It seems like I just hit SEND on my last post yesterday, but the dates on my feed don't lie. I thought I'd take a moment and share some of what I've been up to. There's no time to waste, so let's get right into it!
Like so many of us living north of 40° latitude, I've been spending a bunch of time moving snow around. Fortunately, that snowblower that I got all the parts for just AFTER the storms last year has been running beautifully, so I've had time and energy to do other things as well. Honestly, if the snowblower hadn't worked this year, I would have just stayed snowed in. I don't remember if I did a post on the snowblower repair or not, if not then it's a work in progress.
I didn't take any screenshots of the posts I've been working on, but aside from every picture in this post being part of a series that will be its own post, I've also been working on some of my backlog of folder of post photos.
Which reminds me, I need to dig some holes for some posts before the ground freezes again. Like the title said...
Along with clearing snow, I've been clearing things out of the driveway, like this pile of 'good enough not to burn' lumber. I'm still trying to get the Garage-In-A-Box set up. I think I have enough space cleared at this point, but I've been too busy with other little things to tackle that particular assembly just yet.
One of those things has been the early seedlings. We're trying to keep things a little more spread out this year, to see if it helps at all with the fungus gnats and, well, fungus. I'd like to get one more set of these built before my work season starts back up, and order another pack of those pink lights. I posted about those lights and the seedling stands before, for now I'll just say that they were inexpensive and are almost a little too much like sunlight.
Because the lights on the upstairs stands are SO much like sunlight, this year I've cleared off and improved the seedling stands in the basement, so that we can put the things that like a little more shade and less intense light down there. The small trays on the very top are thyme, which seems to hate sunlight, artificial light, moonlight, flashbulbs, and LEDs. The only light they do seem to enjoy is outdoor shade, and these old flourescent tubes. I was going to take all the old tubes out, but a few of the plants enjoy them so much that I'm keeping them around for now. Besides the spiky succulent, the lower trays are filled with kale and cabbage seedling. They like the cooler temps, and absolutely loved the LED light bulbs with the globes cut off, which were the first lights I had on the upstairs seedling stands. The shelf below this one is set up the same way, but the lights are off because I don't have anything to put in them yet.
Part of getting the basement stands ready was fixing up (and reconfiguring) a bunch of the old LED light bulb arrays. Because the LED light bulbs draw a maximum of 9.5 watts each, this light speaker wire is enough to connect several of them on a single plug, and I like to string 6-10 of them together so I don't need as many electrical outlets. These lights have been in a tangled mass of wood, cardboard, lights, and wire for about a year now. I spent almost a whole day getting half of them sorted out so I could use them on these shelves.
Since I'd done such a good job cleaning up the basement lights and shelves, and thought I would treat myself by clearing even more space by building a project I've wanted to do for some time now. The strange mess you see in the picture above is the start of my small aluminum (and hopefully copper) melting foundry that I hope to finish soon and get a lot of use out of this winter. I've been collecting small pieces of aluminum for years, just waiting to turn it into ingots, and maybe even a few cast goodies I've had in mind. This part of the project didn't go exactly as planned, but it was close enough, and got rid of an old bucket, some old cardboard, a bag of plaster, and a bag of playsand that have been sitting around in my shop area.
The thought of all that fire got me thinking about the rocket stove, which suffered a small collapse in the front a little while ago, when I was running it to take the edge off those -15° nights (and mornings, and days). I could technically still use it, but as you can see from the black mark it was leaking quite a lot of smoke out the hole, some of which was finding its way into the house. The picture above is after I'd already removed all the loose material I could, as well as the front access cover. I have a few ideas about patching this up, but I may have to wait for warmer weather. None of the materials I'm aware of will cure properly during the wild temperature swings and bitter cold we've been having lately.
One of the materials that did seem like it could help a LOT with this whole stove project is sodium silicate, or water glass. The internet is positively lousy with people showing you how to make this stuff and ways you can use it, so I figured I would give it a try. Two popular uses are as a deflocculent in clay mixes, and as an adhesive in furnace applications. I wanted to see if it would work as a glue to hold together what's left of the front of my rocket stove, which was holding together but riddled with cracks. It seems to have significantly improved the rigidity of what remained, and I feel a lot more confident about being able to patch the rocket stove back together. Sodium silicate can also greatly improve the strength, water, and fire resistance of concrete, and I'm thinking of playing with some cast aircrete mixes treated with this water glass for a future rocket stove build. I'm already working on my own lousy post about making this fascinating stuff, and hope to post many results about my own projects and tests with it.
