There is a certain segment of my extended family that has a theory about garbage disposals.
Their theory, and I will try to be as neutral as possible, is that sink-installed garbage disposals are bad. Quite bad. Why? Well the disposals make a sort of gray paste out of all the foods that you grind up with this seemingly handy kitchen appliance.
This paste gets caked to the inside of your pipes and attracts rats. The rats crawl up the pipe of your sink to eat the gray paste. Eventually, they crawl into your home – hungry and with a taste for meat….
I encounter this theory during holidays and other family occasions, and I let it pass without comment. I don’t have the time, energy or electronic scope to bother. Some other members of the family (no names here) have figured out that the dangerous gray paste is a myth. We maintain our silence together.
This is how I deal with stupidity on the Internet.
Most serious woodworkers I know don’t have the time or patience to debunk all the idiotic stuff that gets passed around as fact. We roll our eyes and simply continue to do what we do. Who knows? Perhaps we’re the dolts and the rats will come eat our entrails one night.
My fellow journalists will chastise me for failing to jump into this battle between truth and falsehood. I admit that at times I am tempted to ride a steed down the hill into the melee, though I know it’s a waste of time. Why?
There is no Church of Woodworking. No true gospel of bark. Woodworking information is more like food than it is like religion. You are responsible for the information you consume. Try a little bit of everything – we all need a little junk food – but ultimately you are what you eat.
Consume the things that make you more productive. Things that get you in the shop and building stuff, instead of wondering how much chromium is in an exotic alloy. That’s the difference between protein and marshmallow puff.
And don’t condemn the Ding Dongs. Have one every year or so – the empty calories will remind you of what good food is.
— Christopher Schwarz
Okay, so I don’t hang out much in woodworking forums (I get enough, uh, opinions from musician forums). Care to drop a hint?
This is not about a particular thread, blog post or person. It is just a general USDA guideline that occurred to me during this holiday season.
Don’t read too much into it.
Ah, fair enough. Sometimes it’s hard keeping up what I’m supposed to be angry about when woodworking.
We’ll said.
>
My new years resolution is going to be “Ask questions rather than make statements.”
So in that vein how was the family dinner?
I hope it went as well as my families Thanksgiving. We had turkey with all the trimmings.
Today was turkey soup and turkey sandwiches followed by napping. 🙂
For some reason sink installed garbage disposal systems have never made their way to Scandinavia.
Currently the local regulations where I live requires you to sort out the garbage in 4 different categories, where food wast is one of them. Each garbage type has got its own designated container that will be emptied once every 2 weeks. All our food waste goes to a bio gas plant where it will be turned into gas that will fuel a generator producing electricity. Whats left after the process will be used as fertilizer.
Hats of to you for not engaging in a family discussion on that subject.
Have a relaxing Sunday with turkey leftovers.
Brgds
Jonas
Funny and thoughtful post. I woke up early, went to the shop for an hour, came in and read this post. Nice way to start the morning.
The sixth paragraph says it all for me. That’s been on my mind a lot lately. It makes me realize I need to be in the shop more.
In years past my family owed a automotive repair shop. Often a customer would ask “Can you repair anything?” and the answer is if the car in question is so badly damaged it really is nothing but junk, well the repair will end up being junk for the most part. That’s what I think when I see all the info about building from pallet wood and construction lumber.
I make a lot of stuff and I use mostly construction lumber. I will say that most of my stuff is painted. in history woodworkers used the wood in the area. Oak , cherry, walnut, even poplar is around $8 to $10 dollars a board foot around here. and seeings as I do old school woodworking I don’t use any plywood so when I find a Pallet made of Oak I grab it take it to the shop. so I have a problem with your comment.
Your projects, your decisions, your work. You don’t need to justify your actions. Instead laying around and saying “if only,” you actually make things out of the materials and tools you have. Rock on.
“take up your pallet and walk”
OMG. Maybe that’s why my joints are swollen and out of square……I’ve been consuming too much junk!! Thanks Chris.
I think this explains a bit about some of the people I work for who belong to the Chipboard Cult, or possibly the Church of Power Tools. They spend a lot of time and energy shouting that those who use hand tools (ie:me) are heretics.
I have no idea why this is so important, but there we go. I just nod and smile and carry on with my dovetails…
Who drew the rat?
“Journalists place a high value on truth, that is why they use it so sparingly.”
!
Scrap the disposal anyway. You could be composting.
I like the lyric “we’re all ignorant by choice…knowledge is free to come and go” to explain this kind of thing.