What did you do today?

[Willy]

Key learning: trees are best planted and pruned when dormant and not flower/fruit bearing.

At this point I'd be willing to bet Dan wishes that the fruit tree from hell would go back from where it came.

[boslab]

My neighbor has a "citrus fruit" tree planted just across the fence from me. We think it's a pomello. It drops a hundred or more huge fruits that look like a lemon but about the size of a bowling ball. The skin of the fruit is 3 or more inches thick and tastes terrible.

So yesterday I gave the tree a haircut. The 3 inch long thorns will easily pierce thick work gloves and the hand within. Cutting a branch with 40 pounds of fruit will make it swing like a war club and hurt just as bad. Because it's the neighbor's tree I only cut straight up from the fence and even so I filled two 80 gallon trash cans.

Key learning; Stop your blood thinners before pruning a tree with sharp spikes. I looked like I'd been in a gun battle by the time I was done. I sustained 3 punctures and a couple very long scratches.

I managed to get myself hospitalised cutting my hedge, spiked in the elbow by blackthorn, ended up with septicaemia, a week on iv antibiotics plus so many other prongs and needles I felt like a pincushion
Apparently the doc told me it’s a very common way to get blood poisoning, birds dump on the branches
So get the iodine out!
Mark

[Dan Dubeau]

I had a thorn driven under my left thumbnail a couple weeks back while I was cutting the grass. I was looking back making sure the tow behind was going to clear the walnut tree on my right, when I gave it a shot of gas, and caught the thorn bush on my left. It was pretty neat looking although pretty painful. Like a thorn under glass. Natures way of fighting back.

[J Tiers]

Drove 10 hours..... zero machining content.

[RMinMN]

I had a thorn driven under my left thumbnail a couple weeks back while I was cutting the grass. I was looking back making sure the tow behind was going to clear the walnut tree on my right, when I gave it a shot of gas, and caught the thorn bush on my left. It was pretty neat looking although pretty painful. Like a thorn under glass. Natures way of fighting back.

I like to use an herbicide to fight back at nature when nature designs plants with thorns or poison and puts them where I expect to regularly travel.

[J Tiers]

At least Minnesota is short on really nasty plants.

I surely was surprised to see the thorns on orange trees, for instance. Well over an inch long. None of those in the woods. Just poison ivy, which is avoidable. And raspberries, etc, with rose type thorns.

[Dan Dubeau]

At least Minnesota is short on really nasty plants.

I surely was surprised to see the thorns on orange trees, for instance. Well over an inch long. None of those in the woods. Just poison ivy, which is avoidable. And raspberries, etc, with rose type thorns.

Couple weeks ago I was taking a bunch of brush out in the woods to dispose of it, and pulled up next to the spot on the trail hopped out of the SxS and looked down. I was standing in a big patch of poison ivy. In shorts. My right leg was stinging/tingling a little bit that night while going to sleep, but other than that nothing else happened. That's about the worst I've had of it in a long time, normally it has zero effect on me at all.

Almost my entire tree line is full of wild raspberries, so the first pass around cutting the grass I stand on the outside floorboard to avoid the scratches. It's worth the occasional rasping of the forearms for the small very sweet black/purple berries these bushes produce. The bush that got me in the thumb is some kind of rose bush I think. Normally not a problem to get around it, I just wasn't paying attention.

[DennisCA]

Today I have just been thinking.... about surface plates and mills. What to get first. Money is tight and I'm saving for a milling machine could possibly take a year or more to raise the funds I need. Maybe I could get a surface plate and learn scraping in the mean time, something I've wanted to do for a long time and something that might be very useful for someone who is interested in old machines.

Or should I stop looking for stuff to waste money on and maintain a strict financial discipline and keep my eyes on that future milling machine, then I can worry about surface plates, scraping and all the other stuff it might be useful for... I did find one for what I think is a good price, 285 euros shipped with VAT. 450x450x100mm (450mm = almost 17-3/4"), from Germany, it's a chinese import though, claimed to be DIN 876/00.

[RMinMN]

Couple weeks ago I was taking a bunch of brush out in the woods to dispose of it, and pulled up next to the spot on the trail hopped out of the SxS and looked down. I was standing in a big patch of poison ivy. In shorts. My right leg was stinging/tingling a little bit that night while going to sleep, but other than that nothing else happened. That's about the worst I've had of it in a long time, normally it has zero effect on me at all.

Almost my entire tree line is full of wild raspberries, so the first pass around cutting the grass I stand on the outside floorboard to avoid the scratches. It's worth the occasional rasping of the forearms for the small very sweet black/purple berries these bushes produce. The bush that got me in the thumb is some kind of rose bush I think. Normally not a problem to get around it, I just wasn't paying attention.

The poison in poison ivy is an oil that one's skin reacts to. Some are more susceptible to it than other but for is to really react to your skin it needs to be rubbed on. Stepping carefully doesn't rub it on well. Washing asap with soapy water removes the oil and in many cases will avoid the rash.

[RMinMN]

At least Minnesota is short on really nasty plants.

I surely was surprised to see the thorns on orange trees, for instance. Well over an inch long. None of those in the woods. Just poison ivy, which is avoidable. And raspberries, etc, with rose type thorns.

Come to my part of Minnesota and let me introduce you to the thorn apple. It has long sharp thorns, some nearly 2" in length. It also has tiny apples, think minature apples about 1/2" diameter. Grouse love them.

[shampine1]

Schluter Corners

Last night was bashing out a pair of Schluter tile trim corners. 2.5 hours for less than a cubic inch of Aluminum. I did get to use the lathe, mill, razor saw, and files though! So, not all bad ;-)
Gotta figure out how to get photos in here...
Trying the photo album:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=3659&d=1538588916

[J Tiers]

Come to my part of Minnesota and let me introduce you to the thorn apple. It has long sharp thorns, some nearly 2" in length. It also has tiny apples, think minature apples about 1/2" diameter. Grouse love them.

Hmmm must have forgotten that one. Another competitor in the American "wait a bit" tree competition, I suppose.

[BadDog]

I have three similar "citrus" trees that bare lemon looking fruit in orange size. They were originally orange trees grafted to the "citrus" root stock. They died one winter (years ago) but I guess the root stock survived. They now produce uneatable fruit and the thorns are about three inches long. I occasionally find birds impaled on the thorns.

I'm pretty sure I have that same tree. Mine died back during a really freak cold spell about 2011 or so. Came back as the tree from hell. This winter, when "bulk pickup" comes around, I'll be dealing with those insane thorns one last time...

[gellfex]

I'm pretty sure I have that same tree. Mine died back during a really freak cold spell about 2011 or so. Came back as the tree from hell. This winter, when "bulk pickup" comes around, I'll be dealing with those insane thorns one last time...

Why not get someone to regraft it for you? Or try it yourself, steal a scion from a neighbor. I've been planning some grape grafting and watched a video of them cutting down and grafting an entire vineyard from one grape varietal to another!

[Stepside]

I am taking a break from the shop by infusing the economy of Missouri for the last week. There sure is a lot of history to explore. It has filled in a lot of the holes in my knowledge of American history.
All in all a very pleasant week.