Phillip Jones

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:25:04 GMT

# Post an Entry
Last updated 122 weeks ago

Ok, I'm not dead; I'll post another entry.

More forge :)

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 18:12:05 GMT

So, yesterday I got some real charcoal. Or as they call it "Natural Lump Charcoal". "Cowboy brand". It gets much hotter :)

I redid the brick layout to make it more of a "front and back" layout. As it was, I could only stick the tips in from the top, and couldn't heat any part more then 4 inches from the end. So, I kept the base but for the top layer I put two bricks on the side, and put one at the other end laying down, just to help keep the coals from falling out. Finally I put the extra brick on the top(and I really have *no* idea if that helped at all).

I got the fire going, but couldn't get it nearly up to heat. The problem was I still had a lot of ash from the last try clogging the air holes, with that removed it got very, very hot. I couldn't get the iron whitehot, but with only a little rearrangement that could be possible. I noticed that the concrete bricks were glowing at places, so I stopped working on it.

I put water on it to put it out; in fact, I left the hose running on it for a half an hour, and the bricks were still warm.

Here are the pics: http://flickr.com/photos/30415033@N00/sets/

Smithing

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 20:22:26 GMT

So, I went to Indiana last weekend with a couple of friends. We camped out in cabins next to a lake. Some of the people that we met there had brought a forge and I spend a good part of Friday and most of Saturday with them learning how to use it.

On Friday, I made a squigly line that looked kinda like a treble clef. Basically, I was just banging Iron to see how it worked, and when I noticed it starting to look clef-ish, I decided to make it into a clef.

Saturday, I set out to make a stand for my drinking horn. The first try wasn't going great, but was brought to a premature end when I left it in the fire too long, and the middle of it melted into two pieces. The remainder of what had been the middle of the piece was oxidized and brittle. The second try saturday worked out great.

When I got back to Raleigh, I decided to try to make a forge for fun to start out.

It's kinda a funny story so far. I wanted to see if what I had though up would work without looking too much at other plans for the first iteration, so I started with a $5 charcoal grill from the local grocery store and used a nail to punch some air holes in the bottom. I put a hair dryer sticking up on the bottom as bellows. It got the fire going pretty good, but then the hair dryer died. I thought maybe it was getting clogged and couldn't get enough air through it because it was standing with it's intake against the ground, so I got a 3" ventilation pipe elbow and another hair dryer. This time I was able to get re-bar to glow orange hot.

I played with the iron for a minute using a rock as an anvil, and then I went to turn the hair dryer back on and it didn't work. When I pulled the hair dryer out of the pipe I found that the plastic on the front had melted and caught fire, so I unplugged it and threw it in the bucket of water.

Third time is the charm, as they say. I went shopping again and got a 3' section of the 3" vent pipe and another hair dryer, and that far off it's perfectly cool.

I can still only get the iron orange hot, but I could put a elbow in it. However, I did break the rock doing it :)

I think I'm going to see if I can make the fire more vertical and see if that helps. Then I think it's time to start looking at real plans or buying a already made forge. OTOH, if this works well enough, I might just buy and anvil first.

I should take pictures :)

Yay!

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:24:13 GMT

Yesterday I turned 0x1e years old.

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:24:10 GMT

April posted a test that actually looks like it really might be interesting, not just one of those silly tests that everyone always puts in these things.
The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.
Please do mine here

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:32:35 GMT

He looks like Emperor Palpatine.

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:23:47 GMT

Oh Great Cthulhu!

I have been an extremely sedulous devotee this year.

In June, I bombed a cultist gathering (-100 points). In January, I rescued ladymoondance from being sacrificed (-200 points). In July, I recruited zoratu as a new cultist (30 points). In May, I made a burnt offering to the Dead Dreamer (100 points). In April, I legally changed my name to Randolph Carter (-40 points). In December, I called down the wrath of Yog-Sothoth upon ladymoondance (65 points).

In short, I have been very bad (-145 points) and deserve to be flayed alive.

Your humble and obedient servant,
dsmouse

Submit your own plea to Cthulhu!

USPTO

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:27:58 GMT

A process of relaying a story having a timeline and a unique plot involving characters comprises: indicating a character's desire at a first time in the timeline for at least one of the following: a) to remain asleep or unconscious until a particular event occurs; and b) to forget or be substantially unable to recall substantially all events during the time period from the first time until a particular event occurs; indicating the character's substantial inability at a time after the occurrence of the particular event to recall substantially all events during the time period from the first time to the occurrence of the particular event; and indicating that during the time period the character was an active participant in a plurality of events.

That's a hell of a patent application.

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 19:32:09 GMT

Wikipedia artical on Gary Birdsong
Wow. Wikipedia has EVERYTHING.

I actually like these silly little quizes.

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 18:28:24 GMT

You scored as Mindfuck. Congratulations, you scored Mindfuck. You've probably seen a lot of movies, and have grown to hate mainstream shit. You're looking for the movie that will leave you breathless, and with 21 questions to think about. Check out: Donnie Darko, Being John Malkovich, Pulp Fiction, Memento.

</td>

Mindfuck

90%

Artistic

80%

Mindless Action Flick

75%

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

75%

Drama/Suspense

60%

Sadistic Humour

60%

Romantic Comedy

35%

Movie Recommendation.
created with QuizFarm.com

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 18:01:05 GMT

I think I can agree that intellignet design can be tought in public schools providing the it teaches that the "intelligence" that created the world could be any of the following:

*Space Aliens: Space aliens could have created the earth; the aliens themselves may have evolved, or been created.
*God, or Gods, or Gods and Goddesses, or Goddesses, or just a Goddess.: That is to say, Science doesn't look for god. so "something supernatural," really. And even then it might not be yours.
*Time travellers.: Yup. I (could have)/(will be) creat(ed/ing) some sort of time paradox, then I will have had been inventinged the universe when I havewill traveleding too far back in time.

Another Random Quiz

Sat, 07 May 2005 03:22:04 GMT

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

30% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:47:22 GMT

I like these little quizes... they're a fun little distraction.

You scored as Ram. You are the Ram. You often live in reality but turn it into your imagination at every turn. New beginnings are a favorite for you. You rule the mountains as a mejestic being.

</td>

Bull

75%

Stag

75%

Eagle

75%

Ram

75%

Bear

75%

Dragon

67%

Salmon

67%

Fox

58%

Wolf

58%

Horse

58%

Crow

50%

Deer

50%

Snake

42%

Dog

42%

Which animal totem best suits you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 15:25:34 GMT

If I were God over LiveJournal... by shinikami
Username
Jesus would be	bear_cat
The four archangels would be	aklikins
and	aprildawn42
and	boarder2
and	lotsoflovexoxo
The Blessed Virgin would be	nckestrel
Satan would be	pam
The antichrist would be	endersjewel
And YOU would be	In Hell

Quiz created with MemeGen!

Tropical Fish

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:49:53 GMT

Deviant and I both think there needs to be more googlejuice for the Tropical Fish Song.

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 15:29:17 GMT

For those of you who haven't heard, there's going to be a Total Lunar Eclipse saturday. Check out Nasa's site on it for details.

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 16:11:25 GMT

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
dsmouse goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as The Thing from Geeky Space..
aprildawn42 gives you 4 white mint-flavoured gummy bats.
cattdragon tricks you! You lose 3 pieces of candy!
deviant_ tricks you! You get a piece of string.
dsmouse tricks you! You get a rock.
endersjewel gives you 10 mauve coffee-flavoured gummy bats.
fezzgig tricks you! You get an old sock.
nckestrel gives you 5 light blue passionfruit-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
pam tricks you! You get a broken balloon.
siegesama tricks you! You lose 15 pieces of candy!
zoratu tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!
dsmouse ends up with zero pieces of candy, a piece of string, a rock, an old sock, and a broken balloon.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 02:29:19 GMT

I added a pic :)

And I went horseback riding yesterday. Just about every part of my body is sore, but it was a lot of fun!
I took Jamie to J&H Stables for her birthday :)

