/

Right on brother! hang in there, we are a dieing breed, but never a regret, nostalgia has given me some of my most memorible moments....I truly feel sorry for those callus souls that have missed that part of living.

If it is boots, bags, bino's, or British doubles, if you buy quality the first time you will be way ahead in the long run.
When you are in far away places good equipment can make or break the trip.

Alf

Boy did you hit a chord. Growing up outside of Seattle I can remember when my Dad would take me to town and we would spend a whole Day at Eddie Bauers and Klinburgers Taxedermy. Just looking and dreaming.

I would dream of all the animals and the faraway places, like Wyoming and Alaska, India, Africa. and my dad would dream of the Bambboo rods and and LC Smiths, Griffin and Howes. I still remember a day that he picked oup a Shellhammer 30-06 that had been on layaway for a few months.

Both gone now, Klinburgers to old age and Eddie Bauer to the strip malls where they sell polo shirts instead of Filson Wool and plastic water bottles instead of down sleeping bags.

I remember a friend of my dad's, Tony Sulak, telling the story of how the Eddie Bauer Down coat saved his life when the plane went into the Artic Ocean on a Polar Bear Hunt. That store was a destination to everyone going North into the mid-seventies. Even my grandfather in Central BC would pass on orders from the catalog.

Back to the days when Ships were wood and Men were steel.

[ 04-28-2003, 03:10: Message edited by: Mickey1 ]

The only cure is a hot cup of coffee at 5 A.M. sitting by the fire, eating a rusk, under the Southern Cross.

I'm with 450 on this one. Save a little longer, spend a little more, but when you do it right the first time, you only have to do it once! Learn to do as much yourself as you can, and learn well, so you don't have to depend on the skills of others. It is still possible to have a fine Mauser rifle in an appropriate (read long-for-caliber bullets) cartridge for less than the price of the family car. You just have to acquire a set of skills that will do you well in other ventures and a set of tools that you can use more than once. It may not say "London" or "Oberndorf" on the barrel but it will do what you need whenever you need it. If you don't have time to spend with your hands, then brothers, you are too damned busy. Shoot the TV and build a good shop in the garage/basement/attic/wherever and you will not only be able to own unique things but you will be a contented and healthier citizen.

Ray

Actually, you are dead wrong. We are not a dying breed, there are way to many (if you count the yuppie wannabes). It's supply and demand, and the monied aging baby boomer population has created an incredible demand for everything which is nostalgic and of high quality. When I was in high school, I could have afforded an Orvis split bamboo to fish poppers for bass in our local pond, if I had wanted one badly enough. There were only two of us fly fisherman in the whole town. Now you can't walk down any stream without wading through crowds of Orvised out idiots who couldn't roll cast if they had to, but they have spent $10,000 to feel good about themselves.

/

Art,

You have a good point, there has been an increase in demand for "quality" products in recent years. But it is a 2-edged sward, just as Alf related about the changes in the bush, this increased interest has cause some "congestion".

The good part is, that after years of subsistence, we now are seeing old trades and merchants thriving again. Top-drawer gun-smiths, shoe-makers, tailors, optical makers, and etc, are doing a brisk business. Young people are being trained to carry on the these highly skilled crafts. Ensuring that the next generation will have access to these works of arts.

The dark side is, that many of the names we came to know and trust have become cult labels, Orvis, L.L. Bean, Abercrombie & Fitch, Eddie Bauer, Filson, Tilley's, Woolrich, and more, and no longer are their products purchased because of their superior performance, but because you are not somebody unless you have these labels. So their purpose has become diluted and in many cases the beancounters have recognized where the revenues are generated and have steered the companies to cater to that market segment, and we know the rest of the story.

I like Alf and many of you, prize quality above all else and prefer to do without than to buy cheap just have stuff. But I have found that it does not have to be expensive to live a higher quality life, if you are willing to think outside the square. For example, I hate eating off anything less than porcelian or china tableware, I just abhorr plastic or corelle, whatever. But I cannot afford to stock my cupboards full of china and porcelain from the local stockist, so I go trotting off to the estate sales and auctions, and I just recently picked up a beautiful porcelain service for 12 including platters and the lot for a whopping $18. A similiar service of less quality cost new in excess $800! I rarely buy new goods anymore, but prefer to recycle high quality goods from the past, and with the huge amounts of money I save, I can afford to purchase new items of extremely high quality when I need to do so.

Yes, I prefer leather, steel, wood, lead crystal, cotton, wool, and porcelain to the modern day alternatives, but I must admit that some new things are pretty fine, and especially when it comes to footwear, the luxury of warm, dry feet, thanks to Thinsulate and Gor-tex and a dry tent courtesy of advances in synthetic textiles, are hard to pass up. Today's premium optics were only a distant dream a generation ago.

I have spent 15 years in the Furniture and Interiors industry, and despise the modern pre-occupation with "labels". People walking around as billboards for some designer. When I buy anything, I try to put my money as close the prime-producer as possible, with the least amount of layers between the craftsman and the retailer. I am sick of paying for goods, knowing that I am lining the pocket of some indiscriminate CEO, who is already making some obscene salary inspite of declining shareholder equity and eroding workplace conditions for the folks producing the goods. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a red-blooded capitalist wanting no part of the social agenda of the left-wing, but in light of the developments in the corporate world in the last few years, I have little sympathy for the folks at the top.

If you look hard enough you can usually find a small producer for most of the products you need at a price that is often better that the price of mass produced goods. Case in point, we went to visit friend on a sheep station in Crookwell, NSW over the Easter holidays, about 3 hours southwest of Sydney. The plight of regional Australia is not unlike most regional areas in the world, things sre not looking so bright for the future. Well, there was a bloke, making socks with wool from local properties, producing a definitely superior product for less than half the price you would pay at the local department store in Sydney. So now I can put the money at the bottom of the food chain instead of the top, where it really makes a difference, and have happier feet to boot.

