Wooden trestle news:

[tatans]

Humping through the local supermarket I look up to see a package of long wooden sticks, on perusal I see they are bamboo skewers, they looked exactly like the package of HO scale 12''x12'' timbers for trestle construction $3.00 for 10, I bought the skewers they are exactly scale 12''x12''( and 12 inches long) and they are round as in a lot of log trestles, the price: 100 for $1.50, the quality is amazing and the consistency is great, there also were other sizes and lengths, Gee, and they were made in China, Will try some soon.

[on30francisco]

Excellent purchase! There are many common products and objects that are useful in modeling as opposed to high priced hobby shop items. Supermarkets, arts and crafts stores, dollar stores, flee markets, etc are treasure troves for modeling items. Besides shopping the discount houses, this is one way I save a lot of money on the hobby.

[ronmcc]

I use the wooden match sticks. Regular and the long fireplace matches. Just cut the heads off of them. Also I use different grit sandpaper for roads, parking lots, textured walls, etc.

[cacole]

I've used bamboo skewers quite extensively.  There are two drawbacks to them:  They tend to split lengthwise when you try to cut them, and stain doesn't soak into bamboo.

On our HO scale club layout, we use bamboo skewers as uncoupling tools for knuckle couplers instead of having unslightly magnets on the sidings.

 

[delray1967]

On our HO scale club layout, we use bamboo skewers as uncoupling tools for knuckle couplers instead of having unslightly magnets on the sidings.

I've tried the skewer uncoupler but had marginal results.  I sanded the tip to a flat 'v' shape and flattened the tip a bit.  What do you do to your skewers to make them work better?  I've seen others tape the skewer to a small pen light so they can shine the light in between the cars to make uncoupling better to see.

[loathar]

You've been on this forum since 2004 with 2400 posts and your just learning about bamboo skewers NOW???
As mentioned, they split pretty bad when you try to cut them.

[Kenfolk]

To cut bamboo skewers successfully, try this method (takes some effort, but results have always been good--no splits).

Take an X-acto knife and cut while rolling the skewer back and forth; keep the knife blade sharp to  reduce effort required. By making the initial cut all the way around the bamboo, it reduces the  proclivity to split. 

[markpierce]

You've been on this forum since 2004 with 2400 posts .

Sufferin' Shays!  That number relates only to the number of topics one has posted a message.  My impression is that people with high numbers of "posts" frequently write multiple messages under individual topics.  Someone with 2400 posts probably has posted more than 5,000 messages!  Admit it!  My estimate is conservative.

Mark 

[tatans]

You've been on this forum since 2004 with 2400 posts and your just learning about bamboo skewers NOW???
As mentioned, they split pretty bad when you try to cut them.

I'm aware of bamboo skewers, when used on a barbecue, with large chunks of Alberta prime beef on them, I'm still working on an uncoupling system that does NOT include a bamboo skewer( C'mon guys, this is 2008 !)  and they are very easy to saw with a jig saw or very fine hobby saw.