First Base or LGPH WIP Pt 2

My new(old) Little Giant Power Hammer(LGPH) is still on the trailer that it was brought home with.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on the project. 

First thing to do is make a wooden base for it using 4x4 lumber.  All eight pieces are cut to length and laid out so I can mark four drill holes for each piece.  Then pilot holes were drilled in each board.  After those were done I drilled the inside holes for 3/8” all-thread and the outside holes for ½” all-thread.  The all-thread rods were tapped through the 4x4’s until they hung out the ends.   Washers and nuts were put on each end and the extra rod was cut off with a cutoff wheel.  Everything was tightened up with my air impact wrench.  Miss Kitty did not help one bit!

I had done a rough dimension drawing of the base the day I brought the beast home.  To lay out the holes to be drilled into the wooden base I physically took a piece of paper and cut it around the holes in the bottom of the hammer.  This was then easily transferred to the wooden base.  Pilot holes were drilled.  11/16” holes were then drilled and a ¼” deep square was chiseled on the underside to countersink the head of the 5/8” carriage bolt.  It was offset to allow for the motor and pulleys.

Considering this hammer weighs almost 800 pounds, I figured once I attached it to the wooden base it would never be taken off.  Being the resourceful(cheap) guy I am, I found a can of rubberized undercoating spray for vehicles and decided that would be a great way to protect the machine base.  I gave it a couple coats and now have to wait a few days until help comes to get it off the trailer.

Right Place, Right Time

After the Ames Plantation show we took our time returning home as we don't get out much.  Just so happens that we stop at the Crump, TN flea market.  We saw a neighbor of ours and as I was asking him about needing roof tin, he asked a friend if he had any.

As it turns out the fellow, Mr. Gene, says he has some.  He asks me what I need it for and I tell him it is to build an overhang off my workshop so that I can bring my coal forge outside.  Then he asks if I had a hammer.  My reply is "Oh yeah, I got a dozen hammers from 2 oz to 8 pounds."

He sez...No Do You Have A HAMMER?

I immediately say "Power Hammer?"

He sez "Yeah!"

I say "Not yet but I'll have yours real soon"

One thing led to another and in two weeks I was standing over a Mayer Bros. 25# Little Giant Power Hammer.  It was in the woods next to a house 45 miles from home.  I asked the man what he wanted for it and paid him as soon as the number came out of his mouth.  Mr. Gene is such a nice man.  We talked of many things that afternoon.  Mostly about how things have changed and how we try to live by our own hands.
*The hammer in this photo appears smaller & lighter than it actually is.

Without knowing the full specs on this machine, the inspector of my new sewer plant said he'd help me get it home.  That poor guy.  We had to tromp through briars and brambles just to get a look at this thing and it darn near tore us both up.

There was a bunch of cussing as we found out we couldn't budge the thing with bare hands...which I was counting on.  So many things fell into place even though the project seemed doomed.  I built a sled to put the hammer on so we could more easily slide it out of the woods.  Mr. Gene brought an old farm jack which we used to hold it up along with a &#@% come-along so we could get the sled under. 

It sounds so much easier as I'm writing this.  We were huffing and puffing and spitting and cussing the whole time.  Mr. Gene asked the neighbor if we could drag the hammer into his field where we could get it easier.  Well that would have been the ONLY way we could get it.  There was NO way of pulling it out through all of his piles of stuff.

All spoken, it took two hours to get it on the sled and dragged out into the field with a truck and chain.

OK, I'm thinkin' the hard part is over.  Will I never learn?  We had this 800 pound machine on a wooden sled.  Now we have to get this whole contraption up and onto the trailer. 

This is where more fun starts.

I hook up my come-along to the truck and to the hammer.  Next I start cranking on it and see it moving about 3/4 of an inch with each crank.  NICE!

Come-along is too close to the trailer rails.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  More cussing and fussing.  Got it.  Move stuff around, no problem.  Crank it some more.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  Dang come-along.  Got it.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  #@^^&^ come-along.  Finally got it.  Cranking very slowly by now.  This goes on for an hour. 

We moved the whole thing almost 13 feet with that come-along and finally got it strapped to the trailer and ready to head out with it.

Here is Tim thanking his lucky stars he doesn't have to deal with this monster any more.  Back to town with the hammer still on the trailer. I must say that I was totally impressed with how the three of us figured out all of the challenges of this project.  Again I have to make this disclaimer:
*The hammer in this photo appears smaller & lighter than it actually is.
  
I was really beat from all this work.  Couldn't stop when I got home.  

 The base had to be cleaned off so I grabbed an angle grinder to take off years of dirt, rust and moss.  Here you can see that the base is an inch thick and is almost 3 feet wide.  

You may not think much of this but just a couple hours prior to this picture, there was only enough room for one person to squeeze through to the garage door.  This was a major undertaking!  Now I have to back the trailer in and hook it up to the 2 ton overhead chain hoist.

