Garden Trowel
I had some gardening to do but couldn't find my trowel so set-to and made one. This was far more enjoyable than the gardening itself.
I made it more scoop-shaped than normal to make it better for getting compost &c out of bags and also a bit longer to reach into them easier.
I made it more scoop-shaped than normal to make it better for getting compost &c out of bags and also a bit longer to reach into them easier.
Refactory Bricks
The difficulty when heating metal to manipulate, solder, braze or whatever is that the metal itself conducts the heat away. It therefore needs surrounding with something that is insulating but will also stand the heat.
The correct things are sold as Refractory or Furnace bricks but are expensive due to the postage costs. I therefore decided to make my own.
The basic brick is a roughly 50:50, by volume, mixture of vermiculite from a garden centre and plaster of Paris.
Firstly mix the vermiculite and plaster together dry and then add enough water to make a porridge-like mixture. Then press this into some sort of mould.
I made an inch deep steel tray and decided to leave the mixture in it permanently as the steel would protect it from knocks and bangs. I soldered some lengths of coat hanger wire across it so the brick wouldn't fall out.
The mixture takes a few days to dry, it shouldn't be used damp as the water in it will turn to steam and may make the whole thing explode.
The correct things are sold as Refractory or Furnace bricks but are expensive due to the postage costs. I therefore decided to make my own.
The basic brick is a roughly 50:50, by volume, mixture of vermiculite from a garden centre and plaster of Paris.
Firstly mix the vermiculite and plaster together dry and then add enough water to make a porridge-like mixture. Then press this into some sort of mould.
I made an inch deep steel tray and decided to leave the mixture in it permanently as the steel would protect it from knocks and bangs. I soldered some lengths of coat hanger wire across it so the brick wouldn't fall out.
The mixture takes a few days to dry, it shouldn't be used damp as the water in it will turn to steam and may make the whole thing explode.
