A good afternoon

[David Kilpatrick]

The sun came out, not much happening, so we headed for an antiques fair at Norham, small Northumberland village fifteen miles from us. Only took what cash was on hand, no cheque book or anything. Through the door, and there in front of me was an A2+ Avery 640GT last model (2002) hand guillotine with £10 price on it. I bought it instantly, I've always needed a cutter for the A2+ paper and my existing guillotines are all limited to around A4. Then we were haggling over two Border Fine Arts Scottish (pre-Chinese) pieces we liked, started at £35 each, came down to £50 the pair. Only had £47 in cash. Was the same seller as the guillotine - so they agreed.

Avery 640GT - discounted price currently £230 + delivery from office suppliers. Full RRP £287.50...

Then came back via M&S Simply Food which we did not know had opened in Berwick, and found a good cricket match happening in the sun, went out with A380, A900, A700, three lenses, got a load of excellent comparison shots and proved that the last thing you need for cricket shots is motordrive... unless it's 5fps or faster... too many pix to process, but I'll be posting about these results later.

David

[bakubo]

Sounds like you got some good deals. Also, sounds better than working on taxes.

[PhotoTraveler]

"A2+ Avery 640GT last model (2002) hand guillotine"

It took me a while to figure out what the heck that was.

I started thinking some sort of KM P&S, then a Ferrari, then some cruel/cool french thing.

Eventualy put it together. As someone who wishes the US would switch to ISO216 (I even only use A4 paper at home even though it's a bit hard to find) I didn't catch on the first part.

We just call them paper slicers/trimmers/cutters. Hand guillotine is a new one.

Trying to find a metric/ISO one in the US would be as easy as finding the holy grail I think. I've tried finding 888 punches and binders here, no luck what so ever.

My country sucks

[David Kilpatrick]

The alternative here is the rotary trimmer, but I have never liked them much. This one is the thing with the huge 2ft 6 steel blade hinged at one end, and a guard to prevent you taking your arm off. I like those better.

David

[bakubo]

The alternative here is the rotary trimmer, but I have never liked them much. This one is the thing with the huge 2ft 6 steel blade hinged at one end, and a guard to prevent you taking your arm off. I like those better.

When I was in school back in the 1960s and 1970s (elementary, junior high, and high school) lots of classrooms and libraries had those big paper cutters like you describe. I haven't been into one in a long time, but in our oh-so-careful, protect-the-children-from-themselves-at-all-costs I can't imagine that they are still common. Many parents now would scream in horror if they saw one in a classroom, I think. I am amazed that all of us of my generation are not missing fingers and even hands. I wonder if they still have the big electrical power tools (table top saw, bandsaw, etc.) in the wood shop? I do recall when I was in 8th grade that a boy using the table top saw lost a finger in class one day. He did exactly what the teacher had been drumming into our heads constantly not to do though. I guess most schools are scoured for anything that might conceivably cause any harm now.

[Birma]

Many parents now would scream in horror if they saw one in a classroom, I think.

Large jars of concentrated acid on the top shelf of the chemistry lab store; the acid bath and forge in the metalworking shop. I suspect all of these "exciting" things have gone from schools now. Just kids with drugs, guns and knives now

[bakubo]

Large jars of concentrated acid on the top shelf of the chemistry lab store; the acid bath and forge in the metalworking shop. I suspect all of these "exciting" things have gone from schools now.

Yeah, when I think back about all the things we had at school in those days it is almost like I was in another country. By the way, have you noticed that the elementary schools have all this plastic, multi-colored playground equipment now on top of rubber on the ground? Soft, no sharp edges, pretty benign. No more steel and concrete. No more monkey bars, merry-go-rounds, etc.

Just kids with drugs, guns and knives now

Yeah, I am glad I am not a kid in U.S. schools these days. I never went to a private school because public schools were decent and although there was always the bully or two around, as there always have been, there wasn't the drug and violence culture.

