Antler Skinning Knife

Continuing my weapon building spree, I'm working towards a bit more craftsmanship than the quick and dirty long-handle machete.  In this case, I found the local pet store was selling deer antlers as dog chews.  Nice bits and pieces perfect for small knife handles.  Below, I have the steel blank I've been working on, a scrap brass pin and the antler.

The blank is from a 7.62 x 39 spam can opener.  Decent steel, hard enough to hold an edge.  Not the best stuff but for free, I can't complain.  I used a Sharpie to lay out the scrap to be removed and started doing that tonight on the grinding wheel and drill press.  The area that will be ground to an edge is marked with the vertical lines.

A little better look at the blank.  The tang is angled to provide the best fit into the handle.  1/8" holes will receive pins once I have the antler drilled to match. Precision will be pretty key here but I learned a lesson from the machete project.  Firmly affixing the blank to the side of the handle stock to mark the center points for drilling makes for very accurate placement of the holes.  

The shape of the can opener handle was pretty choice for what I had in mind for a skinning knife.  One doesn't want a sharp point that might risk piercing  the intestines when field dressing a deer.  If I choose, I can also put a reverse hook on the top of the blade to make that first cut up the belly of the deer easier to make with a gentle pulling motion.  Lots of commercially available knives have begun including this option.

The piece of antler was about $5.  It fits nicely in the hand and provides a good texture for the thumb on what will be the back of the knife handle.  The pins will go in the side visible here and the whole thing will be anchored with some 5 minute epoxy.

I'm hoping to have this project done soon.  I'm also going to make a sheathe out of old boot leather that I've been saving from my dearly departed and much loved Survivor work boots.  I'm thinking a sheath with a belt clip will work out well.  I'll see how it works out with the materials I have available.

Making a Long Handle Machete

I was out for a very rare date with my wife the other night and we did what we usually do on a date - cruise through Lowes, T.S.C., and maybe Walmart.  Usually Staples would be on that list too but they closed the one here, sadly.

At any rate, I have some honeysuckle trees that are very invasive and I dig them out every chance I get as they pop up EVERYWHERE.  But, some are serving as a green-belt between me and the neighbors and I want to keep them there while other things get established and grow up.  To aid some of the trees that are struggling to get above the honeysuckle, I've started trimming them into a low hedge.  To my surprise, the previously spindly and tall, arching honeysuckle really bushed out when I cut them all down to about 1/3rd their height.  This has made for a really nice, dense hedge - if ONLY they wouldn't make so many darn berries.

Pruning for a while has been done with my trusty Brazilian machete.  I've gotten quite good at not lopping off body parts and can cruise through and trim the hedge pretty quickly.  But - some of it is just too far out of reach due to the depth.  So some of the hedge has to wait for me to get the pole saw and laboriously clip away at the little sprigs I can't reach.  Until today.

While at Lowes, I spotted a Carona saw back machete with a plastic handle pinned by rivets in two places - price: $10.  A little ways down the aisle, I found the prefect long handle - a replacement sledge hammer handle, $5, made from hard-as-nuts hickory.  A little flickering light bulb went "poof" in my head as the two items came together in a glorious half-length Halbred.

At the drill press, I put my 3/16" drill bit in the chuck and a drop of cutting oil on the first rivet clamped in the press vice.  A slow and steady advance on the press which was running at top speed got through the rivet far enough to undo it in about a minute with about 5 drops of oil.  The second one pushed right through the plastic as the bit locked up and just melted the handle with the spinning rivet. I then had to hack-saw it off the tang.  And it was a full tang, to my delight.

I then used my ripping saw on the wooden replacement handle to deepen the split in the end which is usually meant to receive the wedge which tightens the handle into the hammer head.  I made it deep enough to accept the tang and get the top hole about an inch from the end of the handle to ensure it wouldn't split.

Using an awl, I marked the holes on the handle by laying the tang on top of it in the position I thought was about right and then used the same 3/16" bit to put the holes all the way through the handle.

After that, it was a simple matter of finding some nuts and long bolts and washers in ye-old parts bin and tightening things up.  And I gotta say, it cuts like a dream being nice and new and sharp.  The reach is phenomenal.  I can also prune the upper reaches of my weeping cherry tree and lots of other previously out-of-reach  branches.  And it's a wicked cool weapon!  Bring on the apocalypse!

Updated 6/18/2013 - I've been really loving this thing.  I've used it to trim along a fence, edge garden beds, and clear a room size section of weeds and brush from our woods.  You NEED to make one of these.  I put together a little demo video because I think it's that cool.

Strain Relief for Longer Stock

Getting the workshop organized is a skill and an ongoing battle.  One of the tricks I use to keep things tidy is to make use of my overhead space for hanging stock of all dimensions.  I use what I have on hand, like some old bed rails for short stock, or as pictured below, some heavy nylon rope and staples for longer stock.

Hung up

The trick to keep it in place even loaded with a good quantity of clear pine is the little bend and two staples.  It's this way on both sides and is a strain relief design you'll find inside many electronics where the power cord enters the case.  Typically the cord wraps a post and is crimped by the housing in a way that prevents the cord from pulling loose.

