Howdy folks of Permies. I have a bunch of marigolds in my garden that I need to pull up. I know they're good for repelling a lot of pests and even attract some beneficial bugs.
My question is this: what parts are the best for repelling nasties and is there a way I can safely process and preserve them for applying to my spring seedlings?
Dale: Have you done your nail-/screw-holding tests on these poles yet? Have you figured out how deep/prevalent the dark staining usually is? Also, to clarify, the poles you peeled but brought inside/kept out of the rain, what was their color like a few months after peeling?
Loading the logs is something I've seen, on a much smaller scale. Both of the milling devices ("mobile miller" AKA "Giant Freaking Blade On A Backhoe Arm" and the "stationary mill" AKA "The 6 Foot Diameter Blade On A 6 And A Half Foot Table") were new to me.
THIS VIDEO IS VERY CRINGE-WORTHY!
PS: Could someone please fix the code/embed the video?
Great stuff, Joel. Have you fired it up and pounded any metal yet? If so, I'm sure others would also like to see your work.
I took a similar approach with my homemade scrap (wood/charcoal) forges, seen here www.permies.com/t/30487/gear/Wood-Charcoal-Blacksmithing-Tips-Tricks
Looks pretty snazzy Dale! Curious to see how it works out for you.
Andrew: It looks like it has a standard Bar&Chain Oil tank. I figure it probably doesn't spash into the electronics very much. My standard 2-stroke generally keeps the B&CO on the bar end of things and doesn't get it all over my engine.
Peter: Was your Yellow Mystery Wood dark brown on the cut surface before you worked it? It sounds like it might be Mulberry. I came across a few rounds a while back. The outsides started as dark brown but instantly turned vibrant yellow as soon as I put a fresh cut in it or sanded it at all.
:EDIT: I found some pictures that include one on my pieces of Mulberry. One, under a piece of steel I was cold-forging, shows the "aged" brown color and the other shows the freshly cut color.
Also, we like to use these Reusable Mesh Produce Bags 6 pk Set or similar (we buy ours for about 4$ for 3 from the local market) for foraging. Berries usually go in zip-locks due to squishing/leaking/staining concerns, but the mesh bags are great for just about everything else.
Also, one can make a fairly decent "food dehydrator" by putting goodies in these bags and hanging them *behind* fans (so the fan sucks air through them). If one has fans running a lot anyways (we do because we live in a stuffy apartment), then most goods will be >90% dehydrated in about a week with no extra energy usage. For any type of long term storage, I'll throw most thing in a normal dehydrator for an hour or so to finish them off. None of our grown herbs have needed any further drying. Since they are dried at ambient temps, the herbs retain a lot more of their flavors.
:EDIT: Attached picture of some assorted hot peppers drying on our fan. They've been there about 2.5 weeks now, but 1/2 way through we had some really humid weather which set them back a bit. They are just now about ready for a touch of commercial dehydrator and grinding.
Laurels contain Hydrogen Cyanide, which is of course extremely toxic. Cyanide gas is released from them when burned or crushed (which is what muching does).
If it can withstand being dried and then burned, it can withstand being composted. Even if your veggies manage not to absorb it somehow (I think it does get absorbed, but im not sure), your soil that you'd be working through will be laden with Cyanide.
I'd avoid it like the plague and I'd guess that Nick S. above is probably plain old lucky.
A walking stick can easily be found pretty much anywhere near a forest environment so I wouldn't worry about "packing" a walking stick, especially not an artificial one.
One thing to note about walking sticks though: make sure it is at least as tall as you are. I've heard figures that an optimal length is one's height, plus 3 inches/8 cm. This way, it becomes much harder to poke one's eye out falling on/near the end.
I fired up the Forge today. It felt good. A friend had a pickaxe head and a handle that were no longer attached to eachother and needed reuniting. I didn't want to buy a spline and I didn't have any premade so it was a good excuse to burn some s&@t.
After I Smithed out a quick rebar spline, I found some of my cuts of a 1/4" leaf-spring and decided to make a new chisel.
First attempts went poorly... I got the shape roughed out and then the end 2" just broke clean off even though the steel was at a high Red-Orange heat. It wasn't even directly under the hammer where it broke. Never had that happen before. I ground off about 3/4" off the end and put it back in the forge, make sure I gave it plenty time at Yellow-Orange to "Normalize". Again, I got the shape roughed out, this time I got an in-line Forging crack while working the steel at a high Orange heat. Again, never had that happen before. I'm hoping it was just some sort of flaw in that part of the steel.
