WE wound down the second year of our garden recently here in Topeka Kansas (north east Kansas), it was just grass before and a patch of very poor soil that may have been brought in years ago to fill an old systern or septic tank, the first year of the garden we mulched with grass clippings for a while then switched to hay to keep the weeds down and to hopefuly help the soil condition, then in the fall we cleaned out the chicken house and it was scattered around and then we covered the entire garden with leaves about 6 inches deep and let the chickens in all winter, the leaves and hay broke down really well, we then plowed it under in the spring. This year we have added about two yards of composted stuff from over last winter and this summer as well as chicken house hay and the leaves again, my wife has rabbits and we have been adding that waste to the garden all summer when available and will continue doing so when she clans the bunny barn out. We tested the soil with a little kit from the store and it shows the nitrogen level to be very low.
Our goal is to improve the soil from its poor clayish form to a consistancy that will be workable with a fork and avoid plowing or tilling if possible and have a good health levels of twhat makes a good soil.
Our garden produced ok each year so far but not what would be expected from other gardens I have had in the past.
What steps should we change or add to improve the nitrogen level without getting some commercial bagg of manufactured stuff?
the soil consistancy has greatly improved from it's almost concrete hgard state when we first brok the ground so I feel we are making improvements.
Should we add something different over the winter?
Cam Haslehurst wrote:So tonight I attempted the make a center punch
In shop when I was in school all of the projects was to make a cold chissle out of a piece of rolled steel, shape and harden the cutting surface, the grade was pass or fail, when you finished our teacher would take a nail and lay it on the anvil and then use your new chisle to cut it in half, if it cut the nail without damaging the chisle edge you passed, if it made any indention in the edge you failed and started over. one fella had hardened to far up the shaft of the chisle and when the nail was cut it also broke the chistle. The reason your punch is not hardened all the way to the end is it would be like that one fellas and brake, the softer steel alows it to absorbe energy both when being hit and the equal reaction from the object being cut.
we hardened the edge by cooling it in used motor oul after heating it.
K Eilander wrote:Saw this and it seems like a useful trick.
Apparently they make welding filler rod made of high-strength tool steel!
this has been around a while, we used to take the valves out of a water pump on a water well drilling rig and build them up like this and then have them machined back down so they would seal up propperly.
they had to be hard surfaced like this because these pumps carried a lot of sandy muddy water through them and wore down if not a hard surface.
This was definantly worth letting folks know about for sure!
here is a link to a post in the frugility section I did a couple of years back showing how I patch dennum jeans.
this is how mom did it for jeans worn out from loading hay bales, some times the whole area from the thigh to just over the knee was cut out and patched .
https://permies.com/t/19028/patch-jeans
At the time that this oportunity came my way I was set on getting a couple of pieces that would be suitable to make a flintlock rifle stock out of because I have been working on a piece of walnut pre cut for a stock and have it in my mind I can do one from scratch someday , what I had understood a decent starting thickness for blanks was 3 inches which alows for shrinkage and then gives plenty of room to to remove what does not need to be there. When I talked to the man who had a setup to mill lumber using a chainsaw he said he would get me as much usable slabs as he could and this is what came out.
I had read that it takes quite a few years to cure lumber this think so I felt no pressure to hurry and get busy, some times I just go down there in the shade and sit on the stack and enjoy the smell of the wood and ponder what could come of these pieces.
My neighbor gave me pick of what was left over after the tree service guy took the huge pieces away so I went back to his wood yard and picked out two large pieces and he brought them over while he had the skid steer handy, these were quite heavy we estimated that the two pieces would be around 1500 pounds.
I have heard that good quality walnut stock blanks are hard to come up with if you want the full length that the early flintlocks have, the two that are narrow I believe these are what he thought I would like the best.
These are various thicknesses ranging from 5 quarters or 1 1/4 inch, 7 quarters 1 3/4 inch , 9 quarters 2 1/4 inch and 16 quarters 3 inches. I think I may make a bench out of the one of the thinner slabs but I do not know even how long they need to dry yet.
I do agree they are beautiful.
Anne Miller wrote:Clifford, what are your plans for those slabs?
They look very think so maybe benches? They look to think for tabletops and other things I can think of.
Joshua States wrote:In the knife-making world, we call that a serious score. Nice heartwood walnut like that makes excellent handle material. How thick are the slabs?
Yea that sure is a serious score for a bunch of knive handles for sure!
