Kevin Olson

Andrew -

Could you post a photo or two of the modified mill?  I think I mostly followed your verbal description, but am a little fuzzy on the details of regrinding the burr plate.  A picture worth a thousand words, etc.

Perhaps we could also explain, for those who are unacquainted, that Prussian blue is a chemical precipitate, blue in color, which has a fairly tight distribution of particle sizes.  It makes a very nice blue oil paint when mixed in an oil carrier, but is used by mechanics and machinists to check fits between parts, to very close tolerances (due to the small particle size) in places where you can't otherwise see or measure.  Practically, one smears a thin layer on one of the parts, places the parts in contact, separates the parts, and then looks for places the blue paint transferred from one piece to the other.  The locations with blue on them are high spots, which can be removed (by grinding, hand scraping or whatever), then it's lather-rinse-repeat.

We just used this process at work a couple of weeks ago to ensure that the telemetry pack we were fitting to a gear (actually, several of them) only touched at the intended mounting locations and nowhere else.  After discussing with the machinist, we decided that this was the surest way of verifying that we had sufficiently cleaned up the rough forged surface of the gear webs.

Using Prussian blue is old fashioned tech, but is still very useful (if a bit messy - the Prussian blue tends to get everywhere if you aren't careful).  There are other "transfer media" (as Prussian blue is classified) as well - compounds of chromium and lead, finely ground - but Prussian blue is a common, non-toxic one.  For very close fitting of parts (to millionths of an inch) I've seen references in old (WWI era) machinist's manuals to using naphtha as the transfer medium (which will evaporate, so quick work is needed).  Surprisingly, with skilled hands (which I personally don't have), a good scraping hand can work to precision tolerances which far exceed the precision for commonly available machine tools, entirely by hand methods.  If anyone is curious about this, I can recommend tracking down a copy of "Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy" by Moore, which will provide more than enough for even most engineers on the process of bootstrapping mechanical precision from nothing.

I don't see a whole lot of traffic on these forums about small watercraft - sailing vessels; oar, scull or sweep powered; current powered river ferries; towpath barges; or even propeller or paddle wheel driven boats.  Admittedly, current ferries and towpath barges require very specific circumstances.

I know Ernie and Erica Wisner have experience with blue water voyaging.  There are probably others who haunt the forums, too, but I just don't see much discussion here about boats.

We have a pair of short (10 foot) kayaks - just for puddling around, not proper sea kayaks, or anything.  I have a ~19 -foot Grumman Sport Boat (a square-sterned wide canoe, rated at 1100 lbs burden) waiting for me to collect it from a friend.  My brother acquired most or all of a sail rig for a Sport Boat in some complicated horse trade, it has a pair of oarlocks, and a transom that can take a motor.  An outrigger or sponsons (or even both) are probably not a bad idea with the sail rig, at least until I get my sea legs!  Some of the folks who run these on rivers in Alaska have been using longtail mud motors to push them upriver for moose hunts, cabin repair supplies, etc.  A set of retractable portage wheels, of the type made popular by a couple of shops on the Minnesota Iron Range (Evelyth, maybe?), for use in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (where permissible), could be useful under some circumstances.

I have collected some info on sizing and constructing a "ro" or "yu lo" type of sweep oar - traditional auxiliary power for boats in East Asia, from Japan to Vietnam and beyond.  Pedal powered versions of these are possible.  If I can find the video on YT, I'll post a link to just such a setup, in use somewhere in England.  The Grumman Sport Boat could, I think, be easily driven with a ro/yu lo type of stern sweep.

The "chine runner" keel-less small sailboats, originated by Matt Layden, and subsequently developed by others, too, are another technology which is very interesting, making surprisingly small and shoal draft sail boats remarkably capable off shore.

On "the list" is to (eventually) build a John Welsford-designed SCAMP sub-12-foot plywood sailboat.  They are very seaworthy for the size, and absolute tanks, if well constructed.  Howard Rice, a very experienced small boat sailor in blue water, attempted to sail through the Strait of Magellan with a specially outfitted one, got chucked up on a small island in a storm, was rescued by the Chilean Coast Guard, and later returned in better weather to retrieve the largely undamaged boat (which is now in a museum in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, if I recall correctly, though I haven't yet been to see it).  Howard has made a number of sailing canoe voyages between islands in Micronesia, and took a canoe through the Strait of Magellan.  Gnarly.

