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By Dave, February 14, 2007 1:09 am

This afternoon actually. Had been fighting a computer all day trying to get XP reinstalled without having to wipe and reformat and by about 4:30 pm decided I had had more than enough.

Since the rain had stopped quite a while earlier decided to walk to the barn and try to do a bit on making a fuller. Found the cut off piece of the railroad rail I planned to use, started a fire in the forge, and started heating it. Upset and squared the bottom end on the first and second heats to fit the hardy hole then went to work on the top edge. The piece was about 7/8s of an inch thick and I wanted a 3/8 to 1/2 max outside rim, so started beating it down to size.

Really needed to have the leg vice on a stand but got most of the reshaping done on the anvil (shaped object). Bill came up from a walk and cranked the blower for me while I heated and beat the piece. Guess it took about 35 to 40 minutes to get it to where I could no longer see well enough to call it a night.

Took it into the barn and used the grinder and then the belt sander and cleaned it up and sanded it down. Not bad looking and I think it will do the job as well as being a shaped piece that I can use to form on.

Planning on using it to make a pair of tongs tomorrow. Will see how well it works and try to get some pix of it and the tongs. Did heat the ends of the steel bar I am gonna use and cut the threaded ends off using my hot cut for the first time. Neat stuff, cutting red hot iron. Almost as much fun as reforming it into something else… 😉

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 8:34 pm

Started out sometime shortly after 10am when the temp got above 36 to see if the air tank still had pressure. It didn’t, so started the compressor and went in search of a portable air tank. Found it and got the tire inflater nozzle put on the air line and started filling it. Put 100 psi in and went to air the right front tire on the yellow toyota up so I could clean the bed out and start using it again around the farm.

Anyway, got the tire inflated and then noticed a belt squeeling on the compressor. That meant it was around or over 140 psi so I ran back to the barn and cut the breaker. Pressure gauge showed 150 psi and I could hear air leaking from somewhere so left it for the moment and went back and tried the truck but the starter wasn’t doing anything. Found a wire loose and after rehooking it had a dead battery.

Carried the battery and charger to the barn and started it charging. Then went to see where the air was coming from. Seems that the one way valve from compressor to tank was letting air back out through the compressor. The valve is a special one but I remembered the inlet valves on the air tanks on the transport dollies. Went to look and see if they were what I remembered and they were perfect. 1/2 inch ip thread male on one end and female on the other. Wrong way around for what I needed but with a closed nipple and a coupling it went in line and no more leaking back through the compressor.

Adjusted the pressure switch down to 140 and started the motor again. Shut off fine. Still got some slow leaks but will work on them at a later time. At least I have air over here again!

Got the tractor out and moved it to the front of the barn quickly to keep the exaust as cool as possible. Was clearing in the cedar thicket the other day and a piece of cedar treetop got hung in the exaust and tore the muffler loose. Actually tore the pipe. Was rusted and all but it was still fairly thick. Was a good piece of cedar. I enjoyed the heat from burning too. Just wish it hadn’t cost me 5 hours or so fixing.

Got the tools and started loosening the nuts. 2 came off fairly easily. One took a while and much rust came out as it came off. Threads were gone on the stud. Took the pipe and muffler off and decided to cut the broken piece out and replace with a much thicker piece of pipe I found in the rack. As the flange at the exaust manifold was bent I then went and got a bucket of coal and fired up the forge. Started it with a stick of heart pine about an inch by inch and a half by 6 inches long broken into 3 pieces. laid it in the middle of the air inlet and piled leaves and dry grass on them and then added small chunks of coal while turning the blower handle slowly. Hard to do with an electric blower. Took about 5 minutes to get it up to a good yellow burn and then put the flange end in and started pumping air to it. Got it up to a nice cherry red in about 4 or 5 more minutes and took it to the anvil and started beating on it. Took reheating it 5 or 6 times but got the flange straight and the wrinkle out of the pipe just below the flange. Then another 3 heats were needed to take a bend out about half way down the first straight run. Really good piece of cedar. 🙁

Then cut the welded end off the muffler and got the piece inside out using screwdrivers and pliers and hammers. Another 4 or 5 heatings on the new piece let me expand the end enough to get it over the manifold pipe. Power hack saw put the slits in the expanded end so the clamp will work right.

