Tommy Bolin

Why does anyone dare to assume they were warm and comfy instead of just barely surviving in the conditions listed?
Peasants were just that, peasants. They had what they were allowed to have. The average human I see today looks far better (calorically/thermally) insulated than they ever could have been.
-40F is just hyperbole unless you've tried to work and live in it. Rhetoric.
You'll wake up accustomed to what ever the temp is in your environment. Folks from a long time ago acclimatized to their environment, instead of presuming they could alter it.
You might be cold when the power is out, because you don't have to live without it.
I agree somewhat with the premise of this post. I met a girl who grew up in the Andes somewhere tell me that winter in Europe and Canada was far different. In her stone childhood mountain home, winter had been a trying season of misery. She found out that winter elsewhere was an inconvenience and opportunity for recreation, hot water not an absolute luxury.

John Weiland wrote:

Tommy Bolin wrote:....
My winter yard faces a frozen lake, our solar gain with snow on the ground is pretty good, so, to me, the idea of 'pitching' fixed panels to maximize gain is short sighted.
....

Interesting!... May consider this approach for upcoming install.  Our roof definitely holds snow, even with a ~45 degree pitch and metal surface.  With roof snow and your design, I'm assuming bifacial panels would make good sense?  It also seems like slightly tilted brackets on top of a sturdy pole would allow some gain back in summer, yes?  Liking this approach!...

Bifacial, maybe, but was not in the budget.
I bought about half crate of 375W Canadian Solar panels from an installer downstate. Smokin' deal, paid cash.
I can track the sun directly all year from sunrise into the afternoon. Turn panels once a day, generally. Reset them facing sunrise after supper. The roof of my house as well as my windbreak of forest to the west limit my solar exposure.
Might get more tilted, but I doubt the difference would be worth the complication. This was very simple install method.
I don't get more than 16in of snow on the roof before a weather change sends it sliding.
Good luck.

Yes, get all factory finish off.
Nothing wrong with tung oil whatsoever. Mix a bit of turpentine with the linseed or tung oil, like 2:1 oil/turp.  You might wipe off your un-hardened tung with turp, and reapply a thinned oil mix.
For fresh work, couple coats, wipe down lightly un-absorbed excess between. Helps penetration, speeds drying. Supposedly will actually strengthen the wood fibers. You'll like the results.
I use linseed, because my grandfather/father did. Even on steel tools. My anti-rust mix has about 30?% paraffin wax heated with the oil/turp mix. Thin enough to make a workable paste. Great semi-permanent finish that dries in a couple days in the sun.
When I was but a tiny wee carpenter, one of the old timers suggested I sand the finish off of my framing hammer. He told me the oils from my sweaty hands would penetrate the handle and mitigate some of the necessary, but often excessive callouses. I'm sure he was right.
They used to sell something like 'Surfer's Sex Wax' for framing hammer handles. Nice if you like to hold the handle with three fingers, pinky below for a bit of extra flip on the swing.
FWIW- my opinion. Wood handles only.
I had switched from wood to steel or fiberglass on long straight claw framing hammers coming up first ten years. Paid for it with burning night pain, numbness in my hands, and arthritis in my neck from the shock of the handle. Switched to wood 30yrs ago, never went back. Dalluge or Vaughn straight handle Cali Framer. My current framer is a Stiletto titanium, with a custom 20in handle I made from a broken axe. Little light for one shot nail driving, but a joy to swing. Extra reach is great for pickup work.
The current crop of trendy steel whatevers are for the framers using Hitachi nail guns. When we were hand driving bags of nails everyday, nobody had a steel hammer, not fast enough.

+1 for the upside down blade. Variable speed a must. Also, if you are framing on a slab, as in the photo above, keeps the tip out of the concrete.
Only One Way to Rock
Having a hand on top, pushing down, blade inverted, calms the saw a bit. Holding from the bottom and pulling down, not the same.
The saw chatters in direct relationship to the aggressiveness of the blade. Likewise using a blade that is far too long for the depth of work, the whip of a blade on the far side will let you know. Shortest blade that will allow you to work, best.
The Milwaukee blade above is extremely aggressive. If it has been inadvertently dulled on one side, or if the tooth offset is not identical, then it would have a curved cut.
Likewise for those bow saws. The ones you buy at the big orange box typically are no longer ground with a taper to the back, the kerf is too tight, the teeth not enough offset. The contemporary, cost mandated, weak, thin blade......
Absolute misery.