I also have some stuff on designing and building junk rigs for sail boats, somewhere in the stash of stuff.  Hassler and McLeod's "Practical Junk Rig" is a bit dated, but is still the English language go-to resource, as far as I am aware.

Another interesting sailing technology is the multiple dagger board sailing rafts, historically used along the Pacific coast of South America.  Thor Heyerdahl had some information in his book "Kon Tiki" (whatever you might think of his hypothesis) on how to manipulate the dagger boards to tack and to sail both on and off the wind.  Heyerdahl also highlighted the reed sailing boats of the Nile and lower Euphrates Rivers, and Lake Titicaca in "Ra".  The Nile style of these vessels used a pair of shear legs for a mast, rather than a single "stick".

I am no sailor, though I've done a bit of sailing, and have generally puddled about in small boats, made a couple of 10 day canoe trips, etc.  And, as we know from "The Wind in the Willows", there is nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in boats!

For some tasks, a scythe with a brush blade might do the trick, but I don't think that's a proper replacement for the longknife, in general.  They're different tools, with only some overlap.

As mentioned upthread, I too have a kukri style blade (a Becker Knife and Tool Machax), but as with the scythe, there is only some functional overlap with the longknife.  The kukri blades are short enough that a slip might gash your shin - even knee or thigh.  Paradoxically, as with axes, sometimes the longer tool is actually safer, because it's likely that the end of the tool will contact something else before the blade reaches the user.  The Machax is a passable draw knife, in a pinch, however, and can do some of the things a hatchet can do.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a better source for  the longknife style of tool.  It seems like an Asian tool manufacturer or vendor might be a good bet, but I have no idea what keyword(s) to use.

Carla -

It's getting on toward stove season again, at least up here in the north country.  It's been a very warm September, but I know we'll have snow in the air soon enough.  So, maybe it's time to refresh this topic.

Regarding triangular section collapsible stoves (of the style once built by Wyoming Lost and Found - that was indeed the name of the company, in Greybull, WY), I did spot this video:

I'd want a different chimney attachment method than he shows, and as I had mentioned up thread, I am not a big fan of having a bunch of loose pieces, of which collection some critical bit can go missing at the least opportune time.  However, as an example of the general layout of a triangular stove, this is representative.

Also, his chimney diameter is quite small.  To be fair, 2-1/2" diameter (63mm) is not uncommon in the very small commercial pack stoves, but 3" and 4" pipe hardware is more commonly available (at least here in the US).  Spark arrestors, and lightweight damper plates, for example, and "Charlie Noble" rain caps.  I have a collection of damper plates, scavenged from junk shops and garage sales, and I am fairly certain I have a 3" cast iron damper plate, and do have a 4" damper.  Other bits and bobs for 3" and 4" are available as pellet stove parts.

I now have a roll of 24" wide galvanized flashing (actually bought for flashing an eave, but there will be plenty left over), so I am hoping to get something knocked together as a "Mark 1, Mod 0" prototype pack-flat tent stove within the next few weeks.  Though there are lots of other jobs to get done before the snow is knee deep on the ground, too.  So, if I do get to that project, I'll post something.

I was also reading a couple of Warren Miller's books on camping (he was an editor at Field and Stream magazine, starting before WWI), in which he has a surprising amount to say about light weight heated tents of various sorts, and some on tent stoves, too.  In particular, "Camp Craft" (1915) and "Camping Out" (1918), scans of both of which books can be downloaded from Archive.  He was using lightweight cotton cloth such as galatea or cambric, chemically waterproofed or waxed to help it shed water.  I've been eyeing up some "downproof" cotton ticking, which should be very tightly woven but still light weight, though I haven't yet taken the plunge.  One of his preferred designs for cold weather camping is not unlike my half shelter pup tent (which is honestly quite heavy, already), to which I would like to add a button-on wall skirt to give a bit more head room.  There was an article in Boy's Life magazine in the 1950s showing a similar conversion.  I'll attach the article, on edit.

Juniper Zen wrote:I love the look of terraces, too. I have an a-frame level for finding contour.

You're welcome.  Happy to contribute some grist for the mill.