A little quality time with the hammer and the muffler end is shaped around the new pipe. Cranked the welder and using a small 6013 and low power setting burned a hole in the muffler. At an even lower power setting welded it closed and got the seams all put together. Even one place where I had used brass on it one time before welded up fine.

Now to try putting it back on the tractor. Went on fine but the nuts that came off were all rusted out and had no threads left. So into the barn and more 3/8 24 tpi nuts are found. Only two of the studs have enough threads to hold. One is just too far gone. So I try to remove it. It has other ideas. Been in there since 64 I guess and it don’t want to come out. So I look for a die to take it down another size. No got. Try a metric one but it’s not small enough to cut good threads. So I look at it and decide to add metal then rethread the correct size. Two rows of 6013 later it rethreads fine. Get a jack and use it to put the pipe in place snuggly and then get the nuts tight on all three. Use the old gasket because I didn’t have a new one. It leaks but will get another one asap.

Use the big slip joint pliers to put the clamp around the new bigger pipe. Get the nuts on it and then make a new center braket that was ripped out. Still got the rear bracket to bolt back together but being as it was now dark I quit for the night.

This makes it sound a lot easier and simpler than it actually was. Spent much time on each and every piece of this mess but managed to get at least something done today. Now I can use the tractor to start moving cars and junk so I can move the entry road to the parking area for the Airsoft games. Gonna add some fencing and move the old trailer to a different orientation along the new road too. Planning to gut it and use it for bathrooms, showers, and a kitchen for the events. Not gonna do all this tomorrow but it all follows a hidden master plan, or something… 😉

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By Dave, January 23, 2007 11:00 pm

And everything seems to be working fine. Went back with my standard (slightly modified) theme as the plugins that it requires work with the new wordpress 2.1 so the look is back to the normal abnormal. 😉

On another subject, managed to get out and work a bit outside this afternoon, crushing aluminum cans to take to the recycling center Only a few hundred pounds left to do. Also managed to get over to the repair shop and get some work done on a computer. Not done with it (windoze XP with major virii) but at least got it to boot with the new (beta) pclos liveCD and get the customers “My Documents” folder copied to the hard drive of the gateway machine. Or it should be by now. Said it would take two hours about that long ago. I cut lights and monitors off and came back to the compound where it was a bit warmer. Will see if it actually got it done in the am…

And now to read a bit and then call it a night. Say goodnight Gracie…

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By Dave, January 23, 2007 1:52 pm

Am getting ready to upgrade the WordPress installation so the look will be a bit different till I get all the bits and bobs changed over.

And yes, I do feel a bit better today.  Not much though and not gonna push it today in the hope of being back to at least 50% tomorrow…

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By Dave, January 23, 2007 12:12 am

Think I am starting to get better.  Not sure yet but should be by the morning.  Hope so as getting the food together for the game this weekend is gonna take a lot of prep that I had planned to get done last week but didn’t cause of this crud.  Guess the round house will be as it sits in the last pix too.  Had hoped to get some more done on it prior to the event but tis the breaks.  Still gonna try to get a couple of more picnic tables built if I get out and am able to do anything tomorrow.  If not will just go with what we got…

More as I feel up to it…

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By Dave, January 20, 2007 8:59 pm

Seems that the earlier patch of feeling better was just a lull in this crap.  Back to the head spins and problems breathing.  Gonna make a early night of it me thinks and see if I can sleep it off.  Of course that is what I have spent most of the week so far doing.  Onward and upward as it were…

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By Dave, January 20, 2007 2:13 pm

Been down for most of the week with some kind of bug.  Nasty sucker but seem to be coming out of it a bit now.  Hope its done its worst and is leaving for others to enjoy… 🙁

Hate it when I have to put everything on hold like this.  Got a game coming up next Saturday so gotta get a bunch of stuff done before then.  Was hoping to have the roundhouse a lot more done than it is but such is life.

Before I went down completely I did get most of the repair shop going.  Now to see if I can find the rest of the stuff from the last one (Ace Electronics) that’s in storage in the barn.

