones that were made from something like crayola and plastic sawdust. No 4H pencils could be found at that time. So I switched over to mechanical pencils which work fine enough for my purposes. I don't save a lot of paperwork to begin with and what I do have is more likely than not printed on my HP Printer. So, the question remains, from where do you buy those real wood pencils? With the price of lumber these days they must be terribly expensive.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Encore brand, package of 20 #2 Pencils made from Spruce made in Canada $2.99 in 2020
Eagle brand, package of 10 #2 Pencils made from Fir made in USA $1.99 in 2021
Wallace brand, package of 20 #2 Pencils made from Cedar made in USA $3.49 in 2021
All Ticonderoga and USA Gold are made from American Wood, type of wood not specified. 24 $5.49 in 2022
I don't use up as many pencils as I used to, because I'm not doing much note taking or other work by hand anymore.
I also have pencils made with wood casings but have plastic lead, they are for writing on matte films, mylar film drafting.
FWIW - Pencils are made from the branches that get cut off before the tree is cut down.
Not all of those waste items are shredded or left to rot.
Companies like Weyerhauser and Georgia Pacific use 99% of every tree they cut down, excluding the leaves in most cases.
I went through a Georgia Pacific Mill once and was amazed at all they can get out of a tree.
A hardwood tree especially. If a piece is big enough to make a toothpick, that's what it's used for, hi hi.
Even their sawdust is used to make particleboard and other things, probably pencils too, hi hi.
I had tons of pencils called Conte Crayons, they have soft colored lead, as well as wax or paint based lead, for artists.
Plus for my carpentry work, I had tons of paper wrapped grease pencils as well.
Eagle brand, package of 10 #2 Pencils made from Fir made in USA $1.99 in 2021
Wallace brand, package of 20 #2 Pencils made from Cedar made in USA $3.49 in 2021
All Ticonderoga and USA Gold are made from American Wood, type of wood not specified. 24 $5.49 in 2022
I don't use up as many pencils as I used to, because I'm not doing much note taking or other work by hand anymore.
I also have pencils made with wood casings but have plastic lead, they are for writing on matte films, mylar film drafting.
FWIW - Pencils are made from the branches that get cut off before the tree is cut down.
Not all of those waste items are shredded or left to rot.
Companies like Weyerhauser and Georgia Pacific use 99% of every tree they cut down, excluding the leaves in most cases.
I went through a Georgia Pacific Mill once and was amazed at all they can get out of a tree.
A hardwood tree especially. If a piece is big enough to make a toothpick, that's what it's used for, hi hi.
Even their sawdust is used to make particleboard and other things, probably pencils too, hi hi.
I had tons of pencils called Conte Crayons, they have soft colored lead, as well as wax or paint based lead, for artists.
Plus for my carpentry work, I had tons of paper wrapped grease pencils as well.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Of all the pencils you list I only recall using the Eagle brand. I might have used all the others too but only recall the Eagle name. When drawing something or working crossword puzzles a lead pencil is a requirement. There are people like yourself and my wife who insist on using a pen for those puzzles. She even does Sudoku in ink. More power to you folks. I admit from the start that I WILL make mistakes and want to be able to erase them so that the final product looks perfect. LOL As far as note taking goes, I don't. That probably had something to do with my poor performance in college. I only took notes in the lecture halls so that the other people would not look at me in wonder. Writing was always a pain for me and I used the typewriter whenever I could get away with it. At work I did take copious notes but that was not really text. It was some short notation on a drawing or a spec sheet that I used for documentation at a later time. Before smartphones took over the world we had a notepad by the phones to write down anything important or to leave messages. Now everybody carries their own phone and there is no need for such notepads. They may still exist in corporate offices where the executives have personal assistants, but I doubt those are written in pencil. I recall an uncle having Conte Crayons. He was artistically inclined so it made sense for him.
I know what you mean about the saw mills using every bit of the tree, even the chips and sawdust. In fact most of this house is made from wood chips. I know the studs in the garage are solid wood, but none of the beams or trusses are. Even the windows are plastic. Wood is becoming a rarity these days be it from Canada or domestic. That which you can buy is super expensive, which goes a long way to explain the high price of new homes today.
I know what you mean about the saw mills using every bit of the tree, even the chips and sawdust. In fact most of this house is made from wood chips. I know the studs in the garage are solid wood, but none of the beams or trusses are. Even the windows are plastic. Wood is becoming a rarity these days be it from Canada or domestic. That which you can buy is super expensive, which goes a long way to explain the high price of new homes today.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
You can laugh, but I still have my Palm ONE PDA and use it nearly every day. I'm surprised the batteries in it have not died yet.
Eagle Turquoise was the brand name of all of the drafting pencils I used.
But most of my normal writing pencils going all the way back to my skewl daze have been Wallace SMART.
Recently, however, I pick up ones that say wood cased regardless of the brand on them.
And a lot of them tell you what kind of wood was used also, and if they have Cedar wood, I always grab those first, even if they are buck more.
Hope you never have a flood in a house that used a 1/2 inch flakeboard beam with a 2x3 pressboard cap on each top and bottom of the beam. I was working in a house where their dishwasher leaked for some time, and they didn't know it, because it was behind the dishwasher and under the counter.
Down in the basement, one of those manufactured beams had puffed up and turned soft. You could literally crumble the beam in your hands without effort.
They couldn't afford to have that whole beam replaced, so I did the next best thing for them.
I cut the bad part of the beam out and added a stringer between the beams on either side of it, connected to the beam I cut off. Sorta like you would do when adding a set of stairs to a basement.
Then I added two more stringers under the dishwasher area, one up close to the wall, and one where the front edge of the cabinets upstairs would be sitting. Now water won't damage it anymore, hi hi.
Stick built rafters are stronger and better than pre-made trusses, unfortunately, the law now requires you use manufactured trusses, at least in most of the cities I did work in.
Eagle Turquoise was the brand name of all of the drafting pencils I used.
But most of my normal writing pencils going all the way back to my skewl daze have been Wallace SMART.
Recently, however, I pick up ones that say wood cased regardless of the brand on them.
And a lot of them tell you what kind of wood was used also, and if they have Cedar wood, I always grab those first, even if they are buck more.
Hope you never have a flood in a house that used a 1/2 inch flakeboard beam with a 2x3 pressboard cap on each top and bottom of the beam. I was working in a house where their dishwasher leaked for some time, and they didn't know it, because it was behind the dishwasher and under the counter.
Down in the basement, one of those manufactured beams had puffed up and turned soft. You could literally crumble the beam in your hands without effort.
They couldn't afford to have that whole beam replaced, so I did the next best thing for them.
I cut the bad part of the beam out and added a stringer between the beams on either side of it, connected to the beam I cut off. Sorta like you would do when adding a set of stairs to a basement.
Then I added two more stringers under the dishwasher area, one up close to the wall, and one where the front edge of the cabinets upstairs would be sitting. Now water won't damage it anymore, hi hi.
Stick built rafters are stronger and better than pre-made trusses, unfortunately, the law now requires you use manufactured trusses, at least in most of the cities I did work in.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Your comment about trusses is interesting. The only house I ever had custom built about 30 years ago had trusses. They were on 24 inch centers instead of the 16 inch spacing for sticks. I asked the general contractor about that spacing and he told me trusses are stronger and don't need the close spacing to hold up the roof. That sounded reasonable to me because of all the wood that goes into making a single truss. It could be why building codes require trusses now.
I was elated when we found this house. It was just about everything I wanted other than the plastic windows which I figured we could replace. I did note that the sheeting on the outer walls was all particle board and there was no conduit for the electrical system. Plastic water pipes seems odd too. I hesitated for a few seconds to look at those manufactured floor joists. I did not and still do not like them. In theory they are good enough to do the job, maybe even better like the trusses. But they don't impress me as being quality lumber. The supporting I-Beam is all steel, which is fine but won't do anything for the joists if they start to crumble for some reason. This place looked good to the eye but was constructed with cheap (in my opinion) materials. I doubt that the basement would ever flood, but the dishwasher and bathroom could.
I'm not too surprised that you still have your PDA. I am surprised that it is still functioning. It is indeed amazing that the batteries still work. You probably can find somebody to sell you replacements if you really wanted them. I have found old and unique batteries for my cameras, for example, and even my flip phone. Then again, I don't think any of them are as old as your PDA. When PDA's were first introduced HP decided to make some and gave us Motorolans a few for good will. They claimed the Reverse Polish notation they used was better and had white papers to prove it. It was way too awkward for me and slowed me down considerably, and all my ancestors are from Poland.
I was elated when we found this house. It was just about everything I wanted other than the plastic windows which I figured we could replace. I did note that the sheeting on the outer walls was all particle board and there was no conduit for the electrical system. Plastic water pipes seems odd too. I hesitated for a few seconds to look at those manufactured floor joists. I did not and still do not like them. In theory they are good enough to do the job, maybe even better like the trusses. But they don't impress me as being quality lumber. The supporting I-Beam is all steel, which is fine but won't do anything for the joists if they start to crumble for some reason. This place looked good to the eye but was constructed with cheap (in my opinion) materials. I doubt that the basement would ever flood, but the dishwasher and bathroom could.
I'm not too surprised that you still have your PDA. I am surprised that it is still functioning. It is indeed amazing that the batteries still work. You probably can find somebody to sell you replacements if you really wanted them. I have found old and unique batteries for my cameras, for example, and even my flip phone. Then again, I don't think any of them are as old as your PDA. When PDA's were first introduced HP decided to make some and gave us Motorolans a few for good will. They claimed the Reverse Polish notation they used was better and had white papers to prove it. It was way too awkward for me and slowed me down considerably, and all my ancestors are from Poland.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Most trusses are made using 1x3 lumber, with metal plates at the joints. A few are 1x4 lumber, which only measure about 3-1/2 inches in true measurements.
But 24 inch centers is not really good, especially if they used only 3/8 plywood for the roof. 1/2 in plywood would be better. But you will still get some sag between rafters that far apart.
I once worked in a house that had 2x6 on 16 inch centers with 3/4 inch plywood for the roof, but then too, they were having a slate roof over that which is heavy.
