[Sca-cooks] Flimsy pole... <WAS: Re: Books was Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery>

[Patricia Dunham]

>  > Not books, but the metal pole in the closet where I keep my SCA clothing
>>  bent in half like a V and pulled out of the wall due to the weight of my SCA
>>  clothes.  Maybe I have too many???
>
>Nah... Can't have too many of that. Must be a flimsy pole. Yeah,
>that's it. Flimsy pole...

My personal woodworker-AND-blacksmith opines that a solid wooden pole 
is likely to be stronger than almost any hollow tube of metal labeled 
"closet pole" that you may find at the hardware store.

Metal is maleable, and probably 99% of all metal closet poles we've 
ever seen at the hardware store are both hollow and made of 
not-intrinsically-strong types of metal (pot metal, aluminum, etc. -- 
or unhardened steel) -- his test is, take the metal pole and hit an 
edge with it -- if it bends under impact, it will eventually bend 
under load.

One would want a hardwood pole, and those can be ... interesting to 
find (hardwood dowel, fine; hardwood 1.5", not so easy to find!); and 
the density of the wood needs to increase, the longer your pole is. 
Of course, oak is also very "brash", so if/when it goes, there will 
be splinters... probably the best idea is to ALSO include 
intermediate support pole(s), depending on the width of your closet 
and/or the weight of what you're hanging.

cheers,
chimene