Looking it over as well as I could there weren't any noticeable welds anywhere.  When the foot lever moved, the clutch pulley moved.  That was a good sign.

This will be a WIP (Work In Progress) for Arcadia Knives blog as a way for me to document the project from start to finish.  I want to get this hammer working and pounding out some steel as soon as I can.

Thanks for everyone's support.
 

Alllllrighty Then!

So I actually started this update a couple weeks ago.  Look where that has gotten me. 

The 14th Annual Ames Plantation Heritage Festival was a success.  This show runs on the second Saturday of October each year.  There were 39 new vendors this year, the weather started off beautifully and the crowd was huge.  Everyone must have a fun time because of all the smiles and goodwill throughout the day.

Before we were even set up, a returning customer came by and bought the first knife.  I love it when the day starts like that.  He happens to be a Boy Scout Leader and was carrying the knife he purchased last year.  Guess I'll have to up my game to keep him happy.  Maybe a few special knives next year.

It is wonderful to have returning customers stop by and wish us well...and buy some stuff.  One of my favorite things on the grounds is the firing of a civil war cannon.  I take great pleasure in watching folks jump right out of their skin when the cannon goes off.  We had to deal with a fast moving storm that blew through around 3:00 that afternoon.  As luck would have it, the storm only lasted half an hour.  The sun came back out within the hour and the end of the show was great.

During the shows I don't get away from the table much.  This is from behind the lines.  Way in the back there are thousands of folks.  There were a few more lines of vendors throughout the grounds.

This is our friend Joan Appelt of BeechCreekGourds.com with a few of her gourds on display.  They truly are works of art.  This is the only show she attends.

This is Debbie & Dennis.  They stopped by the table a few times.  He kept looking at the knives and finally picked out a blued file knife with elk antler handles and a brown leather sheath.  That wasn't the only thing the bought but he sure had a big ol' smile on his face when they made the purchase.  Hope to see ya'll again next year.

Hectic...Yeah

Not sure why life has been so hectic this year.  Oh wait, I guess it happens all the time to most everyone…just at different times.  Since my last post a lot has happened.  Most of it is normal everyday stuff and some of it was Extraordinary! 

On Aug. 10^th Leslie and I went to Crockett Days at Davy Crockett State Park in

Lawrenceburg, TN.  She went for one specific reason…to purchase a goat hide

from a vendor that was not at the show this year.  She was so upset. I did buy a sash for

my heritage festival attire, to make it more authentic, and to stash a knife into.  We also

bought some show table coverings.  I decided to create a fire set in the front yard instead

of our truck ring firepit. 

This was a cool setup at Crockett Days, and one I will use as a basis for my fire set.  I

have some ideas but need to find some ¼” steel plate to start.

I woke up at midnight on my birthday to go to work.  The floor of the new sewer plant was to be poured.

The first concrete trucks didn’t roll in until 2:00am.  From that point they didn’t stop coming until noon.  The 

finishing crew was great.  They worked like crazy from the first load until everything was done at 10:00pm 

that night.  A heavy rain downpour started shortly after the last of the 53 trucks dumped their loads so they

 had to wait till it stopped before they could finish  There was 530 yards of concrete poured that day along

with 100 yards poured the previous Friday for a total of 640 yards of concrete for the base of the plant.

After it was all poured I clocked out at 1:00pm and headed home.  It’s crazy that when you need 

sleep the most it doesn’t happen well.  Leslie made me a great Lasagna to celebrate my birthday along with 

an Edward’s frozen turtle pie.  Then it happened………

            She gave me a present after our wonderful supper.  When I opened it I was truly stunned.  Inside was a bottle.  Not just any bottle, mind you.  It was a bottle of ‘The MACALLAN 18” eighteen year old  single malt scotch whisky.  The likes of which I only dreamed about 

            ever having.  The best part was the fact that my wonderful wife got some awesome people to chip in to help her purchase this for me.  I felt like the Man Of The Year, knowing so many cared.   

Thanks Y’all!!!

The next weekend I finally torched up the wood pile from the tulip tree and all the brush

piles around the homestead.  The blaze was tremendously hot.  Fire Good!  Hazzah!

This takes me to the Etheridge flea market .  I happened to rescue a cast iron dutch

oven from a vendor there.  A bit of wire brushing and it was ready to season over the fire. 

She turned out as black as could be and is waiting to fix a hearty meal.

We spent the next week getting ready for Old Timers Day. 

Old Timers Day in Collinwood has been going on for years.  It is a local show in the town just south of us.  