What I'm most excited about right now, though, is my new bandsaw mill. I've been trying to purchase one of these for the last 3 years, and this year had finally given up (after several orders were unfulfilled) and decided to just expand my chainsaw milling operation. Out of the blue I got an email saying they shipped an order that they had previously suspended, then cancelled, which I just recently had confirmed the cancellation of. Now that I have it, I'm thinking about complaining to see if they'll give me any of my money back, but right now I'm just too exuberant. Good thing too, because they said it would take at least 10 days, and it only took 3, and I was NOT prepared for it. Gross weight on the package this thing came in was about 750 lbs. It had to be unpacked, hauled uphill through the snow, ice, and mud to its first assembly spot, and that's as far as I've gotten. They just dropped it off last night, with no notification, and the corner hanging about 4" into the road. I put some reflective cones around it last night and spent all day today lugging steel parts uphill. The post about assembling this thing is going to be cathartic.
I've taken to playing with Rubik's cube while I'm resting between cleaning, hauling, and building things. I've always been good with puzzles, but never took the time to master this one. Now that I can barely read anything without reading glasses, I've been spending short breaks working on just that. This particular model has the extra challenge of having a couple colors that look practically identical in my living room light. I've been resisting the urge to look up any tips, tricks, or guides. This is something that should be easy for me, but my mind has some sort of block against being able to visualize all the movements properly, so I figure it's best to figure it out myself.
I was also loaned an Oculus recently, and have been having some fun playing in VR land. I wish I had a little more time to spend with it, because this a technology that I've been looking forward to since I was a child. All of my interest in programming was born of a desire to be able to create 3d digital worlds that you could move freely in. That hobby has long since fallen by the wayside, but other people have built their own worlds and I'm anxious to see how they've grown the technology. I'm already impressed with the head and controller tracking, and curious to look into how they've accomplished it without any static sensors in the room.
That pretty much catches us up, and I'm so anxious to get a post out right now that I'm not even going to proofread this any further tonight. Tonight I'm going work on some of the math for how best to turn my log pile into project boards, and if I do a good enough job at that, maybe play with some light sabers and heavy firepower in the Metaverse.
Be well everyone, I hope to see you back for the more detailed posts on all these projects!
Not sure it's going to work but let's try it! I thought that having the EDS token lets me call it somehow to vote on something related to agriculture..
@ecoinstant
If I didn't do it right, let me know and I'll try and do it correctly :D
Its EDENBUXX token, at least 10 staked, and you call with @ecosaint - you got the stake, so just try again!
Looks like you have been giving it a heck of a go this winter!
Can you pack clay around/over the rocket stove's holes to get you through the winter? You could always peel the clay away and patch it properly when the warmer months arrive.
I'm trying to get as much done in my off season this year as I can. The last two years, I've spent my time 'off' doing payed project for other people, and accumulating a large pile of junk for use in future projects. This year, it's time to put that junk to use!
I could patch the rocket stove like that... the whole reason I have this problem in the front is because I built that part when the weather was much like this. I have the money this year to keep the kerosene going and to run extra electric heaters as needed, so I will probably just wait on the rocket stove for now. I purchased some castable refractory cement that I wanted to try on this patch, but I've since seen a bunch of good info on DIY refractory mixes, so I'll probably do some small experiments with those before deciding on a final plan for the rocket stove.
Yeah, it sounds like you are making good use of your time and the 'junk' you have collected.
As for the rocket stove. If you can get by without it that sounds like the thing to do. I thought that maybe you needed it which is why I asked about patching it with clay as a temporary solution but it sounds like you have the heating covered without it.
I am going to have to stay tuned to see how you eventually patch it and also probably check out those DIY refractory mixes that you mention.
Fortunately, the rocket stove at this point is much like my firearms, something I want to have just in case I need it. I have a lot of heating options, but they are mostly grid-connected, which is unreliable here in the best of times. I like that I have time to experiment with it before I actually NEED it. Of course, I'll also like it when it's a 'finished' product that saves me about $1000 a winter on heating costs!
I hear ya there!
Yeah, it is best to have some options with the heating that do not require the grid! I have yet to even touch my winter propane supply but whoa is it a relief just knowing that the option is there if I need it.
That is quite a nice amount of savings for the cost of some repairs that are a fraction of that expense.
The dollar amount doesn't reflect the full cost... I would spend a lot more time processing wood for the stove. Not an out of pocket expense, but still, it's time.
One of the reasons I opted for the rocket stove instead of a conventional woodstove is that lumber scraps are the perfect fuel for it. Now that I have the sawmill, I'm going to have a lot more lumber scraps laying around. Hopefully by next winter I'll have this all sorted out, and be heating my house with by-products!
Yeah I was not going to mention the labor trade-off because I figured that you were already well aware of it! 🤠
Everything seems to always boil down to 'time and calories' for me when it comes to that stuff and a lot of the time... those seem fairly easier to come by than actual money.
The sawmill is a game changer on many fronts and ha they sure do produce a lot of scrap material that is perfect for burning!