If some of us are willing to spend a bit more for a better product, willing to look little harder for the small businesses supporting local economies, to appreciate the value of pre-loved products, I believe we could slow down the seemingly inevitable slide of humankind toward the disposable, short product life expectancy, unrepairable world that the marketing departments seem to dream of.

Oh, and those "Orvised-out" yuppies, they have great yard sales. When the fad passes, guess where you can buy a "worn-once" Barbour jacket for 5 cents on the dollar?!?!?!

Lynn Miller

Lynn, I appreciate your thoughts but I have to comment on this line.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lynn Miller:
.......... to appreciate the value of pre-loved products, ............
Lynn Miller

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Reminds me of the definition of a 'slut' as a previously enjoyed companion.

/

Micky1,
yep, Eddie Bauer, and Bean, the good stores..I still have an oversized Artic Bag from both places that I bought in 1945 and another in 1950 and they have seen the world and to this day they are still in tip top shape..I paid $350 and $250 for them and that was a LOT of money then and they have been worth every nickle..

My kids laid the Bauer bag on a railroad track on a scout trip and a train ran over it and cut it in half...I sent it back and asked them to sew it back together and restuff it...They sent me a new one just like it...Now that is customer service!! that was in 1959 or so.

today I pulled on my old EB jacket and went out to work on the corrals, it is ragged but warm...but alas those days are gone and they have fallen by the wayside, replaced by Cabellas, and that's OK, they are good folks.

I guess I am stuck somewhere in the middle. My DGR is a double, my goose gun is an over/under with walnut stock. There are no plasic stocks on any of my rifles. I as still pissed at the Brits for giving up on India and Africa. I dream of the days.

BUT! When the weather really sucks, Gortex is the 8th wonder of the world, especially out on the Steelhead River. Which brings up the other part of this discussion. A 10' split bamboo fly rod is a thing of beauty, I learned to fish with one, but today it should be used to decorate a wall......

Technology wins this one. There is no comparison to the performance of a composite fly rod, The new Sage or Loomis Rods push out a fly line like a rocket. This old guy's elbow needs all the help it can get, and did I bring up the aluminum drifts boat? No maintence, light, never sucks up H20?

Alf, you need some wood duck feathers? Great for Birds Nest wings

Jim

Lynn, you summed it up very well I think. Very welcome to the forum by the way!

quote:

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Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
... my goose gun is an over/under...

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Over and under? What a terrible modern vulgarity! What a shame!

quote:

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Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
A 10' split bamboo fly rod is a thing of beauty, I learned to fish with one, but today it should be used to decorate a wall......

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I have to disagree with you here, because even if I fully agree that a modern rod makes it possible to present the fly nicely even in difficult conditions, the bamboo rod have other qualities that add a lot to the pleaseure of fishing. The fact that it is cut out of a plant, not made in a lab, and that it has been in the loving hands of a true craftsman, make up for that extra weight and the greater demands on your casting technique.
When fishing for sea trout in the dark, when I hardly can't se the tip of my rod, I even prefer my old, extremely slow, Hardy 10' rod to a modern rod, and when it comes to fighting a fish I surely prefer a deep action cane rod to any modern rod I have tried.

Still, I agree that there times when the modern inventions are the best. I would not whant to change my modern riflescopes or binos for those of the old times, nor would I want to be without my Gore-tex trousers or Windstopper fleece pullover.

Alf,

Actually, I am a recent immigrant to "Down Under" from the US. So in reality, I am still learning the ropes here as far as the hunting, shooting and fishing scene goes. But here is what my schedule looks like in the next few months -

Offshore fishing in 2 weekends, off the coast from Wollongong about an hour south of Sydney.

The end of the month(May), I am going to Barrington Tops, a World Heritage National Park, about 3 hours northwest of Sydney, flyfishing for a weekend.

I am scrambling to get my shooting license so that I can go to the Victorian Alps in August for Sambar.

I also just received permission to hunt a property in Crookwell, and am working toward several more properties.

So, keep in touch and by the time you arrive in OZ, I am sure that I can arrange some interesting adventures for you, maybe even something like a fishing trip in the "Top End" with a friend in Darwin.

I will keep everyone posted on my Aussie adventures!!!

P. Lynn Miller

Mickey;

OK, my wording is a bit of a worry -

quote:

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to appreciate the value of pre-loved products

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I definitely did not take this approach to my life's companion, some things you definitely should aquire new.

But so many people display a condescending attitude toward folks that aquire and use secondhand items until their price is inflated ten-fold, which then earns them the right to be called antiques and then everybody wants a collectors item.

People are interesting creatures to observe.

Marterius, thanks for the welcome.

Lynn Miller

Marterius: Once again, stuck somewhere in the middle, just couldn't swing the SXS Baretta. That was a decision (something about college tuition) long in making

Every try a shooting tip with a piece of wood?



Jim

Lynn - what hoops did you have to jump through to bring firearms in to Australia, or did you just sell your guns when you left the US and are acquiring new ones in Oz ?

Regards,

Scott

Scott;

I still have all my guns in the US. I am not sure how many hoops I will need to jump through, since I am just started the process. But I can tell you that it appears the hard part will be getting them out of the US. I have an agent here that is going to charge me $100AU to clear each gun through customs, but I have to find an export agent on the US side, which it appears that most are charging around $200US per 4 guns. Any recommendations from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

If you want, I will try to keep you posted on my progress.

Lynn

Lynn - sorry, can't help you with an export agent. I know that any FFL can do imports on a "non-regular" basis, but have no insight on exportation.

Good luck,
Scott