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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 28, 1978     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 28, 1978
 
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SPARKS FLY as M. G. Lang trues a circular saw. The old clays... By M.G. LANG From horse and busgy days to now, the biggest advance is enclosed cars with HEATERS! In winter, one almost froze, even with side curtains on the old touring cars. But give me honest cotton for clothing, manmade ibers break in my business anyway. Nylon, orlon and polyester may be okay for city people, but not for the working man, even in summer. of sugar, two or three sacks of flour, one or two gallons of catsup, and two or more pails of "larup" (syrup). Saturday was almost an institution - the day to go to town for groceries, clothing or taking the cream can into the creamery. No creamery - ship it on the train. Gone is the timber of the twenties and thirties, trees 150 years old and older. It took grub These days one can't (food) to get the logs, poles, purchase a and cordwood to the bringing home. It either has to railroad siding, then a five mile have a clock, and/or a tape or cassette deck to it, with a tiny three.inch speaker. Today we buy packaged goods in the grocery store in varying quantities. Back in the good old days, soda crackers came in barrels, pickles in a big jar. Salami, bologna, summer sausage and worsts were suspended from the ceiling and cut to length, as sold or per pound. Cheese came in wheels varying from ten to twenty inches in diameter, four to six inches thick, and cut in a wedge like a pie. Cheese, crackers and a slice of bologna was lunch for many up to the year 1930. When in town, prohibition was enforced, so no beer to wash it down. We are more sanitary in food handling, but paying for the individuals wrapping. The scoops for sugar, flour, beans, coffee are past history "along with the bins that held them. The clerk no longer wipes his hands on a sometimes clean towel to cut off a roast or shank from a front or hindquarter of beef, possibly after pumping gasoline or putting in some motor oil, at the country store. The germs must not have been so potent or deadly then. We bought green beans, corn, peas and tomatoes by the case, in the fall eight to ten sacks of haul was considered long. Cordwood was moved by team and wagon, logs, on those speedy, hard-tired trucks, 15 miles per hour, on level ground. One to three coming down out of the hills, no fiats to worry about, but don't spit in the wheel track or the rear wheel would spin going up those 15 to 20 percent grades. Trucks to the year 1925 seldom had a windshield or a cab top, doors, non-existent. Brakes would stop truck unloaded pretty good; loaded - gangway! Pole trailers had no brakes. On steep grades, we used a shoe about 20 inches long, made from channel iron, shod on underside with grader-blade steel, very tough - this was put under one trailer wheel and pulled from rear of truck frame with a chain, and Lord help driver if the chain broke or the shoe slipped out sideways. We started to hear of vacuum brakes on transcontinental or long haul rigs about the year 1930. I stopped driving a cast-steel wheeled GMC in the fall of 1930. It had six-inch hard robber in front, twelve inches wide in back, called "The Little Brute." My first truck was a Transport in 1924, rubber four inches wide in front, eight inches wide on rear, four-speed transmission, 2½-ton rating, a I spuds, plus a quarter of beef trailer for poles, tires six inches which froze in the screened meat wide, magneto ignition and it house in winter, was handeranked. We also bought fifty pounds i i i| Huckleberry Herald Post Office Box 587, Belfair, Washington 98528 Telephone 275-6680 Belfair office open 9_a.m; to 1 p.m. Monday thru Friday ,News and advertis.lg copy deadline 5 p.m. Fridays. For your convenience there is a mail slot in the door for copy. Office located across from Belfair Texaco in Belfair. REX-ZANE, RUDEE., ......................... Editor CAROL WENTLANDT ............. Advertising Manager Office Telephone 275-6680 A section of the Shelton-Mason County Journal serving as the voice of Belfair, AIi.yn, Grapeview, Tahuya, Mason Lake, South Shore arid North Shore. 