Second Blog

Though in a way I feel that I'm betraying my anti-blog feelings I have created a second blog for my hobbies, interests and whatnot, titled "A Working Man's Journal." All future posts of mine not concerning home and bar improvements will be posted there instead of here.

Automotive Work

Well between factory work, volunteer railroad work, housework (both maintainance and domestic) and yardwork I finally found and took the time to perform some much needed repairs on my truck. After literally months of procrastinating I finally removed my old gas tank, which had succumbed to rust, and replaced it with a pristine one sold to me by my friend Bill's wife Jennifer (who is one of the biggest motorheads I've ever met!). Of course, as you probaly guessed, this turned into a much bigger and longer project than it should've been, but the new tank is now solidly mounted and ready to recieve fuel (which is blessedly a lot less expensive than it was!)
In addition to the fuel leak my transmission also leaks. This perticular leak is entirely my fault; it formed after dropping the pan to attempt to fix a problem which turned out to be nothing but a clogged vacuum line; OUTSIDE of the transmission I might add! For the moment I am going to try just re-torquing the bolts (which were loose again), as dropping the pan involvs dumping $25 worth of AT fluid, and is a VERY messy job! If this doesn't work (which frankly I am expecting it won't), I plan on dropping the pan and reinstalling it using red RTV silicone in lieu of "high tack" which I used last time to seal the gasket.
Of course the truck still needs new tires, but this can wait for a little while at least. Not only do I need the truck to haul coal and for my volunteer job, but I am also (understandably) anxious to drive a vehicle with over 250 horsepower again!

My Workshop: Metalworking Tools

I am currently outfitting my shop with various tools as they find their way to me. Although I have been working on my collections of mechanic's and carpentry tools for awhile I thought I'd share the latest additions to my new metalworking tool collection. About two weeks ago now I was given the anvil by my grandmother, and over the next week built the small, temporary forge next to it.
The anvil is (comparatively) small, probaly in the neighborhood of 100 pounds, and though in rough shape appears to be of good quality. The bad news is that the main face is swaybacked (probaly from both use and abuse), and I am in the process of re-grinding it with a belt sander. It is extremely slow going but that is actually good news: The face of the anvil is made of high-carbon tool steel and is EXTREMELY hard; so hard that a file won't scratch it!
I built the forge pictured out of nine firebricks and four standard bricks, as well as the exhaust blower from my old furnace. It works okay, expecially considering it's construction. It's biggest problem is that, with very limited airflow control, it tends to ignite in it's entrety (rather than a small fire just above the air hole). This makes adding additional coal difficult, as it requires dumping coal directly into a fire. The only other problem is an expected one: The smoke. I am converting the blower from my parents' old dryer to vent the smoke, but that will probaly take awhile yet.
Obviously this workstation is temporary; the anvil is mounted FAR too high for me to use it properly, and the shaking caused by pounding the workpiece against it tends to cause the forge to move in a rather disconcerting fasion. I plan to build a angle-iron frame for the forge and make it freestanding, and mount the anvil to an appropriate-length of as heavy a log as I can both aquire and transport.
That's all for now, I'll post again next time I have something noteworthy. More likely than not that'll be the next Aquarium Center update; I am currently waiting on posting as I build a new light fixture for it...

Aquarium Center update: Live Rock

In less than a week I managed to get the saltwater tank filled, the density stabalized and the water fully oxygenated. As I planned on Friday I purchased a 3.5 lb. piece of live rock from Sea 2 Sea, and I have to say that it is probaly one of the best pieces of live rock that I've ever seen, let alone bought!
The image posted is of the most "active" portion of the rock. I posted the image at full resolution to show the detail of what's going on, click to view the full-sized image. ALL of those small knobby protrusions are live hard coral polyps, and the two "spiny" purple areas on the far left protrusion are also hard corals! The two small patches look substansially different, and may be different species, I won't know for sure until they open up to feed. Needless to say I think I got a good deal: Despite the high cost of this kind of live rock ($9.50 a pound!) I know I got the best bang for my buck that I could've possibly hoped for.
As of right now I am very low on funding, and won't be adding anything (save for maintainence supplies), however once I have some spare cash I want to add more of this rock, and more likely than not an emerald crab (which will deal with any algae growth before it can get out of hand, like it did last time).
Obviously this is my house log, not my aquarium log. Depending on how this project goes it may be worth considering starting a seperate board for this...

