The pleasure of fine things

LimbNoMo said:
I love some fine things, but how do you balance what you would like and what is necessary? I feel like my dad would roll over in his grave for some of the things I consider spending money.

Edit: damn that is a nice tuxedo jacket. Blue too.
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Seeing some of the conditions people live in both here and especially elsewhere in the world I’d say what is “necessary” isn’t a whole lot. It’s highly subjective and a nice problem to have. People are more well off than they ever have been in this day and age. There’s not a thing wrong with enjoying the fruits of one’s labor. If all needs and obligations are met and there’s some left over then I say have at it.
 
I had an interesting experience yesterday, popped into the classic car shop on the way home. There in the centre spot was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen; a gleaming red V12 e-type Jaguar, perfect in every way. It was so striking I took my hat off, and was permitted to sit in it, even start it up.

Over to one side was a little yellow 1275 E Mini clubman, ironically the exact same model that I am currently re-building in Johannesburg. I sat in that too.
Whereas the Jaguar evoked awe, perhaps a little unease too, the mini brought on a smile, a desire for Monday to roll around so I could do a little more tinkering on mine. The feeling dimension of fine must be given it's due share of weighting, happiness is precious.

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My latest acquisition.

Female puppy out of a breeding of last years National Field Champion and 2023 Purina High point Open winner and a MH female who is the daughter of another FC/AFC with many points, Grandsire NFC on both sides of pedigree. American Field bred Labrador excellence!

First pic is at 8 weeks retrieving, last pic is having a siesta after doing some water work earlier at 12 weeks. Very promising puppy, looking forward to competing in the Derby and some Hunt tests after the first of the year!





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I am, by nature, a pretty happy person. I like "finer" things but I just have a pretty low hurdle for what I consider "finer".

I genuinely like Starbucks coffee. I think mid-tier Ford Explorers are great. Lower, but not bottom rung, Browning Citoris are, to me, the finest guns made. I do like a good plate of sushi made by someone with an actual Japanese accent. If I catch a fish, it's probably on a Rapala lure. I'm fine with Android so I don't own anything Apple. I do own the most expensive reMarkable tablet and a very good Orvis sport coat that was supposed to be wrinkle resistant but it is the only sport coat that I've got that actually wrinkles...go figure.

As I've gotten older, I do like to shoot Kent Bismuth over anybody's steel. I like Accubonds but still kill more deer with Ballistic Tips.
 
Field bars came up on another group, this is mine, made from teak by the member of our Carruthers group, the tall guy. This was a whisky tipple after a session of clays out in the bush during a sable hunt.
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Teak is really hard to find in my neck of the woods. I would have used it for my project, but had to go with walnut instead. Teak is more traditional.
 
Doug3006 said:
Teak is really hard to find in my neck of the woods. I would have used it for my project, but had to go with walnut instead. Teak is more traditional.
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I'm not sure what furniture you are referring to. Growing up in India, teak was widely used for premium furniture. Burma teak specially those that grow in the wild is highly coveted for. I love Teak wood.
 
SStomcat said:
I'm not sure what furniture you are referring to. Growing up in India, teak was widely used for premium furniture. Burma teak specially those that grow in the wild is highly coveted for. I love Teak wood.
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Sorry. In a different post, I shared a field bar that I had just built using walnut. Here’s the link.

Doug3006

Post in thread 'Field Bar'

IA1865 said:
Did you have plans you followed for this that you could share?
Click to expand...
No sir. I looked at ones for sale online and eyeballed it.
  • Like

I live in the US. Teak lumber is hard to come by here. Burma teak is banned in the US. African teak is tightly regulated and expensive, if you can find it. That leaves us with cultivated teak from Indonesia and several South American countries. In my experience, these sources provide inferior product. Nothing at all like the old Burma or African teak.
 
I am having a rifle finished for my daughter as a 17th birthday gift. My dad and I thought it through carefully and engaged a number of artisans to aid in its creation. Sadly he passed away on April 4th and that shall make its presentation to her bittersweet but it was built to be a family heirloom. I am writing up a provenance letter and shall ask all the fine craftsmen involved to sign it. A real labor of love and she’ll take it on a moose hunt this fall.
 
I am having a rifle finished for my daughter as a 17th birthday gift. My dad and I thought it through carefully and engaged a number of artisans to aid in its creation. Sadly he passed away on April 4th and that shall make its presentation to her bittersweet but it was built to be a family heirloom. I am writing up a provenance letter and shall ask all the fine craftsmen involved to sign it. A real labor of love and she’ll take it on a moose hunt this fall.
 
Rubberhead said:
I am, by nature, a pretty happy person. I like "finer" things but I just have a pretty low hurdle for what I consider "finer".

I genuinely like Starbucks coffee. I think mid-tier Ford Explorers are great. Lower, but not bottom rung, Browning Citoris are, to me, the finest guns made. I do like a good plate of sushi made by someone with an actual Japanese accent. If I catch a fish, it's probably on a Rapala lure. I'm fine with Android so I don't own anything Apple. I do own the most expensive reMarkable tablet and a very good Orvis sport coat that was supposed to be wrinkle resistant but it is the only sport coat that I've got that actually wrinkles...go figure.