9 Page 2 - Huckleberr,, Herald section of Shelton-Mason County Journal - December 28, 1978 t IT TAKES concentration to do the job right. This is the place ScJssors, sows, an hatchets get new edge on life By HANNAH DEHLER Unless you are watching for the place, you may miss the small shop in the rear. Driving en route to the South Shore, you can read the sign "M G Lang's Sharp.All Shop." Marlin George Lang can usually handle any bladed tool that comes into the shop. Knives, scissors, pruning shears, wood chisels, rotary lawnmower, electric hedge and grass trimmers, hatchets and drag saw blades return home with each customer practically good as new. It was not a chosen profession, but a familiar chore while working on a farm years ago near Malden, Washington. As a young boy he watched with interest as his father, a carpenter, used the old grindstone to keep his professional tools razor sharp. Self-pride in a job well done has kept Marlin very busy for eleven years on Hood Canal. A widower for twenty years, he maintains a small home near the shop, doing his own cooking and sewing. "Well, clothes have to be mended sometimes, and if 1 can work all of the' machines in the shop, I certainly can work this one," Lang.said nodding his head toward the foot control sewing machine. Part of the home atmosphere includes two young cats of dubious heritage, who keep their personal attire in immaculate condition, probably as thanks for the milk and food they promptly receive each day. They come into the shop when he is working occasionally if they think dinner is going to be delayed. The two vocally remind their friend and benefactor that he is working overtime. Spot, the black and white feline, fascinates visitors with his intricate coat. His face holds the pattern of a crooked pretzel that would be the envy of the expressionism crowd. "Grey" is "what you see is what you gets!" The shop is small and crowded with dozens of items left for Lang's attention. You can find almost anything that comes with a blade - from kitchen shears to a seven-foot logging saw. This means more than one machine must be on hand to handle each individual need. The Belsaw is for gumming and trueing the chain saw blades. An inexperienced person would seek the dictionary for help in defining these unfamiliar words - gumming: to enlarge gullets of a saw; trueing: to make level, square, balanced or concentric. This interviewer was given an actual demonstration, and I truly appreciated watching the precise eye and sensitive touch of the operator's technique. Each tooth in the saw receives singular attention as to slant and need, and there can be as many as 300 teeth to one saw. Trueing of course, would ascertain that the circle is true. Lang uses squares to check the balance. If a defect is found, then the shoemaker hammer (with the rounded top) is held by the very end of the handle, and his wrist movement allows the hammer to set its own rhythm It reminds one of the long years practicing the scales on the piano, and only long repetition brings the even trill of sound. An art form in Lang's profession that perhaps is disalpearig. ........... "Tle old-time indstone, which was wet to keep it from burning, can still be used today," says Mr. Lang, puffing thoughtfully on his ever present pipe. "There are special grinding stones that are still used on automobile crank shafts." Asked why he thought this small type of business and art was disappearing, he said, "Our technological methods eliminate manual ope rations of course • possibly the younger would find it tedious and This articulate and interes man was asked where he progress has faulted? "That's easy;" he said. we must wear clothes of manmade chemical fiber, consider it one of the changes of all. They have a look in spite of any grooming and are cold or warm to the body. The fabrics wear away like wall falling away from a wall. "l always have to shorten shirt sleeves, because I a short man, and I find I usually reface the button with a piece of overall so that it will wear better. good cottons and wools now quite expensive, and I find overalls the best for my Remember the really percales and cottons we wore? With countless wear washings they become better. The wools we wore our body warm in the weather, and the cottons excellent ventilation in the summers. This can add to health of each person." Lang is a World WaJ veteran who was attached to ETO Anti-Aircraft he served in North Sardina, France and Germany. "A couple of 88 shells too close for comfort when: enemy was just over the trying their best to knock us of commission, but my . w.asn't 9n either one of he recalls. ........ Returning, he spent years with the Kaiser in their rolling mill. Born in Debeque, Lang, as a small lad, came Malden, Washington with parents. In 1924 he was poles into Newport, "Gypoing," he explains, we had contracted to haul saw logs or poles." :"i ¸ , M. G. LANG in his crowded w0rksll