We attended the festivities last year to see what it was like.  Lots of good folks having a fun time was what

we encountered.  This was the third outdoor show for us in 2013 and the third to get rained out.  Luckily the 

rain did not come until near the end.  It was a VERY Hot day in Collinwood.  We had a good time and 

talked to a lot of great people.  The music was good too.  Leslie was lucky enough to win a 20” bike from 

the Collinwood Dixie Youth Baseball group to make the day a success for sure.

 

So much time has been spent trying to get shows lined up and prepare for those shows.  The lineup as of 

now is:

Aug. 31- Old Timers Day in Collinwood, TN(done)

http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/festivals-events/details/17-old-timers-day.html

Oct. 5- Waynesboro Harvest Festival in Waynesboro,TN  

http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/festivals-events/details/120-harvest-festival-on-the-square.html

Oct. 12- Ames Plantation Heritage Festival in Bolivar, TN  

http://www.amesplantation.org/events/sixteenth-annual-ames-plantation-heritage-festival/

Oct. 26- Armstrong Pie Festival in Linden, TN

http://www.armstrongpiefest.com/

Nov. 2-3  Williamson County Holiday Arts & Crafts in Franklin, TN

http://www.williamsoncounty-tn.gov/?NID=597

The biggest change is that we are not doing the Franklin Pumpkinfest show this year. We really hadn’t done 

that well at the show the last two years.  It is a great show in that it is all artists that have made their wares. 

Instead we have signed up to do the Williamson Co. Holiday show in Franklin, TN.  We’ve heard good

 things about it and hope to sell out of everything on those days…HaHa!

Next up for me is getting some of my stuff put on Etsy.  It's about time to really use the internet to sell my products.  First things to go on are some of my necklaces.  We’ll see how it works out with an update later. 

That's it for now.  I think.  Anyway Leslie and I have been weathering the Tennessee summer rather well.  

October sure looks busy for us but this too shall pass. Looking forward to a successful show season and 

hunting/trapping season.  Sorry about the totally goofy text justification in this post, it's from my computer.  I 

will have lots to write about soon so stay tuned for the next installment.  Till then...y'all have a great one.

Making Mead

I have a good friend that lives in paradise…just up the road from me.  There is a wonderful aquifer on the property that supplies them with great spring water.  From that spring he raises rainbow trout in three man made raceways he built and maintains.  The trout grow rapidly in these conditions.  He also allows me to harvest a few trout every year.  They can weigh 4 pounds or more!

He has operated an apiary for 30 years which yields some truly fantastic honey when all things go right.   I’m lucky enough to help him with the honey extracting chores whenever he needs me.  That is really the easy part.  He works very hard at keeping those bees as it takes WAY more work than you would think.  He is a pic of a few of his hives.  He has hives in three locations.  Two spots on the property and one off the property.

Anyway, recently after a nice bounty of liquid gold, he asked me if  I would make a batch of mead for him.  He brought me a jug’o honey and I said that I would make it after blackberries were picked.  So this will be a blackberry mead or blackberry melomel, which just means mead with fruit.  This is an easy process and shouldn’t take too long to make.

So let’s start with the water.  I am using his spring water.  It is ready to go.  If you use city water, pour into a jug and allow it to sit for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate.  The amount of water needed depends on your batch size while taking into account the amount of honey you use and the liquid from the berries…minus the lees-or stuff left in the bucket that gets tossed out.  I am doing a 3 gallon batch.

Blackberry Mead (Melomel)

12+ pounds Honey

1 gallon Blackberries

Spring Water

Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast

First thing I did was put the frozen berries in a stock pot.  Add just a bit of water so the berries won’t burn and heat them so they are not frozen at all.  Then I blenderized them to release all the juices right away.  This slurry was poured into a nylon must bag and squished by hand to strain the juice out.  Tie the bag with the berries in and let the bag float in the must during primary fermentation.

After the berries were dealt with, I put about 1 gallon of water into the pot and started heating it up.  I used raw honey, so I want to pasteurize it to 160F to kill any contaminents.  After the water was heated up a bit I added the honey to dissolve it.  Then it was all taken up to 162F and pulled off the stove.  Cover the pot, put in the sink and use cold water to bring the temp down to 100F.  This will take 15 minutes or so. 

Next in a pyrex measuring cup I boiled ¼ cup of spring water in the microwave.  It was then cooled down to 105F in the freezer.  At that point, I emptied the yeast pack into the 105F water and allowed it to rehydrate for 15 minutes, according to the directions.

The honey water, after cooling down is added to the fermentation bucket with the berry juice in it. 

Now is the time to take your initial hydrometer reading.  This will tell you how much alcohol producing sugars are in there.  Mix up the “must” and put enough liquid into your tube to float the hydrometer.  Take and record the reading on your recipe sheet.  Mine was 1.080.  It’s lower than I thought because I added a little extra water.  This showed the ABV(alcohol by volume) to be 11% if fermented to 1.000.  I can always add more honey if I want to bring it up. 