These are various thicknesses ranging from 5 quarters or 1 1/4 inch, 7 quarters 1 3/4 inch , 9 quarters 2 1/4 inch and 16 quarters 3 inches.
Mike Haasl wrote:Hi Clifford, I don't think I hit water but I'm not sure why water was disappearing down the pipe. I tried some other spots without success so I've kinda given up on the sand point...
My dad was a well driller and windmill man, I grew up in the late 70's early 80's working with Dad.
If you hit some formation like sand stone, gravel or maybe even sand the water would soak into that, this could be why your water dissapears.
Do you know what the average depth is for wells in your area? are there any wells on neighboring property?
We lived on a crick in SW Nebraska and had several wells that were 19 ft deep the folks further away from the creek had no water on their property.
it is possible you are above water table and just need to go deeper.
I was in the right place at the right time earlier this summer and was given some walnut, I was also able to get it cut into slabs with a chanin saw now it is sitting and curing waiting, I do not have any specific plan for it other than two pieces that I want to use to make a stock for a flintlock rifle that I think I want to try and make someday.
sure is prety wood, I painted the ends and stacked it up with sticks inbetween and put a couple of straps around them to hold them there.
It only cost me $75 and two pounds of fresh honey to get the slabs cut, I figure when the time is right I will come up with a project, my wife hinted a bench would be nice.
when you take your pump apart take a screw driver or something that you can use to really spread the leathers oou so they really make great contact with the walls of the pump cylinder, also you can soak the leathers in water for a while. check that the valve at the bottom of the pump is holding water and not leaking back to fast.
These pumps were designed to pump from a cystern at about 20 ft, with trying to draw through the sand point and screen you add additional resistance.
Is it possible to go deeper with it? get your sand point oput first
What makes you believe you hit water?
Mike Haasl wrote:Hello friends! I am putting in a sand point well, I think I've hit water but I can't pump it up with a pitcher pump.
Background: 1.25" driven well with a 3' sand point on the bottom. No foot valve down in the casing. I augured a hole about 10' and then assembled the point and started driving it deeper. I'm currently 17' into the ground with 1' of casing sticking out. There is water in the pipe The water level is 12' down and 6' from there to the end of the point. So that seems to be a good sign.
I took a bucket of clean house water and poured it down the pipe to see if I could fill up the pipe. It disappeared as fast as I could pour it in. I think that's a really good sign.
I bolted on a relatively new pitcher pump and poured water in the top of it and started pumping. After a while it feels like most of the handle's travel is just creating a vacuum. When I lift the handle (lowering the piston), at the very end of the travel it feels like the vacuum is done and I made a tiny bit of progress. But after pumping and pumping, eventually the vacuum feeling doesn't go away and it just seems like I'm creating a vacuum and then releasing in as I raise the handle.
I disassembled the pump and the cup leather looks good, the flapper looks good, the jiggly weight at the bottom of the piston is jiggling well and seems to be sealing well.
It seems like if I can pour 2 gallons of water into a pipe and it soaks in as fast as I can pour, I've hit water. Why can't I suck it up 12' with a pitcher pump?
Do I have a crappy pitcher pump? Am I priming it wrong? Any suggestions?
Once I am pumping water, I'll drive it down another 18" so the fitting is at a convenient height. Hopefully that will only make things better for the water supply.
r ranson wrote:One thing we do for typewriters is to get a broken innertube from a bike tyre (usually free at the bike repair shop) and pull it over the platen and if needed, shink it a bit with a blow dryer.
great idea! if the inner tube is a slight bit tight try rolling it like a stocking and then roll it on, you may also try a piece of pvc pipe that is about the correct size to roll the tube up on and press it up against one end a nd then start rolling it.
I know at the home place when I was get up there a patch that was never weeded and it produced ok, I bet it would have been better if we took care of it. I have two plants along the fence that I found this year as I cleared out brush, maybe after clearing it out I can get more!
Meg Mitchell wrote:They look great! If you liked making them and you find they hold up, it might be worth seeing if other people will pay to have shoes made. There's a guy in my community who's been making leather sandals for decades and I love mine to death; if he made boots it would be even better. Every village needs a shoemaker right? :)
It sure would be great to live in that village and be a shoe maker!
I have spent over a year trying to learn shoe making from the you tube and what I can figure out from taking old shoes apart. My family are hard to fit for shoes, I have made several nice pairs of minimalist shoes but two weeks ago I finished these work boots for me. I prefer a stiff sole when using a shovel. Ihesr are a size 6 eee and non existant at any shoe store. All leather and lined with pig skin. The sole is biltrite and the heel is cat paw. I used an ad I found in the internet from a 1935 ad in Chicago mail order catalog.