One of the first pieces I fixed in the new shop was a Realistic 8-track recorder.  Really took me back as that model was new on the market when I first started at the old Stereo Shack back in 1974.  Got a Panasonic AM/FM/Reel to Reel on the bench now.  Had to make a gear for the motorised tuning assembley for it.  Now to figure out why the FM is muted.  AM and the Reel to Reel works fine.  Did a full clean, service and lube on the RR.  Still got to find my old test tapes to check it. The tape it came with is showing a channel as being low but as the record/playback switches were really dirty and I think the tape was recorded with them in that condition.

Have also done clean and service on 3 Sony Betamax and 1 Sony VHS machines and a remote.  So the work seems to be out there.  Just gotta make sure that I don’t get so piled up with crap that I get burned out again.

Hoping to get 2 or 3 more of the 14 foot long picnic tables built this week.  First one only took Cat, Bill and me 2 hours to build and most of that time was just me cutting the pieces.  5 full length 2x10x14s (3 for the top and 2 for seats), 6 legs, 3 top supports and 3 seat supports.  Will add 2 additional top supports and 4 leg to top support pieces to the next ones.

This coming week will also be taken up with cooking.  Gonna do both lunch and supper for the troops this game.  Glad I got the other fridge and big freezer going… 😉

Hands are telling me I need to quit with the typing so will close for now…

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By Dave, January 11, 2007 12:23 am

Been rearanging and moving crap around in the 14×66 to facilitate actually being able to work on things in there.

Got the repair room about a quarter there.  If that but it’s close enough that I am able to actually work on things in a semi comfortable room/building.

Wood heat for the entire building is a Warm Morning small upright parlor stove right by the front entry door.  The location in the middle of the building and in the hall helps to heat the entire building without a fan.  If the weather gets really cold putting a small fan blowing down the hall toward the repair room warms it enough for me to work.

I’m leaning toward opening a general fixit shop.  No automotive repair!  Household stuff, and electronics if you bring it in type repair shop.  No service calls! Don’t plan to post set open days or hours either.  Kind of a private word of mouth fixit shop for odd stuff.

Damn if I know if it will work but I keep getting folks bringing me things to fix so guess I need to go with the flow and see how it goes.

Since the building is on the other side of the property and the gates over there can be closed and locked, I don’t think I’ll have quite the problem I had before with the shop here in the qhut and me 200 feet away in the trailer with folks showing up all times of the day and night wanting stuff done.

Nor am I after that kind of volume.  If I can get one or two small ($5 to $50) repair jobs a day we can survive easily.  Even one $20 job a day 5 days a week will allow us to live much as we are doing now.   The airsoft thing is growing but we need a bit more coming in to help pay for some of the materials to help it grow.

So not quite as much time at the computer lately.  Have got the network up over there so will be doing some computer type stuff from over there soon.  Running a wireless link from the repair room machine to the wifil lan/cable link here at the compound, using connection sharing in pclos to connect via ethernet to the hub in the center of the building and then to the entry/payment workstation at the front desk.

This place is turning into a REALY big elephant and my knife is getting dull… 😉

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By Dave, December 29, 2006 9:29 pm

Been down somewhat with a bug the last few days and doing little as possible.  Got out some this afternoon and cut some more cedar 8 foot upright posts and 6 foot headers and one 15 foot rafter and carried them over to the round house.  Got a couple of the 8 foot upright posts and one 15 foot  rafter cut and carried over to the site yesterday.

After unloading them all, stood one of them up on the (facing the south facing entry way) right side of the door opening and screwed 3 saplings to it to hold it in place while I marked it for height prior to taking back down and cutting to length.  Planing to put 3 uprights in place with two connecting headers and then put one primary and 4 secondary rafters in.  Will add some bracing to the rafters as well as corner bracing on the uprights and headers.  I figure that should secure it enough to add more uprights, headers, and rafters, without needing too much additional temp bracing.

And that was about it for the day.  Going to Calcis tomorrow so will be back late.

