Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

I am seeing a lot of variety in those cremains boxes. My son just stopped by to plow and he had some photos of a(full)box that has been waiting to be picked up for over a year now at a local Vet. That box looks similar to my small ones however, the top is glued on and they run 4 screws up through the bottom into the sides to seal the cremains inside. You have to remove the screws to open it.
 Now the way this operation works here is that there is only one location licensed to do the cremation in the county that I know of and some vets actually send the animals out of the area for cremation. The family selects a container from a catalog and the crematorium performs the service and puts the ashes in the container that was selected. Then it is returned to originating Vet for delivery back to the family.
 Apparently there is a lot more to this than I first thought. ;D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, first off, Doc, your care package arrived today. Thank you very much! Lots of stuff to work and play with there for sure. I am just waiting to come for the right sized bit to show up. Might not be until Monday now.
 In the meantime I found another distraction. I got to thinking about that oven you have Doc. I don't have anything like that, but then I thought "do what you can, with what you have, where you are".
 So I do have this little stove top oven used for baking biscuits and such. I have used it in the shop for toasting a roll now and then or heating a sandwich. Anyway, yesterday I took a piece of that thin cherry with the bug holes and stuck it in there, trying not to get it on fire.;D I left it in there overnight. Now regulating temps is really tough with that thing unless you sit there and watch it, but I kept it around 140-180 for several hours and left it in overnight running at around 120-140 or so. It did hit over 200° a time or two, I'm sure.
 This morning it was fine, I could not get a moisture reading on it at all but I did notice a bunch of tiny tiny holes open up that were not there before. Most likely PPB? The larva I found in some pieces previously were about 3/8-1/2" long and about 1/8" diameter. Anyway, it seemed to work in thin stock. So today after I got my ears lowered and set up a better experiment.


 

 That odd piece laying on top is the scrap I used for yesterdays test. I just threw it back in. This is a very small oven, you've all probably seen one.



 

 SO the test 'load' is 1/4" cherry with 1/4" ERC for stickers. All of this will wind up in the stove after I disect it to see the effects. I could make up a clamping system so I could fit a small load in there better. I figure I can do this for precut parts on small projects. If it works out, I could make a bigger stove top oven with some venting to help with temp control. I am just experimenting and thinking with my hands at this point.

 Anything for a laugh, right? :D

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

 Now you have triggered some really wild questions like "What happens to wood when you put it on a smoker and heat and smoke it similar to what you did in your little oven with these pieces above?" :P

[doc henderson]

that is neat.  would be great to do biscuits in over the woodstove our troop uses.  great work..  carry on!

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks Doc, I'll let you (and everyone else) know how it goes. I'm just messing around and thinking. I hope I don't overcook the stack tonight. I did get the first sample over 250 or so and I noticed it is a deeper brown color.

 Howard, once again, you ask questions beyond my knowledge. I'm not (hopefully) bringing this wood to smoking level. I am trying to keep is below 200° (best I can do with this rig). Most wood will not combust until you hit around 450°. I am not smoking wood unless something goes wrong. All this wood will wind up becoming BTU's anyway. Just trying to learn something.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  I was not incinerating ( :D) you were making smoker wood out of your stock. I assume you are just KD and sterilizing it and I got to wondering if a combination of heat and smoke would have any affect on the color and possibly help preserve the wood.

[21incher]

That's a really nice little oven. Great experiment.  I wonder if a microwave would do the same thing in seconds.  Seems like the moisture in the wood and bugs would heat up quickly and boil the bugs in seconds doing little damage to the wood for small pieces.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Fascinating idea 21! I should ponder on that for a bit. I wonder if there is any data out there on sterilizing wood with microwaves?

[WV Sawmiller]

   I can personally attest that using a microwave oven to soften a bar of Ivory soap you plan to cut into cubes to use on catfish lines is not a good idea. : I assume it will be less traumatic for small pieces of wood.

[21incher]

I think I still have an old microwave in the barn, I'll look for it. I have some walnut that has a lot of sap wood with bug holes to try. 

[Larry]

I've dried lots of green wood turned bowls in the microwave.  Maple and cherry are the best behaving.  I usually weigh the bowl and use the auto defrost cycle.  I've dried thick chair stretchers and other items.  Too long and it will burn starting on the inside.  I've oven dried kiln samples in the microwave.  20 minutes at 30 percent power but expect defects.