Lots of fun stuff going on for you man! Damn lol. Working snowblower is great, getting those plants started is also a huge help.
What I’m most excited about is the mill! Damn that’s amazing. I would love a mill! I would cut down so many trees so I could mill things hahaha.
Are you going to build a kiln so you don’t have to wait so long for the wood to dry?
Having that snowblower fixed has literally freed up several DAYS for me already this winter! What used to be an all-day job requiring a whole day or two of recovery is now done in 4-6 hours, and I have energy left over!
Some of the plants we really NEED to start this early, like our habaneros and luffa gourds. If we don't get them started indoors by early February, they won't fully mature outside. Some of the cold hardy ones, like brassicas and carrots, we're getting started early because we have some new row covers, and we're hoping to be able to put them outside sooner this year.
I am SOOOOOO excited about this mill! As I said, I've been trying to get my hands on one of these for years now, and it's a long story of deals that fell through. The chainsaw mill works well enough, and if you just want to make some boards out of a few trees you have, I highly recommend checking into it! My area has been hit hard by emerald ash borer, and I'm literally surround by HUNDREDS of standing dead ash trees, just waiting to be put to good use!
I may eventually build a kiln, but for now I'm not too worried about. The lumber I want at the moment is all for outdoor projects, and the logs that I already have ready to cut have been drying for years. This will probably cause me some extra wear on the blade, but I've found that these boards can usually go straight to my outdoor projects without any real shrinking or warping. One of the things I'm hoping to build is a wood shop that will have a kiln room I can use to dry wood for making things like dressers and bookshelves.
Greatly improve the strength resistance of concrete? That's the first one. Next, all that growing and no weed? Or it's too cold for that too?
Good catch! It should have improved the strength and water resistance of the concrete. What do I owe you for unsolicited editing?
It's a little too early for the weed yet. I may start a couple plants now for keeping indoors, but the strain I've been developing is an auto-flower, and I've found that if I start them too early, they begin flowering while the days are still getting longer, which makes a lot of them hermaphrodite. In the past, I was gathing seeds and letting different plants cross-pollinate, so I wasn't as worried about that problem. Now that I'm zeroing in on my final product, I want to keep my grows a little more controlled.
I.will.smoke.to.that.
Cheers. We woke up with a little snow on the ground again, supposed to be upper 40's. Wife's off today, she's exercising right now actually, we'll go enjoy some vitamin D shortly. This is my winded way of asking watcha got goin today, anything?
Yes, have to pick up some kerosene, get the sawmill head dragged up the hill (now that the ground is frozen again), and stop by my regular work to help out with some repairs. Hoping to put another post or two together (or at least work on them) after the sun goes down.
Hope you guys enjoy that sunshine, probably be giving all that up once you head back to the UK.
Yeah it statistically only shines twice a week around London and south of London.
There's gonna be a few years you'll have to deal with my boo fuckin hoo'in but if we can park in Greece, receive mail in UK, and spend a month in Ca once a year, it was worth it.
Plan is a funny word.
People will often tell us we're crazy and, well, maybe they're right. But maybe they aren't.
Nothing wrong with being crazy, or with having flexible plans.
I'm quite certain that I'll find your boo hooing quite entertaining. As long as I don't have to end every sentence with 'innit?' for you to understand them, we'll be good.
That was a nice day. Did it stay warm for you?
You've definitely been busy!
A working snowblower is a thing of beauty, even if it's an ugly bit of machinery! I'm frequently thankful for mine.
I've been wanting to make an aluminum smelter for a lot of years, but I still haven't done it...
For years I let that disagreeable snowblower just sit around, broken, figuring that all the shoveling would keep me in shape. Now, I'm old enough that all that shoveling just cripples me!
I've been gathering scrap for my little foundry furnace for several years now, finally have all the parts! I'm hoping I'll be able to go well beyond just aluminum with it, but I'll probably be spending a whole year just getting all my aluminum melted into manageable pieces!
Wow!... @paradoxtma you really have been busy innovating by the looks of things. Like your creativity in doing so. Looks pretty cold there, here in Durban South Africa, we have been experiencing extremely hot weather. Thank you for sharing your interesting post. Have a good day.
Thanks! It is indeed extremely cold here right now, we very nearly set an all-time low record a couple weeks ago! This is following a summer that was extremely hot and wet!
Glad you enjoyed the post, you can find several more like it on my blog, as well as a more detailed series on the rocket stove. I'm always looking for better ways to be sustainable here without spending any $, so keep checking back for more!
Thank you @paradoxtma most definitely will do just that, very interesting posts, have a great day.
You've got a great setup there. The bandsaw mill is my favourite tool to have on my wishlist
Thank you! The bandsaw mill has been on my wishlist for three full years now, I'm absolutely beside myself with joy now that I'm finally getting it set up!
post lots of pics! Bandsaw porn is my favourite!!