M Ljin

Tent caterpillar silk: https://permies.com/t/373391/Tent-caterpillar-silk#3775126

I’m hoping to try making my own strings out of this…

For years I had eyed tent caterpillars thinking, can I spin their silk?

This year I found out, yes! And it is strong!

It has a lot of poop still in it, but it is a lot less violent than traditional methods of silk growing and preparation, and the tent caterpillars grow wild, too. I am excited to try harvesting more and using it for making yarn and possibly even strings for musical instruments.

There is a difference between playing it and playing it as well as he does.

As for both, it varies.

Jay Angler wrote:There's a PEP badge for this: https://permies.com/wiki/127877/pep-tool-care/Pin-Style-Handle-Tool-PEP

I made a new handle for a small tool and it's still gets regular use.

If  had wood stuck in the tool part that was too short to get out, I think I try to screw a good-sized screw into it and see if I could then wiggle it out. First one would have to cut off or somehow remove the pin.

This gives me an idea. Maybe use screws instead of pins so that they can be removed when needed?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

M Ljin wrote:For the longest time I had a broken handled hoe and didn’t know how to replace it. Then the other day, someone told me to build a fire and burn the handle off in. I tried and it worked!  

Personally I wouldn't do that to tools I care about. Good quality digging tools are made of tempered steel, which is why they will take an edge. Heating them in a fire would potentially ruin the temper, making the tool steel much softer. (Though some of the offshore tools are already so soft you'd hardly notice the difference.)

Quite true. I tried to keep the blade out of the fire as much as possible, and it never heated to the point of being red.

For the longest time I had a broken handled hoe and didn’t know how to replace it. Then the other day, someone told me to build a fire and burn the handle off in. I tried and it worked! I took out the nails (needed to use a magnet to find one of them), cut a new (green) ash handle, peeled and shaped it with a hatchet and knife, and nailed it in. I’m not sure if it is the best made handle in the world, but it looks good. It is a tiny bit loose and I worry might loosen more while drying, but it shall be a learning experience.

Maybe hugelkultur would help? Having wood covered with soil would help to keep it cooler, and less exposed to air. Incidentally more and bigger trees help to regulate temperature and so should be helpful.

However the warmer the climate, it seems, the more fertility is held in living biomass rather than dead, so supporting a large amount of living biomass seems essential.

My suggestion is find a friend to help, or maybe cut them smaller.

Or work very slowly.

I wasn’t quite able to visualize Anne’s method but imagined it as rolling the logs down the hill each one a little at a time? and to add that a long, strong stick or pry bar could be very helpful, the sort that is used for prying large stones.

Another thing about a fountain would be that it aerates and improves the water. Trees aren’t just recirculating fertility from below but snatching it from above as well.

The idea of a fountain is interesting. In Spanish, “la fuente” is the source, the spring, and the fountain. I think of mountains as being fountains of fertility, water, diversity, and so on—they are very likely to have actual springs as well!

I notice new steel strings to be very sharp sounding and prefer the sound after a week or so of settling in—interesting how the nylon differs.