[BC] Christmas Trees

[k7cr]

Yes, I am old....and Yes I vividly recall Christmas Trees.
My first encounter was in 1959.  Long before 8451 in 
the days when you ran a 'Ground Rig' around the block 
to which you soldered the braids from the various 
circuits coming and going.

Over the years I greatly modified the way I used these 
in a couple of ways.
1-  Rotated them 90 deg so that solder would not 
run between segments and you could actually see
between the rows.  
2 -Mounted them, usually 4 across, on a piece of 
steel so you could rotate them to provide easy 
access to both sides.
3 -Took them apart and removed one row of 
terminals (leaving three).  The one in the back 
was always sleeve, then a space (where the
terminals were removed)...The Ring and 
at the outside edge, Tip.

Early on there was a raging debate around here
when some folks started using 66 blocks for 
audio using stranded wire...Many were convinced
that this would not work as they were designed for 
solid...slowly those theory's were proved wrong
and the Christmas Trees and soldering gear were 
retired.

Clay Freinwald
Seattle