Lenox makes bi-metal blades for the SawZall. 10 teeth per inch will limb a small tree easily, 18 tpi or so handles most demo. Both will cut a few overlooked nails with no negative effects and 18 tpi will cut most metal. Keep speeds down to allow teeth to work and to avoid dulling them. A selection of these two blades, especially the 18, will do 90% of the work you'd likely ask this saw to do.
For cutting old lath, a fine metal cutting blade works well, moderate blade/travel speed, lean the saw slightly in direction of travel, helps keep lath tight to plaster.

Oscillating saws don't really belong in the same discussion as SawZalls. Not the same tool at all, but functions overlap.
Their size, smooth cut, and smaller kerf make them useful for remodel work, especially around drywall.

As a young framing apprentice, I once raced another carpenter down a hallway of a hotel we were framing in WestYellowstone, cutting out the wood floor plates in the door openings. He had a SawZall, I had a sharp Sandvik hand saw my dad had given me. No contest, I smoked him. New SawZalls are quite a bit faster, though.

Alex Howell wrote:
That being said, there is also an enormous wave of bot traffic on almost all websites coming from Lanzhou, China (the company I work for is also experiencing this). It all comes from data-centers scraping data to train AI.....

As you showed though, there is an uptick in sign-ups and posts, so the forums are definitely getting more popular?
Just wanted to mention that the China traffic is, as you suspected, potentially not as exciting as one might initially think... Although maybe we'll generate a super permie AI that will go rouge and reshape the world someday!

Or whittle the attraction of forums to those who need/desire/make time for some sort of pseudo-human interaction.
Everybody pretty much just wants instant answers, simple.  
No thinking, scrolling, sifting or reading of irrelevance/opinion sporting factual clothes.

Snow is a problem here for sure. I don't like roof penetrations, screws whatever. Future trouble only in my mind.
My roof is well pitched and sheds snow after a bit. All the plumbing vents were cleaned off by sliding snow after a large storm in 2008.
My winter yard faces a frozen lake, our solar gain with snow on the ground is pretty good, so, to me, the idea of 'pitching' fixed panels to maximize gain is short sighted.
I built these to allow me to follow the sun during the day, the arc is quite large in the summer here at 55N. I also lose sun to the trees to the west for a good part of the year, maximizing what I do get makes good sense. They collect frost, but do not collect snow, typically, but our winter snow is powdery.
I used 1 1/2 inch sched40 pipe set in concrete to mount my setup. My plumbing house cuts the pipe and re-threads for free. 6' 6" sections make it easier to transport, and the -3ft. drop left from the 21ft. full length stick is pretty useful.
I use a pipe union at the bottom to allow me to both turn the panel and lock it in place. It is braced to the house at the eaves. The "merchant coupling" pictured is included with every length I buy and is strong enough for this application. Purchased couplings are typically much heavier.
The difference in gain following the sun is as much as 30%, way more than a few degrees of tilt will gain you on a panel whose direction is fixed south or wherever. Standing this assembly was an adventure, roof is too steep to stand on. Winch rope over the peak guiding it was the trick.
Each location here is it's own mini grid. I have another grid up at the garage. I used 2 in. pipe intending it to be freestanding. But with two panels, I eventually tied it back to the garage with a brace.
The other panel in the photo is part of my water system. Two 275g totes, a Trojan storage battery and a 12v RV pump for yard watering and burn pile tending.

Without a commensurate/massive increase in registrations, first postings and other site interactions, we should perceive the unique blend of open source  information here is training AI models worldwide?

Kevin Olson wrote:Be aware, there are a couple of pages missing from the scan (there's only one page between numbered pages 90 and 94, but I can't tell which 2 page numbers are AWOL).  I would assume this was merely an oversight  

page range 76-77 as well, forgot to add.

cristobal cristo wrote: I read a better explanation in an older masonry building book - steel surfaces heat to temperatures high enough to burn the dirt particles and the fumes created pollute the air. It makes sense, taking into consideration that dirt will be partially composed of organic compounds like skin, hair, food remnants, microplastic, etc.

