OT: Rush Limbaugh putting down machinists Wed?

3fngrs · Mar 6, 2004

One of the guys I work with (I'm a job shop machinist) said his wife heard Rush running his mouth about job shop machinists. I think this was on Wednesday. I was wondering if any of you heard this show and just exactly what he was saying.

Thank-you.

icehd81 · Mar 6, 2004

I'd be suprised if he even knew what a machinist is. I would guess that he might have been talking about office job-shoppers, which is entirely different than machinists working in a job shop.

3fngrs · Mar 6, 2004

I don't know. All I know is this guy came back from our other shop where his wife works and started cussing when he heard Rush on the radio. He insisted that his wife heard Rush saying something derogatory about machinists. I've been trying to find some transcripts to Wednesday's show, but I haven't had any luck yet. Any suggestions?

Cass · Mar 6, 2004

I listened to Rush every day last week and he did say some stuff about screwing around in high school shop class. Kind of typical of one who wasn't interested in shop class and just joked around. As much as he likes airplanes and other tech stuff I think he is like a lot of people not trained in anything technical in that he is frustrated and somewhat envious. No real put downs on machinists at all but he got some complaints I imagine. I still like him a lot and agree with the large majority of his ideas. Hope this doesn't turn into a long discussion on him. I have some questions about the hardest wood to use as fence posts if that happens.

Pazuzu71 · Mar 6, 2004

He was talking about his days in High School, goofing-off in Shop class.
He would short-out electrical gear, mess with shop stuff, general high school nonsense.
He didn't say anything bad about Machinists.

alrednek · Mar 6, 2004

Anyone remember the bumper stickers that read:

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT!

Agreed.

J. Elliott · Mar 6, 2004

My dead-on favorite was, "Rush is Reich".

caltom · Mar 6, 2004

Bumper stickers...

My favorite of all time was one I saw back in about '91 before the Pres. election. It was a Perot for President sticker that simply read "Run Ross Run"... it was on the brush guard of a Ford pick-up. It made me smile...

BWS · Mar 6, 2004

Cass,that "wood" be.......Osage.If a Locust post is good for 50-75 years,you can double that for Osage.

Cass · Mar 6, 2004

In Texas Ossage Orange is called Bois d'arc which I think is French for "Bow Wood". I think the name makes sense because the heart wood is super strong and the sap wood is soft. With the strong heart wood on the tension side and the sap wood on the compression (inside) it should make a good bow. Our local indians in the early days were Commanches and they had a big enough reputation with the Spaniards that the Spainards went around north Texas for a hundred years. Bois d'arc is pretty thick around here. I have a pile of old fence posts that are probably 100 years old that I cut up now and then to make odds and ends. The stuff is hard as a rock and makes a pretty good subsitute for brass. Lots of old houses still around are sitting on Bois d'arc blocks for a foundation. I think it never rots as far as I can tell. Yellow ebony. I wish there was a way to keep it from turning brown from exposure to UV light.

BWS · Mar 6, 2004

I've built way too many recurve and longbows.But ours are of the hightech variety.We use it(Osage)for all manor of bow parts.

Years ago my dad was doing resto work on some historic building that suffered a pretty bad fire.Anyhow,he was bringin home a little oak that had been firehardened.It was way old before the fire,if memory serves me it was probably 1820's.I've cut some HARDA$$ woods building bows but none of'm could compare to that firehardened
Oak.It would peel the carbide off a new circular blade.

Evan · Mar 7, 2004

Ironwood is the most dense wood of all. It has a density of 1.3. I knew a guy with a north sea whaler with ironwood ribs. To attach anything to them he had to drill and tap and use machine screws.

Jeremy · Mar 7, 2004

If someone makes fun of your profession or hobbies and you take it personally, you need to lighten up. Opinions are just that.....

Cass · Mar 7, 2004

With bois d'arc it is near impossible to drive a standard nail. Drill a pilot hole. I know that it will take the edge off carbon steel wood lathe knives in a few minutes but it is nice stuff to turn with sharp tools. I keep a stone at the lathe and touch up the tools every 20 minutes are so. They are old high carbon and not high speed though. I have one lathe knife that has a brazed carbide tip and it has dulled some after much use. One problem with bois d'arc is that the same chemicals in the wood that prevent rot and bugs has a killing effect on me. A dust mask is mandatory with it. As compared to "iron wood" I don't know the density but I will measure it and post that. I have bought some carvings in Mexico that are made of "iron wood" an it looks like Mesquite to me. Beautiful stuff and obviously hard as it shines like stone. I have often wondered what "iron wood" really is from a botany standpoint. Lignum viate or whatever is used for making carvers hammers and that is supposed to be one of the hardest and toughest woods. Both bois d'arc and Mesquite are prone to cracking from drying. These old fence posts are good from that aspect as they are very old and stable. Nothing bigger than about 4"x4" though.

Michael Az · Mar 7, 2004

We have ironwood here in Az. I have always been told it will not float. As wood isn't plentiful here in the desert, the oldtimers I have heard used ironwood for firewood but couldn't split it. Some ingenious blacksmith came up with a wedge that would hold a small charge of black powder and when this wedge was inserted and hit with the maul, the charge would blow the wood apart.
Michael

Evan · Mar 8, 2004

Iron wood is "Ostrya virginiana" and it does grow in Arizona. It does sink as it is heavier than water.

I did live in Arizona for a time.

[This message has been edited by Evan (edited 03-07-2004).]

swarf_rat · Mar 8, 2004

I thought lignum vitae (guaniacum officinale) was the densest wood in the world. It is used for bearings because of its oily self-lubricating nature. They used to use it as ball bearings in ship logs. It is supposed to machine very well. I don't know how it would work for fence posts, though. Maybe Rush could tell us, if he untied the other side of his brain so he could succeed in shop class.

WJHartson · Mar 8, 2004

Lignum Vitae is also called iron wood. It is native to Jamaica and other tropical areas. The Jamaicans have almost depleted the supply on the island. It is used mostly for carvings today. Some of the old great houses used it for main structural beams. There was a greathouse very close to where we lived and they were remodeling it. The main porch columns were all Lignum Vitae. If you wanted to attach anything to the columns you had to drill a hole first. Nails would just bend. I have several large pieces that I brought back. It will crack if it is not oiled. All of the Jerk Joints used a slab of Lignum Vitae for chopping blocks. They held up well in that service. The outside layer is a light white or cream color and the inside is a dark brown. Very pretty wood and will polish to a nice sheen.

Joe

Steve Stube · Mar 8, 2004

BWS, "firehardened Oak.It would peel the carbide off a new circular blade." Isn't that where we get the technical term, Oaky Doaky?
Draw it down (reduce the hardness) using a lower temp building fire but if you leave it in too long, watch out, cause that Oak might turn to Ash es. The real art is in selecting just the right temperature/size building to burn.

Gotta go, no more time to burn.

OT: Rush Limbaugh putting down machinists Wed?

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