Electric Sheep

Question Box:

Q. Can I use any types of wood for draw boring, or is oak essential? (P.S. Find the blog occasionally satisfactory, but could you stop deleting all the Russian spam? How else am I to find new sources for my vodka habit?) Mrs Ivy Trellis, Pant-y-grdle, North Wales

A. Well, Ivy, it really depends on the situation. I'd say, quite firmly, that in the case of a parrot perch - for example - oak is absolutely essential. If you can't get ironwood. Or maybe jump straight to solid steel...

Bless him, Bertie's doing his best, but it's a lot easier to chew the softwood round the peg, than the sturdy peg itself. The question was once famously posed "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" I couldn't say - future generations will have to answer that one. However, I suspect this could be the sort of thing wood has nightmares about:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Bertie is right behind Roy Underhill in believing trees are evil and must be punished. One bite at a time...