An Auction of a Lifetime

There’s a common saying among sportsmen that goes something like this: “when I die I hope my wife doesn’t sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them.”   The reference being that most sportsmen, if they have a spouse foolish enough to ask, will likely under state just how much money was spent on the new firearm purchase.

Today there’s an auction going on out in Montana that has excited sportsmen and gun enthusiasts around the country.   It’s a lifetime collection of fine firearms being auctioned off by the “Woody” Hawkinson estate.   The collection is so fabulous, that a website was actually established to promote the collection.   Check out www.woodysguns.com.

As I perused the website I couldn’t help but think about my own gun collection.   Certainly mine would not be worthy enough to showcase on a website hoping to draw national attention, yet, there is something intriguing to me about that.   I dare say a personal gun collection can say volumes about the person who amassed the collection.

So, stop to think about it.   What does your gun collection say about you?   Does it grow little by little each year…or has it tapered off in recent years because there simply is no more room in the gun cabinet?   Perhaps your interests in collecting guns has simply changed much like the color of your hair.   It happens.

Woody has a single rifle on his auction bill that could top $100,000 at sale today.   In comparison, I might be lucky if I have a single rifle that could bring $2,000 if at auction this very moment.   To say the least, Woody’s and my collection of guns are very different…yet in many ways I suspect we viewed our personal collection in much the same way.

I have a theory…or, instead call it a gun index.   Take the number of years since you graduated from high school and compare it with the number of guns you currently own.   As a rule of thumb, I try to collect one new gun each year.   My current gun index is 24 using this system and yes, I have met this threshold…at least until now.   Unfortunately, the gun safe is beginning to max out on capacity.

I suppose to the non-gun owner it is a little difficult to understand what drives the passion in people to collect something such as a gun.   I can relate, to me I view people who collect cars and must invest in big expensive buildings to house them as a total waste of time and money.   To each his own, I guess.

No, I’m quite sure that when the day I die arrives I won’t have a collection of guns admired far and wide by folks like Woody did.   Yet, I can only hope that the guns I do pass on thru my estate are treated with the same respect and honor as given to these guns today.   In fact, today’s auction is as much a celebration of Woody’s life as it is an estate clearance of the items which helped define the man.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

WD-40; The Sportsman’s Compound

Every now and then I get one of those e-mail forwards from a friend that actually has some use.   Such is the case with an e-mail I received today on the history and many uses of WD-40.   I’m not sure who the original creator of that e-mail was…or if the information was originally plagiarized from some unnamed source.   Still, most of the information is true, at least to my knowledge…and the helpful hints are simply priceless and many have application for the sportsman.   Check it out:

Wd40
The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and degreaser to protect missile parts. WD-40 was created in 1953 by three technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company. Its name comes from the project that was to find a " Water Displacement" compound.  They were successful with the Fortieth formulation, thus WD-40

The Corvair Company bought it in bulk to protect their Atlas missile parts.

The workers were so pleased with the product they began smuggling (also known as "shrinkage" or "stealing") it out to use at home.

The executives decided there might be a consumer market for it and put it in aerosol cans. The rest is history. It is a carefully guarded recipe known only to four people.  One of them is the "brew master." There are about 2.5 million gallons of the stuff manufactured each year. It gets its distinctive smell from a fragrance that is added to the brew.  Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you.

Here are a few of the 1000s of uses:
· Protects silver from tarnishing
· Cleans and lubricates guitar strings
· Gets oil spots off concrete driveways
· Gives floors that ‘just-waxed’ sheen without making it slippery
· Keeps flies off cows
· Restores and cleans chalkboards
· Removes lipstick stains
· Loosens stubborn zippers
· Untangles jewelry chains
· Removes stains from stainless steel sink
· Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill
· Keeps ceramic/terra cotta garden pots from oxidizing
· Removes tomato stains from clothing
· Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots
· Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors
· Keeps scissors working smoothly
· Lubricates noisy door hinges on vehicles and doors in homes
· Gives a children’s play gym slide a shine for a super fast slide
· Lubricates gear shift and mower – deck lever for ease of handling on riding mowers
· Rids rocking chairs and swings of squeaky noises
· Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open
· Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close
· Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards and vinyl bumpers
· Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles
· Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans
· Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons and bicycles for easy handling
· Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly
· Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools
· Removes splattered grease on stove
· Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging
· Lubricates prosthetic limbs
· Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell)
· Removes all traces of duct tape
· I have even heard of folks spraying it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve arthritis pain.
· Florida’s favorite use was "cleans and removes love bugs from grills and bumpers
· The favorite use in the state of New York is protect the Statue of Liberty from the elements.
· WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a LITTLE on live bait or lures and you will be catching the big one in no time. It’s a lot cheaper than the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose. Keep in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing are not allowed in some states.
· Keeps away chiggers on the kids
· Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately, and stops the itch.
· WD-40 is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray on the mark and wipe with a clean rag.
· Also, if you’ve discovered that your teenage daughter has washed and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the lipstick spots with WD-40 and re-wash. Presto! Lipstick is gone!
· If you sprayed WD-40 on the distributor cap, it would displace the moisture and allow the car to start. (If I knew what a distributor cap was, it might help)
· WD-40, long known for its ability to remove leftover tape smudges (sticky label tape), is also a lovely perfume and air freshener! Sprayed liberally on every hinge in the house, it leaves that distinctive clean fresh scent for up to two days!
· Seriously though, it removes black scuff marks from the kitchen floor!  Use WD-40 for those nasty tar and scuff marks on flooring. It doesn’t seem to harm the finish and you won’t have to scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some windows if you have a lot of marks.
· Bug guts will eat away the finish on your car if not removed quickly! Use WD-40!

