Brian's Finally Building in northern New Mexico

rininger85

Elk is definitely palatable. I have never hunted elk myself but had a coworker who brought elk in to share... It was a bit gamier than the white tail deer around here (because our deer are grain fed on all the farms) but it still tasted good to me. Cheap source of high quality lien protein

boss

Good Morning

rininger85 wrote:

Easy solution to short term need of good healthy lien meat on a budget... take up hunting shoot one of those elk. It'll keep you in meat long enough to start raising your own. Get a couple hogs to feed your scraps to... never had better pork than a home grown pig. I'm on the hunt for a couple hogs again because our freezer is finally empty (of hog meat anyways... still a lot of venison from last year)... went about 2 years on one hog with it mixed in with our other meat sources in the freezer. Then sell the second hog to pay for raising the first one.

I agree Rob. We get one Anterless Elk permit per year because the elk graze here often. This is the simplest and quickest solution. Elk season starts in a couple months. I'll need to get help with someone with an ATV to haul quarters if I get one here. Also I may need to upgrade to a bigger rifle than my .250-3000 Savage https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.250-3000.250+Savage.html I went looking for a picture and found this informative article on the .250. Now I'm positive I can't use it on elk. We also have a 30-30 also a lever action, but it seems like I need something with a scope. I'll start researching what hunters here use on elk. Thanks Rob.

Jowblow wrote:

Brian you could put in Cattle Grids, cattle wont cross the grid and there's no gates to annoy your neighbors.

Cattle guards as they are called here are a bit of a sore spot for me as some thirty years back my brother and I built one for the complex of houses down the hill where we lived. Because we have so little top-soil digging here is a royal pain, but we busted rock for a nice deep channel and concreted up a custom frame to match the grate we welded together out of well casing pipe. It worked well for right up until these cows that our renter has that are amazing escape artists. My Ex who still lives in the house I built down there another sore spot said the calves were jumping over the grate and making my craftsmanship look bad, lol She was always good at that or so I thought, regardless I'd have to remove the one I built and rebuild the concrete box and built a wider and longer grate for it to function. Which I will probably do at some point after I get over myself, lol!

Nhibbo wrote:

Brian,
Thanks for another great read. I'll look at your video when I have a couple of spare hours, but I think you might also gain some insight from watching "Allan Savory, How to fight desertification and reverse climate change" (sorry, don't have the URL) on Ted Talks and then google some of the other projects he's been working on over the years. I think it will help shape your plans.

I'll go look for it ASAP, thanks. Isn't it weird how we see problems right in front of us, yet we continue do do things and think like the old-timers who for all intents and purposes caused the issues. Now these forward thinking people have solutions for Climate Change and it seems we're still not listening: Here is a series I'm watching now

I'm still grasping the things he is saying about plants taking minerals from the air ... Here's a quote from the link below that says what I can't put into words: The Soil Food Web refers to the microorganisms in the soil (bacteria, fungi, nematodes, etc) which extract nutrients from the soil and provide these nutrients directly to the roots of living plants.
http://www.regenerationinternational.org/the-9-most-important-techniques-in-regenerative-agriculture

Nhibbo wrote:

You are so right about the importance of diet/biome and its connection to health.

It seems like these teachings should give me the answers I've been casting about for in my attempts to understand how plant biology works. The cool thing is this is nearly identical to what I'm learning about the human microbiome, except plants digestive systems are external.

Nhibbo wrote:

Fortunately, in Oz, we almost only ever eat grassfed beef and anything else just doesn't taste right. Is elk edible? Surely some of that steak on the hoof you photographed passing your property could be readily converted for the plate.
Gnoibs?....70% chance of El Nino? Wow, I hope not. Already most of eastern Australia is bare dirt, especially NSW. If it is like this before an EL Nino is declared heaven help us further down the track (In this part of the world El Nino means drought and most of the country is already very much there). Fortunately, my state is still green, but we have already sent all of our fodder north. There is nothing left.
Boss, I have really enjoyed reading your posts and see parallels to my world atm. What a pleasure to finally clear out my workshop (Was full of the kids gear after they left home) and retirement now means time to LIVE and contemplate the world AKA projects for me LOL.
I was also impressed with your candy coloured sauerkraut. Looks delicious.
Fortunately our dirt garden and AP are both producing well but I don't know how you guys cope with such severe winters (for us an extraordinarily cold night is 4 or 5C (About 40F. Now that our daughter lives in Sydney, she can't cope even with our cold LOL).
Anyhow, happy projects around the patch and keep up the posts. Love it,
Cheers,
Norm

Thank you Norm that means a lot to me. I love following your threads as well.
Brian

boss

Good morning!
So I finally did the test with the new air-lift pump attached to the new cone-bottom RFF.