Many houses are built as cheaply as possible, but they seem to be holding up just fine.
If you want to see what a house looks like after 60 years when corners were cut and materials were scarce, come look at my crooked little house, with crooked floors, walls, and ceilings.
The floors move with the seasons, so you can get a closet door adjusted just right, and wait six months and it will be way off. Adjust it again, and six months later it is off in the other direction.
I've done all the beefing up I could do as I redid each room, hi hi.
Mine is actually the PalmONE E2, I bought it on our 4th wedding anniversary for around 250 bucks, that would be back in 2005 and it is still going strong, albeit the cover hinge failed being it was just part of the plastic cover.
It has a ton of memory in it, and I have lots of things in it also, including the entire bible, in two different files, one in alphabetical order of books, and one in the normal order of the books, both red letter editions. I actually created these PDA versions myself, and still have them on my original website for downloads.
Back when many people had them, we only had to point the device at each other to upload or download data with each other.
I no longer carry mine in my pocket, but have it on my desk for quick access to my passwords and other info.
But 24 inch centers is not really good, especially if they used only 3/8 plywood for the roof. 1/2 in plywood would be better. But you will still get some sag between rafters that far apart.
I once worked in a house that had 2x6 on 16 inch centers with 3/4 inch plywood for the roof, but then too, they were having a slate roof over that which is heavy.
Many houses are built as cheaply as possible, but they seem to be holding up just fine.
If you want to see what a house looks like after 60 years when corners were cut and materials were scarce, come look at my crooked little house, with crooked floors, walls, and ceilings.
The floors move with the seasons, so you can get a closet door adjusted just right, and wait six months and it will be way off. Adjust it again, and six months later it is off in the other direction.
I've done all the beefing up I could do as I redid each room, hi hi.
Mine is actually the PalmONE E2, I bought it on our 4th wedding anniversary for around 250 bucks, that would be back in 2005 and it is still going strong, albeit the cover hinge failed being it was just part of the plastic cover.
It has a ton of memory in it, and I have lots of things in it also, including the entire bible, in two different files, one in alphabetical order of books, and one in the normal order of the books, both red letter editions. I actually created these PDA versions myself, and still have them on my original website for downloads.
Back when many people had them, we only had to point the device at each other to upload or download data with each other.
I no longer carry mine in my pocket, but have it on my desk for quick access to my passwords and other info.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
PDA's never really died. Like General Mac Arthur, they just faded away. The idea was ahead of it's time when introduced but today it is incorporated with all the other stuff those smartphones can do. I have a Google Personal Assistant living inside my Pixel 3. She keeps telling me and sending me e-mails about all the things she can do for me, but I more or less ignore her. The beauty of Google's personal assistant is that I can talk to her and she will respond in something very close to fluent English. A lot of the information she has comes up as web pages, but then she can also do things like "call my wife." One day I was looking for a particular butcher shop whose name I didn't recall exactly. I asked my personal assistant where it was as best as I could recall it. She found the exact match in a few places such as Brooklyn NY and Las Vegas NV, but not the one in O'Fallon. I was frustrated mostly at myself but I yelled at her "You are F...ing stupid Google." To which she replied, "I'm sorry, but there still are a few bugs in the system." I couldn't help laughing.
It's true that they don't build houses like they used to. The first house I owned had actual 2" x 4" hardwood studs in the walls and laths and plaster on top of that. You can still get the plaster done if you care to, but finding hard wood is not as easy as it used to be. Plus the price of it would prohibit you from hiding it as a stud behind wallboard. My second house had plywood sheathing, but the trees used to make plywood are all but extinct now. Thus a cheaper substitute is now used out of necessity. Same with the concrete we have talked about many times. Portland cement cannot be had anymore and thus the quality of concrete isn't what it used to be. I understand why this house was made the way it was. This community is not upscale by any stretch of the imagination and the cost of living here is way less than up by Chicago. They just built this place so that the average citizen would be able to buy it. As an aside, from what I can tell the market price for this place is now $100,000 more than what I paid for it six years ago. Unbelievable.
And, the trussed roof on my previous house had 5/8 inch plywood on it. I found that out one year when the roof needed replacement just because it was 20 years old already, and because the plywood sheathing laminations were beginning to come apart on several panels. Back then they charged me $65 for each 4 x 8 panel they replaced. I can't imagine what it would cost today.
It's true that they don't build houses like they used to. The first house I owned had actual 2" x 4" hardwood studs in the walls and laths and plaster on top of that. You can still get the plaster done if you care to, but finding hard wood is not as easy as it used to be. Plus the price of it would prohibit you from hiding it as a stud behind wallboard. My second house had plywood sheathing, but the trees used to make plywood are all but extinct now. Thus a cheaper substitute is now used out of necessity. Same with the concrete we have talked about many times. Portland cement cannot be had anymore and thus the quality of concrete isn't what it used to be. I understand why this house was made the way it was. This community is not upscale by any stretch of the imagination and the cost of living here is way less than up by Chicago. They just built this place so that the average citizen would be able to buy it. As an aside, from what I can tell the market price for this place is now $100,000 more than what I paid for it six years ago. Unbelievable.
