A Victorinox Scissors Variation

Thousands may know that there were at least two versions of the 91mm Victorinox scissors with screws and double leaf springs.  But its like a secret nobody is willing to talk about.  A secret that has long aggravated  Crumby.  So now, Crumby is fixing to spill his guts.

The above picture shows the scissors from an Explorer (top) and an Original Traveler (bottom).  As is usually the case, it is impossible to date these twain precisely, but the Explorer is likely 1975-78 while the Traveler is about 1979-1982.  Note that the holes for the attachment of the springs and the obverse screw holes are much smaller on the Explorer scissors.

Now check out both scissors flipped over.  Again the Explorer is on top.  Note that the scissors screw head appears slightly smaller.  But also the closing surface of the handle/blade juncture extends further to the handle end, thus making the handle, comparatively shorter on the Explorer scissors.

Why does this matter?  Because the older type scissors were only made for a few years, supposedly beginning in 1975, and are relatively rare.  And the screws are not interchangeable.  Actually, the springs aren't either, but the newer ones can be jiggered to work.   So if you, like Crumby, are missing a screw on your old scissors, you are screwed.  Unless you can find a donor knife with intact, older style scissors.

Hmm.  Right now a knife advertised as a Champion with long nail file and and bale is being vended on EBAY.  But check out the scissors.  Do they look like the original scissors that should go with a 1973 or earlier Champion?

Crumby's Wenger Compasses

Karl the Tracker Druid told Ray, and Ray told Crumby, that he, Karl, was once chased twenty miles by a pack of grizzzly bears (Ursa socialiable).  Eventually Karl outdistanced the bears, but when he finally fetched up, he was completely lost.  Fortunately, Karl always carried two compasses and a good map.  So an orienteering session quickly got Karl found and  back on the track of the evil doer he was pursuing.

If Crumby figured he was fixing to get chased off track by bears, he would also want to have two good compasses and a proper map, assuming he could outrun the bears or maybe climb a tree or lock himself inside an abandoned refrigerator.  Yet once extricated from the freezer or icebox, after the bears left, Crumby would need to figure out where destiny had situated him and where to head from that point on.  Would Crumby, in that situation, rely upon his two Wenger compasses, also known as orienteering tools?

Probably not preferentially.  Crumby would rather have a proper compass like the control compass on the left.  That's a Silva compass made in Sweden.  Crumby has had that compass for decades and it always works perfectly.  However, the Wenger button compasses also work.

Well, the little one on the right needs some coaxing before it will point north.  It has to be perfectly level and sometimes requires a tap or two.  Probably not what you'd want after getting chased by sociable bears, then spending the night in a Frigidaire. The other Wenger works better.  Like a normal compass.   Plus it features a rotating bezel.  So it would make a reliable backup compass.  And the little one would certainly be better than nothing.

The little Wenger (only 12mm diameter) is from 1985-1986.  It pops out of the plastic housing which the other one does not do. Considering its age, amazing that it works at all.   The other one is from 1991-1995.  Quality button compasses.

If Crumby had won, instead of lost on EBAY, he would have had a third Wenger compass to show, the one from 1986-1990.  Unfortunately,  Crumby was asleep at the switch and got outbid.

Here the knives are from their other sides with tools out.  Pathfinder and Whistle.  The goofy tool assortment on the Pathfinder includes the flat Phillips and a saw.  Goodness!

Yesterday's Partial Eclipse

Crumby woudn't be much of a Druid if he didn't document the partial eclipse.  So here that is.

The method is; hold up your trusty Astrozap solar filter up between Ogma Sunface and your old noggin.  Then, once you see Ogma's image situated on the back of the filter, snap a picture.  You may notice that the flash, flashed.

Jumper and Grasshopper

For a good while Crumby has been fixing to identify the jumping spider depicted to species or even genus.  No luck on that.  The grasshopper is an admirable grasshopper, about 3cm.  Which is a good sized prey item for any jumper.  The leaflets are mesquite.

