Practicalities
Notes and Musings on Work-a-Day Life…
Category Archives: Practicalities
Entropic Chic Interrupted
As a species, we scramble around trying to improve our situation. We invent, experiment, build and create, all in the hope of finding something better than whatever it is that we already have. We like change.
Nature, however, prefers things as they were. What follows is an example of that ongoing disagreement.
Foundry Flasks
I work part time at a small foundry. I come in once or twice a week as an independent contractor to maintain the machines, repair equipment and fabricate things as need be. At one point I was asked to build a few flasks- frames to hold patterns. Continue reading
Two Part Invention
This post sort of reminds me of that circular discussion regarding some old work of art: “Did it survive because it was great, or is it great because it survived?”
That’s because the projects in this post aren’t really among the greatest things I’ve ever done. It’s just that I happen to have photographs of them. Continue reading
Shop & Field: Broken Zinc
This may seem too boat-specific to have broader value, but it might apply to anyone who uses threaded pipe fittings.
Continue reading
Shop & Field: Bench Vise
After years of clamping work-pieces to improvised benches at various jobsites, I came to favor the endless versatility of clamps over traditional vises.
Now, however, I’ve decided it’s time for a proper vise.
Continue reading
Shop & Field: Toolbox Rescue
A classic old Craftsman toolbox came into my possession in a sad state of neglect. I came very close to simply scrapping it, but I made the mistake of hesitating, of thinking about it. Continue reading
Shop & Field: Cabinet Heater
If you don’t keep your shop heated all winter long, a heated cabinet for water based paints and chemicals can keep them from freezing. Here’s mine.
Shop & Field: Sandpaper
Leave a reply
Refractory Refurb
I was tasked with making the patterns to be used in casting new refractory cement in an industrial furnace.
The job actually included the entire scope of renewing the insulating cement, but making these patterns was far and away the most enjoyable aspect of the project. Continue reading
Unpacking the Truck
I’ve noticed the changing meaning of the word ‘unpacking’ in the last few years. It used mean simply removing items from the container in which they had been stored. Like unpacking your bags after a trip.
Increasingly, reporters endeavor to ‘unpack’ the contents of a complex story, hoping to separate and clarify the interlocking layers that give the story context and meaning.
Dream Cruise
This is less of a story of a technical undertaking, and more of a muse on human nature.
A few years back, I had occasion to work on a couple of run-down sailboats whose owners remained stubbornly blind to their vessel’s overwhelming list of flaws. Continue reading