That’s all folks…

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By Dave, November 6, 2006 10:48 pm

Spent the day getting bits and pieces of awning and cover down and a porch built on the south side of the compound. Got a mortese and tenion style post and beam wall up with peeled pine rafters every 4 feet and 2×6 perlins on 4 foot centers with16 feet of tin down before the rain hit. Enough for now. Managed to get most of the extra wood and and all of the tools under cover prior to the liquid sunshine attack.

Will try to get pix soon. uprights are cedar aged for several years. rafters are pine cut and peeled last year about this time.

Got enough wood cut and split to keep us warm for another 3 or 4 days. Gotta love living on the edge… ‘;-)

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By Dave, November 4, 2006 7:14 pm

Not that it was a bad day just a long one with very few people spending long green.  We came out with more in our pockets than when we went but not by much.  Paid for the site rental and lunch and left us with (I think) $11.50 at the end of the day.  Cat got another long woven piece done and I made about a dozen brass and copper pieces.  Not sure if the problem was our products are just not right for the venue or what but will try it again next year.

Am planning on doing a lot more of the art and craft shows.  Need to find out what else is coming up this and next month in the general area.

This was our shakedown show and overall it went smooth.  Got to make a lot more product to sell and diversify a bit more too.  Since this show was a tractor show it would have been better with the shaving horse and me shaving stool legs or something simular.  Had one old guy ask me if I made the milking stools 😉 and when I said I did he said I should make them for sale.  Which I have been thinking of but hammering out an arrow head (10 to 15 minutes) is a lot easier and quicker than splitting a slab of wood from a log, smoothing it down, boring holes for the legs, tapering the hole (1 1/2 inch hole ends up, in a 3 inch thick seat, tapered to nearly 2 inches on the bottom which takes a bit of arm power) debarking the legs, smoothing the legs, tapering one end of said legs, cutting them to length, trimming the tops if they stick through, and then putting it all together.  I get $5 to $7 for the necklaces, so to make the same (which figures to around $25 an hour on the necklaces) I’d have to charge $50 to $75 for a stool.  Maybe could get it but just don’t know.  I’ll hack a couple out and take them to the next show and see.

Sold one of my old baskets for $5 so will try making a few more of them too.  Should have charged more but the thing had been collecting dust for years.  I think I can do either 2 or 3 in an hour so should sell for around $10.

Cat sold a couple of braclets and a scarf.  Had a lot of interest in the inkle loom but no one seemed that interested in the woven product.  Guess I could build the looms.  Not a lot to them just a bunch of holes and dowels.  One slot.  Need to make one for Cat so we can get this one back to the owner.  Also was interest in the book.  Need to find where we can get them wholesale.
I think in a bigger show more geared to arts and crafts we would do better.  More affluent group looking would help too.

Think I am gonna surf for a bit and call it an early evening.

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By Dave, November 3, 2006 6:39 pm

Just got back from getting the booth set up.  Show starts around 8 am so am gonna try to be there around 7 to 7:30 to get the stuff set up.  Still got to go to the creek and get the bench, tools and stock.  And just saw 2 arrow heads I had made and are laying in front of the monitor.  They are now in my pocket.

Long week as my lower back will attest.  Seem to have a pinched nerve or something along those lines.  Sucker makes me stop whatever I am doing at the time it fires off and hold the position.  Got my support belt on now and had it on since lunch but still quite painfull.  Gonna have to take a day or two off when this is over.  Course the thing at Wetumpka is on through sunday so may try to make that.  Depending on how tomorrow goes.
For now am gonna finish packing stuff up and then take it easy for a bit till bed time.  Which is gonna be early tonight…

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By Dave, October 29, 2006 10:41 pm

In the same day.  280+ miles is more than I enjoy driving in a day any more. That alone tired me out, not to mention the 3+ hours walking around at the faire.  Enjoyed the acts and vendors and renewed aquantences of some of the folks we have gotten to know over the last 3 years of visiting.  I got some pix and Cat got a lot more.  Will get them up soon.  Course I said that last year and still haven’t posted them.  Guess I need to do that too…  Soon.  Really.

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By Dave, October 28, 2006 10:45 pm

Still in town as of now.  Didn’t get near enough done to try vending at the ren faire.  Maybe next year.  Still hoping to get setup at Farm Days at Wrights Dairy on Nov 4 but will have to wait and see what the next week brings.

