What an idea !

Here's an idea, it's either smart saves money, or el cheapo stupid idea. I always use an electric razor because it's fast and in some ways cheap, no shaving cream and disposable razors to buy, but the initial outlay is expensive ( I buy the top of line ) but it lasts very long time. The blades for it are not cheap at all and when they dull the shave is poor until it tears the hair more than it cuts and leaves your face red and raw. My idea sharpen the blades with a sharpening stone, they are a small flat disk of blades that would rest on a stone, it seems they should be easy to sharpen,   If so I would always have nice sharp blades and clean cut and save about 35 bucks or more.

I got a magnifier and a couple sharpening stones and soak them sparingly in water and removed the head from my razor I carefully inspected the tips of the cutting edges, they had not been honed merely coursely ground so I knew my plan would bring about improvement in performance.   I started with a 800 grit stone to quickly remove the rounded corners, the blades showed the signs of cutting hair a rather tough material if you doubt try to snap just a single strand. I spent just a few moments with each three sharpening stone, the tiny cutting edges are tried very easily. I inspected them, I could see the glisten of a sharp edge the replaced the dull gray of the rounded edges the left the razor. I fired up the razor and put it to the test, it just glided across my face like an ice skater making laps around the rink, an effortless coast. 

Weekends were made for workin

I work on the bathroom in Rose Hill the plumbing was complete disaster, homeowner install that was all completely wrong. I ripped it out some literally. Today I cut and stacked two buckets of firewood, the saw ran out of gas and I flooded it trying to start it, so tuned it and put in fresh gas. But before I did that if tried the small profession chainsaw but the blade was dull so I went on manhunt for fresh blade, no luck so I fired up the chainsaw grinder and sharpened both blades and cleaned the clutch brake cover and blade guides. Soon after I fired it up it still wouldn't cut worth (you know the adjective) and the bar was smoking without it touching wood. So is the bar is worn or the oil passages are plugged, before it gets another workout I'll soak it in used transmission fluid ( because I have some from working on the Bronco and it's a good penetrating oil) so I can't lose. If it works I save a bar and if it don't the oil was waste anyway and I'll reuse it for something else. 

I once used some meriatic acid to clean sprinkler heads and I dipped them with pliers to protect myself from burns, I noticed the pliers were shiny and new where the acid etched the steel. My idea clean all the rusty, oily nuts and bolts I have stored in bins, when the come out shiny and new I'll rinse off the residual acid and soak the in the same transmission fluid for few days then let them drain dry and a quick inspection good ones go in a bin bad ones a scrap metal bucket. 

Cold Blooded Tractor

Tractor started great but within minutes it started to stumbled and soon it would barely run it feathered the throttle and limped it home from the neighbors house and put fuel additive in the tank and tried again. It started good but within it was up to its old tricks again so this time I parked. I kept meaning to check it out but I had plent of wood stacked up so it sat for weeks. As luck would have it I ran out of wood fired it up and headed to wood pile and just as got there it was refusing to run I tried and tried soon I had worn the battery down so covered it with a tarp (it was parked in the wood pile) and left it for the night. I called the next day, it was under warranty, but it was good possibility it was frozen fuel. I'm sure that would have cost me quite small fortune. So when the weather warmed up I fired it and drove like it was new! I added fresh fuel ( hopefully winter grade) to the mix.

Before I leave the tractor subject I may as well add a few words about an invention idea I have. I cut wood often and the tractor is my companion lifting, carring and turning everything from tree lengths to scrub. I even found away to use it to neat stack a load of wood with very little effort. But in my travels I don't have a safe effective way to carry the chain saw especially when the bucket it loaded with the catch du jour. So I scouted a location that's safe and effective. I found one now I need to build a simple  bracket to hold the chain saw and perhaps even some gas and oil. 

I was out of wood today so instead of cutting wood I went on a scavenger hunt picking up all small pieces I could find scattered around the yard within minutes I had a bucket full and cleaned up a the yard in the process, but you'll never know it gone, like taking a bucket of sand away from the beach. 

How to remedy the mess?

