firewood seems to be theme of this blog. curley sells firewood. there is an art to selling firewood. people always ask you the same question. "is it seasoned" the people asking this question do not know what it means. they assume that by saying this they have convinced you that they know "firewood"
when i was a novice wood seller i would answer their questions in a trueful manner. i would tell them where the tree was raised as a lad. what schools it went to. (in St. Louis) this is very important. the first and most important question you will be asked in this area is what school did you go to. they are not interested in college. they are talking about high school. i can't explain it. i think it has something to do with what they eat.
pork steaks are big in st. louis. this is the only place on the entire planet where people take the pork butt and slice it into steaks. they sear each side on the bar-a-que. then slow cook it in cast iron (perferred) for hours in the cheapest bar-a-que sause available. (usually maul-it) tastes good. the problem is NO-ONE in the entire state that is cooking pork steaks knows what they are. they think the the boston butt is a hunk of meat from the "butt" of the pig. wrong. that's the ham. they have not done their home work on the word "butt" or how about the word "boston" do all butts come from boston. in the old days when they got to name items all "butts" were coming out of Boston. in the time frame of their tea party. they were shipping out portions of mister pig in white oak kegs. they did a smoke job and cure (sugar or salt) on the bacon and hams. wooded kegs called "butts" were shipped with salt cured pork shoulders. called boston butts.
the "butts" are made of white oak. why white oak because it is water proof wood. (that's why ships like old ironsides) are made of white oak.
old iron sides has a secret wood on the outside that repells cannon balls, this is backed up by eighteeen inches of white oak planking. the inside has live oak, live oak is the large trees in the south (USA) that have all the moss hanging on them. the ribs for old iron sides is made from the wood junction of the first limbs following the grain.
secret cannon ball wood used on old irons sides is "rock elm" (twelve inches) this wood has interwoven fibers that compress and repell cannon balls. the British finally found out how were did it and invented an armour for their tanks that detonnates and blows away shell strikes. wood cutters figured this out the first time they tried to split elm.
Wood Question? what did Count Rumford steal from the domain of the " swamp fox " and take back to England?