Also dried using the oven and sand pot.  Over 180 degrees expect a color change.  Some folks will go up to 350 degrees but this is part of the finishing and called roasted wood.  Nice pleasing colors but it only takes a few minutes and better be watching closely.

[Old Greenhorn]

Interesting Larry. I have been watching some you tubes since this came up. Yeah it will burn from the inside out, like a piece of meat. I am mostly interested in killing the bugs beyond doubt. I see there are commercial unit s that do this as a feed through design. Wondering now, how long would it have to cook to kill the bugs. I am thinking not very long. The wood I am working with is already at 8-12% MC so it doesn't have a long way to go.
 As I sit here in the house and see the shop temp is back up to 62° I know the stove took off out there and likely the wood is getting too hot already. >:( No risk of fire beyond the wood burning on top of the woodstove and leaving a mess. I have a steel stove on a concrete floor surrounded by concrete wall. Not a lot to worry about..... I hope. ;D

[doc henderson]

@GeneWengert-WoodDoc has talked about the microwave for dry weight calculations.  He says if it starts to smoke, you are just past done. :D  every microwave is different, and I assume each species and starting MC will make a difference.  It is faster but prob. best to remain attentive.  the oven at 200 is relatively safe and can be check every few hours till the end.  the end is when there is no further drop in weight.  We had a toaster oven that my wife no longer used, so I used it occasionally for this.  one day it was gone.  she gave it away cause "WE no longer were using it!".     

[Old Greenhorn]

......  she gave it away cause "WE no longer were using it!".    

Well THAT was helpful!

[doc henderson]

well if you can find a few bugs in some wood, you can put them on the side and run till they explode or something.  

[21incher]

It's hard to tell if it works because nothing crawls out into the microwave like when you use heat that gives them time to evacuate. One thing I found is wood  behaves  like electronic components. When it gets too hot smoke escapes making it useless. I think it probably would do a fast kill with a lower power microwave but with no way to tell if you got any or all of them it's probably better to just use heat and look for a pile of bugs. I have a old electric stove for powder coat curing in the oven and probably just adding a better temp controller will be best for my needs. One other thing I have been thinking about is my big 12 tray caballas dehydrator. It tops out at about 155 degrees and has super airflow.

[doc henderson]

I went and spoke to the foreman at the HVAC place we have used for 20 + years.  I gave them the dimensions for a hot box, sterilizing container.  2 x 4 x 10 to power with the dryer heat element, and some fans.  it will be on a pallet and insulated with an outdoor covering so it can be used outside of my shop.  more room and less fire risk in the shop.  I should hear the price in the am.  Just galvanized sheet metal to seal it up and make the ducting for the heat and fans.  covered in insulation and supported by a wood frame.  It may be cheaper cause we are long time good customers, or more because I work at the hospital with initials in front of or behind my name.  we will see.     

[Old Greenhorn]

Well Doc, that will be a great thing to have for sure! Kick things up a notch, it will. Hope it comes in cheaper than you think.
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21, yeah that's kind of why I did the experiment. I will be splitting up all the pieces and checking the insides. My first sample was clean and I haven't had a chance to go through the next stack yet. I don't think a bug will survive long even on low power MW and I don't think there is a need to let the smoke out of the wood. I did cook my mini stack a bit much and discolored it, which goes all the way through and won't sand out. But the cup that was in the wood did go away under clamping and drying. I also learned I cannot do this without watching it, lest the temp get too high. I might buy a used MW and play with it. I will just have to search out some infected samples. ;D
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 Well I ran out of patience today and went and bought a 2" bit at Lowes when I found out they actually had them in stock. I bored a pocket in the bottoms of all the boxes and glued one in each.



 

I think it's looks pretty good. I have to do another coat of tung oil finish on all of them anyway. A few I had to touch sand because they stood a little bit proud and once they are in, they won't come out. The are not a loose fit.



 

I'm happy with those. Thanks again Doc!

