Lofoten Islands, Norway
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The Atlantic one. Salmo Salar.
Despite 25 years of fishing in that area I have never caught one by accident. I do not target them, plus they are rare.
Plenty of salmon farms around there though, but we are not allowed to approach closer than 100 meters.
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OK. I think there's Atlantic salmon runs on our east coast and maybe some get farmed here in the PacNW.
Chinook ( = King = Spring ) are the biggest. Record now is 126lbs/57.27kg. I think the biggest landed on a flyrod is about 105lbs.
If everybody used the same common name in English, that would work well.
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Chinook salmon) is enough to put anyone off.
Chinook ( = King = Spring ) are the biggest. Record now is 126lbs/57.27kg. I think the biggest landed on a flyrod is about 105lbs.
If everybody used the same common name in English, that would work well.
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Chinook salmon) is enough to put anyone off.
Silver Birch then?
The Birch that I will take the stem from is calked Curly Birch I believe. Leaves are curlier than on the other birches in Europe. Low, very convoluted, extremely slow growing.
The Birch that I will take the stem from is calked Curly Birch I believe. Leaves are curlier than on the other birches in Europe. Low, very convoluted, extremely slow growing.
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Might not be one from the Americas. Plus, there's a great deal of natural hybridization. Takes DNA analysis to figure out which tree is which.
Paper Birch is a species of the Boreal Forest Biome. The Americas and Europe have been isolated for long enough that the white/silver birch
is very different from what we have for boat building, bark-biting art, even simple folding to make a drinking cup.
Lots of merchantable birch timber where I live. Dirt cheap. When I carved spoons and forks, I got 15 blanks out of a single board.
That's $0.20 each. The kitchen tools sold for $12.00 each. Each one cost me about 90 minutes time.
After 70 spoons and 30 forks, I quit.
Paper Birch is a species of the Boreal Forest Biome. The Americas and Europe have been isolated for long enough that the white/silver birch
is very different from what we have for boat building, bark-biting art, even simple folding to make a drinking cup.
Lots of merchantable birch timber where I live. Dirt cheap. When I carved spoons and forks, I got 15 blanks out of a single board.
That's $0.20 each. The kitchen tools sold for $12.00 each. Each one cost me about 90 minutes time.
After 70 spoons and 30 forks, I quit.
Silver Birch then?
The Birch that I will take the stem from is calked Curly Birch I believe. Leaves are curlier than on the other birches in Europe. Low, very convoluted, extremely slow growing.
I think it is the last statement, slow growing, that makes most of the difference.
Up in the Arctic the timber from birch is a completely different character to the stuff that grows further south.
I buy precut and pre split Birch logs for my wood burner in Norway. They get the timber from Russia, north of Murmansk.
Lovely dense wood, burns beautifully. Also I noticed that it being properly dried, there are hardly any cracks. The trees are cut during winter, as it is easier for the vehicles
I might take a log home for some handicraft! Did not think of that!
Last summer when we bought the wood, I asked them to save me some burls. Will see next week if they remembered.
The wood is cut and split by an organization that employ people with learning difficulties and severe mental problems.
They also man a shop with old stuff where I love to find 'treasures"!
Last year I found some Delft ceramics and a couple of pieces of hand made ceramics by a world famous Danish artist.
I paid about 5 UKP each and the value is around 150 each.
I also found some old Norwegian made pots and pans, a coffee/tea pot, cutlery and so on. Quality we do not see today, not even from Germany.
Going to that shop is my highlight on the trip, not counting the fishing!
Lovely dense wood, burns beautifully. Also I noticed that it being properly dried, there are hardly any cracks. The trees are cut during winter, as it is easier for the vehicles
I might take a log home for some handicraft! Did not think of that!
Last summer when we bought the wood, I asked them to save me some burls. Will see next week if they remembered.
The wood is cut and split by an organization that employ people with learning difficulties and severe mental problems.
They also man a shop with old stuff where I love to find 'treasures"!
Last year I found some Delft ceramics and a couple of pieces of hand made ceramics by a world famous Danish artist.
I paid about 5 UKP each and the value is around 150 each.
I also found some old Norwegian made pots and pans, a coffee/tea pot, cutlery and so on. Quality we do not see today, not even from Germany.
Going to that shop is my highlight on the trip, not counting the fishing!
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Short season, cold climate will produce narrow growth rings to be sure.
When cell division is producing more/new wood cells, they push in between eachother before their development finishes.
In this sense, spruce and birch are no different. Give a substantially improved mechanical property to the wood.
Any sort of wood working and wood carving is so much easier.
That interstitial growth, in turn for spruce, produces the world's best pulp for paper.
Two sources: Scandanavia and the central interior of British Columbia.
The mills in Prince George, BC use peroxide bleaching and produce more than 4,500 air dried tons per day.
When cell division is producing more/new wood cells, they push in between eachother before their development finishes.
In this sense, spruce and birch are no different. Give a substantially improved mechanical property to the wood.
Any sort of wood working and wood carving is so much easier.
That interstitial growth, in turn for spruce, produces the world's best pulp for paper.
Two sources: Scandanavia and the central interior of British Columbia.
The mills in Prince George, BC use peroxide bleaching and produce more than 4,500 air dried tons per day.
RV, I have observed that the slow growing birch does not crack much when cut in winter. I have not cut any during summer.
Is it because of less water in the wood during the tree's hibernation or is it like this year round, because it is more dense due to the climate?
The best window frames made in Sweden are made by a few companies in the north that use the Pine timber that grows just below the mountain range. Dense, hard and full of pitch. Lasts 100 years + with a simple coating with linseed oil based paint.
Windows made with southern Swedish timber lasts just a few decades.
The house we own in Norway is built /rebuild (after it got burned down by the Germans in -44) using many timbers cut in late 1800's. Those are rock solid even today. The timbers cut in -43 or -44 not so much.
The newer ones were imported from Sweden, forests close to the Baltic coast. I found the invoices and such in the attic.
Is it because of less water in the wood during the tree's hibernation or is it like this year round, because it is more dense due to the climate?
The best window frames made in Sweden are made by a few companies in the north that use the Pine timber that grows just below the mountain range. Dense, hard and full of pitch. Lasts 100 years + with a simple coating with linseed oil based paint.
Windows made with southern Swedish timber lasts just a few decades.
The house we own in Norway is built /rebuild (after it got burned down by the Germans in -44) using many timbers cut in late 1800's. Those are rock solid even today. The timbers cut in -43 or -44 not so much.
The newer ones were imported from Sweden, forests close to the Baltic coast. I found the invoices and such in the attic.
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Spring sap flow in tapped birch suggests that the winter tree is dryer (per m^3) than the summer tree. I don't know the answer at all.
There was a period of environmental cold, just a few degrees, but it somehow got the name "Little Ice Age" attached to it.
That's really bull-tweet but it was much longer, colder winters and shorter, cooler summers.
The direct result is that trees which grew during this time period (1700's & early 1800's) have denser wood with longer fiber than either before or since.
That's really easy to measure from samples smaller than a toothpick.
While the phenomenon was evident in eastern North America, I don't know if Europe experienced this climate change or not.
There was a period of environmental cold, just a few degrees, but it somehow got the name "Little Ice Age" attached to it.
That's really bull-tweet but it was much longer, colder winters and shorter, cooler summers.
The direct result is that trees which grew during this time period (1700's & early 1800's) have denser wood with longer fiber than either before or since.
That's really easy to measure from samples smaller than a toothpick.
While the phenomenon was evident in eastern North America, I don't know if Europe experienced this climate change or not.
Cool you mention the Little Ice Age!
it was first discovered by one of my teachers, he analyzed pollen in Swedish marshes and saw that cold climate species thrived but the normal ones in that area did not. His discoveries were laughed at until other researchers confirmed them.
He wanted to know if the paintings from the 1600' and 1700' by the Dutch masters and UK painters, showing the Thames and the Dutch canals being frozen, had a true base.
I think he discovered it in the 1930's.
it was first discovered by one of my teachers, he analyzed pollen in Swedish marshes and saw that cold climate species thrived but the normal ones in that area did not. His discoveries were laughed at until other researchers confirmed them.
He wanted to know if the paintings from the 1600' and 1700' by the Dutch masters and UK painters, showing the Thames and the Dutch canals being frozen, had a true base.
I think he discovered it in the 1930's.
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Small world. Frozen rivers? I can believe it. With some recent climate extremes, I've heard no mention even of ice along the shores.
Because of the commonly lengthened wood cells in trees of this age,
it was believed in this day and time that the elastic properties meant enhanced tonal properties for stringed instruments.
Voice printing and double blind playing tests with top professional musicians have cast great doubt on the assertion.
Stories persist of the Fraser River being frozen over in Vancouver, BC in winters of that time.