Third attempt, which is actually when the first picture was taken (one can see the remains of the second attempt closest to the camera), worked MUCH better. I did have some Inclusions (bits of Scale/impurities that got hammered back into the metal) on the back side of the chisel, though not enough/close enough to the edge to really affect performance. After roughing out the shape/design by hammer, I hot-filed the tip, which is such a cool process to watch once the steel gets into the Tempering heats range (surface oxides produce lots of blues/purples/oranges tintings).
Now that I had the profile, I cool-filed it to an edge, and then spent a good 30-40 minutes on the oil-stone to get a fine honed edge. I cut it off at about 6" long (using an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel) and gave the shaft a bit of Octogonal (helps resist bending). Testing on a piece of White Oak pallet board was made me quite happy with the results, especially considering I hadn't done any real Forging in 5 months.
I fired up my Forge today and Smithed myself a new 3/4" wood-carving chisel out of some leaf-spring steel. Pre-filing, the tip was 0.783" wide and slightly off-set. First filing attempt brought it to exactly 0.750". I'm good...
A Mortise I cut in an old White Oak pallet board with my new chisel, pre-filing. Hole is 0.80" square, by 1.158" deep. I could have gone deeper with it except I was getting hungry and it was latish.
I'm quite happy with the results. This chisel cut better in kiln-dried Oak than the thrift-store one did on driftwood WRCedar (beach rock sharpened) or on 2x4 (filed and 5-minute oil-stone sharpened).
Judith: I know what he means by distr- Hey want to see pictures of my cat? I have them on my pho- I forgot to email that guy, I should do that... After I sleep.
I need to get some form of "appartment deck friendly" steamer put together before I can try to do any more wood bending. Would you kindly ask your Hubby if dipping/pouring/soaking the area in boiling/hotish water would work for softening/making the wood more pliable, even after the heat has left? I could heat a canner full of water and either dip/soak it, or laddle hot water on to the area of need easier than make a steamer. That said, if it will only remain pliable while it is too hot to touch, not much good.
Since this seems to be about the only thread dealing with Apples, I guess I'll post my request here: I'd like to know WHO gifted my post an Apple. It doesn't need to be public knowledge, but I'd like it if the Mod name was put into the email I just got informing me that my post earned an Apple.
PS: Yes, I know that Alder is a far from ideal wood choice due to how brittle it gets with age, and yes, I know that I am MANY years away from the quality of work Judith's Husband creates.
The cut, which flayed off most of the tip of my left humb (I might be able to PM pictures, if wanted), was beyond bandaids. I soaked 3 napkins in blood, still dripping all over the sidewalk before I got the bleeding to stop. That's with lots of direct pressure, pinching my arteries, and holding my hand above my head level.
I was sure it would need stitches, but nope, just a washing and a dab of "Bio-Glue" sealant.
A week of healing later, I picked up my slowly drying sapling and started carving again, though MUCH more carefully and wearing leather gloves this time. I also shaved off all the bark for more even drying.
I'll steam bend the "tines" once I get them all split, wedged, and "pegged" (I used 3/32nd inch steel "fence"/"bailing" wire bits.
The clear bands are a stuff I like to call "BottleWrap", strips of PET soda bottle that are heat-shrinkable. I made the cutter following this Russian guy's model: http://hackaday.com/2014/06/20/super-simple-way-to-re-use-plastic-bottles/ I guess lots of people in Brazil have been doing it for much longer than him.
The other day I was volunteering at the local "Food Forest" (in progress) and noticed that they didn't have a pitchfork. They were using a shovel to collect up and move grass clipping mulch.
Having read of JUDITH BROWNING'S HUSBAND'S WORK on the the topic and having a freshly cut down 1.5" diameter by 8 foot long Alder sapling in my truck, I thought I'd give it a quick shot.
I made it roughly 5 minutes into the project before my Carpel-Tunnel acted up rather suddenly and I lost my grip on the pole... while carving on it with a very sharp knife. In general, I do fairly good at keeping my body parts away from the sharp bits. Considering that I was doing detailed work at the time, my hands were a bit closer.
I guess "Close" counts for "Horseshoes, Handgrenades, and flailing hands near a sharp knife". Ooops...
My parents were rather poor when I was growing up. Most of my dad's paint came from "rescues" from the local dump. If a can of latex house paint was too dried to use, but still semi pliable, he'd pack them into his various yard tires, with a bit of liquid paint to help fill in the gaps. It seemed to work fairly well, at least as long as the rest of the wheel barrow or whatnot would last.