As I've gotten older, I do like to shoot Kent Bismuth over anybody's steel. I like Accubonds but still kill more deer with Ballistic Tips.
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How do you like the remarkable tablet? I’ve been looking at them trying to decide if it’s worth the purchase.
 
Elkeater said:
How do you like the remarkable tablet? I’ve been looking at them trying to decide if it’s worth the purchase.
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Good question. I have both the reMarkable 2 and the reMarkable Paper Pro. I really liked the reMarkable 2 but am a little underwhelmed with the Paper Pro. The colors are more muted that I expected and, more importantly, the writing just feels like a hard plastic tip on smooth glass. I love the feel of writing on the reMarkable 2 but it was just discontinued. I think the new black-and-white version uses the same pen and surface technology of the Paper Pro.

I think I prefer the size of the old 2 versus the larger Paper Pro, but it's hard going backward.

Overall the technology is intuitive and reliable - exactly what I got it for. When I was still working, I used it a lot for reading and marking-up .pdf files - especially when traveling. It really excels at that. I could send out the mark-up via email from the device - again exactly what I wanted from it.

I retired in April so I don't do the .pdf thing much anymore but I still grab one of the reMarkable several time a day. Overall, they are both elegant and certainly one of the finer pieces of technology. They work exactly like they're supposed to and I use them about 30 minutes/day. The are very good for creative efforts. It's quick and easy to get some ideas down on "paper" - faster, for me, than any computer and more convenient than paper because the editing and drawing tools.

Overall, they aren't life changing but I still really like having them around. At this point, I would miss them if someone took them away.

One note, though. I tried to use it as an e-reader and it just is not a good platform for that. If you are looking more for a reader, I'd suggest starting your research with one of the Kindles.
 
Doug3006 said:
Sorry. In a different post, I shared a field bar that I had just built using walnut. Here’s the link.

Doug3006

Post in thread 'Field Bar'

IA1865 said:
Did you have plans you followed for this that you could share?
Click to expand...
No sir. I looked at ones for sale online and eyeballed it.
  • Like

I live in the US. Teak lumber is hard to come by here. Burma teak is banned in the US. African teak is tightly regulated and expensive, if you can find it. That leaves us with cultivated teak from Indonesia and several South American countries. In my experience, these sources provide inferior product. Nothing at all like the old Burma or African teak.
Click to expand...
Farmed trees are always cut too young . Cashflow is maximized for the grower but quality is poor .
 
Oh, one more thing @Elkeater - you can save a little money by not getting the upgraded stylist. There are three ways (undo, select the erase function or select and cut) to erase things easily without paying $50 for an eraser. And don't bother with the "portfolio" or type-portfolios. A got one of the "finer" premium leather covers and ditched it almost immediately for a $19 cover off of Amazon.
 
I can understand why one would use the reMarkable, if one is NOT in the Apple ecosystem. However, if one has an iPad Pro then it opens up the same functionality in addition to a multitude of apps. I go from the sketch app to Obsidian and then have my agent in Claude AI read it, summarize, determine tasks and task lists and email people that the task is assigned to and note in my calendar if any follow-ups are required. Without much effort on my part.
 
Rubberhead said:
Good question. I have both the reMarkable 2 and the reMarkable Paper Pro. I really liked the reMarkable 2 but am a little underwhelmed with the Paper Pro. The colors are more muted that I expected and, more importantly, the writing just feels like a hard plastic tip on smooth glass. I love the feel of writing on the reMarkable 2 but it was just discontinued. I think the new black-and-white version uses the same pen and surface technology of the Paper Pro.

I think I prefer the size of the old 2 versus the larger Paper Pro, but it's hard going backward.

Overall the technology is intuitive and reliable - exactly what I got it for. When I was still working, I used it a lot for reading and marking-up .pdf files - especially when traveling. It really excels at that. I could send out the mark-up via email from the device - again exactly what I wanted from it.

I retired in April so I don't do the .pdf thing much anymore but I still grab one of the reMarkable several time a day. Overall, they are both elegant and certainly one of the finer pieces of technology. They work exactly like they're supposed to and I use them about 30 minutes/day. The are very good for creative efforts. It's quick and easy to get some ideas down on "paper" - faster, for me, than any computer and more convenient than paper because the editing and drawing tools.

Overall, they aren't life changing but I still really like having them around. At this point, I would miss them if someone took them away.

One note, though. I tried to use it as an e-reader and it just is not a good platform for that. If you are looking more for a reader, I'd suggest starting your research with one of the Kindles.
Click to expand...
I appreciate all the info. I’ve been looking at remarkable tablets for quite some time. Really for me I wanted a note taking system but self contained. So I think they would be great for me as often times have 2-3 different notebooks going at once and then everything gets disorganized. On top of that I often want to sketch various things to help explain a concept to someone.
 
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