Rusty Ford

in a previous life, I did a mountain of woodworking all by hand. Check out the first episode in season 17 of the Woodwright's Shop. That is the one I chose to build. Roy also has a few other episodes over the years that have some different shave horse designs. I'm too lazy to look right now but there's one called "the crotch horse" or something similar where he uses the crotch of a tree to make one. Don't get burdened down with design or measurements, they are simple machines that just use leverage. You'll want to remake yours after you've used it for a couple dozen hours because you'll have ideas of things that will make it better for your particular use.

If it was me, I would run the feed between the well and the hot water heater through your masonry heater in a place where it would pick up plenty of heat, but not enough to boil. A copper coil perhaps with a branched off pressure relief valve if you are worried about it, but not needed if designed and placed correctly. William is right that there is no free lunch. It'll cost you energy somewhere to heat this water up.

I grew up in Pumpkintown, SC. (yes its a real place with a four way flashing stop and a gas station that doesn't sell gas anymore but has a killer short order restaurant inside). I knew a few who grew pumpkins for a living and are well known for it. One of them explained to me that he had grown other crops but pumpkins were by far the hardest and most finicky. His reasoning wasn't because of the plant itself but because of the market. No one wants to buy pumpkins in August. He can't sell them at that time. He told me that if he could, they would be one of the easiest crops to grow, but because the market demands pumpkins in the month of October, he has to plant them later in the year when the heat (especially in SC) can be down right brutal. My dad's favorite way to grow them was to discard all of the carcasses of last years pumpkins and watermelons along with the seeds onto a large mulch pile we had. The next summer it'd be covered up with pumpkins and watermelons, and we never watered or touched them until harvest.

Couldn't agree more with Michael. I needed a side gig one year so I sold lead ingots converted from wheel weights (read, lots of handling and sorting, plus standing over a cauldron that would hold 350# molten lead at a time). That year I sold about 26k lbs of lead, all cooked and every single piece touched by my bare hands. My wife, being the two of us who are more contentious about long term health things insisted that I get checked for lead exposure. So I had a blood test done with a laboratory. Zero detectable lead levels in my blood. I'm no scientist, and never played one in the movies, but from what I understand, lead dust is bad for you when taken into your lungs. This is why they harp on the lead paint so much because when touching up drywall or sanding drywall that was painted with lead based paint, you can inhale the tiny particles and pull them into your lungs. Lead in a solid state and not a dust does not seem to me to have the same danger associated with it. In another funny anecdotal story, as a child I fished like it was my job, mostly trout with rod and reel (fly fishing was for rich folks, i was there to get dinner). I kept a few hooks run through stiches in my hat, and a dozen or so small lead sinkers tucked in my cheek like someone would chewing tobacco. Probably thousands and thousands of hours spent that way.

Of the states mentioned, I would recommend either North Georgia or Western NC. They are very much similar in terrain and geography. I think NC has more favorable laws concerning off grid living, if you plan to go that route. Stay clear of Asheville by at least 30 miles in any direction, and you should be alright. If mountains aren't your thing, you can come farther east in NC (Surry, Stokes County etc) and get nice hills with less rugged terrain and less rocky soil.

I've been back and forth to western NC a few times since the storm. We went the first time on Friday night right after and before we had any idea of the seriousness of the situation. Took us 10 1/2 hours to make the 3 hour trip because of trees, mudslides and flooded roads. Many places there are starting to recover and the outpouring of help can really be noticed in towns like Burnsville and Spruce Pine. There are still TONS of people without power, but generators and gas have been showing up and being distributed by people and businesses making donations. If you plan to take anything to this area, PLEASE reach out and find someone or an organization willing to accept it. We went up this past Thursday night, and my wife thought she would pack a bunch of children's clothes and stuffed animals as well as paper towels and toilet paper to donate because that is what we were told was needed (just word of mouth). While I was doing cleanup work, she went to make the donations, but was turned away at 5 places before she found a church who has just given most of their kid stuff to a few families minutes before she got there. The outpouring of help in this area of the state has been wild. There are signs everywhere saying "free food" and free meals, etc.  

Carmelo Panucci wrote:Two stroke and wood chips

I think the bar oil also adds notes of fragrance, but 100% agree with this statement. Smells like most February Saturday morning's with with my Dad 35 years ago.

I think the terminology of biochar/charcoal is probably the least important part unless you are trying to commercialize or sell it. In general, terminology varies in most languages depending on where you are from. Ask someone from the north about the word Barbeque and they will tell you it's the metal box outside you cook on. In the mid-west they'll tell you that it's a get together with friends and family where food is cooked outside. If you are one of the lucky ones to live in the Southeast, you will rightly know that Barbeque isn't either of those things, but actual meat smoked low and slow by a wood or charcoal heat source, as God intended. As far as this groups definition of biochar goes, I don't like the idea of the size being important, and though not sure enough to argue it, I would say that if charcoal is made correctly, breaking one piece into ten may not give a giant increase in surface area as a percentage, due to the fact that you are only growing by the broken surface area in an already super porous material. Just my .02 cents, and if you don't agree, I'll give you your money back.

I think that you would be hard pressed throughout most of the past 400+ years to find many folks who produce 100% of their own food, outside of certain groups (American Indians, some Amish communties, etc). The trick or goal if you will is to be able to produce enough of the things that you do well to provide for yourself and have enough left over to barter with others for the things they do well. Sort of a divison of labor if you will. This situation seems to be one of the steps that most every society goes through as it grows on it's way to industrialization. Some folks run dairy farms well because they are accustomed to that life, where as someone who prefers to garden may have no interest in getting up at 3am to milk cows, but is more than willing to trade their harvests for milk. Some in a community may be best suited to commerce and have the ability to acquire and sell goods not available locally (salt, gunpowder, etc). I think that if the goal is to be more sustainable, and to leave the earth better than the found it, our communities need to get smaller and more well rounded and we need to be thinking about that gallon of milk costing 2 dozen eggs or 10 pounds of apples vs that gallon of milk costing 3 dollars.

All good ideas here. I personally would remove as much of the corrosion as possible manually and soak it down with a liberal amount of acetone/ATF in a 1:1 ratio. This is the best penetrant that there is if you ask me. If times get hard get out the red wrench (oxy acetylene torch) or even MAP gas and get everything nice and hot, then add the mixture and let it soak overnight.