Although the results were ho hum, I got a comment on my youtube channel!!
Michel Vaillancourt
10 hours ago
Looks cool. How deep is your water vs lift, and how much air (LPM) are you using?
I'm running an air-lift assisted SLO on my system, so I'm interested in how you're doing it.
REPLY!!!
Now I'm really on my way to being somebody!!!

Brian Rodgers
Good morning Michel. Thanks for asking. This tank is 5.5 feet deep and it is lifting 3 feet. This new air-lift was built using a collar around the 1.5 inch PVC with a hundred or so 3/32ths inch holes all the way around the pipes creating what should be a evenly dispersed mass of bubbles. The air-lift pump is 3 inches off the bottom. Air is supplied from a Hakko Matala L60. I hadn't put a pressure gauge on it, but the pump is also running the MBBR a large air stone also at 5.5' plus another fish pond outside. So the LPM is sketchy at this point. I'm calling this a fail as this amount of lift doesn't come close to the 5 gpm the existing air-lift pump moves through dual SLO air-lift system which is in place. I wanted to raise the new cone-bottom RFF to the point where I could get the drains higher because the is an earth-sheltered greenhouse. I may try again without the flexible pipe which with a higher air flow attained by shutting the other air feeds down the water came out the top instead of down the the RFF. The existing air-lift pump has the same water level as the pond. If this did work better I might overlooked the fact that this pump came out of the middle of the pond causing issues at feeding time for the trout.
Brian
P.S. I see Google has a new Chrome out https://www.mycinema.pro/latest-news.html I guess I'll install it n this Debian 8 Linux distro... If I don't come back at least you know what happened to me, lol!

joblow

Hi Brian,

What is the purpose of having an air-lift pump in a conical-bottomed RFF? You need the solids to fall to the bottom, and collect in the conical bottom to clear the solids from the tank.

boss

Hey hi Joe Blow
The air-lift is in between the SLO and the RFF. The air-lift pump is my way of surmounting the issue of a deep FT.
Brian

joblow

Hi Brian,

I have air stones down in the bottom of my dual SLO on both sides and they continually block up with fish solids, higher up or closer to the RFF might be the answer.

boss

Good morning
I'm going to build some cabinets for our self-built home. Over the last few weeks I've been cleaning my shop and organizing tools.

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Getting warmed up I've refurbished my old Craftsmen Table-saw. Rebuilt a table belt - disk sander.
Some smaller projects are getting done too, such as putting new handles on garden tools.
I've neglected our hand tools being ill for three or so years.
So far I've supplied one two forged-blade hoe with a new handle.
I'm still working on making a handle for an eye-hoe where the handle sets like a pick handle.
I'm having the time of my life tinkering in the shop as I'm getting it organized and projects are coming out better as more of the old tools come on-line.
Thank goodness for the Interweb for forums like Permies and Youtube where I can read and see videos on woodworking.
Learning about joinery and old style cabinet construction thrills me to no end.

Yesterday I found a link to a valuable book on a video from Kingpost TimberWorks
Ye olde-book Cassells Carpentry and Joinery
https://archive.org/stream/cassellscarpentr00hasl
Boy Howdy! This type of carpentry is so cool and shall fit nicely into my low-budget permaculture and continuing homesteading retirement plan!

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There are so many types of joinery I never knew about Some Joints WOW!

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Yesterday I rebuilt an old stereo and replaced the speakers from a supply stash, so now I have tunes in the shop! Yay, another skill comes back to life.
Last evening I began work on restoring a unique dining table with leaves that tuck up underneath for storage. Unfortunately, the glue joints on the maple top are randomly coming apart.

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It looks like the top is made from 3/4" by 2" maple strips of which several joints have come un-glued.
I thought about running the top over the table-saw once I can get a finer 80 tooth blade for it. That was before I realized how many joints there are. I can see the skill of the carpenter in the joinery because I couldn't see the quantity of joints, but Ye Olde glue failed.
With all the cut-outs for the hardware underneath the table-top for the "pocket-leaves" sawing the joints out would change the spacing.
So last night I secured the table top to a bench and popped the partially loose joinery with a small mallet to crack it apart.