Planning on heading out early in the am so we get to Florance by noon but may be later in the afternoon.

Just got my outfit as done as it’s gonna get.  Will post pix and such after the event.  The main thing my outfit is missing is shoes.   Just haven’t had the time or energy to even make shoe covers to fake them so am going in mundane footware.

Main outfit is pirate pants, peasant shirt and a hat I bought last year.

Also have a leather pouch made from an old 70’s era leather purse.   Lots of olive oil brought it back from the crackling dead.  A strap that Cat wove replaced the one it came with.  Recut the flaps and added bead and leather thong closures.  Looks properly old and worn out.  Holds lots of stuff too.

Time for me to hit the sack if we are gonna leave early, so will close for the nonce.  More when we return either late tomorrow or sometime monday.

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By Dave, October 24, 2006 9:17 pm

Still trying to get finished getting ready for the cold weather.

Since the weather folks said last night was gonna be below freezing was time to get the plants in for the year.  After building a raised area about 8×6 and 4 feet off the ground we moved them in by dark.  That also included the walls around it.  Will try for pix later.

Today was firewood and timbers for the tent/portable building.  Firewood cutting started at 9:30am and finished about 11:45 am.  Cut and split a pile about 8’x8’x1.5′.  Enough for the next few days anyway.

After lunch I went back out and cut several poplar trees from 2 to 5 inches diameter for the tent frame I am trying to get built for the ren faire this weekend.  Got all 8 pieces cut to length and peeled.  Got the 4 uprights cut down on the bottom to 1.5 inches to fit into the pine rounds and 2x4s around the base of the building.  Will be 8’x8′ square with a front wall height of 7 feet and a back wall height of 5.5 feet.  Floor will be raised 8 inches above the ground for water or whatever avoidence.    Must get pix.  Too weird to discribe.

Gonna try to get the canvas for the top, back, and front/canopy at the coop tomorrow.  Hope they haven’t gone up too much on the prices.  Need 10’x20′ if possible.  If not will see about getting painters canvas and sealant and sew it myself.  May not make the weekend if that happens.  Next bit we are gonna try to make is farm days at wrights dariy on November 4.

Posting will be sparse for the next few days till this is all over.  Will try to catch up soon.

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By Dave, October 19, 2006 9:41 pm

Hands and arms are still giving me fits.  Numb fingers and hard muscles in my forearms.  Done too much for too long without enough time in between for them to relax I guess.

Been trying to figure what program to use for a new project that Cat is working on.  800+ drawings of american sign language signs that have to be linked to text and other things.  Weeded a few cms programs out but still trying to figure which one to use.  Thought about a wiki too.  Gonna have to think about it and look some more.

Not quite as much rain inside today after the ditches I dug the other day.  Got to get the underpinning finished soon, next rain sunday I think.
Attalla fall festival this saturday.  Guess we will try to make it this year too.  Made the last two and was a nice day out.

Florence Ren Faire is the following weekend.  Gonna go whether we take stuff to sell or not.  Also gonna try to hit some used book stores on the way.  May even take a day or two extra and visit a few extra ones I have found here in the state.

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By Dave, October 18, 2006 10:02 pm

Today was a not day for the most part.  The pain in my hands and arms has been on extra special today so sitting and doing little but reading books and computer.  Still hurt but not as much as trying to use them for anything.  Hope to get some things done tomorrow but time will tell.  Typing is hurting a bit over the top too so will close for now.

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By Dave, October 17, 2006 10:13 pm

for the winter.  Got the back shed area walled in and 2 windows installed by late afternoon on Monday the 16th.  Then came the rains.  6:30 this morning the dead pine goes down.  Been wind and rain all night but at that time most of the wind had died down.  The crack and then fall was a not good sign and then the lights going off and computer backups beeping was the kicker.  Didn’t hit the dwelling or barn just took the power line out.  As in out for the count.  Caused traffic on Cedar Springs road to hault for a while.  I went out and pulled the line out of the way of traffic and tied it off so it couldn’t fall on cars or whatever.  The two cops sitting blocking traffic just looked at the line now 20+ feet in the air and ignored me.  I watched them a bit and then rain started again and I went in to call the power co and report the line down.  I went back out after getting the down line reported about 5 minutes later and the cops were just leaving.  Guess they figured the elves had fixed things.  Course I was wearing camo pants, a tank helmet liner with headlight on, and a dark green military officer style coat so maybe they didn’t see me.  Or want to admit it anyway. 😉