Everything has finally been finalized as of a few days ago, the new owners are now making repairs and getting things sorted out and ideas planed.
Local folks from up on the divide on the Kansas.
Yea, My mom was telling me that the winery was up there, I guess they have guest quarters also.
As far as the house goes it will need to be gutted and a roof, the foundation and half basement is solid.
This had an orchard, it is very over grown so I do not know if it is producing now and if so to what extent. But it used to be abundant with apples, cherry, goose berries.
this is the creek, it comes from Rock Creek state lake which is about three miles north of Parks, it is spring fed and just north of it is a state operated fish hatchery.
Blocks 9, 11, 4, 3, 6. & 10 a
Thanks for adding this to the real estate section!!
This is in Parks Nebraska, it is an unincorporated town, the town has mail delivery phone, rural electricity, and internet service available, Verizon cell phone works also but that are all of the services.
The property is 6 blocks that are broken down in lots at the court house but not physically divided by anything.
There is an over grown orchard, when I was growing up it had cherry trees, apple, and a pear tree, goose berries, rhubarb, and aspergus came up each spring. It is very over grown and I do not know how the trees are producing now, I have not been in the orchard for a decade when things set on. We used to have honey bees in the orchard.
The house is in very bad shape. there is a shop that is in need of repair also.
The closest town is 10 miles away, it has a nice hospital and clinic, court house, groceries, ford dealer, fuel and other stores.
Dad was a water well driller and a wind mill repair man, this is why there are quite a few wells on the place.
When we were growing up we had most everything we needed food wise produced there or traded for from neighbors.
My brother lives 12 miles away still. The closest real estate office is in Mc Cook which is over 60 miles so I did not bother to list with an agent.
Thanks for adding this to the real estate section!!
This is in Parks Nebraska, it is an unincorporated town, the town has mail delivery phone, rural electricity, and internet service available, Verizon cell phone works also but that are all of the services.
The property is 6 blocks that are broken down in lots at the court house but not physically divided by anything.
There is an over grown orchard, when I was growing up it had cherry trees, apple, and a pear tree, goose berries, rhubarb, and aspergus came up each spring. It is very over grown and I do not know how the trees are producing now, I have not been in the orchard for a decade when things set on. We used to have honey bees in the orchard.
The house is in very bad shape. there is a shop that is in need of repair also.
The closest town is 10 miles away, it has a nice hospital and clinic, court house, groceries, ford dealer, fuel and other stores.
Dad was a water well driller and a wind mill repair man, this is why there are quite a few wells on the place.
When we were growing up we had most everything we needed food wise produced there or traded for from neighbors.
My brother lives 12 miles away still. The closest real estate office is in Mc Cook which is over 60 miles so I did not bother to list with an agent.
Hi,
several years ago my dad had to go the care facility and I purchased the home place from him so he could have a place to come back to but he never made the return trip. I was a couple hundred miles away so the place just sat empty for a long time, now that he has been gone for a couple of years and I am even a couple hundred miles further away I just do not see myself getting back up there. The taxes are cheap (less than $100 a year) so I have kept the place but the place is continue to fall apart.
It is in southwest Nebraska almost to Colorado and almost to Kansas, it has a creek on one corner of the property, five water wells, one has a windmill, one with a hand pump, a couple have electric submersible pumps.
the old house has a grandpa bear wood stove and a stainless triple wall chimney.
It is 10 acres+-
$20,000
I am not asking very much for it, but I do not know if it is allowed to list property for sale on here, if it is ok, I can add more information, if it is not please delete this posting.
I pulled this little stove out of operation last fall when I moved, I did not install it in anything for last winter. I did do a thorough inspection through the clean out doors and the fire box and there is no sign of mettle spalling, I think I have been able to keep that from occurring by limiting the air flow into the fire box once I get the stove hot and I would hear the fire popping and making a helicopter sound until the sound stops.
anyway now it is sitting in my garage just waiting for me.
here are a couple of videos before I moved it inside the shop last fall
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrqm5NFtEM4[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikKfG7haK0M[/youtube]
the flu pipe is truck exhaust pipe, the tempurature where the gas dumps in at the bottom is usualy 350 to almost 400, I do not think I have steam coming out of mine but I dont know
if you have something planted there and they decide to dig it up you may be entitled to a sum of money for the lost harvest and the cost of replanting?
maybe?
