Musing about Shillalahs and Tool Handles

--IIRC it's spelled "shilelagh"; vague memory from Scrabble, heh.

Funny you should mention that, Arch... I got the newsletter from my turning club yesterday and the challenge this month is to make a tool handle..

My wife says that I should bring my favorite Olan tool in... the one that's made out of a bolt with a hand-wrapped duct tape handle.. *g*

gotta go out to the shop tonight and have a beer with the "O'tools".. Mac

Hi Steamboat. Thanks for the correction, Ed. I knew it didn't look right. I shoudda said "Irish toothpick". :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Challenge! You can give 'em "L," Arch.

Amazing what happens when we try to impose writing on a language which developed without it, isn't it? There's no way I would ever, with my American, have come up with proper pronunciation for the Gaelic names of places over there. Modern Irish are as baffled when the name is not a familiar one. "Sound it out" is not an option.

I had the same problem in Poland, where the Latin alphabet is in use. Pronounce it, and I could get the meaning. Trouble was, Cyril and Methodius were orthodox or Polish would be written in the easily pronounceable Cyrillic.

In its anglicized form it's usually spelt "shillelagh" (note the double-l) and the Irish is "sail-éílle". That having been said, there's a place not far from me in County Wicklow also called Shil(l)elagh, the Irish name of which is Síol Ealaigh.

Thanks, George & Alun. Siol Ealiagh, Shillelagh, Shilelagh, even Shillalah: one religion is as good as another! (that's not the original pun) :)

I should have used "Billy Club", but then some Feminist would object that I didn't say "Billie Club". :)

Now what about all your favorite tool handles? Can you post pics of your club's handles, Mac? BTW, we need to see your Olan tool and it's important to know the exact screw threads on the bolt. Whether metric, fine, coarse, Whitworth, unified or whatever is under that tape makes a huge difference in how we turn. Almost as much as the way we dry wood, perceive art or understand plagiary. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

In honor of this particular muse, I suggest we give Arch the title of "Chairman of the Board"

:)

Hmmm. Keep that up buster and we'll have to put one of those shillelagh things to use!

...Kevin

don't know if I can get pictures of the club challenge, but I'll try... It's on March 25th..

I might even drag the camera out to the shop today and take a picture of my Olan handle and post it on ABPW... *g*

Next time I make one, I really want to take construction shots and put up a page on making them..

See if you can get a handle on all this, Arch.. Mac

Kevin.. this is ARCH we're talking about...... maybe Chairman of the Bored?

Mac

Mac, Kevin has thought for years that HE was Chairman of the COC Board; probably all that whale blubber they eat up there in the Frozen North. {:-)

That's muktuk to you, heathen. I'm just trying to keep the atrocious jokes to a minimum. Can't have just anybody spouting off with bad puns or we'd have a whale of problem on our hands. Of course, this may have just been a fluke...

...Kevin

*groan* Mac

I appreciate being nominated as a member of the board, but I could never be Chairman. I can't sing, but I'm much more like Dean than Frank.

Seems their's no interest in discussing what handles you all favor and use for your different turning tools. Sorry. Best to forget tool handles and return to a more helpful, topical & popular subject. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

The one on the opposite end from the pointy part.. *g*

Mac

As in "If I give you a good enough drubbing with this stick, I'm sure you'll see the logic of my position."

BTW, I'm home sick today ... too sick to even wander down the basement steps to my 'shop' where I have several unfinished projects for which the clocks are ticking. When I'm too sick to make shavings or dust, there's no reason to expect much from my sense of humor, either.

Bill

Hi Bill, Stay home, keep upstairs and get well quick. We need you, your expertise and your sense of humor.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter