Little wood things

Sometimes I wonder about chopsticks. I mean, are they better than silverware? And what do you mean by better? They are certainly easier to make, at least if you have access to some wood and can handle a knife. But then they don't last very long. Most wooden chopsticks get thrown out after one meal. But wood is organic, so it will break down and decompose. Or they could be used as kindling for a fire, should you need a fire. And almost everyone needs a fire of some sort. Silverware lasts for practically ever. All you have to do is wash it. But that means clean, hot water and soap. Which becomes waste water, which needs to be treated, or least allowed to stew for awhile before it is released back into the environment.

I don't like chopsticks, mostly because I have never taken the time to become proficient with them. I can use them, but it is a bit of a struggle, and I wonder, why bother? What's wrong with silverware? These days if I go to a Japanese restaurant, or anywhere else where chopsticks are the default eating utensil, I will ask for silverware. Japanese restaurants make me a little nervous because some of them appear to still use laquerware, which I imagine suffers from contact with silverware, but maybe it isn't laquerware at all, but a modern plastic substitute, in which case silverware is no threat at all. In any case, I try to go easy on it, which is no big deal, because I am proficient with silverware.

Some restaurants give you plastic or imitation ivory chopsticks. Now I really wonder why that is. These have to be washed. Why not just use silverware? I suppose some people prefer it. For orientals, or people who grew up using chopsticks, I can see that there would be a preference. But I don't understand people who grew up using silverware preferring to use chopsticks. Well, maybe it you travel to the Orient a lot, it might come in handy. Me, I don't care for travel.

And it's not just chopsticks, but look at all the little disposable items we use everyday. Since chopsticks are made of wood, lets look at some other wooden items. Toothpicks and pencils come to mind. How many acres of forest are cut down each year to make toothpicks, pencils and chopsticks? How many of those acres are replanted? Have you tried using one of the imitation wood pencils? They look like wood pencils, they sharpen like wood pencils, but they are flexible and as far as I am concerned, they are junk. I hate them, I think because they are flexible they do not offer the same degree of control, and control is critical if you are trying to do any detail work, either writing or drawing.

I did a little research on the Internet about wood pencils. Making a wooden pencil is quite complex being as it has evolved over the last 100 years or so. They seem to have it down to a science. Mixing, baking, slicing, cutting, gluing, painting, crimping. A lot goes into making pencils. Of course this is only possible because they make billions of them every year.

Once again, we have the same question, do we use the wood disposable item, or the more elaborate metal contraption, in this case the mechanical pencil? Mechanical pencils have the advantage of using no wood, and of using almost all of their lead. Wooden pencils often get thrown out when they are no more than half way used, and often sooner. With a mechanical pencil, it is only necessary to replace the lead when it runs out, so theoretically there is much less waste. I have one mechanical pencil I use occasionally, it uses a 0.9 mm diameter lead. The 0.7 mm lead is much more common, and there are some people who like pencils that use 0.5 mm lead. I am too heavy handed for the smaller leads. The .7 mm lead breaks repeatedly when I try and write something, and I can only use the .5 mm lead if I am very careful. The .9 mm lead works fine, that is, it does not break, but it does not give the same writing experience as a wooden pencil. The only problem with wooden pencils is that the erasers inevitably disappear before the pencil does. If I were a true American, I would throw them away when this happens, but I must be a Bolshevik, because I go to the office supply store and buy rubber eraser caps by the dozen. Not that it helps. I have four wooden pencils in my pencil can at the moment and none of them have enough eraser left to be worth mentioning.

And then there are toothpicks. And matches, though most of them are cardboard now. But I think that is enough about this for now.