And, the trussed roof on my previous house had 5/8 inch plywood on it. I found that out one year when the roof needed replacement just because it was 20 years old already, and because the plywood sheathing laminations were beginning to come apart on several panels. Back then they charged me $65 for each 4 x 8 panel they replaced. I can't imagine what it would cost today.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
When I worked at McDonnell-Douglas, after I was moved to the NASA division.
They had something amazing there. I knew how to use it, although never had the need to, but have no idea how it worked.
If you remember those toy wax boards with the plastic film over them you could draw on with a wooden stick. This thing looked sorta like that, but no film to pull up. If you drew something on the board using this pen that had a black rubber tip on the end, you would see what you drew, and after you were done, you pressed a button and it would appear on another screen like that. Then the person at the other end would scribble OK got it, and that would appear on our screen. Until you pressed the button to clear the screen. Somebody there once said it uses an oil film and magnetics somehow, but they didn't know how it worked either, just that it did. We did not have electronics back then like we have today.
I've worked in many old houses that had full size 2x4s that measured 2x4 with a ruler. One house I worked in, the studs were made from black walnut. I don't know if the whole house was that way, or just the room I was working in. The wood was so hard you couldn't drive a nail into it, or even screw a drywall screw in it without first drilling a pilot hole.
I kept all the timber I removed from another house I worked in, and it was either oak or rock maple. I used it up in my woodshop making small things, some of which was turned on the lathe. It was super hard and really dulled my tools fast.
On houses I controlled, if I needed the roofing replaced, I had them use OSB (oriented strand board) because it is basically waterproof, but it doesn't delaminate from the heat like plywood does. It was also a lot cheaper back in the day.
I used some cedar osb to finish a guys rec room for him, and with two coats of clear lacquer over it, it looked awesome. However, it still looked like OSB, hi hi. He liked it, that's what was important!
They had something amazing there. I knew how to use it, although never had the need to, but have no idea how it worked.
If you remember those toy wax boards with the plastic film over them you could draw on with a wooden stick. This thing looked sorta like that, but no film to pull up. If you drew something on the board using this pen that had a black rubber tip on the end, you would see what you drew, and after you were done, you pressed a button and it would appear on another screen like that. Then the person at the other end would scribble OK got it, and that would appear on our screen. Until you pressed the button to clear the screen. Somebody there once said it uses an oil film and magnetics somehow, but they didn't know how it worked either, just that it did. We did not have electronics back then like we have today.
I've worked in many old houses that had full size 2x4s that measured 2x4 with a ruler. One house I worked in, the studs were made from black walnut. I don't know if the whole house was that way, or just the room I was working in. The wood was so hard you couldn't drive a nail into it, or even screw a drywall screw in it without first drilling a pilot hole.
I kept all the timber I removed from another house I worked in, and it was either oak or rock maple. I used it up in my woodshop making small things, some of which was turned on the lathe. It was super hard and really dulled my tools fast.
On houses I controlled, if I needed the roofing replaced, I had them use OSB (oriented strand board) because it is basically waterproof, but it doesn't delaminate from the heat like plywood does. It was also a lot cheaper back in the day.
I used some cedar osb to finish a guys rec room for him, and with two coats of clear lacquer over it, it looked awesome. However, it still looked like OSB, hi hi. He liked it, that's what was important!
Re: Pencil Sharpener
I don't have the experience you do but after looking at a few pictures of OSB (oriented strand board), I can say that is what my garage walls are made of. I presume the rest of the house is the same material. And, the manufactured I-beams for the floor joists are made of the same stuff. Lowe's is selling a sheet of that stuff for about $27 so that it's not cheap. All I can say is that it doesn't look good to me, but apparently it's blessed by all the major building codes. I can see finishing it off with lacquer or something to create a gloss surface. I could be tempted to use it on an inner wall for decoration purposes. Then again, I'd probably regret it when I sobered up.
Whatever that drawing board was at McDonald Douglas it must have been truly amazing. It's hard to believe there was advanced technology before the Electronic Age hatched, but I guess you saw it with you own eyes. Apparently they are doing something similar with computers these days. I've seen tablets that use a pen similar to the one you describe. You can write and draw on it and the tablet will send it to your computer's display if you wish. I've seen some that can actually do calculations and translations, but I don't know how much of that is in the tablet and how much is in the computer.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=external+wri ... ioosf6re_e
Whatever that drawing board was at McDonald Douglas it must have been truly amazing. It's hard to believe there was advanced technology before the Electronic Age hatched, but I guess you saw it with you own eyes. Apparently they are doing something similar with computers these days. I've seen tablets that use a pen similar to the one you describe. You can write and draw on it and the tablet will send it to your computer's display if you wish. I've seen some that can actually do calculations and translations, but I don't know how much of that is in the tablet and how much is in the computer.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=external+wri ... ioosf6re_e
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Well I did learn something about the device I was talking about.
It had to do with receiving satellite transmissions, and the ability to print them out.
The message board I was talking about is based loosely on an early device known as the Pantelegraph machine.
