Rust never sleeps on the Lewis scrap cult

Greenheart Oak decking plank from a 19th century shipwreck serving as a straining post in our croft.

Lots of hits and several comments on the Jonathan Meades blog and the Isle of Rust. Do click through the links in the last posting to watch the programme on i-player and read the comments which, contrary to instinct, I've allowed to be posted as "anonymous".

Feel free to add your own comments and submit any pictures you might have of the scrap cult. I thought I had an image of wrecked bus lying around somewhere on the desktop but can't find it just now. This image of ship nails driven through a decking plank that serves as a straining post on our croft will have to do.

I'm not exactly sure about the provenance of the decking. I know it's Greenheart Oak, the hardest wood in the world, and according to my late father, it came from the deck of the "Ile Channaidh", a ship that wrecked on the rocks off Swordale sometime in the 19th century.

All I can say with certainty is that the post, one of several Greenhearts in our croft, is over 100 years old and has withstood everything that time has thrown at it, including an IDP fencing grant.

I know that's setting the bar high but if anyone can provide a better, older, harder, more upcycled example of the Lewis Scrap Cult I'll give a prize of the the axle from the Bedford van we used to use as a teahut in the peats, as that is all that is left of the Bedford van.

Do I hear that someone with more time and talent than me is setting up a Flikr site homage to the Isle of Rust? Someone ought to.