Aquarium Center

Finally I have solved my aquarium dilemma, with this! Pictured here is half of the wire shelf "server rack" that formally was in my wiring closet (the server is still, somewhat uncomfortably, on the other half), holding my two 20 gallon aquariums. Despite it's flimsy appearance wire shelving is amazingly strong; the full 4-shelf unit is rated to safely hold 1,200 pounds! Obviously these two tanks won't weigh anywhere near the 600 pound limit of the half-unit.

The lower, and somewhat poorly lit, tank is where the goldfish are headed. Though I have said in the past that I consider a 55 gallon the minimum aquarium for goldfish the fish that I have now are comparatively small, and I currently only have two left (sadly the koi and two of the goldfish died shortly after their move). I'll have to get used to the lighting, I generally use dual-bulb shoplights equipped with "grow lamp" bulbs for a 55 gallon aquarium.
The top tank is for an aspect of aquaculture that, though I left in disgust, I have come to sorely miss: Saltwater "reef" aquariums. I have learned from the mistakes I made last time, and by using the smaller aquarium I can build a very nice micro-reef for a fraction of the cost of stocking a 55 gallon tank. The project is less expensive in every aspect: First I plan on filling the tank with Culligan water, to eliminate the problems I had last time using municipal water. Second, it will require less salt to achieve the proper density. Third, between the smaller size and shallower tank it will require substansially less lighting for proper coral growth than a 55 (which is close to 3 times as tall). And finally since it's a smaller tank I am far less likely to get carried away trying to stock it. As I already own all the equipment (save for a heater, which is VERY cheap) and supplies I can start slowly, with an initial investment of under $30 for a couple of pounds of "live rock" and a few hermit crabs to keep the tank's "cycle" going. The other good part about this is what I plan on populating the tank with is amongst the least expensive offerings of most saltwater shops" Shrimp, miniature crabs and snails. The corals that I want are NOT cheap, however, but there is no rush to get them: The longer I let the tank sit before adding them the better they will do.
As you can probaly see I lined the back of the to-be reef aquarium with aluminum foil. There are several reasons for this: First it hides the electrical cords. Second it blocks a lot of the natural sunlight from the window from entering the tank (though the natural sunlight is a cheap source of light, between the window, the glass, 16+ miles of air and the water most of the more beneficial frequencies have been filtered out; which tends to lead to undesirable algae growth). Third it reflects a lot of light back into the tank, and fourth I expect the uneven texture to help give the small tank some additional visual depth...
Also as you can see, despite the lack of inhabitants, Chessie already thinks this is the greatest thing ever... Are you really surprised? I'm sure not...

First Firing

Yesterday I finally got my stove approved by Frost Insurance. Of course I tried to light it that evening, which failed miserably. So today once I got home I immediately cleared out the center of the firebox, placed a scrap of tar paper on the grates and piled charcoal on top of it. Once that was burning strongly I slowly added anthracite, and now, three hours later...

This picture doesn't do the fire justice, it's a lot more spectacular in person. Just as spectacular is the heat from this tiny stove: I get the feeling that it could go even higher, yet even with two fans pulling air into the house, and both living room windows open it is HOT in here! Needless to say I think it'll do the trick this winter.

Coal stove is complete!

Today I received a package from Rural Energy Products, which contained the correct door kit for my stove! So obviously pretty much as soon as I got home I installed it, and finally mounted the insurance-mandated wall protector...

The Harman Magnafire Mk. 1 is now complete, all that's needed now is the coal!

Hopefully this weekend it'll be cool enough out to light it for the first time, providing of course I get the go-ahead from the insurance company.

Of course, according to the National Weather Service, tonight would be the best night until late this weekend to do so (predicted low of 41 degrees). Oh well, if I can get approved by the weekend I'll probaly burn a small fire just to test it out... Hey, do you blame me?