Because of the commonly lengthened wood cells in trees of this age,
it was believed in this day and time that the elastic properties meant enhanced tonal properties for stringed instruments.
Voice printing and double blind playing tests with top professional musicians have cast great doubt on the assertion.
Stories persist of the Fraser River being frozen over in Vancouver, BC in winters of that time.
In March 2015, I went fishing (as usual) to the Lofotens. When I drove my boat to the village where I stay, the boat felt sluggish and unresponsive. I suspected a delamination of the hull or an engine /prop problem.
When I tilted the outboard up, I saw that the sea water was freezing, was the consistency of syrup. Full of plate shaped thin ice floats.
The sea was close to the freezing point which is around -1.5 or -2 C.
Scary as hell, even with my Helly Hansen flotation/survival suit I would not have a chance to swim to shore.
When I tilted the outboard up, I saw that the sea water was freezing, was the consistency of syrup. Full of plate shaped thin ice floats.
The sea was close to the freezing point which is around -1.5 or -2 C.
Scary as hell, even with my Helly Hansen flotation/survival suit I would not have a chance to swim to shore.
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All you can do in bad water is be careful, even if that means waiting to fish another day.
Maybe the wind changes and you get cut off by the ice from going home for a couple of days.
We had planned for it.
Do you get to watch the "Deadliest Catch" TV series? Crab fishing in the North Pacific.
Most of the boats are out of Alaska.
But one that went down recently was out of Seattle and that's from a long way south.
Most crew wear Mustang Survival Suits but I find it hard to imagine lasting an hour in the water.
Maybe the wind changes and you get cut off by the ice from going home for a couple of days.
We had planned for it.
Do you get to watch the "Deadliest Catch" TV series? Crab fishing in the North Pacific.
Most of the boats are out of Alaska.
But one that went down recently was out of Seattle and that's from a long way south.
Most crew wear Mustang Survival Suits but I find it hard to imagine lasting an hour in the water.
Yes, I have seen Deadliest Catch. Impressed in what weather these guys work in, even if the boats are a tad bigger than mine! I have an 18 footer, double pro grade glassfiber hull filled with foam.
Unsinkable technically but still....
Weather is crap now. Might fish next week, might not. If no fishing I just work on the house, take walks, give some business to the lovely coffee shop in the village and enjoy the fresh air!
Unsinkable technically but still....
Weather is crap now. Might fish next week, might not. If no fishing I just work on the house, take walks, give some business to the lovely coffee shop in the village and enjoy the fresh air!
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My brother had a 17' double-hull work boat. Wasn't hard to sink 4 or 5 times.
As long as the engine isn't running as you go down, you're OK. Anything else I can help you with?
As long as the engine isn't running as you go down, you're OK. Anything else I can help you with?
Yes, send some calm weather this way!
In Oslo airport now. It is cold outside, it will take a day or two to get back to Scandi Mode from Topical Mode!
In Oslo airport now. It is cold outside, it will take a day or two to get back to Scandi Mode from Topical Mode!
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Oslo weather forecast looks breezy for the next week.
Above freezing but that's no consolation for boating.
Almost calm here and -5C after yesterday's wild blizzard.
Above freezing but that's no consolation for boating.
Almost calm here and -5C after yesterday's wild blizzard.
Arrived this afternoon, very bad visibilty, lots of snowing so the landing was almost cancelled. The weather forecast looks totally crap for the next 10 days. Stiff breeze, even stronger with than that sometimes, wind from the wrong direction. Not good!
Bad roads, lots of snow and ice.
Well, I have plenty of work to do on the house. That is relaxing ( for me) too!
Bad roads, lots of snow and ice.
Well, I have plenty of work to do on the house. That is relaxing ( for me) too!
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Well, I could not even take my boat out from the home harbour.
Gales, storms with or without snow, rapidly changing wind direction. Not safe conditions to take a small boat out.
So no fishing. Have to wait for the August trip.
None of the local house hold fishermen, including my old friend, have been able to go out.
On the positive side, we have managed to finish the house to 80%, I rested my kne and we generally relaxed, had some good Scandi food and managed to saueeze in some shopping.
Gales, storms with or without snow, rapidly changing wind direction. Not safe conditions to take a small boat out.
So no fishing. Have to wait for the August trip.
None of the local house hold fishermen, including my old friend, have been able to go out.
On the positive side, we have managed to finish the house to 80%, I rested my kne and we generally relaxed, had some good Scandi food and managed to saueeze in some shopping.