Thu, 14 Aug 2003 02:52:27 GMT

http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/
I got 6/10

Mon, 04 Aug 2003 16:49:00 GMT

I lowered the specific gravity of my must and the yeast came to life.
evidently, the osmatic preasure was too great for the yeast to devide.
so I added 5 gallons of water and, poof!
I got a hydrometer and the SG dropped from [off the scale, by a lot] to 1.150 on the first carboy, and 1.130 on the other.
it floated maybe an inch away from the graduations.
(I added 5 gal of water to 4 gal of must)

Sat, 26 Jul 2003 17:34:58 GMT

So, still not much happening with the must (Evidently, I've been using the term mort, when I've been meaning must. must: (n) in brewing, the mixture ready to be fermented until bottling). Steve at work suggested that the PH could be too low, and I might want to add some calcium carbonate (funny, isn't that the active ingredient in Tums? So I can give my mead a tums!). So, today I added a little over a tablespoon full of it in it's white powder form, and used a drill to stir it (with a food-grade apparatus for designed for this very thing.). It seems quote mixed up.

yeast

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 20:41:44 GMT

So, I decided that - with no signs of life (literly) - I'd add some more yeast. It's not like if I'm wrong it'll kill the batch or something. Naturally, when I talk to the guy down the hall at work today, he mentions that if the PH is too low, it could be weeks before I see much activity :/ Oh well. I'll never know.

YAY!

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 03:49:45 GMT

I made contact with a old friend :)
Shouts out to HAVEN!

make mead and make merry

Sun, 20 Jul 2003 18:43:20 GMT

OK. so 1 quart of honey is 1 1/4 lbs, not 2.something. so I went back to the market to double my supply.
so, here's what I'm doing: Gonna put 10lbs of honey with 2 gallons of water... er, make that 3/2 gallons to make sure it doesn't spill over. This still isn't a sure thing :(. I should get a bigger brewpot. I guess I didn't really empty all the honey jars either, as it seems to be pooling in the bottom. The sour-wood honey was the worst for this, next time I should let the jars drain overnight.

I'm not going to add any spices this time... I'll just see how it comes out all-natural.
So, the procedure goes something like this... bring it all to a boil, let it cool for 15 minutes, siphon it off into the primary brew tank thingy with the yeast and some yeast nutrients, wait 6 months. I might add, boy does it take a long time for 4gal of honey-water to boil.

The Yeast looks good; It's expanded enough to push the top off the container twice now, which is a good sign. This is Wyeast lab's 3184

The thing I'm most scared I did wrong was add the yeast while the mort (honey+water) was still too hot. :/ Only time will tell.

I left the airlock off for now so that the cooling effect won't suck up the airlock's water, I'll have to put that on when it gets to room temp.

Things to get for next time: Brewpot thermometer, bigger funnel, bigger brewpot, clarifying agent, maybe a filter (If I add spices or fruit or something), wort cooler.

yeast!

Sat, 19 Jul 2003 18:50:30 GMT

well, my yeast is incubating.
Tomorrow I boil honey
This is my second attempt at making mead;
The first attempt was back in 2k, and it came out very murky- clouded- and had a really odd, and harsh, flavor.
I told the guy at the "American brewmaster" store today, he said that if the yeast ate ALL the sugars, there wouldn't be any sweetness to cut the spice's flavor. When I got home put some sugar and water on the stove to mix it really good, and then cooled it off and added it to the mead, and it tasted Much better. Still cloudy, but hey!

SOooo I got the yeast the other day, it's a white-wine yeast, (packaged as a "sweet mead" yeast, but I know better). It's packaged with some nutrients to make it revitalized right before I use it. You're supposed break the nutrient pack and let it sit for a day... I couldn't find it in the packet (I squashed and squashed, but I couldn't make it out), so I opened up the packet and cut it open, and put both the yeast and the nutrients into a sterile container to let it incubate. I'm hoping that wasn't an error. Oh well. I'll know tomorrow. I might have to run by the store and get some backup yeast... or use bread yeast(like last time) if there's a problem.

I got 11lb's of sour-wood honey at the farmers market today. I should loot at the recipe again to make sure that's plenty. I'm sure it is.

I spent a good hour today sterilizing everything I'm going to use tomorow... sans the yeast, of course.