Norm Zax
12-06-2010, 6:23 AM
This story has sad parts, some even sadder, depending on your point of view.
About a year ago I did two things in parallel – applied to the municipality for a permit to build a workshop AND did my own importing of a 2HP Jet lathe, through the wonderful help of Sean at ToolNut. Eventually, the lathe arrived but the plans got stuck and are not getting any closer. This makes me perhaps the only person you know with a brand new lathe, still in packing, for over a year! … but the story continues. Here in Israel two teenagers played with fire. Not treating the blaze seriously when it was small, and lacking proper means to deal with a fire storm, about 4 million trees burned since last Thursday, 15000 people were evacuated from a few small settlements in the vicinity and 42 were killed, most of whom were in a bus driving away from the fire and eventually getting stuck in a narrow road, too narrow to turn the bus around, and were suddenly engulfed with fire in all directions.
I live 4.5 miles from the edge of the fire but until yesterday saw nothing. Yesterday the air was heavy and acrid but today’s rain cleared most of the scent. How does this have anything to do with WT? Well, my lathe was safely stored in a friend’s workshop in the general area of the fire. Is it safe I asked myself and my wife promised we would get a new one, if needed. How absurd it would be to have it burned before even opening the box. The friend himself happened to be abroad for a few days ignoring my SMS to him, but returned this morning, as the fire was put out after a five days work, 450 firefighters and several airborne aircraft spilling tons of water (and chemicals) over the whole area. An hour ago he called me up to say that the fire stopped just 300 yards from the shed, which is filled with soot and debris, but quite intact. As firemen later confirmed that temperatures went up to 5000F, needless to say that most of his store of wood, much of which was green wood, is now probably bone dry. What a week. What a disaster.
About a year ago I did two things in parallel – applied to the municipality for a permit to build a workshop AND did my own importing of a 2HP Jet lathe, through the wonderful help of Sean at ToolNut. Eventually, the lathe arrived but the plans got stuck and are not getting any closer. This makes me perhaps the only person you know with a brand new lathe, still in packing, for over a year! … but the story continues. Here in Israel two teenagers played with fire. Not treating the blaze seriously when it was small, and lacking proper means to deal with a fire storm, about 4 million trees burned since last Thursday, 15000 people were evacuated from a few small settlements in the vicinity and 42 were killed, most of whom were in a bus driving away from the fire and eventually getting stuck in a narrow road, too narrow to turn the bus around, and were suddenly engulfed with fire in all directions.
I live 4.5 miles from the edge of the fire but until yesterday saw nothing. Yesterday the air was heavy and acrid but today’s rain cleared most of the scent. How does this have anything to do with WT? Well, my lathe was safely stored in a friend’s workshop in the general area of the fire. Is it safe I asked myself and my wife promised we would get a new one, if needed. How absurd it would be to have it burned before even opening the box. The friend himself happened to be abroad for a few days ignoring my SMS to him, but returned this morning, as the fire was put out after a five days work, 450 firefighters and several airborne aircraft spilling tons of water (and chemicals) over the whole area. An hour ago he called me up to say that the fire stopped just 300 yards from the shed, which is filled with soot and debris, but quite intact. As firemen later confirmed that temperatures went up to 5000F, needless to say that most of his store of wood, much of which was green wood, is now probably bone dry. What a week. What a disaster.