If you already have an A-frame style level constructed, so much the better.  For others who may not have one, another method of finding level (from which an off-contour slope can also be established), can be seen in this video:

Sort of a homemade dumpy or engineer's optical level.  A straight-up water level (hose level) would also work, but you'd be limited by the length of hose and (depending on how chilly it was) the liquid you could use to find level (RV antifreeze - the pink, non-toxic stuff - might be helpful, but I haven't tried it).

Eugenio has all sorts of Permie-adjacent and/or old-timey ways of doing things - from building construction and agriculture, to handicraft projects - documented on his channel.

Worth poking around to check out his offerings, in my opinion.

And, welcome to Permies, John!

If somewhat belatedly...

The need for the drain probably depends on: local soil; local terrain; local hydrology; and the type of building you are constructing.  And, local building codes will probably trump all of that.

For example, where our house is, the soil is what my neighbor terms a sandy loam, but it's quite sticky when wet.  There's enough clay that the surface of the driveway where I park cracks as it dries.  For any new construction, I'd want either a perimeter drain or battered (pitched away from the foundation) closed cell insulation, covered with a couple of layers of 6 mil poly sheet, and then back filled.  Or both.  I've managed to mitigate some leaks through the 1890s-era rock basement wall by doing the foam board and poly sheet trick, though when we get a torrential downpour out of the northeast, we still have a bit of water in the basement.  Everything important is on pallets or otherwise not directly on the floor, though, just in case.  On the other hand, at our lake property, it's pretty much beach sand, though the water table is high (or the ground is low - depends on your point of reference, I suppose).  Out there, any drainage scheme is probably both unnecessary and unhelpful.  Anything earth sheltered there will need to have earth bermed up around it, rather than excavating down below grade.  And so on,

The Northmen YT channel had a video on building a rock filled trench foundation in a very Permies-friendly and traditional way, which may be worth a watch:

The soil at this site must drain fairly well, since they repeatedly wash sand between the stones by filling the trench with water.  Their rye-flour modified mortar is interesting, too.

I can't claim any originality for the idea of switchback terraces.  I think I first saw it in photos of a vineyard somewhere - maybe near Porto, Portugal?  I don't remember, now.  Ben Falk's version is mostly ponds, all down the slope, which isn't quite what I had in mind for your project.  Depending on the slope of the switchback terraces, it might be either prudent or necessary to add water bars or diversion trenches to slow or redirect the flow.  Maybe those could drain into small swales or ponds.

The wide turning radius of your mower could be trouble for my switchback terrace idea.  But, if you have a tractor with a shuttle shift (or don't mind driving backward very slowly) and can ride side-saddle, you might not even need true hairpin turns at the ends of the terraces, just flat spots somewhat longer than the mower where you can reverse direction and transition from one terrace to the next.  You might need the mower discharge chute to face down hill, unless you have a rear bagger.  Assuming you are using a suction-type finish mower deck.

For really steep slopes (30 to perhaps 45 degrees, or even steeper), there are several approaches used in, for example, the vineyards and high pastures of alpine Europe: winches to raise and lower tools, supplies and fruit; rack monorails (Doppelmayr is one brand); very wide track tractors (dual wheels on spacers), for improved stability on steep slopes; tracked tractors (rather than on wheels); and so on.

Thanks for clarifying.

I haven't gotten into doing badge bits, yet.  I've never been much of a "ticket puncher," I guess - more interested in acquiring skills and producing final products, or helping someone else do the same.  I was that way, even in Boy Scouts.  But, lots of stuff I do would probably qualify for BBs, with a bit of forethought to be sure I'm not transgressing the rules.  Maybe this would be a good place to start.

Thanks again.

Not sure about your physical abilities, but what about mowing with a scythe, rather than the riding mower, on this sloped parcel?

Another thought: could you make switchback terraces down this slope?  Level-ish where the mower runs, but with the slope of the terraces alternating back and forth across the fall line of the general slope.  Somebody (Ben Falk?) has done a version of this on a steep rocky slope  in the northeastern US, with very good results.  With your predominantly clay soil, retaining walls of rammed earth may be feasible (with or without an added stabilizer such as lime, Portland cement or wood ash).

Yet another idea:  can you do some dirt work to even out the slope, then contour plow with a chisel plow, middle buster or ripper?  Search for PA Yeomans for details, though true keyline plowing on such a small parcel probably isn't feasible.  This could be combined with the daikons already suggested.