I was in the process of pulling the heads from the Engine - I made a mess. I drained the Antifreeze from the radiator with a siphon pump. But when I when remove the radiator surprise more antifreeze leaked from every orifice - and there are lots of them when you start to disconnect the myriad of hoses that entangle the top of V8 engine. In other words there will be leakage. Also the transmission fluid that flows through the radiator oil cooler will need a companion catch pan that it will sneak past like a runner at home plate. No matter how hard you try to block it's path it will find a way to get by your best efforts to prevent it form making a mess. Now to Remedy the situation. I am an avid wood worker so I make lots of woodshaving and collect them in a large bag attached to my Dust Collector. Now I'll repurpose those shaving as a fluid absorbant like cat lttle without the cost or the smell. I covered my garage floor with cardboard to make it a touch warmer and softer, I'll remove the soggy brown sheets and take the bulk of the waste fluid with it. Then i'll sprinkle pixie dust on the floor and magically clean up the residue. I need to climb under the truck and I don't want/need an oil bath. And it make good use of Wood Shavings.

Tester

I was considering adding an LED to the tester, and today I was fiddling around with a junk mail code key. I pulled the tab and it revealed a number, I was sure it was a winner. So instead of taking it to the dealership to claim my new car. I began to check it over it small embossed print on the back it said not a toy  (hum, okay I thought, yeah it's junk)  then I notice it said " it's electronic" so I grabbed my Leatherman and dissected it. Yup just as I suspected it .... Drumroll please... Junk. Oh. It's began to illuminate a 5 digit number, something is actually in there and I got to know what it is. So popped it apart and couple batteries jumped out along with a wire clip and plastic chip and piece of folded wire. On closer inspection the folded wire is an LED mine for the innovating and a couple batteries to make it shine, literally. Not bad for free.  

Bronchitis

I went out to garage with intent of setting up the engine crane and engine stand to pull the short block out of the Bronco. I needed to get the further back in the garage so I could manipulate the engine on the garage floor and hoped I could do it with the garage door closed because it's cold here more often than not. 

I had thought about removing the bandsaw from the Shopsmith to allow a space for the rear mounted spare tire. Later I began to think I needed all the depth I could get so I anticipated moving the Shopsmith and for extra working room I would move the Lie-Nielsen work bench and the Felder bandsaw, now that's a lot of work. The bandsaw is over 7 feet tall and several hundred pounds probably about five hundred and the workbench is also about four hundred dry, but it's loaded with tools and stack of hardwood lumber. Unless necessity takes over it stays put. I moved (tugged) the engine crane back and forth and positioned it at the ready in front of the Bronco. I checked ( operated the boom) for clearance and prepared to remove the remaining bolts and components. I couldn't see the tranny (transmission) bolts from the top. And the sensor light shut off while I making my plans. I decided more could be accomplished in daylight with less hassle. So I walked away for the night and let the cold dark night have their way. 

Last blog

Last blog
I can't believe this is number 65 of 65. The last few days as I've been running to the end of this blog I've been thinking of so many new ideas and things I wished I had written about. I know it sounds crazy I wish I had more time, because I have so many things I'd like to say. I would've enjoyed writing the blogs a lot more if it was based on words total words over the course of the semester so I could've told stories in their entirety instead of cutting them off at 500 words. In the beginning my stories often ran over so I can easily say I've exceeded the 32,500 words that would've been expected for the semester. In fact as I look back I wonder where all the time has gone. I've wanted to write a book for many years and I thought the English class would be a good way to get the experience and improve my writing skills. What I found instead is just changing the style and it can be very frustrating to try to teach an old dog new tricks. I'm so used to writing in the military style or from the aspect of writing speeches for giving training, where persuasion, salesmanship and sometimes even humor is part of the mix. In fact if I had to say so I'd say the blogs are probably my favorite part of the class, because I don't have focus on the technicalities, I just tell the story and have fun doing it. If there was more time I would spend more time on each blog to ensure that they are the best that I could produce. But if the rate of one a day it's like assembly line production, just punch another one outing keep on moving. I really don't think it helps to improve my writing skills, in fact it probably is doing more to degrade them, but instead causing me not to spend the time to make the corrections. Maybe that's why it’s seems more difficult to write the papers. If there was more time to hone your skills when writing the blogs, who knows, maybe the average person isn't interested in taking the time to improve their writing skills, after all that's what texting is all about shortcuts. I'm not in the English class because I have to be I'm there because I wanted to be. I was hoping for a challenge in a lot of ways it was. I'd like to think I've improved but I really can't see the evidence of that. It seems the more someone teaches me to put commas and colons in the paragraph the more confused I get and the more I add or delete depending on the day of the week. It seems like the hard and fast rules are not hard or fast and change from person to person. Sometimes they've even day to day if not I guess it's just me because I haven't got the hang of it.
Signing off last blog.