[David Kilpatrick]

My schools would now have been out of business through lawsuits for damages. Because I had a good aptitude for experiments, I was allowed to do almost anything in the science lab including making fireworks. I was 11, I have no idea what the lab technician was thinking. I had a fairly good idea of how to use metal powders and iron filings, charcoal, sulphur, saltpetre and other common lab ingredients well enough to produce a neat display in an open crucible, without mixing gunpowder by mistake.

Two of my friends who were not allowed to do this thought they would try for themselves - one of them was the son of the deputy head and maths master. They mixed something possibly in much too large a quantity, with too much oxygen available too quickly, and Charlie leaned over it (I was told later) to light it. No-one was there because they were doing this without permission. He almost blew his lower jaw off, and was severely burned and disfigured for life. He missed the final year at the school, I guess he was undergoing reconstructive surgery and skin grafts. I saw him when he was about 15 and I guess the scars would have been the first thing anyone noticed, he had been a very good-looking boy. I hope he did OK in life, never heard since.

Nothing at all happened to the school because at that time, 1964, things like this were just taken as part of life. No-one sued anyone or thought anyone was responsible.

David

[bakubo]

Nothing at all happened to the school because at that time, 1964, things like this were just taken as part of life. No-one sued anyone or thought anyone was responsible.

Yes, in the America of 40+ years ago it was the same here. Now schools walk around on eggshells deathly afraid there will be some minor incident or even that someone might be offended about something and hit them with a lawsuit. Fear and extreme political correctness have won the day.

[01af]

Fear and extreme political correctness have won the day.

Small print on a U.S. package of peanuts: "Directions: 1. Open bag. 2. Eat nuts. Warning: May contain nuts."

-- Olaf

[PhotoTraveler]

It all depends on where you grew up. I was a boy from the sticks. I didn't graduate HS that all long ago (though now into the double digits). We had the big dangerous paper slicers you speak of all over. They were around in college too. And they are all around at work. They are still common. I could go into any office store right now and get one. But it would be in archaic inches.

While some places in the country have gone safety crazy, other places haven't. I got to play with acids and all that fun stuff in chemistry class. We has shop class with plenty of very deadly machines with little safety to them.

I'm personally against making the world too safe for kids. I think there needs to be some dangers so Darwinian mechanics can still work for the common good.

Someone should be able to statistically determine just the right number of dangerous toys, such as small pieces, sharp corners, etc to bring to market that it should fairly well take out the "less then bright" children in a decent proportion to smarter ones without going to far.

May be different in other countries, but there has definitely been a deterioration in education in the US over the decades, and I think it's inverse proportional to the safety of toys and other items around children. We are a safety crazed nation, and we rank very bad (in the bottom half of those who get ranked). While finland rocks in education. So I have to assume finland has awesome toys with some danger. I know they can make nice rifles.

Of course this has just made me a horrible person to all the safety nuts. Oh well.

[David Kilpatrick]

Blame China! They used to make those tin toys with little tabs folded in to hold them together and coming apart to slice into fingers, labelled 'Empire Made' (at least for those of us who still had an empire...)

Now they make Sony lenses instead

David

[PhotoTraveler]

Hey, China tried to get back in the game with all the lead paint toys.

Good news was they were trying. Bad news is lead just causes neurological damage, which is a bad outcome.

BRING BACK LAWN DARTS!

(I had lawn darts and were never injured, and boy did we try).

[PhotoTraveler]

I stand corrected.

I looked and the one at work is dual mode, ISO216 and 8.5x11. Does up to A4. Made by X-ACTO. So finding a ISO216 one is possible here. Of course my preference is for things to have no acknowledgement of english units.

[David Kilpatrick]

I used the trimmer yesterday to cut up some A2 into A4. It has the markings set up, so it's instant for this. But it does lack a lot of other markings, including inches. Unlike most trimmers this one cuts square. The weight of the blade takes it through the paper so you don't even notice it is being cut, and it is very clean indeed - so it was a good find.

David