I have Moved

I have moved to another blog, still in blogger, but a little different. The new blog is to show my photography and yes I will rant a little. I will still post any new rod builds or fly tying here though. So I hope you check it out and follow me there. Natures Views Photography

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Fly Rod Contest

It has been awhile, but since this is a blog about rod building or that is what it started as any way, thought I would post my latest rod. This is one I am doing for the Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Fly Rod Building Contest. Hook and Hackle is hosting the contest and they donated the rod kits.SO big shout of Thanks out to the guys at Hook and Hackle.
OK here it is, it is a Desert Shield / Desert Storm theme. The hook keeper is my Desert Storm  Service Ribbon .he decal is my unit and the dates I was there ....that's right first in last out , aint that the way it always is. The rest is just for show.

Well there it is hope to build more soon . I still 4 or 5 blanks to work with.

Who is Standing Up For Your Right to Fish.

 Just another reason I support a change....re-enforces why I will vote Obama out!!!!
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/RFA-Praises-Romney-For-Addressing-Anglers-In-Big-Game-Fishing-Journal.html?soid=1102181706823&aid=f6UTHVdrAHs



And lest we forget the Walton Foundation ..Enemy Number One to Sportsmen and commercial fishermen....

The Walton Foundations 2011 Grant Report

Ready to Assembly the Green House

Today I got to work plumbing the two blue 55 gal barrels that I will be using for the sump.These are tied together to fill together. I have decide to us a sump so that the water in the fish tank stays the same level.  I will put a pump in the  sump, it will pump into the fish tank . The water will flow through a overflow into  2 black 55 gal barrels that are tied together so they fill together. A overflow on the black drums will flow to the grow beds , which will drain through bell siphons back to the sump. I will also have a raft system set up to have water pumped through a “T” to the raft tank which will overflow back to the sump.
Right now I have the IBC for the fish tank and Raft tank, and the two blue barrels for the sump. I will be using two black pickle barrels for the two barrels before the grow beds. The grow beds will be two more blue barrels cut in half and filled with gravel.
Still have to get the barrels for the grow beds and the pickle barrels. I will also be adding pickle barrels to collect rain off the green house.

I have been lazy with this blog for awhile. The hot summer has taken its toll . But back on track now, I hope for awhile. The heat has subsided into the mid 90's so I got back out in the garden . I am starting the process of leveling the spot for my green house . This is a little bit of a challenge since I have such a slope in the back yard.

The green house is going to be where my old raised beds were, so had to tear them out. As you can see they were about to fall apart anyway. They had been there close to 5 years .

Old raised beds , they were ready to go.

I decided to go with a 4x4 foundation and will use gravel for the floor. Here you can see the 4X4 frame and how the slope of the yard is keeping this interesting.

Entrance will be here. Probably go with flower bed on each side of they walk way to the door.

The two pepper plants that were not in the way.

Left side, Fish tank (IBC) will be in the left rear corner.

Corner where the IBC will be.

From the rear

  I have the frame level now, So you can see how much I will have to fill. I think I might go with the cinder block or the decorative blocks for retaining walls to fill the down hill side. Really don't think I will have to bring any more soil in . When I dig the IBC in (about 20 inches deep) that soil should be enough to level the floor before the gravel goes down. So that is where the Green house project is at this point.
Now for just some random pics around the garden and Aquaponics system. It is running good , plenty of peppers even the okra is producing.

So enjoy The Slide Show !!

(Slideshow at the bottom of this blog page)http://newwavegardeningexperiment.wordpress.com/

OK  time to get back to work . More Pics to come as the work progresses. until then have a great day.

DIY Survival Alcohol Burning Gas Jet Stove

I have been reading on some of the Prep-er pages, Survival, and yes even some of the Zombie Apocalypse pages. I came across some very cool DIY light weight  stoves, for camping or survival  situations. I liked quite a few of them . This Alcohol Burning Gas Jet Stove was very interesting to me, their version was made from a Bud Lite aluminum bottle.

So I decided to construct my own. I decided to use a Oliver's Peach Hard Cider aluminum bottle since I didn't have or drink Bud Lite . These aluminum bottles are much sturdier than the aluminum soda can that many of the Micro stoves are made from. So they made a much more durable stove that is not as apt to be crushed in you pack.

Not sure if any of you have tried this but it is pretty good. Kind of dangerous, you can drink quite a few of these very quickly without tasting the alcohol.

Steps:

     Step 1: To begin with you will need a marker, some JB Weld, and some thing to measure with.

 

      Step 2: Start with a mark at the height you want the stove to be. I chose 2 1/2 inches and placed a mark there with the marker.

      Step 3:   The next cut will be for the inside of the stove, this needs to start right where the bottle becomes straight coming down from the neck. It is important to make sure this is exactly at that point.

    Step 4:  Measure from the mark in step 2 to a point up the neck at 2 1/4 inches. This is taking into account for the indent in the bottom of the bottle about a 1/4 inch.

Step 5:    This step is to cut the bottle on the marks just made. I used my miter saw with a  metal cutting blade. Be sure to wear eye protection when making these cuts the bits of aluminum I am sure would not be good in the eyes.

 

 

    Step :5:  The blade will leave the edges rough so they will have to be smoothed out.

I use a 4 way file and sand paper to do this. you have to make sure that you get all the burrs off the pieces. Also you want to rough up the out side edge of the neck of the bottle and the the inside edge of the bottom of the bottle.

 These will show how I roughed up the mating surfaces on the two pieces so that the JB Weld will get a tight grip.

This is why I said earlier to make sure you cut the top of the bottle exactly where the bottle starts to straighten. I missed by that much and here is the result.

Luckily I had another bottle to cut. This time I was more careful and this is the result.

      Step 6: You can see in the photo above the weep holes at the bottom these allow alcohol to seep under the flue for lack a better choice of words. I cut these with the file .

   Step 7: Now mix up a small batch of JB Weld , I used JB Weld instead of epoxy because it has a higher heat rating. Mix until well blended then apply a small amount around the out side edge of the flue.

   Step 8: Next place the flue into the base, ensure that the flue is seated in the bottom of the base. It helped me to turn upside down and press with my hand ,then tap to set with a hammer and a block of wood.

 

Step 9: Turn upside down and weight for 24 hours. I turn it upside down to insure that as it sets up the weld will flow toward the top and create a good seal. This will also keep it from flowing down to where in the next step we will drill the jet holes.


 Step 10:  Now after waiting the 24 hour time to set, we will drill the jets. I used a 1/16th drill bit to drill these with. I drilled these holes 1 inch down from the top. I drilled 18 hole evenly around the stove.

  

I used a piece of masking tape to lay out the holes around the bottle. Ok you probably noticed that it is a different color can. Well I did not want to wait the 24 hrs for it to set up before making this post, so I used the original stove I made that is in the video at the end. kind of like the cooks on TV put the dish in the top oven and pull the finished one out of the bottom.

 That is the way I made it and it works pretty good.

It boiled the water in this water chestnut can in just about two min. I had to relight the stove once because I didn't give it enough time to heat up. The alcohol has to boil before it will give off the gas that comes out of the jets. You might have to blow it just a bit to get the jets lit. The alcohol is a blue flame and can't be seen in day light, you can see the heat waves coming from the flame. Be very careful , this is a very hot stove and the heat rises a foot or so above the stove. So do not bend over to smell the food, take it off the fire first. Make sure to let the stove cool completely before refueling, and never attempt to refuel while it is burning.

The stove also put out a lot of heat to the sides , it would be practical for winter scenario in that it would provide heat for yourself as well as cook your food.