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 I had a repeat log client come up and pick up about 15 logs for his order of 200 or so, it was all he could fit in his car. He also dropped off his Loginator for an upgrade/repair. He broke the top when he dropped a 200# log on it. ;D I'll replace that (under warranty) with an 8/4 top.
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 I started two more boxes (with the Bill joint) to try a production method out and also make two more of the larger ones. I got all the sides cut and the squaring blocks made up, but got no further because I ran of of time. I bounced between too many things today and had some other distractions. Hopefully tomorrow is a head-down day and I get a lot done. Friday I have to get ready for the weekend Hoot which will take my time from midday friday until Sunday night. SO no work will get done. Not looking forward to this as much as I used to. I have too much to do and not enough time and they are making my job tougher over there. I am thinking it's time to turn over the reigns to someone else. I think this is my 20th Hoot.
 So just another boring day, but a few things got done or at least they moved along.

[doc henderson]

they look great.  who says you cannot collaborate from a thousand or so miles away.  glad you are happy.  let me know when you run low, as I saved the print, and can easily make another batch in very little time.  

[Old Greenhorn]

I just came back in from another short shop session trying to get a little more done and put a coat of tung oil on those bottoms and they look really good. Very pleased. Yes, collaboration even over extended distances can be a wonderful thig when it comes together. :D

 I worked a project that was forced on me in a previous life wherein I had to bring together the work of a machine builder in Japan, and installation engineer in Houston, a site Engineer in Chicago, and design an installation template which included fittings from France, Germany, Japan, and the USA and make it all fit seamlessly into a location in Fishkill, NY. At best it was a nightmare getting samples and matching up all the different threads, metric pip[e couplings, double contained acid pipe fittings, Gas, sewage, drainage, air, etc. But in my case, I was given the project, with a 4 week deadline (impossible) and no fittings to work with. I had to have them shipped in from all over the globe. Just another project with an impossible deadline, which are the ones that had my name on them. What I won't forget was the date I was handed the project. September 10th, 2001.

[aigheadish]

A coworker friend of mine just had her dog pass away a couple days ago. I tried to sell her one of your boxes but she'd already bought something... 

[Old Greenhorn]

 Well, a full day today and it's not over yet. It occurred to me today that I spend close to 2 hours a day tending the two stoves and hauling wood in. Nothing special about that, it just occurred to me. :D That's a lot of time.
 I spent the day in the shop after getting the temp back up (it was chilly last night, around 15°). Still loving the new stove and almost have it figured out. I made two more boxes up (mostly) and glued the sides, which is the slow part. On these I was working out the production steps to make it more repeatable and that part of it went well and I am pleased with it. I am still not much of a wood worker so I am trying to improve my technique on the little stuff like glue squeeze, getting square clean corners on the first try, etc. Progress is slow, but it is progress.
 I put another coat of tung oil on the finished boxes which was very tedious indeed and took about an hour and a half. I don't enjoy repetitive work much at all. As I was looking them over, once again, I am still trying to decide which joint I like the best. I have no idea yet.
 I'm done with work until Monday now. Tomorrow I head over the The Hoot for the weekend running the first aid crew. I have to get myself packed tonight and get myself in presentable condition (shave, trim the beard, etc.) so I don't look like some old coot that just crawled out of the woods. A lot of my patients over the weekend are small children with boo-boo's and apparently I scare them if I am not trimmed up. (Well, even if I am trimmed up, the city kids are sensitive I guess. :D So are their parents.) 
 I got an email from one of my log clients and they asked if they could up their order from 125 to 190 logs. ;D Sure, not problem! (Now I gotta find the trees  ;D) So I guess I change gears again on Monday and start putting my nose into it. I am outstanding on about 300 logs at this point. If nothing else, it's a great way to increase the cash flow and think of all that fresh cold, clean air I'll be getting. :D Headed for below zero on Saturday which should put the trees in better shape.

