billybopp

I used to homebrew beer using the same sort of carboy. To make handling it easier, I bought a commercial handle that clamps to the neck. They cost about $5 at the time, probably more now. I also made a carrier harness using nylon straps. Not at all hard if you've got a sewing machine, but it would be a pain to sew by hand. Another type that I made had a double-purpose. I used some old terry-cloth bath towels to sew a bag that covered the whole carboy, sewed on some handles at the top, and closed by a draw string around the top. Beer is light-sensitive, so the cloth helped with that and additionally, put the whole thing in a big tub of water. Water wicks up the towel and evaporates to keep the temperature several degrees below ambient. As for the wicker basket, it's very cool looking! If you have materials and skills it would be great to keep or replicate, but that is certainly beyond my skillset!! - Bill

Remember back in the day, when you'd get a keyfob with your license # on it, and an address where you could mail them for free return service? Times have changed! LOL - Bill

Put a couple of notches on that strap, about 1/3 to 1/2 the width of the leather, at an angle, and somewhere around where the widest part of the pipe bowl is, and it could probably also serve as a cellphone holder. I hope that description is good enough!! I can see it in my head, but putting into words is not so easy. - Bill

Alec Steele YouTube blacksmith that occasionally does other things just for fun. This one caught my eye a day or so ago. Not necessarily anything useful for us, but entertaining to watch in any case! - Bill

He probably needed all those bullets to help make him look more regular sized - He was nearly 6'7" tall!

My first rock concert was Ted Nugent in 1980. We rolled down the windows on the drive home, and it took a minute or so to realize we couldn't hear any wind noise! I'm convinced my hearing still isn't entirely back to what it was before! Does that count?? -Bill

Pfaff 1245 Adjustment 89_09.pdf

It can take several runs of clean water through an airbrush to clean it. Clean immediately after using the airbrush. Dyes usually have alcohol in them as a carrier for pigments, and alcohol can degrade o-ring seals in the airbrush over time. A little isopropyl to clean the airbrush is fine, but again - don't let it sit with it in contact with rubber parts. Dye sitting in the airbrush works can evaporate quickly, leaving pigment behind. What I usually do is clean immediately after use with alcohol, followed by water. If the airbrush is to sit for any length of time, I disassemble it and use an inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner with water and a drop of soap to clean, then put the parts out to let them dry. If the above cleaning tactics don't work, you may need to use the ultrasonic bath more often. - Bill

One of the reasons I've always preferred to do as much of the maintenance on my cars as I could manage is that professional mechanics have nearly killed me twice. Once was a 1976 Ford Fiesta (a BLAST of a little car to drive!). I was in college and didn't have time to replace rear brake shoes, so took it to Ford - I even warned them that the adjusters were finicky on that car and had to be manually adjusted pretty tight. They didn't listen. On the drive home from the dealership, a semi pulled out in front of me on a two lane road, and the brake pedal went to the floor. Fortunately, I managed to slow by downshifting, and there was just enough berm for me to get over on. But my hands were shaking when I got home. The other was a 1968 Buick LeSabre that needed some steering work. Not something that my dad nor I had ever done and didn't have the specialized tools for, so we took it to the dealership. We could have bought the tools and a repair book for what they charged, but didn't really want a single purpose tool lying around, and didn't know for sure how to do the job. We pulled out to go home, and steering worked one direction but not the other. Took it right back by circling the block. They forgot to tighten something or other. Lessons learned.

Very cool!!! That Super Bird would be worth something like half a million dollars now!!

Oh yeah. Spitfires were a TON of fun to drive, but they could be a nightmare to fix sometimes. Same can be said for a lot of European sportscars of the era. Back in the 80s, a roommate had a '72 or '73 Spitfire, which I got roped into fixing a time or two. I had a '73 Fiat Spyder which was just a blast to drive, but a bit of a nightmare to fix. I also had a '69 911S which was a fun challenge to drive. Thankfully I never had to do major repairs on the 911, but eventually rust caught up with it which was way beyond my ability & budget to fix properly. - Bill

When they say "Never do anything that you can't undo" ... I don't think this is what was intended! Seriously tho, that sux. But welcome back, and thanks for the suggestion! Over the years, I've picked up a number of "coloring books" to use as tooling patterns. If the size isn't quite what I'm looking for, I've got a scanner/printer/copier that I can use to scan and re-size to fit the space needed. For somebody like me that can barely manage a line with a ruler and pencil, these things are just great!!

If you want to talk about steels, go to a knife maker's forum. You'll hear (or read) all sorts of different opinions, debates, and outright arguments. Does it make that much difference? Mostly no, but that doesn't stop people from thinking it does. What's probably more useful to think about is which type of edger will work best for what you do and the way that you do it! I don't think I've ever seen a GOOD guide to the many kinds of bevelers available and how to use and maintain each type - pictures, maybe video to help along the narrative. Anybody with the experience and knowledge up to the challenge?? - Bill

I got my marble block from a house that was being renovated. It was sitting out at the curb to be picked up for trash. Same idea - from the other end of things?? - Bill

I have to confess - When I saw the MAN-SEW on that device, my mind immediately went back to the 90s/2000s and a very politically incorrect US TV show!!