ADDENDUM to Toothpaste & Ambassadeurs
The Ambassadeur article created some great feedback, but nothing that made me laugh as loud as the note I got from Joe Klaus. Joe related the following great story about Toothpaste and Ambassadeurs; he was gracious enough to allow me to reprint it.
Your article was 100% right on the money.
The toothpaste method for cleaning ambassadors has been passed around by the "old salts" in Texas since the 60's at least. That's when I first heard it.
It took me only one time to try that and to figure out it was NOT for me.
I took both side plates apart and squirted a generous helping of toothpaste on both sides. But mostly on the handle side. I put everything back together and started turning the handle. I sat through about a 30 minute Sit-com and turned the handle the whole time.
I decided 30 minutes of turning was probably enough. I then took it apart to (hopefully) admire my handi-work. What I saw was a huge mess. It took me "forever" to get all that damned toothpaste out of there. And there was absolutely NO extraordinary "cleaning or polishing" of the gears either. Total waste of time when compared to other ways of doing the same thing. It was such a fiasco that I still get agitated just telling the story.
But that toothpaste crap story persisted in Texas for years. Mostly just word of mouth and fibs (in my opinion) about how well it worked. And just about the time the method would start to peter out on its own, some sportswriter would mention it in a column.
The truth behind the legend of the Ambassadeur Toothpaste process? The thought of opening the sideplate and seeing that mess made me laugh out loud...very funny stuff, and I thank Joe for sending it our way!
-- Dr. Todd
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