Wenger and Buck Clip Points

Hmm!  Wenger made knives for Buck from 1991-98 or 99.  Then the deal ended.  Crumby figured that Wenger had to have left over parts that never got made up into Swiss Bucks.  Like left over clip point blades probably eventually made their way into the Evolution series knives that appeared in 2005, some with clip point blades.  Yet Crumby's theory may be wrong.  Because Crumby's Wenger and Buck clip point blades are not the same.  They are slightly different.  See the angles of the notches at the tangs.  They are different. The nail nicks are also, different.

Crumby just received the Wenger.   It is a soft touch with "tactile" scales.  It also smells bad.  Crumby can not identify the smell precisely.  It may be a combination of tobacco smoke, Juicy Fruit and Aqua Velva.

The vendor who sold this knife to Crumby did not mention its odour. However, Crumby gave the vendor the benefit of a doubt and did not give him bad feedback for not mentioning the odour.  Maybe all soft touches smell.  Is that possible?

Anyway,  Crumby is a man of action and resolved to do something to ameliorate the stink.  First, he put the knife on a tissue, then covered it front and back with Arm & Hammer.  He let that sit for a couple of hours. Then he washed it off in tap water.  Now the knife barely stinks.  Crumby is fixing to wash it again with hot water and Dawn dish soap.  Dawn, because it is the choice of astronomers everywhere

.Errata:  Originally the dish soap noted above was spelled Dial.  Ugh!  We meant to spell Dawn.  The correction has been made.  Hopefully, little or no harm resulted from this error.

Quiscalus quiscula

Crumby considers a common grackle invasion to be about the most exciting Class Aves event ever.  And yes, the CB was invaded by common grackles from about 8-11:20 AM this morning.  They stripped all the acorns off the live oaks.  They whooped and hollered.  Then all 300-400 flew off to the east.  Gone!

The thing is, common grackle invasions are rare events at the CB, happening at 3-4 year intervals.  Plus, while cool all to themselves, they usually herald additional noteworthy Class Aves events.  Like maybe a two-lane  buttscratcher is fixing to turn up in the backyard for a new county record.  Something like that!

one of today's common grackles

Hold the presses!  The common grackles are back again this morning.  Perhaps Ray can get a better picture.

Exactly the kind of bs that happens to me, happens to a squirrel

Yesterday on his bike ride Crumby espied a squirrel.  The particular squirrel we are now discussing carried a cluster of green pecans. So along goes the squirrel only it can't see where it's headed due to all the green pecans blocking its vision.   Pretty soon its fore paws tangle with a stick tripping up squirrel.  Course the stick moves doing a stick snake imitation.  Thoroughly spooked, squirrel jumps back, losing its grip on the green pecan cluster which breaks apart into a cluster of three and a solitary.  Squirrel don't know what to do. Three or one!  Three or one! Yet by then, Crumby is bearing down on squirrel.  So squirrel grabs the one and heads up the nearest tree.

This morning a gray fox was/is almost on the back step.  Gray fox right after we got a brief glimpse of the lunar eclipse, before clouds rolled in.

The rain of weeks past jump started the growing season.  Yet the insects lag.  For example, honeybees outnumber native Hymenopterans like 100-1.   Yes.  Only the most common are apparent.  Which species survive environmental perturbations best.  Easy that, the most common species.

Another SAK Tool Historic Milestone

Crumby has completed his collection of the Wenger main blades as regards serrations.  Here they are!  From top to bottom, an Alpine Backpacker with a fully serrated blade.  A Matterhorn with a hemi-serrated blade.  And a Traveler with no serrations whatever.  Fully serrated Wenger main blades are already relatively uncommon.

The Insects May Be Perking Up

Every flower we got at the CB is flowering or fixing to.  Looks swell.  But the insects have lagged.  Maybe they are fixing to catch up.

Tiger swallowtails are scarce at the CB.  This one, species unknown, is the only big butterfly observed at our Ruellias.  So tigers, that we hardly ever see, pollinate ruellias, that we have in the millions.

And just for fun, a predation picture,  I eat the eyes first.