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It worked well on the first piece, but the second time instead of the glue joint cracking, it cracked in a new place, darn it.
I glued the cracked piece which looks okay now, he says meekly.
I chose this project to start with because the condition of the table-top is so bad anything I accomplish will be good. As long as I don't make it worse, right?
It still has a few joints near the edges where the joints are loose. Suggestions are so very welcome.
We'll start scouring Craigslist for a joiner - planner as that seems like its the way to do proper joinery.
Today I need to go in the forest around our house and locate rotting logs for the Huglekultur berm next to our little spa conversion Koi pond. I'll also gather rotting pine needles for the berm as well as for our gardens. I think pine-needles are the most economical form of mulch for us here. The last time I bought straw it sprouted into a carpet of wheat, which may be a good thing for mulch, I don't know but I'm learning more as I read here at permies.com about soil regeneration. Suggestions welcome on the mulch too. Thank you thank you.
Brian

scotty435

Sounds interesting, is that a butterfly leaf table Brian?

rininger85

you spent too much of your life only caring about one type of joint that you didn't realize all those other joints existed... but you sure are hungry right?

:funny1:

boss

scotty435 wrote:

Sounds interesting, is that a butterfly leaf table Brian?

I'm going to look up "butterfly leaf table"
real quick before I answer, lol! No, but wow I've not seen a table like that.

joblow

Brian it's great to round up all your old tools and get back into to odd project, and it's great to see that it gives you a lot of pleasure and enjoyment, I still have a few of the quality tools I bought as a 14 year old apprentice, but after bring up sons most are gone.

A few months back I threw all the old hand saws out, it's too expensive to get them sharpened these days and I can't be bothered sharpening them myself any more, it's easier to buy a new saw cheaper than you can get one sharpened so out they went.

There are a few of the older tools left that the boys didn't know how to use, things like the old "Granny's Tooth" and spoke shaves, the doweling jig and an old flat scraper that they did know what it was.

The scraper was a beauty, you sharpened it by filing the edges flat with a file and then burring the edges over with the hard edge of a chisel. I don't know if they still sell that type of scraper any more? :dontknow:

My boss when I was an apprentice had certain tools that I was not allowed to touch, he had a "Henry Cheney Hammer" that he'd had since he was a young boy and it still had the original wooden handle, that was why no one was allowed to use it. The nail holder on the back of the hammer had 2 x ball bearings that held the nail, they had worn a groove and fallen out through many years of use but other than that the hammer was in perfect nick.

I still remember that hammer well and would have just loved to have driven a nail in with it, but that never happened, it had perfect ballance and just felt so good to hold. He tracked down both myself and the factory foreman after many, many years and took us both to lunch just before he died and I forgot to ask him if he still had the hammer.

http://jtc.net/hchc/nailer/ That hammer was ahead of it's time and that was another thing that intrigued me.

I did very well at trade school and won quite a few awards so I was his favorite apprentice but still I never got to use the Henry Cheney Hammer. By not being allowed to use it made sure that I never forgot it.

I still like to use old tools but I've lost all my skill now, I was taught by the best but that's all way gone now.

Nhibbo

Brian, any idea if the old glue on the maple top is casein glue?
As a teenager, I used to fly sail planes and one old timer plane (from the 1930's) was damaged and needed parts of the wing disassembled to repair. It was casein glue so the guy who owned it, threw the wing in his swimming pool for a week to often the glue, pulled the wing apart and repaired and rebuilt it. Last I heard, the old thing was still flying in the 80's and might even be now. If you have a smaller section of the table already separated, why not test it out in your pond or even a trough somewhere.
You might find that your pine needles are a little bit acidic. Should work fine if you add some lime or dolomite to sweeten it.
Looks like you're having lots of fun again, so enjoy (but try not to overdo it for a start).

Cheers and enjoy,

Norm

scotty435

joblow wrote:

The scraper was a beauty, you sharpened it by filing the edges flat with a file and then burring the edges over with the hard edge of a chisel. I don't know if they still sell that type of scraper any more? :dontknow:

You'll still find cabinet or card scrapers in all shapes and sizes at woodworking stores, beats the heck out of sanding dust and noise but they can be tough on the fingers. Some of them have holders that you can use to tension the scraper to give your fingers a rest from bowing the scraper.

joblow

scotty435 wrote:

joblow wrote:

The scraper was a beauty, you sharpened it by filing the edges flat with a file and then burring the edges over with the hard edge of a chisel. I don't know if they still sell that type of scraper any more? :dontknow:

You'll still find cabinet or card scrapers in all shapes and sizes at woodworking stores, beats the heck out of sanding dust and noise but they can be tough on the fingers. Some of them have holders that you can use to tension the scraper to give your fingers a rest from bowing the scraper.

Thanks Scotty, I always wondered if the were still around, I think you'd need too go to special tool company here in Australia to buy one. They are a very handy tool and they get the job done a lot quicker than sanding. :thumbright:

I've never seen or heard of the holders, they would certainly help save your fingers.

scotty435

As far as I know the holders only work to tension the rectangular card scrapers and of course the scraper size can be an issue. Veritas makes the one that I have (there might not be any others on the market, I'm not sure) -

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=32669
or here
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/scraper-holder

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