The original Pantelegraph was the precursor to the Facsimile machines. You placed a drawing or text on it, and it send it over telegraph wires. It did this by scanning each line on a page, one dot at a time, and sending the whole line over the telegraph to a receiver that inked those dots on a page, one line at a time, before the next line could be sent.
The message board at McDonell-Douglas was like a said, sorta like a wax board, but used an oil film and I think magnetics.
When you touched the surface of the panel, it left a black mark, or a line if you moved the pen while touching the board.
Whatever you did on the board would appear on the board in another department.
I can only guess that where the black marks were were read using a magnetic scanner that was part of the board itself, and then sent a signal to the other board and it would use a magnet to make the marks on the other board.
But I never heard anything mechanical in operation of those boards. So maybe those boards had a zillion pick-up coils in them and a zillion magnetic heads to display an image. Heck, they might have worked like a tape recorder head? Also if I recall, if you didn't clear the board, the line drawn would continue to spread out until it disappeared on its own.
Heck, maybe in one sense it worked like those powdered iron toys with a bald headed guys face in them and you pulled the iron filings to give him hair or a beard. NASA did have some mighty advanced stuff back in 1966 when I worked their.
Even though we still had mechanical calculators we had to hand crank. Our were called Friden machines.
My first recorder was a Wire Recorder. It worked like a tape recorder but used spools of wire.
But then shortly later I got a VM (Voice of Music) commercial grade reel to reel tape recorder.
I still had it, but gave it to my son about 8 or 10 years ago, along with boxes of recorded tapes I had.
Some OSB board uses a type of resin that is basically waterproof.
From what I understand, OSB is not made from scrap lumber, but from whole logs, chipped up into a thick stack, and are pressed down under high pressure plates, so a foot high stack of chips would get compressed down to a 1/2 inch board.
It is much stronger than things like particleboard which is made from sawdust, and most is not waterproof at all.
It had to do with receiving satellite transmissions, and the ability to print them out.
The message board I was talking about is based loosely on an early device known as the Pantelegraph machine.
The original Pantelegraph was the precursor to the Facsimile machines. You placed a drawing or text on it, and it send it over telegraph wires. It did this by scanning each line on a page, one dot at a time, and sending the whole line over the telegraph to a receiver that inked those dots on a page, one line at a time, before the next line could be sent.
The message board at McDonell-Douglas was like a said, sorta like a wax board, but used an oil film and I think magnetics.
When you touched the surface of the panel, it left a black mark, or a line if you moved the pen while touching the board.
Whatever you did on the board would appear on the board in another department.
I can only guess that where the black marks were were read using a magnetic scanner that was part of the board itself, and then sent a signal to the other board and it would use a magnet to make the marks on the other board.
But I never heard anything mechanical in operation of those boards. So maybe those boards had a zillion pick-up coils in them and a zillion magnetic heads to display an image. Heck, they might have worked like a tape recorder head? Also if I recall, if you didn't clear the board, the line drawn would continue to spread out until it disappeared on its own.
Heck, maybe in one sense it worked like those powdered iron toys with a bald headed guys face in them and you pulled the iron filings to give him hair or a beard. NASA did have some mighty advanced stuff back in 1966 when I worked their.
Even though we still had mechanical calculators we had to hand crank. Our were called Friden machines.
My first recorder was a Wire Recorder. It worked like a tape recorder but used spools of wire.
But then shortly later I got a VM (Voice of Music) commercial grade reel to reel tape recorder.
I still had it, but gave it to my son about 8 or 10 years ago, along with boxes of recorded tapes I had.
Some OSB board uses a type of resin that is basically waterproof.
From what I understand, OSB is not made from scrap lumber, but from whole logs, chipped up into a thick stack, and are pressed down under high pressure plates, so a foot high stack of chips would get compressed down to a 1/2 inch board.
It is much stronger than things like particleboard which is made from sawdust, and most is not waterproof at all.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
it's hard to imagine what NASA was doing with that display board. They pioneered a lot of things that eventually became practical, but much of their R&D tools were too expensive for the consumer market.
It amazes me how we both ran across some of the same machinery as we were growing up. My very first job as an office boy included the use of a Friden calculator. The bookkeeper used it to keep track of commissions for the sales people and it was my job to do a double check of her numbers. We had to agree before it all became official. When we did not agree, I was usually the one making the mistakes. My uncle was an engineer at a company that made wire recorders. When that technology was replaced by cassette tape players a lot of old recorders and supplies were disposed of. Uncle Ed got a couple to take home and eventually I ended up with one. The spool of spare wire must have been 5000 feel long. It was huge and heavy.