Got the tractor and came up and finished pulling the broken tree trunk down off the standing part which was about 8 to 10 feet high.  Threw a strap over the trunk and used it to pull a logging chain over and around it.  Hooked it to the tractor and pulled it down.  Still hung in a tree on the other end and not on the fence yet.  So I go and unload the trailer and put it under the trunk where it goes across the drive.  Built up under it with cement block and cut it.  both parts fell on the trailer (17 feet long home made out of moble home axles, ibeams and 2 inch oak decking so not a whimpy lawn mower hauler)  and didn’t hit the exposed water line on one side or the fence on the other.  Cut it again over the fence and both parts missed doing damage.  Went to cut the piece on the other side and a guy from the contractor the power co uses for building lines asks me if I can move the trailer and tractor.  I tell him yes that I am trying to get the tree gone so they can get in.  Get it cut and move the trailer.  They come in and put a new tri-plex line in from transformer to pole by the barn. 400+6 feet.  They had a 400 foot roll of wire that was 6 feet short so there is one splice at the transformer end.  But an hour and a half of work by 7 folks got us power back before noon.

Got to get the underpinning finished.  Took many gallons of water under the end wall of the trailer.  Dug new ditches and got it under control but the rain was stopped by then so… Will finish underpinning and then see if it happens again next rain.  If so will have to figure an underground water channel from the hillside across the way.  There are several others within 600 feet that spew water when it rains much so tis not impossible.  If so will try a french ditch and may anyway just to make sure any that builds up will be drained off before coming in.

Spent the afternoon cutting up the pine and clearing some of the other crap out from in front of the qhut.  One trailer full moved across the creek cut to length for seating when we have the airsoft games.  One more load in the morning of privit and fresh broken oak limbs.

Hands and arms are quite painful so will close for the nonce.

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By Dave, October 3, 2006 8:17 pm

Been having fits trying to get skype to work under PCLOS linux which is (has been) my favorate distro.  The push came today when I decided to move the iBook upstairs.

It’s starting to cool off a bit so is liveable up there again.  Mom emailed me and said either get the last of the stuff or we call someone to take it away.  So Sunday we moved the last bedroom suite over here and then Sunday night managed to get it all upstairs.  Along with the recliner, sofa, coffee table, desk, desk chair, and book shelves its an apartment of it’s own.  No reason the sit here with one computer in front of me and another looking at the back of my head so…

Decided to figure out why the mic wouldn’t work with Skype.  Seems that at some point the folks at pclos moved alsaconf from the installed to the uninstalled list.  With my sound card/motherboard oss doesn’t work.  So no mic.  Or something.  Anyway, installed alsaconf and after a bunch of restarts and fiddleing around got it to work somewhat anyway.  So now I can switch the laptop back to u/kubuntu and move it upstairs to use for whatever but a phone.  Cause Skype doesn’t support linux on the ppc platform. 🙁

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By Dave, September 30, 2006 9:32 pm

After fighting through 236 different shipping contrbutions several times and spending way too much time in the forums I came to the conclusion that the easiest way to set the shipping was to lie about the weight and fake it.  So I did and it works.  I don’t like it but it works, so out the door with it.

Gonna work with zen cart for a while and see how it works out.  Tried several of the others and none works out of the box.  Found this site the other night and like the way he has it set up.  Looks workable.

Spent most of the day cleaning up detereating plastic off the greenhouse and trying to get the place closer to ready for winter.  Got 12 feet of the south side of the 12×60 underpened with steel.  Cat got a lot of the stuff from around the greenhouse cleaned up.  Gonna put old tin on most of the walls.  Tired of replacing plastic every year.  Not good for the enviroment nor my pocket.  So will put up metal and as many windows as I can get put in.  Plants will either live or die and at this point I ain’t real concerned either way.

Now the customer wants more shipping changes.  Way it goes.  Back to the drawing board…