Dale: As always, I'm very interested in your findings. Being "just across the pond" (on a good day, I can see Victoria from a place within a 5 minute's drive of my appartment), I'm sure I could find some place to grow this around here.
Of course, I'd want to find a US source to avoid possible problems with "Agricultural Inspections" at the border.
Funny that, with a few exceptions, I can take a plant from FLORIDA, 4,000km/2,500 miles away, on the other side of continent, but I can't take a plant from "right over there *points*", because nature and plants fully respect Human International Boarders.
Peoples of The Interwebs. I ask of you this: What is an asthma attack to you? Please give as much detail as you can, and also is your experience "1st Person" (you are a sufferer yourself), "3rd Person" (a partner or family member you live with is a sufferer), or "General" (a distant friend or strangers is your only experience).
I'll go first. For me, the full experience is like taking a heavy bath towel, fold it in half (2 layers), glue it together, fold it in half again (4 layers), glue it again, fold it in half a third time (8 layers). Now dump some cayenne pepper and fresh diced onion on the top. Now imagine that peppery/oniony towel is glued over one's face. Know that your only air to breath is going to be what you can suck through the thick layers of cloth and burning chemicals. Know that as hard as one can futilely struggle, that it is probably going to take at least 5 minutes, maybe a few hours to try to slowly rip those burning layers of smothering cloth from one's face.
Sometimes it's only 2 layers of towel with pepper/onion. Others it's a full 8 layers of towel but no pepper but still has onion. Sometimes the medicine works to "loosen the glue". Others the medicine only adds salt to the wound as the glue rips off the skin.
THAT is what causes my fear. THAT is why I struggle so hard to avoid being contaminated with a trigger.
I took some proper files and a bit of oil-stone to the chisel and tested it out on a piece of scrap lumber. The 2x4 had already been compromized less than a foot away from my work area so it ended up splitting further as I worked. Considering, I'd say the Mortise (this one 1.25" by 1.25" square) turned out better than the first but it's hard to tell since I'm obviously using sub-par woods. Would I have better luck working on green wood, vs seasoned, vs weathered/kiln-dried?
The other day I decided to take my small tool bag, including some straight from the thrift store, down to the beach for some woodworking practice. Using only a rusted old chisel that I sharpened on a beach rock (I forgot my sharpening files and "official" sharpening stones in my other tool bag) and a few pieces of driftwood, I chiseled out my first non-predrilled Mortise! 1.25"W by 2.5"L by about 1.5"D. I was under clothed and a storm blew in so I called it at that. It is a bit rough and tapers inwards near the bottom, but otherwise quite impressive for a first try with poor-condition tools.
A bit north of Seattle on Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor has a Community Food Forest going in. www.ImaginePermacultureForest.org. I've heard rumors about it for about a year now, and have been living in Oak Harbor since April but just found out the thing is just about right under my nose!
It's the white tarp to the right of the Motel sign and left of the spruce tree. The trap covers their in-progress Cobb bench.
In the Les Stroud "SurvivorMan" side video, "Off The Grid" (http://vimeo.com/22771069 ), he puts up a small wind generator that doesn't need any trees cut down. It does still need a tall steel pylon though... One might be able to get away with the top of a power/telephone pole or with small arms bolted to a tall tree which is on the edge of the main forest. I'm not sure how much power they produce, especially if they are not risen above the surrounding terrain.
I have a 1955 model Onan generator that still starts first pull most times. Unfortunately, the fuel pump is broken so it only runs for about 30 seconds before "running out of gas" in the carb bulb.
Jay C. White Cloud wrote:Natural lipids are a wonder in many ways...from addition to lime mortars and plasters of all types to making finishes...can't really live without these lipids...
Do you have any links to such uses? I tried search but it didn't bring up much that looked relavent.
I use a "vegetable shortening frier blend" for my blacksmithing and have taken to using it on other tools as well. It works great and I haven't had any issues with it yet. I think a 6-gallon jug was about 28$ USD at my local "Cash-'N'-Carry" (bulk restaurant supply store).
Hey man, been enjoying lurking on your posts. Can your chickens eat those little yellow and black "tent caterpillars" that are coming into season? If so, you could probably go around to fruit, (shorter) alder, and willow trees, clip off the nest clusters, shake the 'pillers out into buckets, and then bag-and-freeze them. That should give you at least several pounds of rich chicken protein for the winter months. Some people might actually pay you to clip/dispose of the nests!
PS: burn the nests once you've gotten enough caterpillars out to minimize the spread of these dreadful invaders.