Moving into a different topic, I am a bit frustrated with our kitchen stove at the moment. It's a GE all electric and I've told you a few times in the past why I don't like electric cooking. But, I am flexible and have learned to cook on the electric stove in spite of it's shortcomings. One of the burners is actually two burners, the smaller one being nested inside a larger one. They both come on which using the full burner or I was able to just use the smaller inner burner when the need arose. Yesterday in the middle of cooking one of my masterpieces, the small middle burner went dead. I got enough heat from the surrounding larger burner to finish the job, but the cook time was way off. Fortunately I have enough experience to compensate for such an unexpected occurrence. The other three burners on the cook top are smaller and not suitable for much of what I cook. Today's dinner is cooking on one of them, but we are probably going to replace the stove instead of fixing it. Neither my wife nor I liked it from day one so that this would be a good reason to get that induction cooking stove I've had my eye on. They go for around $1000, but it's easy to spend two or three times that amount. The ones I've looked at all have convection ovens which is something I never mastered on our old stove at the old house. It remains to be seen what we end up with, but I can guarantee it will not be made by General Electric. Their refrigerator only lasted a few years before it needed several hundred dollars worth of repairs. The hardest part will be deciding what to replace the stove with. Wife and I seldom agree on such things, but we can't afford to eat out all the time.
It amazes me how we both ran across some of the same machinery as we were growing up. My very first job as an office boy included the use of a Friden calculator. The bookkeeper used it to keep track of commissions for the sales people and it was my job to do a double check of her numbers. We had to agree before it all became official. When we did not agree, I was usually the one making the mistakes. My uncle was an engineer at a company that made wire recorders. When that technology was replaced by cassette tape players a lot of old recorders and supplies were disposed of. Uncle Ed got a couple to take home and eventually I ended up with one. The spool of spare wire must have been 5000 feel long. It was huge and heavy.
Moving into a different topic, I am a bit frustrated with our kitchen stove at the moment. It's a GE all electric and I've told you a few times in the past why I don't like electric cooking. But, I am flexible and have learned to cook on the electric stove in spite of it's shortcomings. One of the burners is actually two burners, the smaller one being nested inside a larger one. They both come on which using the full burner or I was able to just use the smaller inner burner when the need arose. Yesterday in the middle of cooking one of my masterpieces, the small middle burner went dead. I got enough heat from the surrounding larger burner to finish the job, but the cook time was way off. Fortunately I have enough experience to compensate for such an unexpected occurrence. The other three burners on the cook top are smaller and not suitable for much of what I cook. Today's dinner is cooking on one of them, but we are probably going to replace the stove instead of fixing it. Neither my wife nor I liked it from day one so that this would be a good reason to get that induction cooking stove I've had my eye on. They go for around $1000, but it's easy to spend two or three times that amount. The ones I've looked at all have convection ovens which is something I never mastered on our old stove at the old house. It remains to be seen what we end up with, but I can guarantee it will not be made by General Electric. Their refrigerator only lasted a few years before it needed several hundred dollars worth of repairs. The hardest part will be deciding what to replace the stove with. Wife and I seldom agree on such things, but we can't afford to eat out all the time.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Isn't it great growing up in the era we did! WE saw and used so many things, folks today never even heard about.
I had some of the best slide rules ever made also. A log-log duplex decatrig. Very nice!
I also had several old check writing machines, some used cranks, and some actually embossed the checks.
Whatever you do, don't buy one made by LG. Every single major appliance in my kitchen here was LG, and every single one of them had major problems or interior damage when they were delivered. They replaced the stove 5 times and when they finally brought one with a top that wasn't bad, the door was smashed, and they would not let me just swap out the door.
The dishwasher was damaged inside, so they only sent replacement innards. The dryer has never worked right, although they replaced the parts a couple of times, and the fridge, I finally replaced with another brand two years ago. The LG fridge had serious problems, which caused black mold between the housing and inner plastic areas, which leaked out of the seams. It was a mess, and we had to chisel ice from under the freezer drawer at least once a month the entire time we had it.
Years ago, GE made some good stuff, but today, they don't even make the stuff their name is on.
I hope you find one you like, and one that holds up for you, and works properly.
I had some of the best slide rules ever made also. A log-log duplex decatrig. Very nice!
I also had several old check writing machines, some used cranks, and some actually embossed the checks.
Whatever you do, don't buy one made by LG. Every single major appliance in my kitchen here was LG, and every single one of them had major problems or interior damage when they were delivered. They replaced the stove 5 times and when they finally brought one with a top that wasn't bad, the door was smashed, and they would not let me just swap out the door.
The dishwasher was damaged inside, so they only sent replacement innards. The dryer has never worked right, although they replaced the parts a couple of times, and the fridge, I finally replaced with another brand two years ago. The LG fridge had serious problems, which caused black mold between the housing and inner plastic areas, which leaked out of the seams. It was a mess, and we had to chisel ice from under the freezer drawer at least once a month the entire time we had it.
Years ago, GE made some good stuff, but today, they don't even make the stuff their name is on.
I hope you find one you like, and one that holds up for you, and works properly.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
I will certainly take your advice about LG into consideration when we replace the stove. I've not had much luck with GE as far as durability is concerned. They seem to work when delivered and are still going strong past the warranty date. But, shortly after that passes major repairs become necessary. We looked at LG when we bought our GE fridge but the models were not as good looking and I believe they were more expensive too. It just so happens that my cell phone, the flip phone before the current Pixel phone, is still in working condition after what must be a dozen years. Ten at least. Perhaps my phone is just a fluke that they happened to make correctly, or more likely it's a different division of the company. Different people in different countries make the phone. LG is a South Korean company, which isn't China but from the same part of the world. I have read where LG made a huge investment in ... get this ... Tennessee to make their washing machines there. All I can say is I can't fault their electronics, but haven't seen any rave reviews about their mechanical products.