This was a really cheap fix for getting a lot of window casing trim off my work bench.  It's also spaced so as to keep the wood from sagging at the ends, providing good support all along.  Careful measuring of the lengths of rope and placement to ensure a level support bed for the stock is a good idea too.

Solar Can Heater Build Part 2

Last time, (Part 1) I covered the theory and plan for turning my boxes of aluminum soda cans into a solar heater.  I tested the first tube after painting it black and found that the air flow was unsatisfactory.

Testing Prototype Tube 1 in an East Facing Window

 So for the second prototype tube, I took a can opener and removed the tops as well as widened the bottom openings.

Widening Holes

Off with their heads!
(Also titled "going topless" but the wife vetoed that one)

I tried a couple of different methods to enlarge the punched holes.  Forcing them open with pliers just warped the bottom ring on the can and made for a bad fit when placed in the jig for assembly.  I settled on cutting and folding back the segments of the bottom.   I should point out that this adds a tremendous amount of labor and risk for injury to the build.

Ouchy!

This naturally got me to thinking.  Here I am, going to a lot of trouble to make what amounts to some thin metal tubes.  I could probably save myself a lot of time (of which this has already consumed a lot) if not money (band-aids ain't cheap these days!) by just buying some prefab tube or thin sheet stock and fabricating the tube myself.   With the availability of dryer vents and elbows, I've got a lot of the parts I want just at too large a diameter.

So, I've decided to take the cans to the recycling bin and start checking out my options at the local home center.  I also have thought a lot about the air flow issue.  I had previously surmised that the baffling created by the small openings would slow the air flow and allow for more heat absorption.  But as it is, Aluminum doesn't hold much heat being thin in the case of the cans.  So slow air or fast air, my temperature measurements at the top of the stack were about the same.  But with the baffles widened, and air flow increased, I at least could feel the flow of air with my fingers when testing prototype 2.  So I concluded that what I really want is not resistance but length of run.  The longer the run, the more surface area the air can exchange heat with and hopefully come out the top much warmer.

So, back to the drawing board.  Instead of columns of cans, I plan a switchback path of tubing that will allow an always upward rise for the air but will provide one long run at high volume compared to 4 or 5 narrow, comparatively short, runs at negligible volume.  Hopefully I'll have more to report later this summer as I'd like to have this done before next winter but summer activities will take precedence.

Old Plastic

I'm not a huge fan of using credit cards, but I am a fan of reusing them once they have served their purpose.  I wanted to pass along a couple of tips - before you cut your old card up and dispose of the pieces in geographically dispersed public trash cans, check out a couple of uses I found for them.

1. Shims - Seems whenever I'm working on a project, the need to fill a tiny crevice with something pretty much non-compressible comes up.  Often times cedar shims are used, but sometimes I'll have a build where that's too much or I need more material strength with less size.  I keep a stash of carefully sliced credit cards in my parts bin.

Carefully sliced to the most commonly needed sizes with a craft mat and  X-acto

2. Guitar pick!  Yeah, probably an easy one to come up with.  The trick is to smooth the picking edge.  This is my funk pick.  Yep.  You heard me.  As funky as I can get on a 5 string beat-to-death 30 year old Epiphone classical acoustic.

Master the possibilities

And just because I love it, the glorious parts bin.

When you're sure you're going to need that part... some day.

Solar Can Heater Build Part 1

Some time long ago I saw a solar can heater on the internet. I thought - that's cool.

Then I started, inexplicably, collecting soda-water cans. I found myself locating and measuring a scrap piece of ply-wood to serve as a backing. I did a math problem with my kids figuring out how many rows and columns it would take to cover the board with 12 oz. soda cans. I found some old windows which matched the size of my board. Then I started thinking... we can build one of those there thangs!

The basic idea  is that you make a thin box containing stacks of cans that are punched or drilled to let air flow through them.  The face of the box is a sheet of glass or Plexiglas.  I have some old double pain windows which I will re-purpose for the  face.

As my journal entry notes, I have a few things to figure out.  I want to have a mechanical thermostat to control the vent, so when the air temperature exiting the heater drops below a set level, the vent will close and prevent cool are from cycling into the house or the draft from reversing.  Maybe just a foot valve will do if it's light enough to open when warm are is  flowing out the top outlet and strong enough to resist a draft pulling back the other way.

I also want to incorporate an air filter on the inlet to keep dust out.  I have to also come up with a good mount, window adapter and manifold to handle routing air.  Ideally, I'll draw cold air from the basement and vent warmed air into the house, but we'll see how many holes the missus will let me put in our cottage.

Notes from my Project Journal

4 x 5 x 5 = 100 cans

So, I've got two large cardboard boxes full of clean cans now. I drink soda water a lot. Can't do beer, don't like pop. Soda water has the pleasant carbonated effect that I miss from beer, so I go through cases at a time.

Gettin' jiggy wid it.  Sorry. 