Sure, agreed, but that seems an incomplete answer. The accumulation since prior use burns off, then what, remaining settling dust burns as well? how much of that can there be?
The volume of air in contact with steel ( the source of 'ions' ) is immensely greater than any airborne solids, which obviously have to have a mass less than air to float onto stove in the first place.
Another point I've not heard made. Traditional steel woodstoves likely contribute more fine particulate to inside air. Masonry of whatever form seems more airtight.

Regardless, the historical observation remains the same. No hot steel in the house, wait for the sauna to stabilize before jumping in.
Hot rock good, hot steel bad.
Finns have a colloquial name for sauna, 'poor man's pharmacy'. Positive ions, really hot air and bit of steam jump start the immunity

Ridgid is not 'Home Depot's' house brand, it is owned by Emerson Tool. Never knew Ridgid had any business making tools beyond their superior pipe tools. Like Milwaukee making nailguns and skilsaws.
Ryobi is an in between entry level brand, based on the couple I had. For folks who shop only price, HD has you figured out.
TTI a HongKong company owns Milwaukee and licenses the Ridgid as well as the Ryobi names to produce consumer level power/cordless tools.
Ridgid has a marketing agreement with HD, presumably allowing HD to dictate cost terms in exchange for marketing. Seems to be the way HD works.  
These three brands are pretty well represented in HD tool aisle seems to me. Cannot even buy a Skil wormdrive saw there anymore, only the also ran/wannabees. For power tools you get what you pay for.

DeWalt started marketing cordless power tools direct to framers around the late 90's, in competition with Milwaukee. I remember a sales rep walking on to my slab. The yellow tools were too light/weak and the batteries did not compare. My experience using tools owned by others and my crews. I never liked them. My crew in DeathValley had a bunch of them in 2018, the 18v line, saws and impacts. Much better tools but I tend to be brand loyal.
I am also dead set against framing with 'battery' saws. Just like cigarette smokers I always seemed to find my carpenters walking across the slab looking for a 'charge' Even with 5ah or bigger batteries. God gave us 100ft cords and 15amp wormdrives to make us productive and happy.

Milwaukee was my goto brand for cordless as well as corded drills and SawZalls, (they invented the tool/brand), pretty hard to kill. Those were Milwaukee's wheel house.
I still have and use my old 18v tools from 20+yrs ago as well as 30+yr old 120v Magnum 1/2 drills and an Anniversary SawZall. Outstanding tools.
I had a want to replace my 18v cordless stuff, the Milwaukee batteries were discontinued. Got my hands on their 1/2 impact wrench, very stout piece. When I got a cordless drill to try....not the same at all...kinda disappointed.
Folks had complained over the years about the weight of my Milwaukee cordless, but to me that was a feature, a very robust tool, especially compared to the DeWalts I ran into at work. I had made a lot of money with it. Their batteries were superior, but subject to internal fracturing and failure if dropped from a ladder, say.
The current MW cordless was the exact opposite, too light for me to believe it could last 30yrs.
Around that time I got my hands on an 18v Makita drill / 1/4 impact set with 5ah batteries. Very nice set, good batteries, reasonably robust/powerful. KMS Tools in B.C. has good sales that have allowed us to acquire a multitude of extra batteries, as well as a couple of tools. A 1/2 impact, very robust, not as much power as Milwaukee. Also, Lil'B's 36v chainsaw. Very handy trimming and limbing in a size she can handle, no difficult (for her) pull start like her Husqvarna. Replaces a cordless SawZall/SkilSaw for small wood tasks. Makita has become my off-grid set, flexible, infinite solar recharge.

I look at the proliferation of the last 10yrs in battery tools in both quantity/type and brands as a solution in search of a problem, folks trying to rope you into a brand loyal battery corral or an 'upgrade' to Li-ion from NiMh. Most of the second tier of tools in terms of necessity do jobs better done by hand or by power tools you already use, avoiding the waste of money.  
I can throw a welder or generator in the back of my truck, or plug into it's on board inverter, have power anywhere I need, so the 'it's too far away' is no excuse.
I would now rank Makita and Milwaukee about even, DeWalt maybe second even with Ridgid, Ryobi way after that.
You won't get burned buying any of the top three, just avoid the useless little entry level puck battery packs, wait and pony up for at least 5ah batteries, and get an extra charger.  
For anyone looking, Bluff Valley Battery rebuild battery packs, reasonably. Keep an old tool set in service.

What a cool topic, and a great book.