Skills For "Living The Era"

[jamespowers]

I never knew such a thing existed until my dear old Ma pointed one out to me a couple-three decades ago. Mangles were a common sight in most households when she was a kid, I recall her saying, but now hardly anybody has one.

Since then I've stumbled across a few here and there. I was tempted to buy one (for next to nothing) at an off-the-beaten-path charity thrift shop not so long ago, but then good sense took over and I acknowledged to myself that I really didn't have a good place to put the thing, and that I wasn't likely to give it much use anyway.

Seeing one of those things work scared the heck out of me as a kid. My grandmother had one and it made all kinds of noises and steamed like a monster. lol lol

 

[tonyb]

Seeing one of those things work scared the heck out of me as a kid. My grandmother had one and it made all kinds of noises and steamed like a monster. lol lol

My grandmother made all kinds of noises and steamed like a monster too. I have every confidence that these days she's keeping things warm and oh so sweet smelling down there.

 

[tonyb]

I was thinking about what (if anything) I could contribute. Strange, but sometimes things that one person considers second nature are archaic to another.
Like, how to drive a rear-wheel drive car in winter.
How to push-start a car.
How to use oilstones to keep your kitchen knives properly sharp.

To me, these are second-nature skills, but I have only been able to pass the last one onto my kids.

I wonder how long it will be before lighting a charcoal grill will be a forgotten skill ...

Driving I kinda get, after all these years, and compression starting a car was a necessary skill for fifty-dollar-car-driving kids like me, at least if we wanted to spare ourselves a long walk. Starting charcoal in a chimney (a 3-pound coffee can will do in a pinch) is a snap, so why anyone would buy charcoal lighting fluid is lost on me.

I've seen wet-stone knife sharpening done, and even done it myself a few times, but that hardly makes me knowledgable on the subject. So, if you'd care to elaborate, I'm all ears.

 

[jamespowers]

My grandmother made all kinds of noises and steamed like a monster too. I have every confidence that these days she's keeping things warm and oh so sweet smelling down there.

:rofl:

 

[jamespowers]

Driving I kinda get, after all these years, and compression starting a car was a necessary skill for fifty-dollar-car-driving kids like me, at least if we wanted to spare ourselves a long walk. Starting charcoal in a chimney (a 3-pound coffee can will do in a pinch) is a snap, so why anyone would buy charcoal lighting fluid is lost on me.

I start my charcoal the same way my father and grandfather did---charcoal glow ring. Put a base down of charcoal. Put the glow ring in. Bury the glow ring with charcoal. Plug in and eight minutes later pull it out and the charcoal will be glowing but not ready yet. Let it warm up till all coals are at least gray. Spread it out and grill when they are all nice and evenly ashy.

 

[1961MJS]

Driving I kinda get, after all these years, and compression starting a car was a necessary skill for fifty-dollar-car-driving kids like me, at least if we wanted to spare ourselves a long walk. Starting charcoal in a chimney (a 3-pound coffee can will do in a pinch) is a snap, so why anyone would buy charcoal lighting fluid is lost on me.

I've seen wet-stone knife sharpening done, and even done it myself a few times, but that hardly makes me knowledgeable on the subject. So, if you'd care to elaborate, I'm all ears.

Hi Tony

You can't use the new 3 pound coffee cans to light Charcoal, they're plastic dammit. I have a deal that holds the stone at the correct angle to get a good edge. I picked it up years ago. http://lansky.com/

Later Y'all

 

[jamespowers]

Hi Tony

You can't use the new 3 pound coffee cans to light Charcoal, they're plastic dammit. I have a deal that holds the stone at the correct angle to get a good edge. I picked it up years ago. http://lansky.com/

Later Y'all

That is the kit I use to sharpen my knives.

 

[tonyb]

Hi Tony

You can't use the new 3 pound coffee cans to light Charcoal, they're plastic dammit. I have a deal that holds the stone at the correct angle to get a good edge. I picked it up years ago. http://lansky.com/

Later Y'all

Goes to show how long it's been since I've bought canned coffee. I think they keep the stuff a matter of feet away from the whole bean stuff I buy. Guess I just don't pay it no nevermind.

Thanks for the tip on the sharpening gizmo.

 

[in/y]

Having been into ham radio over the years (currently mostly inactive while raising kids), there is potential for dealing with electrical safety frequently, especially when using tubes instead of transistors. Transmitter high voltages can be in the thousands of volts. This stuff is lethal!

I've seen the slogan in many old ham radio mags "Switch off for safety" which sums thing up well. Kill the power before you stick your hand inside. Some capacitors however can store a high voltage charge for quite some time after the power is off. My dad (who used to teach a ham radio license class) would charge up a capacitor and just set it on the table in front of the room at the start of the class. Near the end of the class time, he'd take an insulated handle screwdriver, place the metal shaft on the capacitor terminals and POW. He'd then make the point that with high voltage equipment you must be alert.

If I must reach into a powered up piece of equipment, I use the hand in pocket method. Keep one hand in your pocket at all times while reaching in. Nothing is more deadly than having the electric run up one arm across your chest/heart and down the other arm.

 

[Gingerella72]

Love this thread! Would be even better with tutorial photos and/or videos. I'm a very visual person!

 

[CONELRAD]

Here's something interesting that I'm almost ashamed to ask, but I'd very much like to know the answer. And since it involves living in the era, I assume this would be the best place to ask.

A friend of my family lives in a very old house, I don't know when it was built, but it was definitely no later than very early in the 20th century. This house, which sits on the banks of Lake Arlington, was moved across the lake many years ago.