I could easily design a kitchen with the high quality components necessary to cook well. That might be nice, bit the kitchen will still be in O'Fallon. It's kind of a contradiction of terms.
I could easily design a kitchen with the high quality components necessary to cook well. That might be nice, bit the kitchen will still be in O'Fallon. It's kind of a contradiction of terms.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
LG electronics are good. All of my monitors and a few other things around there that are electronic work well, and for lots of years. But not their appliances, which I don't think they make anyhow, just put their name on them.
I'm sure you are familiar with what the back of a washing machine looks like. It has the upper back panel that sticks out a bit, then under that in an indented area is where the hose connections are made. That's on a normal washing machine.
Guess what LG did?
The put the hose connection on the outside of the upper back panel that already sticks out. Dumb, very dumb. Good thing I knew this ahead of time when I designed the alcove for the washing machine so I could allow for stupidity in manufacturing.
For their fridge, I had installed an indented electrical outlet, dedicated for the fridge.
Guess what LG did?
They have a humongous plug that goes straight out, not even angled like would make common sense. It was too big to fit into the outlet designed for fridges, so it runs behind the fridge, and up over the counter to an outlet on the counter, which happens to be a GFCI protected outlet. You are not supposed to plug a fridge into a GFCI protected outlet because it could trip and you not know it. That fridge didn't last very long as I said, and the one we have now is a Samsung I think, but only a couple manufacturers make that type of fridge, regardless of the name that gets stuck on it. About the only difference between them all are the shelf designs inside the fridge.
One of my better Flip-Fonz was an LG, but then, that is electronics not appliances.
You know, if you don't like electric, you can still get a gas stove, change the orifices so you can use bottle propane.
That's what my grandma on my mom's side did to use gas. She had two large bottles outside the kitchen window, but out of sight. She only used up about 1 bottle per month is all, and the type valve that connected the two bottles was automatic. When one tank ran low or below a certain pressure, it would trip the valve to use the other tank, and a red arm then appeared so they knew it was time to order another tank.
There is a restaurant not far from me that has two of those big elephant sized propane tanks on the back corner of their lot, since we don't have natural gas here in my area. They do in most of the city, but not out here, except along Chapman Highway where most of the food shops and restaurants are located anyhow.
I imagine they use a lot of propane with their two 16 burner gas grills. Their deep-fryers are both electric though. Don't know why they didn't go with electric grills, unless they already had the gas grills before they moved there.
I'm sure you are familiar with what the back of a washing machine looks like. It has the upper back panel that sticks out a bit, then under that in an indented area is where the hose connections are made. That's on a normal washing machine.
Guess what LG did?
The put the hose connection on the outside of the upper back panel that already sticks out. Dumb, very dumb. Good thing I knew this ahead of time when I designed the alcove for the washing machine so I could allow for stupidity in manufacturing.
For their fridge, I had installed an indented electrical outlet, dedicated for the fridge.
Guess what LG did?
They have a humongous plug that goes straight out, not even angled like would make common sense. It was too big to fit into the outlet designed for fridges, so it runs behind the fridge, and up over the counter to an outlet on the counter, which happens to be a GFCI protected outlet. You are not supposed to plug a fridge into a GFCI protected outlet because it could trip and you not know it. That fridge didn't last very long as I said, and the one we have now is a Samsung I think, but only a couple manufacturers make that type of fridge, regardless of the name that gets stuck on it. About the only difference between them all are the shelf designs inside the fridge.
One of my better Flip-Fonz was an LG, but then, that is electronics not appliances.
You know, if you don't like electric, you can still get a gas stove, change the orifices so you can use bottle propane.
That's what my grandma on my mom's side did to use gas. She had two large bottles outside the kitchen window, but out of sight. She only used up about 1 bottle per month is all, and the type valve that connected the two bottles was automatic. When one tank ran low or below a certain pressure, it would trip the valve to use the other tank, and a red arm then appeared so they knew it was time to order another tank.
There is a restaurant not far from me that has two of those big elephant sized propane tanks on the back corner of their lot, since we don't have natural gas here in my area. They do in most of the city, but not out here, except along Chapman Highway where most of the food shops and restaurants are located anyhow.
I imagine they use a lot of propane with their two 16 burner gas grills. Their deep-fryers are both electric though. Don't know why they didn't go with electric grills, unless they already had the gas grills before they moved there.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
I feel most comfortable with gas cooking, but it is not as clean as electric. Whatever fumes came off the cooker never bothered me but then you can get used to ingesting poison over a long period of time. This house has carbon monoxide detectors and I would shudder at the possibility of gas cooking setting them off. That's not supposed to happen with natural gas, but then I'd have to ask why do they vent the furnace and the hot water heater if it's perfectly safe. My wife's mom lived in the middle of Nowhere Iowa and they didn't have natural gas service out there. I think they were lucky to have electricity. She had a huge propane tank in the back yard; it must have been 250-300 gallon capacity. Their furnace ran well and she never had problems cooking on her propane stove so that it must be a good alternative. I know they would complain about the price of gas going up every time they needed a refill but I can't say how it compares costwise to natural gas. I would guess it's cheaper because the delivery and distribution system must have fewer people. We are still undecided about what to do. I like the idea of changing to induction cooking if only for the reason it would be different and something I never did before. I have tried convection cooking with acceptable results. It all takes some learning I suppose.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
Although Propane does cost more than Natural Gas, you use a whole lot less Propane to do the same job as you do with Natural Gas. But if you look at it BTU wise, Natural Gas is much cheaper. Despite that way of looking at it, in a normal home you would end up spending about the same for either one in the long run.
