Do it yourself

A person who's his own doctor, etc.
Actually, I use the internet for most
things. Saves a ton in medical bills.
If something is wrong, I go to half
a dozen sites and get the opinion
of experts on what to do. Go to the
doc and all I have is his opinion.
And some of the time he doesn't
know and sends you elsewhere.

Trivia for the Tim Burton Batman movie where Jack Nicholson plays the Joker. One of the instruments on the "doctors" tray where he does the botched job on the Joker's face is a delivery forcep for delivering babies. (Well, I guess he did complain about the quality of instruments he had available.)

Quote: Face

It's such a simple thing that will cost a ton of money. Hell, walking in the door is liable to be over $50 right there. By the time you figure time, utensils, anesthesia, analgesic, bandage... it'll be a several hundred dollar bill. Maybe more.

I was cutting trail for horses in the rain, and a machete got away from me and it went through a vein on my shin. Me and the neighbor lady kept cleaning it out for days trying to get it to heal from the inside out, and taping it up afterwards.

Finally infection set in and I had to go to the dr. He was impressed, he said "you almost had it", if the infection hadn't got you, you'd been ok. He was so impressed, he hooked me up with some big penicillin, for the next time. : )

But this is my teotwawki trick. You would be amazed at what you can get from a feed supply house as far as wound fixing and anti-biotics. Probably not kosher, but po people got po ways. They don't give shit medicine to million dollar horses. This is hypothetical of course. : ], not. Get familiar with your local vet, get him drunk, get pictures. ; ] Cysts, pfft. Between vets and chiropractors you can fix a lot of stuff. Besides that, you might faint and bleed out once you make the initial slice.

If kids are going to be accident prone [which it seems there is one in every family] they need to be tough.

Quote:

DIY is free. Well, $3 for a blade, $2.25 for booze,

What, do you know somebody with a still? I have drank some shine, that would allow you to stitch yourself up for sure.

Quote: AZDuffman

Should I have stayed outside busting up pallets for the latest project?

What you going to do with pallets?

Quote: petroglyph

What you going to do with pallets?

First projects are herb garden, worm bin, and butcher's block.

Oh, and get this. While I am working with the herb garden my mailman tells me about some other guy on the route doing the same stuff. Hoping to meet the dude and exchange ideas.

Quote: AZDuffman

First projects are herb garden, worm bin, and butcher's block.

Oh, and get this. While I am working with the herb garden my mailman tells me about some other guy on the route doing the same stuff. Hoping to meet the dude and exchange ideas.

Good stuff. Sounds enjoyable.

I hope if you get oak dust floating around you use a mask. Sometimes that oak can carry poison oak with it, you don't want it in your lungs.

Quote: AZDuffman

First projects are herb garden, worm bin, and butcher's block.

Scan the books and blogs on handicapped gardening so as to learn how to make your raised beds sufficiently raised that you do not have to engage in 'stoop labor'; worms that burrow vertically are best at aeration of soil but worm bins are often rotated to keep the critters munching on moist stuff. Remember ... junk mail is good for the garden or as a winter heating fuel.

Quote: Fleastiff

Remember ... junk mail is good for the garden or as a winter heating fuel.

Way ahead of you on using it for worms. You would be amazed how much junk mail you get just from bills. Pages and pages of yummy stuff for the critters. If I build my own house for my terminal house I will try to make a rocket stove integrate into it to use as fuel as well. Heard a guy say he heated most of his place just on the stuff.

I will try to get both in the thread sometime. Right now just wishing the weather would cooperate.

My garage door spring latch striker is totally worn down.
Just a small piece.
I can easily replace it if I can get the part
My garage door manufacturer is Precision overhead garage door
So I call up the local Precision garage door outfit.
They don't sell parts
WTF
I have to have a service call to replace one lousy part
I didn't even ask how much a service visit would cost, I was so disappointed and dismayed I cant just buy a part from them
I check out the local tool store, they have some generic garage door parts but not what I am looking for
I go on ebay
I find my 1 part among a set of parts
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Garage-Door-T-Lock-Kit-w-Spring-Latch-Keyed-in-Handle-UNIVERSAL-All-Doors-/281899197326?hash=item41a280638e:g:4FgAAOSwZG9Wh0dc

Here it is, just ordered it. Hopefully it fits
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garage-door-Lock-Spring-Latch-STRIKER-AUTO-LATCH-STRIKE-/260667728015?hash=item3cb101e08f:m:m94Ox9zeTkrVXxsV0NuRa3Q

PALLET FUN

Weather is finally cooperating and I have a week between jobs so time to start some pallet projects.



(Yes, that is the beehive in the background.)

Now, for whatever reason, lately pallet ideas have fascinated me. I think it is about re-purposing something destined to be a waste product. Pintrest is a wealth of ideas, plus some other pallet sites. So I found a source, got some U out of the SUV again, and brought them home. Then did it a few more times.

First thing to do is to see what you have. Every pallet is supposed to have a code on it. Pallets are treated for pests in one of two ways, heat or fumigation. "HT" means "heat treated" and "MB" means Methyl Bromide. Some people do not want the MB for fear of pesticides. This does not worry me as much as I know MB leaves no residual. If you eat chocolate made in USA, you are eating something that was treated with a fumigant like Methyl Bromide. Trust me, the guy who did the chocolate did a job for me in Niagara Falls. He did about half, another company the other half. All at the main point of entry for cocoa. They were competitors, bit they covered each other because the work was so important. What I am saying is if it had a residual they would not use it. However, I hope to eventually sell some of my creations so good that I know about my source.



MX=Mexico as the country of origin. Heat treated.

Next issue is to tear the suckers apart. First time I tired I used a hammer and WonderBar(r). That lasted 10 minutes. Pallets are put together not to fall apart. If you do this you need to use a sawsall. This is a wonderful tool for any kind of demolition cutting. Surprisingly, it leaves little marks when you cut them apart. Some sources suggest cutting the wood and throwing away the ends. A big waste and leaves lots of scrap and smaller pieces. No, I just cut the nails. You have nails still showing, but that gives a rustic look. If you do not want a rustic look, well don't use pallets to build.



Takes me about 10 minutes to tear one apart. Then the wood has to be sorted and sort-of graded.



Trial and error so far. I have come to the following for my system:

1. The three stringers, then they get divided by hardwood or pine
2. Pieces that I can rip to 3" wide or less, again hardwood or pine
3. Pieces that I can rip to 5" wide or less, hardwood or pine
4. Pieces that are scabs and scrap

I do a little more subdivision by length, but the jist is that I am making a system of sorts.

The first project is to look something like this, but three levels only and of pallet wood. Stay tuned.