At this point you are almost finished.  Now you can pitch the yeast.  Pour that measuring cup of alcohol producing goodness into the bucket.  Cover it tightly, attach your airlock and wait for the bubbles to begin.  It should take off within the next few hours.  Mead will bubble like crazy for the next month or so.  Leave it in the primary as long as you get bubbles within a minute apart or so.  It may take a month or more for the fermentation to subside.

After fermentation has slowed you can now rack it to a secondary.  Mine will go into a 3 gallon glass carboy, with any extra going into a 1 gallon jug.  Secondary can be 2-5 months depending on any fermentation that might happen.  This is also the time for the mead to clear.  Any particulate matter should settle out of suspension in secondary.

6 months is a good time, IMHO, to bottle it up.  Give it a taste.  Mine usually goes into gallon jugs or Grolsch type bottles for easy bottling. 

Patience is needed with mead.  The longer it sits the better it gets!

My Favorite Pickles

Last night I got to deal with a bucket full of pickles.  Don't ya just hate when that happens?  These were given to me by a co-worker.  Can't thank him enough for growing too many.   These are so easy to make and don't require canning.  You process them, throw them in an old ice cream bucket and keep them in the refrigerator.  Recipe can be tweaked to your liking.  I like mine with a little heat to them.

Refrigerator Pickles

7-12            Pickles/Cucumbers Sliced.(depends on size)

2 TBSP       Salt

1-2             Onions Sliced- Thin Rings

1-2             Green Pepper Sliced- Thin Rings

                  Jalepeno's(optional)*

                  Chili Peppers(optional)*

2 cups        Sugar

1 cup         Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 tsp       Celery Salt

1/4 tsp       Celery Seed

1/2 tsp       Cayenne(optional)*

Cut the pickles/cucs into slices. Place one layer at a time in a large bowl.  Shake salt over the entire layer.  Not too much.  Repeat until the bowl is full.  Let sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Cut the onion and green pepper into thin rings.  Stab the jalepeno and chili's to get more flavor, but leave them whole.  Gather the dry ingredients together too.

Mix up the sugar and apple cider vinegar in a medium bowl.  Add the celery seed and celery salt to the mix.  Stir well.  Add the cayenne if you like.  Set the bowl aside until the pickle slices are ready.

After the 2 hours is up take the pickle slices out of the fridge and drain off any water in the bowl.

Now it's all ready to put together. 

I put a layer of pickles in, then a layer of onions and peppers.  If you use any chili's or jalepenos, put them in the bottom to get the most flavor.

Alternate the layers until the tub is full.  I use a 1 gallon ice cream bucket because they fit well in the fridge and makes a great batch size.

Pour the apple cider/sugar mix over the pickles and mash them down a little.  You'll notice there isn't hardly enough juice in the tub, but there will be more the next day.

Mix them up every now and then. 

Wait for 24 hours to eat them.

There you have it!  A good recipe for a summer staple.  Hope you give them a try.

Life Happens...Usually At The Wrong Time

Two days after my last post, construction started on the new $3.5M sewer plant.  That has kept me totally busy with work related stuff.  I have never watched a large concrete job take off before.  Everything is new to me and I'm learning a lot about the process as it unfolds. 

At the start of the project one of the guys showed me a couple arrowheads he found on site.  The next day as we were talking he picked up two pieces of arrowheads right in front of me.  Dang I was so jealous.  Well it didn't take long for me to find my first one.  It was just the tip of one but...I was hooked.  My plan is to display the artifacts at the new plant.  This area holds many arrowheads as it lies just above the Green River.  I found a nice piece this morning but it does not compare to the dovetail in the picture below.

In mid May I broke out something I had planned to do for a while.  Making home made micarta gives me great satisfaction.  It is a handle material this is impervious to the natural elements.  I had purchased some regular burlap from Hobby Lobby when it was on sale and wanted to make some up.  The material that was ready to put to use was the burlap, some duffel bag canvas and bright t-shirt strips.  I made a twisted block of the t-shirt material and flat slabs of the others.  Can't wait to try it out on a new knife.

Our blackberries started ripening in late June with most of them being picked the last two weeks.  Leslie has picked over 25 gallons of them this year.  She told me this morning they are just about done.  The birds and Japanese beetles will get the stragglers.  I unfortunately do not pick them anymore because I actually get more chiggers than berries.

Here is another project I worked on with my buddy Phil.  We framed this sign with cedar limbs and built the metal hanger that supports the sign.  It is hung out on Main Street South and looks very rustic.  There was a lot of work involved but it came out looking great.  Phil actually put it up on the pole.

That kinda gets me caught up on what has been going on.  I have been enjoying the homebrew that I made recently.  Not much has been happening in the workshop as it is so hot out there.  It's hard to work steel in that heat.  Hope to get grinding real soon.

Should be a couple more postings soon.