We bought one of those cooktops that use magnetics to cook with. Big mistake. Only steel or cast iron cookware would work on it. And the cooktop elements still got hot due to the hot pan sitting on them. It was slower to get up to temp than a normal electric stove, but used a whole lot less electric. The big annoyance was some pans and skillets would have a high pitched vibration, so you were constantly wiggling the pan around to get it to stop. The stove we had did have one small burner in the center, like only 3 inches across that used a heating element like a normal stove. Handy for melting butter for popcorn or baby bottles, it heated up fast too.
We bought one of those cooktops that use magnetics to cook with. Big mistake. Only steel or cast iron cookware would work on it. And the cooktop elements still got hot due to the hot pan sitting on them. It was slower to get up to temp than a normal electric stove, but used a whole lot less electric. The big annoyance was some pans and skillets would have a high pitched vibration, so you were constantly wiggling the pan around to get it to stop. The stove we had did have one small burner in the center, like only 3 inches across that used a heating element like a normal stove. Handy for melting butter for popcorn or baby bottles, it heated up fast too.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
I have wondered about the time it takes to come to temperature with induction heat. I can deal with a longer wait time as long as the temperature is stable and evenly distributed. One issue I have with electric cooking elements is that the burner temperature is not stable. The element turns on and off within a specific range of temperatures so that the average is what you need to be cooking at. That was not an issue with gas and I kind of doubt it would be a problem with induction. My thinking is that you set a temperature which is the radiation from the electro-magnet heating element. That radiation stays the same throughout the cooking cycle.
I am aware of the fact that the cooking pots and pans must be magnetic for all this to work. I might have a pan or two that is aluminum, but I cant recall the last time I used them. The humming you mention is an interesting observation. Since I have tinnitus it might not matter. It will all sound the same. A lot of the ranges have induction cooking elements and convection ovens. I don't know how the oven works but it would be one hella magnet needed for such a large area to heat by induction. It might even interfere with any aircraft flying over.
One advantage they claim is that the induction heating elements won't char the grease on the stove top because they do not heat up as much. That "as much" qualifier is the key. In theory the burner element does not get hot, but as you point out the pot does and some of that heat transfers to the cooktop. It remains to be seen if it chars the spilled grease or not, but I"m hoping it does not.
I am aware of the fact that the cooking pots and pans must be magnetic for all this to work. I might have a pan or two that is aluminum, but I cant recall the last time I used them. The humming you mention is an interesting observation. Since I have tinnitus it might not matter. It will all sound the same. A lot of the ranges have induction cooking elements and convection ovens. I don't know how the oven works but it would be one hella magnet needed for such a large area to heat by induction. It might even interfere with any aircraft flying over.
One advantage they claim is that the induction heating elements won't char the grease on the stove top because they do not heat up as much. That "as much" qualifier is the key. In theory the burner element does not get hot, but as you point out the pot does and some of that heat transfers to the cooktop. It remains to be seen if it chars the spilled grease or not, but I"m hoping it does not.
Last edited by yogi on 09 Aug 2022, 13:22, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Pencil Sharpener
For the last 20 years or so, I've used electric stoves and cooktops that the heating element pulses on and off.
They hold a fairly accurate temperature better than a burner type coil eye that heats up.
But the nicest thing about them was the much lower electric bill than a conventional electric stove or cooktop.
I don't know if a new type of electric stove is on the market or not. It uses a transformer to generate a high-frequency electric pulse to the burners. They are supposed to be even cheaper to use, but I think they cost a whole lot more, or will when they make it to market.
Many years ago, when I was in the pizza business, they were working on a device that cooks using a flash of bright light.
It was tauted as being safer than a microwave, and provided more even cooking.
Whatever happened to that concept I don't know. They sure did a pizza fast, in under 15 seconds if I recall the demo.
They hold a fairly accurate temperature better than a burner type coil eye that heats up.
But the nicest thing about them was the much lower electric bill than a conventional electric stove or cooktop.
I don't know if a new type of electric stove is on the market or not. It uses a transformer to generate a high-frequency electric pulse to the burners. They are supposed to be even cheaper to use, but I think they cost a whole lot more, or will when they make it to market.
Many years ago, when I was in the pizza business, they were working on a device that cooks using a flash of bright light.
It was tauted as being safer than a microwave, and provided more even cooking.
Whatever happened to that concept I don't know. They sure did a pizza fast, in under 15 seconds if I recall the demo.