I've taken my time figuring this project out.  I don't have all the pieces in place yet, but I have plenty of ideas where I'm heading with it.  My buddy Ken suggested a jig and aluminum tape instead of glue for setting up the cans in columns.  I tend to agree - it's less messy than the build I've seen that used construction adhesive and the jig I came up with is just two conduit pipes with some 1x2 spacer held together with zip ties.

Measure, cut, repeat.

Here we have two cans butt together, lined up perfectly thanks to the jig.  Next I'll cut a length of aluminum tape.  I figured the distance the easy way.  Marked the board and a can, rolled the can, marked the board where the mark on the can was towards the board again.  I checked it a couple of times to make sure I had it right.   Worked out perfectly.  The tape is basic dryer vent tape which has pretty good heat characteristics both in terms of the material and the glue.  I chose the "made in the USA" brand on Ken's advice (He's a Dryer Vent Wizard franchise owner and knows his vents) as imported brands let loose under heat, unfortunately.

rollin' rollin' rollin'

 To apply the tape, I start on the side of the cans facing me with the tape curled to ensure a perpendicular seat at the joint.  Then, I just roll the cans on the jig to smoothly lay the tape down.

 When done, the tape mostly lines up with the other end but because it's so much wider than the joint and  the length is specific to the diameter of the cans, it's no worry and looks nice and tidy.

Air Flow

Bottom right is a shot of the bottom of the cans.  To punch them, I simply put a counter-sink bit in my drill press and didn't even turn it on, just pulled the press down into the center of the can.  I punched 200 cans in about 20 minutes I'm guessing.  Repetitive... reminds me why I'm glad to have left factory work behind me in the 1990's.  The punched hole is offset from the tab hole which will serve to slightly baffle the air flow as it rises through the cans.  This will slow it down and give it more time to soak up heat from the cans which will be warmed by the sun.

When all of the stacks are assembled, I'll give them a coat of stove-black paint, which as you might guess is hi-temperature paint that should hold up.  I will likely give them a once over with some hi-grit sand paper to etch the aluminum enough to hold the paint.

When I get further along with the build, I'll post some more pictures.  My projects tend to wind out over weeks and months in my free-time (which is scarce and sacred) so be patient.

Canon MP700 Copier Printer Fax Scanner Tear-down

Some time back I wrote about the Canon MP700 that my neighbor had given me, and my attempts to get it running.  It WOULD have made a really nice printer, but Canon's apparent policy these days is "you must take the device to a certified service center".  I guess they weren't getting enough of some sort of kickback, or too many botched DIY repair guys like me calling them for help.  In any event, I wasn't putting any more money into it after sinking $53 into a new set of ink cartridges.  (which I still have,  opened and installed but never printed from, obviously, if anyone would like to help me not eat the full cost of them - I could ship them sealed in baggies).  So, I decided to tear it down and scrap every last good part I could from it.  In the process, I scored some really nice parts and made some cool finds.  I also learned a bit about how to build cable restraints into a device and how to daisy chain smaller ground plates throughout a system so that everything, no matter how remotely tucked away, has easy access to ground.

MP700 with scanner and upper paper handler removed

My favorite find was all the stepper motors.  So far I pulled three disk style motors out and there is one large cylinder motor which is the print carriage motivator.  There's also a smaller paper handler motor yet to be pulled.  I like stepper motors due to their potential for enabling automation in small projects - something I love to ponder but haven't had the time or resources to pursue.  Now I have at least some resources!

Naughty motor on the Prt Scr button launched
a hundred Save Screen Shot applets in Linux Mint.
I plopped on the Esc key to clear them.  Took about 10 min.

Perhaps the most interesting find was an actual TUBE on the analog circuit for the phone cable pass-thru.  A tube of all things, tiny as it is.  I thought that was pretty neat.  I tried to get a picture of it but it was just to small for my cell phone to see.  It was clear, shaped like a short Christmas tree light and had two unconnected anodes inside.

One obvious bit of goodness was all the momentary contact switches provided by the control board - around 40.  These are the same kinds used in your computer mouse.  So, not only do I have a good stock of them to work into my own projects, if my favorite mouse wears out, I have a chance of being able to restore it to good working order on my own, or I might even build my own mouse or controller.

The most numerous find was all the screws.  Machine screws, screws with lock washers, and ubiquitous self-tapping screws.  I good heap of them.  My wife said, "I'm sorry, I just don't get excited about the screws."   I just left that one alone.

Results from an afternoon spent un-screwing around.

A cool item was the flat bed scanner imaging bar.  It both emits and detects light.  At first I thought it might be cool to turn it into a hand held task light, but I might see if I can turn it into a motion activated area light for under the counter.  That would be pretty neat, I think.

Last but not least, I also harvested a number of nylon or plastic gears, rollers springs and shafts.  All good parts for building things.  My goal at some point is to build my own 3D printer using many of these parts.  I have just about enough just from this tear down, and I have another HP Ink Jet printer and a very old flat-bead scanner to tear down yet.

There's something therapeutic about tearing apart a device one screw at a time. I learned some things, had an actual excuse to listen to my 80's Pandora station somewhere besides work, and just enjoyed unwrapping the present my friend gave me one piece at a time!