 So tomorrow I will load the truck with a lot of stuff I won't need, load up the house and shop stoves, haul in all the wood I can for the house so the wife doesn't have to do it and probably load up another cart for her. The shop stove will burn out it's load by evening and then it will go out. There is a small chance I MAY come home Saturday morning to re-fire the shop stove just because of the severe temp drop, but not likely because it's a hassle to leave and drive back and forth. Maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff. Staying up till 3am for a final safety sweep, then getting up at 7am to check things out wears a body out.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I'm trying to get back into the groove and get the shop back to a decent saturated temperature. I was gone for the weekend as mentioned above and it got down to more than 10 below on Saturday overnight with very high winds gusting up to near 50MPH. By 8am Saturday the shop was down to about 28° which is very unusual even if I am not heating it, but the wind sucked the life out of it. That was concerning, so as soon as I could get reliable coverage on 'my job' I ran home, fired up the stove and packed it, then went back. Not sure how much good it did, but Saturday the temp did warm during the day and the wind faded out, so maybe it helped a bit. I booked out as quick as I could Sunday after cleanup and got home and fired the stove up again, this time it was about 38 outside and 37 in the shop. The air temp came up pretty quick, but the working shop temp and comfort level was a lot lower than that. I got it up to barely 60° in 4 or 5 hours because the walls and floor was so cold and just sucking the heat out of the air. Packed a good load in last night and it was 55 when I went to reload this morning. I got it up to 62 or a bit more today while working but it still 'felt' cool. It is recovering and should be more normal tomorrow. (It's 74 out there now, I gotta fix that.)
 I worked on a couple of boxes today... a little bit, but spent most of my time making a display card for selling them and an instruction type brochure to go inside each one that sells. That stuff takes a lot more time than it should. ;D  I ran out to Staples and got a shipping box and some other stuff. I have a lot of boxes, but not one the right size. I should have gone to cut logs today, but when it got solid overcast it changed my mood and I went to the paperwork which I had been avoiding. Tomorrow I will try to finish off those other two boxes and start packaging up the ones I am shipping.
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 As far as the Hoot, it was uneventful for me, which is great! When your job is running the medical crew, that's exactly how you want it.  Great music and good people. I met a lot of great new folks, saw a lot of old friends, listened to a lot of music, played a little (in a quiet corner so nobody got hurt ;D) and had a nice relaxing time even though I got maybe 5 hours sleep over the 2 nights.
 Doc, you will get a kick out of this. I ran into a nice young fella serving on the paid staff at the center on a 1 year contract as an environmental educator on a career track. We started chatting and somehow stumbled on Philmont. Turns out he worked on staff at the Garcia Cow program camp one year. He also worked at Sea base for a season as well as the New Hampshire Hut system. He's an Eagle Scout. We had a great time talking about kids, teaching, working on camp staffs, and lots of other stuff. We talked through the whole weekend off and on. He is leaving in May and going to CO to work at another outdoor education facility while he works on his master's degree. He is hoping to come back to Ashokan after that because he enjoys it so. Interesting story about how he wound up at Ashokan in the first place, and it started at Philmont... with a song. I had a Philmont story for him about the very same song. It was a little spooky, but the stories are too long to include here, at least not tonight.
 As usual, I didn't take hardly any photos because I am working 'in the moment'. But I did document our Ice Carver's work. He did an amazing job as usual in 10° weather. He made this in about 4-5 hours working non stop from 3 ice cakes.


 

 For scale, the round that the piece is sitting on is about 20" diameter and the top of the piece is about 6.5' tall.

 I also watched him showing a little boy how his tools worked and he grabbed a small block and made this rose in about 45 seconds.


 

 It's cut into the back of the block and penetrates about 3" deep. You can't see the detail in the photo, but it's pretty amazing.

 One of my crew members sent me a photo she took that I was unaware of. I am watching the ice carver through the window and talking with another crew member about what each of us thought the carver was doing.


 

 @newoodguy78  might recognize the hat I have on. It's from the world famous Blossoming Acres Farm. It's my new favorite cold weather hat because it also makes a perfect hard hat liner. (Thanks again man!) The other fella in the photo, as I said was on my crew, but he is also my Chiropractor, Dr. Marc. Great guy and a huge help this weekend, as always.

 Oh and Doc, the gal who did my logo design does all the artwork for this event (that's where I met her years ago) and I gave her one of your coins. She thought that was "THE COOLEST THING EVER!" I think this was my 20th Hoot and I also think it's time to start training up a replacement. I thought I had one ready to go, but I guess she has moved on to other things.

 Ah well, tomorrow is another day, right?

[doc henderson]

Philmont is quite the experience and brings lots of folks together.  glad she liked the coin, and feels her art is helping you and representing your co.  made me smile.  

[newoodguy78]

Well look at that. Glad you're putting the hat to good use and enjoy it. You wear it well. The world famous part ehh I don't know, infamous around here oh yeah  :D :D