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

This Is One Sweet Time of The Year

Admittedly, one of the few times in my life I have trespassed onto another’s property was back 25+ years ago when I was at the ripe old age of 15.   I was a curious, troublemaking kid who along with my best friend, Mitch, decided we had to experience something this landowner had on his property.

It was a Sunday morning in early spring located in a woods which sloped steeply down towards the road.   Suddenly, much to both of our horror…a truck approached and our gig was about to be busted.   Mitch and I ran for what seemed like an hour uphill to vacate the property.   Finally, in complete exhaustion, we paused to catch our breath with heartbeats still racing along at a hyper tachycardic pace.   We agreed this little scare took at least 10 years off of our young lives.   But, it was worth it to satisfy a curiosity.
Mapletap
What intrigued us so much we just had to be out in this particular woods?   It was spring…the snow was melting…and the sap was running.   It was sugaring time in the maple woods and nothing was going to deter Mitch and I from experiencing this interesting outdoor activity.   Or at least not until that truck approached.

That very next year we mustered the courage to ask the landowner if we could try tapping a few trees ourselves.   Permission was granted, but we were told to go higher up on the hill where the present tapping wasn’t taking place.   Not a problem.   Since we only had about 5 spiles to begin with, we found such instructions quite livable given we were finally officially in business collecting sap to make maple syrup.

Our first lesson came in tree identification.   Simply finding a suitable tree in the woods does not alone make it a good candidate for tapping.   As Mitch and I first discovered, tapping into a basswood tree doesn’t produce the same results.   Oh, I can only imagine the belly laugh those old time syrup producers must have had seeing us tapping indiscriminately into the wrong trees.   But, that is how youngsters learn.   Eventually, we were able to discern which were the maple trees and soon the flow was underway.

Tapping maple trees, besides being lots of fun mixed with hard work, is a very interesting activity.   Did you know it is one of the only commodities that is produced solely in North America?   Indeed, there is some historical dispute over the matter…but some sources say that when the explorers started arriving the Indians taught the technique to the explorers.   Other say it was vice versa.   Either way, the fact remains it is a North American activity that has long been a rite of spring in many woodlots.

For those who only have a basic understanding of the process, you collect sap from the trees daily and eventually you need to reduce out the excess moisture by a process called evaporating.   When the sap is in its rawest form, it usually contains about two percent sugar making it only discernibly sweet when tasted directly from the tree.   But with the long condensation process, eventually the sap is evaporated down to a highly concentrated sugary substance with a pleasingly nice maple taste.

All of this is hard work…especially if you don’t have the proper equipment and do it as a hobby.   It takes on average about 45 gallons of raw sap to boil down to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.   As I recall, if you are doing it over an open fire evaporating down 45 gallons of sap is a day-long project in itself.

Moreover, raw sap doesn’t keep for much more than a few days.   That’s why the best sugarbushes have a system (some even have a pipeline) where the sap flows immediately to the evaporator and during this time of the year it can be a very busy process.

Would-be maple producers know that the sap flow is at its best during the time of the year when the days are warming above freezing, but the nights still dip below the freezing mark.   Once the flow begins…it can go on for several weeks…but once the buds start popping out on the trees it’s time to pull the taps.

To me, tapping maple trees is one of the earliest signs that springtime cannot be far away.   I’ve seen people tapping trees in urban areas right along busy city sidewalks…as well as out in the “sugarbush” far from any paved road.   It’s hard work…it’s best done with others to assist you…but the rewards can be quite sweet, to say the least.

If you live in maple country you deserve to experience this interesting rite of spring.   If you don’t want to invest in the equipment or involve yourself with that much work…check out a local nature center.   Many of them have maple sugar programs where you can be as hands on as you want to be.   Some might even allow you to taste the delicious fruit of your labors some call liquid gold.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.