Random Stuff

I've been an avid gardener ever since I was able to pick up a shovel. Years of farming and gardening hasn't dulled this interest so when recent changes were made to certain Canadian laws, it was only natural that I would take up indoor gardening. Most people would buy themselves a grow tent and place it in a unused room, but that would be too easy for me. I'm not interested in listening to fans and blowers all day long, so the obvious answer was for me to put my grow out in the garage. Using a unheated garage to home my grow poses a number of challenges, including cold in the winter and heat in the summer. To address this, I built a insulated box on wheels. Adding some automation to the box made it able to mostly look after itself. Box Frame Basic Box Frame: The floor has been insulated underneath with some of the white Styrofoam you see. Some large casters I found allow the box to be moved around. Note the $20 Air conditioner I purchased off Kijiji. It will be pla...

Here is a short movie of my propane burner that I made for a future backyard foundry. It's made from 1 inch black pipe and assorted fittings. I'm considering attaching a blower to the air intake, which explains my playing with the hair dryer. Loosely based on the Sidearm Burner by "Frosty" from Ron Reil's website .

A glove box for doing random experiments. Made from mostly found materials. The glove holders were 3D printed by my son.

A sand blasting cabinet made from mostly found materials. Wood, glass, metal and some parts all from Ottawa's wonderful garbage days. The glove holders were 3D printed by my son. The sandblasting cabinet works fine, however I do not recommend that you follow this particular design. It isn't the most comfortable to use or convenient to look into. In retrospect, I would change the shape of the box to be more like that of the glovebox  I made.

A propane blacksmith's forge. Made from a old Oxy Acetylene gas cylinder. Lined with ceramic wool. The burner is a version of Ron Reil's  Reil EZ-Burner  that I made. Below are movies of the forge running: You will note that the burner is offset rather than straight down. This offset was recommended by a number of individuals, the idea being that it would cause the flame to swirl. I have not found this to be the case. Instead, it just causes a hot spot to one side. I would not do this again and do not recommend it. My next forge will use a top down mounting of the burners.

The "Weekender with Porch" Plan No: 22095-V2 from the now defunct conceptsamerica.com Office Building I built my wife this office building on our farm, using the above mentioned plans. Fully finished and insulated. Wired for electricity, electric heat, phone and internet. Siding is native pine sourced from the farm.