One more thing that I think I would do different is to weld a steel tube around my riser tube to provide more insulation for the combustion, I think this would make initial start up produce less smoke because it would heat up the chamber faster. As it is now it will produce smoke for ten minutes or so then it clears up.
I burnt this stove all day in the garage ( 10 hours) while working on various silly things and used a five gallon bucket full of small pieces of wood from 1/2 in ch to 3 inch diameter and a wooden pallet broken up in pieces to burn.
once the heater gets up to operating temperature I put small amounts of wood in about every 30 or 40 minutes, got a good bed of coals and shoved one large piece of a tree branch in and turned the drafts down and went to the store for about an hour and half when I got back put in more wood and opened up the drafts a little.
She does use a lot less wood than any other wood stove I have had, but does not heat up as quick.
my riser tube is 2 inches below the top of my heater, I know I could have gone a little closer but opted for just a little more clearance, I am happy with my decision to have the extra 1/2 inch because the paint has already burnt off of the top right above the riser tube, I was wanting to make sure that I did not warp the top.
If I was building this heater today I would:
use lighter weight steel for the stove body so the heat transfer would be faster
I would definitely leave the top 1/4 inch as it would warp otherwise
I would go with a riser tube that was shorter and move the fire box up so I do not need to bend over so far to put the wood in
I would move the riser tube back a couple more inches in the stove body and add that length to the fire box to give a little bit longer firebox
here is a rocket stove water heater
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5IRLVCJ1olA?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
james beam wrote:Not sure if this is true, but I heard typical drilled wells will go past the water table on purpose, maybe to make more money, but really to create a well that also is a 'fresh cut storage tank' the deeper you drill=more capacity...which is probably more reliable and less expensive then an above ground storage tank of similar capacity. Albeit pulling a 200' sump pump is not easy at repair time.
james beam
This is true, a well is drilled through the water bearing formations and into what ever is below that, usualy shale or bedrock 10 to 20 feet, this is dependant upon several factors the first being if the person paying for the well is willing to pay the additional cost, and if there is a shortage of water in the area, this extra depth gives you room to hold a small resovore of water and to keep your pump from having to sit almost on the bottom where it will pick up sand.
Jeremiah wales wrote:I found several very helpful people who have posted several video clips on YouTube. Do it yourself wells.
One guy puts down a 25-30 foot sand point and gets enough water. he shows you how to do it yourself. I think the whole thing cost him 300.00.
Now there are also failures in those video clips too. But I plan on at least 3 tries on my Acre of property next summer. I will use their Do it yoursel system too.
Check it out.
ask around with the neighbors to find out how deep they had to go for water, that will give you an idea how far to push your sand point into the ground
It will be costly to put down a well, then you will need some type of pump and drop pipe which is costly as well.
I grew up drilling domestic wells and doing windmill repair and submersible pumps, and know that there is a lot of overhead costs to operate that type of business.
You can call a couple of drillers in your area and get an estimate on what it would cost, they will be able to tell you about how deep it is to water or if it is not available.
Not all locations have ground water.
you could do some youtube watching there are a lot of videos on how to drill your own well.
Good luck, and if you have any questions that I may be able to help with be sure to ask and if I know I would be happy to give my thoughts
heheHA HA- do you like how I made the up date look rather important with the two stars on each side of it?
we finally had some cold weather here over the holiday and I had a piece of brass that I was wanting to shape and soothe out on a handle I was making so I started my heater up. The garage is rather large, some where around 225 to 250 square feet and has open rafters and the 17 ft wide garage door is made of tin. It was 14 degrees F. I started the heater with some news paper and some small sticks and then added some larger ones until the fire was burning good, I had to add about 5 or maybe 10 sticks about an inch n diameter or even a little large until the heater was really warmed up and then I added some pieces of hard wood shipping pallet about 2 inches by 4 inches and about every 10 to 20 minutes would push more wood in to the fire box, after about an hour it was about 40 F I put a fan above the heater in the rafters blowing the heat back down and in about 30 more minutes I was about 50, and then about 55 after the two hour mark. I found that once I had ran the heater about 2 hours and the temperature over the body of the stove was 400 and the top was about 600 that I had to close the air off almost all the way and the fire seemed to quit roaring and then put out a real even heat, I think it was working like a forge when the air was wide open and to much heat was going up the chimney.
The water level is 12' down and 6' from there to the end of the point. So that seems to be a good sign.
