posted
Funny you should ask that...my father mentions in the infamous video that mahl comes from German for paint. Now, I should preface that by saying that I ran it through a translation site and I come up with something different so I'm not sure where he got that info. I'll look in some of his old sign books and see if I can find his source.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Found in Websters Unabridged Dictionary, 1913:
Maul-stick (Maul"-stick`) n. [G. malerstock; maler a painter + stock stick.] A stick used by painters as a rest for the hand while working. [Written also mahl-stick.]
In The Oxford English Dictionary, 2 Volume Compact Edition:
Maulstick, Also mol stick. mostick, mallstick, mahlstick. From the Dutch maalstock from malen to paint + stok stick. Also from German, malerstock, maler meaning painter, stock meaning staff.
A light stick used by painters as a support for the right hand and held in the left. The upper end is surmounted by a ball of cotton-wool covered with soft leather.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Paleoanthropologists have traced it back even further. Some 20,000 years ago, a Neanderthal hunter was attacked and mauled by a cave bear. He survived by poking the bear with his stoneage spear. In the process, though the hunter survived, his spear was broken. But, since it basically saved his life, the cave-man kept his lucky spear (what was left of it) by his side at all times.... even while cave painting. Since his nerves were still frazzled long after the incident, the cave-painter took to leaning on his mauled (mahl) stick to steady himself while painting his mastodons, wooly mammoths and other prhistoric critters on the cave walls. The other stoneage artists took to emulating him because his wooly mammoths and sabre toothed tigers looked so much more realistic than theirs, thanks to his new-found tool. And the mahl-stick was born. That's the honest truth.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Pat King seems to be intimately familiar with the Mahl stick....as he is shown here in a demonstration of it's application and use in the South....
posted
Wayne, have you been using laquer thinners? Listen to the expert: this thing is really called Malstock, and if properly translated from german, it would have to be paintstick, or at least malstick. I don't know who started to put an h into that word, but mahlen with the "h" means to grind. I'm so glad that I finally know the answer to one of your questions
posted
Lotti..... So you don't believe me??? I'm hurt Yes, lacquer thinner.......lotsa lacquer thinner... and mineral spirits, naptha, xylene, toluene, gasoline, kerosene and caffiene.
Now......time to take my Thorazine.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'd like to know how far back they go. I always heard that Michelangelo used one.
I remember when I was young seeing mahl sticks with leather ends. Seems like they were all that way...my first one was that way...The leather was inside out....kept it from slipping.
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- Arvil Shep' Shepherd Art by Shep' -------- " Those who dance are thought to be mad by those who cannot hear the music " Posts: 1281 | From: Mt Airy NC | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I always figured the conversation went something like this...
Curious Onlooker, "Did you have to go to school to learn how to do that? Can you make any money doing that? Did you know my cousin Jimmy can draw real good? I bet he could do that too. Does it bother you when people watch? Can I try..."(interupted)
Sign Painter, "I'm gonna maul you with this damned stick if you don't stop asking all those questions!"
-------------------- Don Hulsey Strokes by DON signs Utica, KY 270-275-9552 sbdsigns@aol.com
I've always been crazy... but it's kept me from going insane. Posts: 2297 | From: Utica, KY U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Sign Painter, "I'm gonna maul you with this damned stick if you don't stop asking all those questions!"
Oh Don, I'm laughing too hard to write anything!
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think that it is the thang that my Dad used on me in 1956 when he started trying to teach me to paint boards and letters. I do know this, that thing sure stings when it hits ya in the butt. Fred
-------------------- Fred Floyd Carolina Vinyl Wilmington, NC USA Posts: 62 | From: Wilmington, NC USA | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I too was smacked once or twice with Dad's mahl stick. I remember in Latin class, illustrations of fresco painters using them in Pompeii. There is also one in the Egyptology exhibit at the Metorpolitan Museum of Art in NYC. There are also many references to the use of a mahl stick by classic portrait artists. And, I have even heard of left handed sticks.
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Don.... I didn't know Jimmy was yer cousin.......
Actually, the one Jimmy invented had the ball in the middle, but he had Timi straighten it out for him, and get it on the end. They never said whether they were right hand or left hand, cause it was a secret............
Just sittin here tryin to figger out what hand it would be, with it in the middle.........or if you would actually use either hand on it to start with...........startin to git a headache.......gonna go take a nap now.......maybe I'll ask Dr Phil in the morning..... !!
.........cj
-------------------- CJ Allan CJs Engraving 982 English Dr. Hazel, KY 42049
posted
Don, My answer to the guy who ask all the questions..(And damn he must be everywhere). "Say your Couisin can REALLY DRAW ???????"
"WHAT DOES HE DRAW ???????......GREEN FLIES !!!!!!!!! ".....HE HE HE
That's when you use the "MAUL STICK " to defend yourself !!!!!
In reality I never used one.....only in rare occassions......and then as a "Bridge"....and not as most people used them..
Check with the US Patent Office and you will see that Jimmy Norris..(Cousin of Chuck Norris)....holds the Patent Rights..he he he he
-------------------- Arvil Shep' Shepherd Art by Shep' -------- " Those who dance are thought to be mad by those who cannot hear the music " Posts: 1281 | From: Mt Airy NC | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged |
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic