If you NEED it, buy it. If you WANT it, wait for it.

If you need groceries or gas or a prescription med. of course go ahead and buy them. If you want something to either make your life easier or to feed one of your hobbies or your latest ambition you may want to just hold on and wait for a deal or even better, a hand out. I have been trying to put a little kitchen in my garage for the purpose of moving some of the "dirty jobs" out of the house.
Cleaning fish, cutting up a deer, making sausage, etc... are all jobs that might be more suited for the garage. Anyway, I bought a French fry cutter for my little kitchen several months ago but returned it because I was not happy with it's performance. It would not accept large potatoes (you had to cut off the ends) and quite bit of handle force was required just to get the work done. It felt like I was going to break the thing and it slid all over the table when cutting. So I shopped around and found these great industrial-duty cutters designed for restaurant use.

 The price was a bit hefty so I decided not to purchase. Several weeks went by. One Saturday morning we were garage-saling and the most wonderful item was found by one of my daughters.

 

 

This cutter was exactly what I was looking for. Even though it needed a little TLC the price was grand at $5.

 

 

The handle was locked in the open position from a bit of rust but it was very easily broken free with a  bit of vegetable oil and some tapping with a hammer.  With a bit of scrubbing with some emery cloth, a good bath, and a fresh coat of Plasti-Dip on the handle, it was as good as new. I also added some rubber feet to prevent sliding.

 

 

 

It looks and cuts like new. What a bargain. It isn't a cheap copy of the old style cutters. This one is the real deal. Very heavy and high quality. I looked up this particular brand and it looks like new ones go for almost $175.

 

 





 Again- if you NEED it, buy it. If you WANT it, wait for it. You might get a deal you did not expect.

The Beauty of Stained Glass

I wish the quality of the photo was better but the beauty shines through my poor photography. The intricacy and choice of color is amazing. Location: St. Mary Catholic Church Peru, IL.

Simplicity Overrules Complexity

It is not very often that you encounter a product which is so simply designed and built. A product which relies on animal instinct (which never fails) to function properly. It operates on the principle that a minnow will choose cover instead of open water. A vendor created a video of it in operation. Take a look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy one here: TAKE ONE MINNOW TRAP

 

Testing the new meat grinder

Well, after months of ado, I have finally been able to give my home-built meat grind a test run.
I figured that it might work OK but you just never know when you build something from the ground up what kind of problems you might have on the initial start up. So I picked up about 20 pounds of fresh pork at the grocery store and some A.C. Legg's pork seasoning.  I was told to use pork butts because of the fat content (a bit higher makes better sausage) but the shoulder was pretty cheap so I gave it a go along with two butt cuts.

 

 

The test run went pretty well. It ate up meat (even some pretty large pieces) as fast as I could put it in.



 

 

 

The grinder itself will be the topic of a future post. I will be sharing how I went about designing and building it.

Does your Rosary always break?

For years I had become frustrated with several store-bought Rosaries that were built using the "bent wire" links. These links easily pull apart with very little force. I solved this problem by making my own Rosary with miniature high-tensile cable. (I will feature it in a future blogpost)
More recently I ran across this wonderful Rosary which is being offered. I don't own one, so I can't attest to it's quality or durability, but it looks promising. They call it the "Church Militant Combat Rosary". Take a look.

                             Available here:  CHURCH MILITANT COMBAT ROSARY

God's Country

A view of Lake Chetac from the front yard of our family's cabin on a recent vacation.

A Prayer to St. Joseph

Neat. Watch.

Watch and enjoy.

Make a screw in log grabber for a few bucks

I made a log grabber with a few simple parts I bought at a local Tractor Supply Company (TSC)
Start with a lag screw gate hinge. Cut off the pin which is pressed in and swelled to fit. Drive out the stub in the eye with a punch and hammer.

Next insert a 1/2" or 5/8" diameter (depending on the size of your gate lag eye hole) grade 8 bolt through a clevis and gate lag eye. Use washers to take up the gaps on the insides of the clevis and under the head and nut if preferred. Use a grade 8 crown lock nut to finish it off.

 

Here it is in action. Just fold down the clevis and tap with a hammer to start it in the wood. Use a prybar or piece or shaft or rod to turn it in. Harder woods might require a pilot hole. Minimal investment and minimal time spent building.

I have lifted some huge logs with it since I made it. Works like a charm.


Massive Redwoods Downed by Manpower

Anybody who cuts their own firewood will find this video very interesting. Watch and enjoy.

When the Hammer Drill was a "Who" not a "What"

I'm always amazed at how work got done back in the day. I can't imagine drilling rock by hand with hammers. Nowadays we just grab our electric hammer drill with a carbide tipped bit and the job is quickly done. Concrete turns to butter using modern tools. For the big jobs, a pneumatic hammer drills gets even more done by turning, vibrating, and blowing material from the drilled hole all using compressed air.

Man Makes Tire......God Makes Floating Plantscape

Man makes tire from materials God made. Man throws used tire into nature irresponsibly. God makes floating grass grower from tire that man threw away. One of my sons took this picture while fishing at a nearby pond.