Persistence and the Boinking 'h'

[weedie]

G'day everyone...Just thought I'd tell you about the interesting time I had yesterday....
I'm a fair way into the restoration of my old Flute ...see the pic http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=57600
Some of the remaining letters were falling off so I decided to take them out,clean them and re-glue them back in...
As I was cleaning the 'h' in 'July 26th',it just went Boink... off the workbench,went Boink... off my chest and landed on the floor
Now, this 'h' is about 4mm long and 2mm wide..The floor,although swept occasionally,is like a lot of other workshops where sawdust,cobwebs,mouse poo,old beetle wings,metal filings,spider poo and all manner of other things live happily together and when the 'h' landed there,I thought mate, thats the end of that.....
The fact that the 'h' is 140 years old justified a thorough search and so I was down on floor with a lamp and magnifying glass....an hour later,no 'h'.
Not to be put off,I went to the kitchen and got the spaghetti strainer and the flour sifter...I then carefully swept up all of the above detritus and put it all through the sieves...an hour and a half later...no 'h'
I was pretty deflated so I decided on a lunch break.....during the break I hit upon an idea..."I wonder if I could gather up all the sweepings (about a shoe box full) carefully burn them and then re-sieve all the ashes"...
Sounded like an OK idea,as long it did'nt get too hot and melt the 'h'....
So off I went and did the biz...after the fire had cooled down,I was left with about a cup of ash......and about halfway through the processing via the flour sieve,there it was ......the 'h' ...blackened and charred and very beautiful.......man,was I a happy chappie....as evidenced by my hangover today.....
All in all,about 7 hours was spent on finding the little beggar but is was well worth it.....
I'll post a photo of the finished Flute soon....
bye for now.........weedie.......

[daiv]

G'day everyone...Just thought I'd tell you about the interesting time I had yesterday....
I'm a fair way into the restoration of my old Flute ...see the pic http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=57600
Some of the remaining letters were falling off so I decided to take them out,clean them and re-glue them back in...
As I was cleaning the 'h' in 'July 26th',it just went Boink... off the workbench,went Boink... off my chest and landed on the floor
Now, this 'h' is about 4mm long and 2mm wide..The floor,although swept occasionally,is like a lot of other workshops where sawdust,cobwebs,mouse poo,old beetle wings,metal filings,spider poo and all manner of other things live happily together and when the 'h' landed there,I thought mate, thats the end of that.....
The fact that the 'h' is 140 years old justified a thorough search and so I was down on floor with a lamp and magnifying glass....an hour later,no 'h'.
Not to be put off,I went to the kitchen and got the spaghetti strainer and the flour sifter...I then carefully swept up all of the above detritus and put it all through the sieves...an hour and a half later...no 'h'
I was pretty deflated so I decided on a lunch break.....during the break I hit upon an idea..."I wonder if I could gather up all the sweepings (about a shoe box full) carefully burn them and then re-sieve all the ashes"...
Sounded like an OK idea,as long it did'nt get too hot and melt the 'h'....
So off I went and did the biz...after the fire had cooled down,I was left with about a cup of ash......and about halfway through the processing via the flour sieve,there it was ......the 'h' ...blackened and charred and very beautiful.......man,was I a happy chappie....as evidenced by my hangover today.....
All in all,about 7 hours was spent on finding the little beggar but is was well worth it.....
I'll post a photo of the finished Flute soon....
bye for now.........weedie.......

that's some committment there! i'm glad you found your h. i cant wait to see the pix!

[norcalbob]

What a great story, Weedie! Congrats on finding your "h."

[jiminos]

good on ya, weedie.

if i ever lose anything, may i just call you?

be well,

jim

[Jon C.]

G'day everyone...Just thought I'd tell you about the interesting time I had yesterday....
I'm a fair way into the restoration of my old Flute ...see the pic http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=57600
Some of the remaining letters were falling off so I decided to take them out,clean them and re-glue them back in...
As I was cleaning the 'h' in 'July 26th',it just went Boink... off the workbench,went Boink... off my chest and landed on the floor
Now, this 'h' is about 4mm long and 2mm wide..The floor,although swept occasionally,is like a lot of other workshops where sawdust,cobwebs,mouse poo,old beetle wings,metal filings,spider poo and all manner of other things live happily together and when the 'h' landed there,I thought mate, thats the end of that.....
The fact that the 'h' is 140 years old justified a thorough search and so I was down on floor with a lamp and magnifying glass....an hour later,no 'h'.
Not to be put off,I went to the kitchen and got the spaghetti strainer and the flour sifter...I then carefully swept up all of the above detritus and put it all through the sieves...an hour and a half later...no 'h'
I was pretty deflated so I decided on a lunch break.....during the break I hit upon an idea..."I wonder if I could gather up all the sweepings (about a shoe box full) carefully burn them and then re-sieve all the ashes"...
Sounded like an OK idea,as long it did'nt get too hot and melt the 'h'....
So off I went and did the biz...after the fire had cooled down,I was left with about a cup of ash......and about halfway through the processing via the flour sieve,there it was ......the 'h' ...blackened and charred and very beautiful.......man,was I a happy chappie....as evidenced by my hangover today.....
All in all,about 7 hours was spent on finding the little beggar but is was well worth it.....
I'll post a photo of the finished Flute soon....
bye for now.........weedie.......