Now, this house has been experiencing some fairly serious plumbing issues over the past so many years. Recently, the plumbers apparently said that old houses like that did not have plumbing to accommodate toilet paper, and that the residents of the house should stop using it. That seems pretty far fetched to me, I mean were they supposed to use pages from the Sears Roebuck catalog? On the other hand, a plumber should know more about the topic than I would.

Anyway, is it true that old houses can't use toilet paper, or was the plumber mistaken?

 

[Shangas]

See. This is why it's important to know history.

Toilets as we know them, came around as far back as the 1500s. The first one was invented by John Harrington, an Englishman.

Ever wondered why Americans call the toilet 'the John'?

Take a hint.

The toilet as we know it today, came out in the 1800s. With proper citywide sewers and sanitary works, the flush-toilet was finally practical on a large scale.

Toilet-paper has existed since the 1800s in the form that we know of it today. But even before then, people used old newspapers, scrap paper, old rags etc., and would've flushed that down their toilets without a second thought.

So in short...the plumber is wrong.

 

[CONELRAD]

So in short...the plumber is wrong.

Yeah, I thought so, but I'm not a toilet-historian.

 

[Shangas]

Neither am I.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well, it could be that the house in question is not connected to a sewer and uses a septic tank system, in which case the type of paper used is quite important, IIRC. I suspect the plumber's advice is being modified slightly in a Chinese whispers kind of way, at some point in the chain … Or simply not understood properly.

 

[LizzieMaine]

City sewer systems were available only to those living in cities. Right up thru the end of the twentieth century, most small town people used septic tanks -- which I can tell you thru sad personal experience don't like anything except the most degradable of toilet paper to be flushed. Paper towels, napkins, Sears catalog pages, any other substitute for fine tissue will cause trouble.

I still have vivid memories of our tank backing up when I was a kid -- much of our backyard was covered with a black, greasy, malodorous slick of sewage. You only have to experience that once to be careful for the rest of your life.

 

[sheeplady]

Modern homes have septic tanks and leechfields. Older homes often had a tank, but no leechfield. I actually knew of a house that had a buried 55 gallon drum with a pipe out of one end. If they can locate the storage tank, they can often get the cap off and empty it. When I was a kid, our tank went (it was put in 1913 and died in 1983) but wasn't able to be uncapped. So a new tank and leechfield was installed. It's probably a $20,000 piece of work to put in a new system, depending upon the size of the house (tanks are sized by the number of bedrooms). More if you have an area that you need to have special stuff done to- like if drainage is a problem due to being close to the lake, etc.

Two other possibilities is that roots have grown into the lines or tank (so very critical to keep trees away from the septic system) or that the pipes have gotten rough inside and are trapping paper and waste. Plenty of older houses have cast iron or steal drainage pipes. If they are very old, or were allowed to sit "empty" for a long time, they will eventually corrode and rust and then this catches stuff on the way down- the problem could be anyplace between the toilet and the storage tank. The lines, if this is the problem, need to be replaced with PVC. If they are having trouble even sending water down the drain, this is likely the issue.

My parents' home had both issues; they fixed one and had to later fix the other.

Nothing (absolutely nothing) should go into a septic tank but toilet paper (preferably the rougher stuff), soap/detergent, and what comes out of your body (fluids and solids). Nothing else. No food disposal, no feminine products, no facial tissues, no old medications, etc. This is even with a new system, yet alone an old one. Granted, I'm overly cautious about that type of thing, but having grown up with a finicky system you learn this lesson early and well.

ETA: The only systems I've ever heard of not taking toilet paper are on boats where the exit pipe is really small and a knife is used to chop up the solids. The knife gets tangled on toilet paper, so no toilet paper can be used.

 

[Big Man]

... the plumbers apparently said that old houses like that did not have plumbing to accommodate toilet paper, and that the residents of the house should stop using it ... Anyway, is it true that old houses can't use toilet paper, or was the plumber mistaken?

My house was built in 1907, and did not have indoor plumbing (no running water/bathroom). My Grandparents bought the house in 1917, and by the mid-1920's my Grandfather had installed plumbing. He built a bathroom on the back porch and built his own septic tank system, both of which are still in use today and have no problems.

What the plumber could be talking about is the house in question may have been plumbed for running water only, with a commode being added at a later date. It is a conceivablel situation, and if so, the drainage pipe size may not be large enough.

The drain lines in my house from the sinks and tub are two inch lines, but the drain from commode is a six inch line, all of which connect to a six inch main drain that leads to the septic tank. If the drain was only a two inch line all the way, it could have an issue with tolit paper.

Just a thought ...

 

[Big Man]

I've been re-thinking my earlier comment on this question. Around here (in the country) there were some old houses that had "running water" way before they had real "indoor plumbing." My great aunt Callie's house was a good example. The spring was above the house and they ran a supply pipe from the spring to the house. They had a sink in the kitchen where the water ran all the time.

Assuming the house in the original question is not a "country" house, I would suspect that any additions to the plumbing over the years would have included a standard size drain system. If this is correct, then the plumber doesn't know what he is talking about. Just because a house and its plumbing are "old" does not mean that it wasn't "designed for toilet paper."

 

[CONELRAD]

As far as I know, the house is connected to the Arlington city sewers.

Personally, and as I said, I'm not a toilet-historian or a plumber, it seems more likely to me that the plumbing issues were caused by the house being taken apart and moved across a lake. Or course they put in new plumbing when they moved the house, so the plumbing is not as old as the house, but I don't know when it was moved.

The plumbers apparently used a camera and found that one piece of pipe went up instead of down, like it should, and was creating the back up. They also said that people who live in old houses don't use toilet paper at all.