String Bags, Turtles & Tandoori
One of my first memories is of being taken shopping on the back of my mother’s bicycle with string bags of shopping hanging from the handlebars. Sometime between then and now plastic bags took over the world and string bags became just a distant memory.
Now those same plastic bags are recognised as both a waste of resources and a menace to marine wildlife so I was very pleased to find Turtle String Bags. These are ethically produced 100% cotton string bags pleasantly coloured using eco-friendly dyes. They have been very popular amongst the in office testers, Tony’s comments are typical, “My Turtle Bag is brilliant as it crumples down to fit in your pocket so I have it with me whenever I go shopping. It really is the ideal replacement for the plastic bag”. We really can’t recommend these too highly.
While most of us have had string bags Maddy has been trying a re-cycled Cement Bag from Bangladesh. “I couldn’t help nabbing it (shoes and bags – it’s a woman thing...). I’ve never used it for shopping – it’s too useful for that – because it such a great work bag. It went to Live Earth at Wembley with my sandwiches, note pad, pens and camera. It’s also gone to workshops with me, full of notes, books and lunch. It’s very strong and well made, with a lining and woven binding that the handles are stitched into. A great asset.”
Meanwhile I have been trying my hand at cooking with a Tandoori Pot. This simple clay pot transforms a domestic oven into a Tandoori allowing you to cook these popular Indian dishes at home. The clay pot changes the type of heat radiance and seals in moisture and flavour. It was easy to use and the results were very well received by my family.
I have also been trying a Martiini Filleting Knife. This is a traditional fish knife from a world famous Finnish knife maker. It has a long hand-ground blade, signed by the maker, a beech wood handle and comes in an attractive leather sheath. A few strokes on a steel produced a lovely edge and it cut cleanly and easily sliding over the fish bones just as it should.
Another knife that has crossed my desk is the Opinel Mushroom Hunters Knife. This specialist knife features a curved Stainless Steel blade for collecting and cutting your finds to aid identification, a brush for removing dirt and insects and a serrated edge for cuticle removal. It comes boxed with a leather sheath and I look forward to using it this Autumn when the fungi foraging season starts.
Maddy has been using another unusual Opinel product, the Opinel Pocket Saw. “Last year I did a course with Glennie Kindred and we spent time whittling and making small greenwood artifacts. She used a small pruning saw to cut a small twig from a large tree, perfect for the job. And this is it, a small wooden handled saw for special projects (like making Tree Ogham sticks) or pruning small branches. Handy, light and sharp!”
Talking of sharp, two new Super Sharpeners have been added to the range. The Stationary Sharpener (not shown) which is designed to be screwed down and sharpens knives and scissors very well and the Garden Tool Sharpener which Tim, who has 60 fruit trees to prune, has been trying out, “Just pull it across the secateur blade three or four times in-situ (no dismantling necessary) and it’s ready to go. No more blisters or aching hands after a pruning session and no more ragged cuts either.”
By popular request we are adding to our range of Gransfors Bruks axes, please see catalogue entry for descriptions.
John Adams
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Shopping in a Turtle string bag.
Tandoori chicken cooked in a ceramic Tandoori pot.
Martiini fish filleting knife in use.
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