It might be worth the small step of placing a few well-visible signs saying something like "THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY. *RESPECTFUL* PUBLIC USE OF THIS ROAD IS ALLOWED, AT MY SOLE DISCRETION. IF MY PROPERTY IS DISRESPECTED, I WILL BE FORCED TO CLOSE IT TO PUBLIC USE. PUBLIC USE IS AT YOUR OWN PERIL."
Not my work. Just saw it on a camping trip. Vertical posts are all 2-3 feet (0.6-0.9m) in diameter. All 4 verticals are different lengths so the roof cants at a diagonal angle.
I also converted the angle-iron stand that previously held Sink-Forge into an anvil stand. Basic drop-in bracketed steel plate, reinforced with welded bar stock and rebar, with 3/8" bolt holes that match my anvil foot spike holes.
The idea is that my current anvil mount is a 180 lb chunk of Mulberry wood. It is both too heavy for me to lift and far too low to comfortably forge on. This stand is mobile (it only weighs about 50 lbs by itself, and would fit in most 4-door cars) and also puts the anvil face right at the optimal height for standing forging.
Haven't used it yet beyond most basic of testing. Seems to hold quite steady but it is LOUD. The steel plate REALLY amplifies the clang/ring of the anvil. I plan on adding some heat resistant (SEE: "water soaked") sandbags to the stand surface, against the anvil foot, and on the stand legs to help absorb sound/vibrations, as well as add mass/stabilization.
I've been pretty bad about keeping this updated...
Let's see... I made a housing for my SRF 2.0 out of an old steel drum and a piece of stove pipe... I don't think I have any pictures of that yet. It's ugly. It's an upside-down 55 gal drum with a 1'x1' square hole cut in the side at forge height and a 4" round hole cut in the "top" with a flanged piece of stove pipe screwed to it.
I found an old cast iron hand-cranked grinding wheel at the scrap yard for 5$. It was missing it's handle and full of stiff dried gunk but I could tell the mechanism still worked. After taking it apart, cleaning out the rusty gunk, filling it with "bar-and-chain oil" (only heavy oil I had), putting new screws into the body, and fabbing a new handle. It actually works pretty well. It could use a new stone but otherwise is pretty much refurbished...
I do backyard welding and a bit of blacksmithing so I have a Tap-and-Die set for cutting threads, inside and out. I think it cost me about 40$ and I can buy different bits locally for a decent price. Currently, I only have the taps for up to 3/8ths inch. Not sure if that would be big enough. I'm on my phone now and can't remember the measurements from your link.
:EDIT: Miles: using moving water to move water. Sounds a bit meta... :p
Both come in 25oz bottles. Dishmate is cheaper per bottle but isn't as concentrated so you need to use more per load of dishes. Our Island water has varying degrees of hardness so I'm not sure where the "$ per load of dishes" falls between the 2.
John Polk wrote: This contraption takes wood chips and uses it to run a generator.
My main problem with the wood chip gasifier is how to generate chips of the appropriate size without using more energy than you would get out of the gasifier....
I don't know about the gasifier design in the link above, but there are many gasifier designs with proven reliability. Just need to match the fuel size you can produce to the gasifier hearth dimensions: Some are designed to run on 3 inch blocks of wood, some small chips, some even run on sawdust. Here's the kicker. With the right system and know-how, you could run the chipper from your gasifier to process fuel and then use your chipped fuel for generators or other small (4-stroke) engines.
Jennifer: Thank you for the constructive criticism. It's sort of tricky because we all have experience doing those things on smaller scale but those were mostly things from past living spaces. One doesn't usually document "living my life" type moments that would now be on all of our "resume'".
A concrete plan is also hard to put out because it would depend heavily on what land we end up being able to get, and what land we will be able to get will depnd on what is available when the time comes.
Jeni and Beau both work regular part-time jobs, Beau usually works 2. She tries to sell some of her sewing stuffs but has been plagued with sewing machine troubles all season. I do make welded and blacksmithed art/tools but have been having trouble selling them online. We are all trying to find appropriate works that will provide a solid living wage but the economy in our area is slow so the jobs just aren't there to get. I find that someone would jump to erronious assumption of "having a lack of work ethic" so quick, sad as well as insulting.
I have a number of health problems, both physical and mental, which make a vast majority of standard jobs unfeasible for me. Most notably are my severe allergies/sensetivities to many chemicals/fragrances, shellfish, and cut grass. All of those will trigger massive asthma attacks, throat spasm (partial closure), and/or anaphylactic shock. On the brain side I also have some nasty PTSD, anxiety, dyslexia (broader meaning not just word trouble), and other issues that compound eachother and increase around groups of other people.
