#pick mattock

[nicole-alexandria]

[waffle-bubbles]

This is a pick mattock. It’s not a pick axe. The head is able to come off, which is why you never swing it over your head. It’s used for loosening or digging soil. I use the pick side to get rocks out since it can handle harder objects with less tear. The mattocks part can cut roots, but that’s not their main use and shouldn’t be used that way (especially for thicker roots; then use a Pulaski, which has a different way of being handled). They’re my personal favorite trail tool.

To use it, keep your feet square with your shoulders, knees slightly bent. Hold the tool by keeping one had at the base of the head and one hand at the end of the handle. When raising the tool, keep it below you shoulders, let your knees fall slightly with the tool, and let your hand slide down to your other hand as the tool meets the ground.

To maintain it, use steel wool to get rid of rust and dirt. Sharpen the underside of the mattock side with a bastard file (bottom up) or a metal grinder (keeping with the angle). Cover in WD-40. If handle is made of wood, sand occasionally and cover in linseed oil. Please take care of your tools. They last for a very long time. I’ve used over 100 year old saws, and they are much better than the new ones. (I mean saws aren’t the same; older saws were made to last and pick mattocks are made to be worn.) I’ve used very poorly maintained tools, and it’s sad and frustrating to use.

[waffle-bubbles]

Sometimes I see a person using a pick mattock and my souls dies a little on the inside because I know they’re hurting their back by the way they’re using it and their body is positioned. Let the momentum do the work for you. And don’t swing it over you head. I couldn’t find a video where they properly used a mattock. They either had bad form or were swinging it over their head.

[alvernia-students]

pick mattock! pick mattock! pick mattock!

There’s one night every month during the semesters here at Alvernia that is one of the major catalysts of my writing..

The Alvernia Writers’ Series ("A.W.S." as it is affectionately known) is a home away from home for all the writers and actors and singers and all those with even one artistic bone in their body here at the university.

The meetings are more than just story time.  For me, especially when I'm reading,  I think of my favorite poets of days of yore who didn’t have Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter to share their work.

They had to go to the masses to read… however large or small the “masses” may have been. It’s this simple thing, once a month, which keeps me writing. Reading for a small group of maybe 20 people is such a great experience, especially when it's your own work and your own words, in which both you truly believe.  I’m inspired to share, I’m inspired to inspire, I’m inspired to entertain and to just be myself up in front of the “masses” gathered for the reading every singe time.

Hopefully at the next meeting in December our new flag will be flown... maroon and gold, the Alvernia colors, with a big ole' pick mattock in the center with the letters A.W.S. right under it. Because with writing, you have to break through the dirt, the rocks, and the crap to get to the good stuff.