The Mother of All Pointy Sticks

[Andy Dingley]

(Shame that shipping is probably impractical)

[Lawrence Wasserman]

Yeah, but it looks like you have to supply your own point.

[jo4hn]

I get the point.

[Robin Lee]

Nah - the pointy stick part was OK.... even managed to get the double-end part right...

The bamboo cases were wet - and when they arrived, were covered with mold..... ;(

Neat product - but we ain't shipping moldy stuff .....

Cheers -

Rob

[Charles Spitzer]

only if you run with it

[Roy]

Probably. Cost me about $125 to have my last set shipped from Minnesota. I imagine it's a tad more to the UK. I keep these out of the weather when not being used. My previous set lasted 10-12 years stored outdoors in Texas. Try one of these sites for a more local source for you. One of the 'skinners there will know where you can get them. Sharpen your draw knife and put a fresh belt on the sander though.

(also has English version)

(good place to start a search)

[Andy Dingley]

loaders and tipi-dwellers. They're more likely to see them as targets!

[Mark & Juanita]

They keep those in a different warehouse. Just make sure you order as many boxes of points as you order sticks.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Dave Balderstone]

Damn. Like shaving appliances. Give 'em the stick and sell 'em the points...

[Swingman]

Except in San Francisco ... where only blunts are allowed, and only outlaws have points.

[Greg G]

Or how about Cox model rockets. An 8 ounce plastic model rocket that you stuffed Estes "C" engines into and hoped it made it off the ground. If the parachute failed, as it frequently did, one could be impaled by a red plastic high velocity pointy stick from above.

Standing around the launch site, gazing at the sky for a tell-tale sign of the aberrant missile, would sometimes result in a loud "thunk" as the rocket's hard plastic nose cone impaled the hard, sun-baked clay to a depth of 3-4" - three feet ahead of you. Talk about putting your eye out...

Between this and the violent explosions from homemade rocket propellants, I had few friends left by the time puberty arrived.

Oh, yes. The Darwin factor certainly cleaned up the gene pool when I was a child - damned tort lawyers...

Greg G.

[Roy]

There's a bunch of you making way too many disparaging remarks about tipi poles of late. Just going to pick on Lawrence's post to rebut all y'all.

Hey, I consider something that tapers from 4-5 inches across to 3/8 inch across over 26-28 feet in length to be pretty pointy. It ain't sharp, I admit, but it sure has a pointy shape. If you shrunk that pole down to needle size, it would be sharp AND pointy.

Visualize a tipi pole as a giant needle that you thread with a 3 inch rope. Got that image firmly in your head? mmmh??

If you do, you need to get out in the shop and make some sawdust. Something's wrong with you folks if you have to make unkind jokes about another man's tipi poles, and sawdust will fix it. And before all y'all ask, no, you can't cut up my set of poles. I need 'em myself for the lodge as the stakes are way too short to hold up the cover let alone the liner, ozan and door.

Hmmph.

Regards, Roy

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 13:40:42 +0000, Andy Dingley scribbled:

You mean you have to *buy* tipi poles???? Why can't you just go out in the bush and cut a few lodgepole pines?

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Andy Dingley]

Shortage of lodgepole pines. My best option locally for long straight poles is coppiced ash and I can't find any of that length that thin.

For yurt rafters I cleave ash, but it just wouldn't look right on a tipi.

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:20:29 +0000, Andy Dingley scribbled:

I was just kidding, but I now wonder if there is a business there for someone here to ship lodgepole pine tipi poles from the YK to the UK. Our lodgepole pines tend to grow in almost pure stands of tightly packed trees, hence they are tall and straight (but that's the nature of the interior subspecies of the inaptly named Pinus contorta). What do you think people would be prepared to pay for them and is there much of a demand?

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[charlie b]

Actually, the Mother of All Pointy Sticks dates back to the paleomezocretatianous period - developed by a little black lady in Africa. I think she was mentioned in Alex Haley's book.

charlie b

[J T]

Sat, Nov 19, 2005, 3:17pm (EST-3) [e-mail] (charlie=A0b) Actually, the Mother of All Pointy Sticks dates back to the paleomezocretatianous period - developed by a little black lady in Africa.

Did she leave any plans, and if so, are they copyrighted, or public domain?

JOAT Just pretend I'm not here. That's what I'm doing.

[Mark & Juanita]

Unfortunately she was an ancestor of the late W Disney, so even though she has been dead for millenia, her works are preserved by copyright law; each time her works would nearly get to public domain, new laws were passed keeping them protected. :-)

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Mr. Moose]

I have two words for you...

Chemistry sets

Sure, in the lab you need a coat, goggles, gloves, mask, venting hood, fire doors, and goodness knows what else, but with a home chemistry set, all you need is a bunch of alcohol to fire up the alcohol lamp and you're in business! (I remember melting sulfer in a test tube, then putting in some water, and watching a sulfer chunk rocket out and hit the aluminum patio cover...)

Mark