That is the only time I sweep, when I drop a pin or spring, I am down on the floor with a flashlight (torch)... So I feel for ya!
"Bob's your uncle"!

[mutepointe]

Did anyone ever say you were relentless? I would have had two more suggestion for you if I was there. Instead of burning everything, I would have gone with the other two of the four immortals that you were dealing with. (Earth, wind, fire, & water.) You already had the earth. Next, I would have tried some wind and blew the light particles away. If that wouldn't have worked, I would have dropped all the sweepings in water. Some would have sunk, some would have floated, some would have dissolved. I bet it would have been a bit mucky mess though.

[dave shapiro]

glad you found it! been there myself, more than a few times.

here's an idea that i got from a friend of mine - he has a strong magnet attached to a stick, which he uses to retrieve small (ferrous) metal items that have fallen off the bench.

no good for brass though!

but really handy for tiny screws, et.c.

[Cathy Wilde]

You can often get wonderful magnets (even long ones on wheels!) at your local farm & horse supply store. On an old farm like mine, especially where there are horses about, such a thing is downright vital. It's amazing the old nails, chain, mule shoes, and implement parts that turn up during a barnyard walk with my magnet device after a heavy rainstorm (and then there's the old glass, silverware, and pottery shards) .... I got about a five-gallon bucketful a week for the first few months after I moved here.

Meanwhile, weedie, you're an inspiration.

"From the fires of H .... " cheers to ya!

[Denny]

MIT's Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory (FBML) receives its new 900 MHz superconducting magnet on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The magnet, a cylinder roughly 10 feet high by 6 in diameter and weighing 7 tons, generates a magnetic field of 21.1 Tesla, about 400,000 times larger than the Earth's magnetic field. The magnet is part of the MIT-Harvard Center for Magnetic Resonance supervised by Professor Robert Griffin of chemistry, director of the FBML, and Professor Gerhard Wagner of Harvard Medical School. Photo / Donna Coveney

[Cathy Wilde]

Hey! They left off the "on loan from Mudhaven" credit!

[Denny]

rude, ain't they!

[weedie]

Thats a serious magnet there Denny.....I used to have a steel pin in my leg...(motorcycle crash ) and I wouldnt like to be nearby when that big fella was turned on......
Y'all would'nt believe how happy I was when I saw the 'h' sitting there amongst the ashes...the last seven hours just vanished ....
G'day to mutepoint....your ideas would'nt have worked, as when then the sweepings were all gathered up,all the cobwebs,sawdust,assorted poos etc. became a ball.....a veritable conglomerate of floor debris !!
Looking closely at the letters now that they've been cleaned,I'm wondering if they're silver ?? or some alloy...they look to be not 'yellow' enough for brass.....maybe when I post the 'after' pics ,someone will be able to tell....
Thanks for your interest.....great to hear form yers......

[Cork]

...MIT...

I left MIT, aka "the 'tute", more than twenty years ago.

:-D

[Cork]

Thats a serious magnet there Denny.....I used to have a steel pin in my leg...(motorcycle crash :( ) and I wouldnt like to be nearby when that big fella was turned on......

No need to worry, weedie, as that pin likely was made of stainless steel, which is non-magnetic.

Motorcycles? Yeah, BTDT, and I've done the ambulance ride, too!

Unlike you in OZ, however, I'm still waiting for the ice and snow to melt, here, just to get my bike out, once again.

;-)

[weedie]

G'day Cork,
I reckon that most people that have had bikes in their time have had that 'sliding along the road' experience.....trouble with my skid was that there was a power pole in the way
Once bikes are in the blood though,we'll always have them...
Snow and motorcycles !! Now theres an unhappy mix !! Its Autumn here now and superb weather for a ride.....Apart from the Triumph on my avatar,I have a 1974 Ducati 750 and we are planning a ride this weekend....what type of bike are you waiting to ride when the snow clears??