A Gift For Tim's 50th Birthday
Rare Elm Burr and 24ct Gold Plated Ballpoint Twist Pen
A burr (American burl) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds.
A burr results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be environmental or introduced by humans. Most burr grow beneath the ground, attached to the roots as a type of malignancy that is generally not discovered until the tree dies or falls over. Such burrs sometimes appear as groups of bulbous protrusions connected by a system of rope-like roots. Almost all burr wood is covered by bark, even if it is underground. Insect infestation and certain types of mould infestation are the most common causes of this condition.
Burr yields a very peculiar and highly figured wood, one prized for its beauty by many; its rarity also adds to its expense. It is sought after by people such as furniture makers (mainly used as veneers, artists, and wood sculptors. The knots and twists in oak Burrs are usually a few per foot or so, however these pens have many more to make a spectacular premium quality dressing for only the best of the pen mechanisms that I sell.
Seasoning burr can be a long drawn out process that can take many years and there is no guarantee that there will be any usable timber once it is sawn.
We had stayed in Stratford-upon-Avon basin for our full allowance of 14 days as the weather had been so nice. The plan was that we'd go out for a belated birthday drink and dinner for Debbie on our last night and slowly plod back up to the outskirts of Birmingham in the couple of weeks after.
Debs treat out very nearly didn't happen. We'd had a day of rain, not particularly heavy locally, but I was seeing a lot of bad reports of flooding from fellow boaters a long way east in Northampton. It wasn't until I looked closer at the maps that I realised that the River Avon was a stream over that way and it was the same river Avon that we were 100 yards from.
The river is usually about five feet below the canal basin and the basin itself has floating pontoons and wharf walls about another foot or so above the canal height. Worryingly though there were some flood markers on the town wall that showed the river had the potential to go quite bit higher. We hadn't had that much rain though. Had we?
On the mooring of our last day the river was up by about three feet and the park and bandstand was starting to flood. Sirens sounded in the distance. I later found out that it was the emergency evacuation procedure for a local mobile home park. Maybe we should leave a bit earlier, get through the two low bridges and up the closest town lock and safely above flood height.
It wasn't that we were particularly bothered about the flood, more that if the basin rose by up to 1 foot we wouldn't be able to get out under the bridges and would be trapped for however long the water stayed high. I logged in to the environment agency's web site and looked at the data for the river hight. Worst recently recorded (1995) was about 1.9m with an average this time of year being about 0.7m. It was now 1.6m but wasn't increasing over a couple of hours that I was checking.
We gambled and stayed in the basin. After a great evening out we returned to the boat a little the worse for wear and to a river height of 1.68m. We decided that if the river level rose to basin level of about 1.85m we would move the boat through the bridges and first lock whatever the time of night was. I took the first watch - midnight to 7am, well I'm a light sleeper and Deb doesn't function on anything less than eight hours sleep!
The level stabilized over night and was just under 1.85m by 6am. Just as we were getting ready to leave a couple of hours later, using the pontoons to do a quick repair job on our sagging front and rear button fenders, the canal and river equalised. The river bottom lock gate gently swung open to show a completely open ended lock with the tree strewn river rushing past just a boats length from where we were moored. Time to leave.
Pen# 482 was turned a week or so later at Catherine-de-Barnes on Tuesday 22nd March
We had stayed in Stratford-upon-Avon basin for our full allowance of 14 days as the weather had been so nice. The plan was that we'd go out for a belated birthday drink and dinner for Debbie on our last night and slowly plod back up to the outskirts of Birmingham in the couple of weeks after.
Debs treat out very nearly didn't happen. We'd had a day of rain, not particularly heavy locally, but I was seeing a lot of bad reports of flooding from fellow boaters a long way east in Northampton. It wasn't until I looked closer at the maps that I realised that the River Avon was a stream over that way and it was the same river Avon that we were 100 yards from.
The river is usually about five feet below the canal basin and the basin itself has floating pontoons and wharf walls about another foot or so above the canal height. Worryingly though there were some flood markers on the town wall that showed the river had the potential to go quite bit higher. We hadn't had that much rain though. Had we?
On the mooring of our last day the river was up by about three feet and the park and bandstand was starting to flood. Sirens sounded in the distance. I later found out that it was the emergency evacuation procedure for a local mobile home park. Maybe we should leave a bit earlier, get through the two low bridges and up the closest town lock and safely above flood height.
It wasn't that we were particularly bothered about the flood, more that if the basin rose by up to 1 foot we wouldn't be able to get out under the bridges and would be trapped for however long the water stayed high. I logged in to the environment agency's web site and looked at the data for the river hight. Worst recently recorded (1995) was about 1.9m with an average this time of year being about 0.7m. It was now 1.6m but wasn't increasing over a couple of hours that I was checking.
We gambled and stayed in the basin. After a great evening out we returned to the boat a little the worse for wear and to a river height of 1.68m. We decided that if the river level rose to basin level of about 1.85m we would move the boat through the bridges and first lock whatever the time of night was. I took the first watch - midnight to 7am, well I'm a light sleeper and Deb doesn't function on anything less than eight hours sleep!
The level stabilized over night and was just under 1.85m by 6am. Just as we were getting ready to leave a couple of hours later, using the pontoons to do a quick repair job on our sagging front and rear button fenders, the canal and river equalised. The river bottom lock gate gently swung open to show a completely open ended lock with the tree strewn river rushing past just a boats length from where we were moored. Time to leave.
Pen# 482 was turned a week or so later at Catherine-de-Barnes on Tuesday 22nd March
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