Author Archives: Woodsbum

Coal Forge Continued

by Woodsbum

My forge is home and safely stored until I can get my covered work area set up. It really is everything I had hoped and more. To start, I will tell a bit about the man that used to own this and all the tools.

The previous owner was a farrier that specialized in hot shoeing. He made all his own shoes from stock and did a lot of corrective foot work with various veterinarians around the area. For over 40 years this man put shoes on horses and made all sorts of hand forged items. One day he just sat down his hammer and had to quit. His tools and forge just sat there for years until and after he passed away. This little time capsule was like a window into this man’s life. After time went by, this man’s son and mother wanted to pass everything along to someone who would use and appreciate what was there. My brother is a farrier and run across this beauty, then IMMEDIATELY called me to see if I was interested. Of course I was and drove 450 miles to go pick this up.

Time Capsule

I didn’t take the water or soda, but I did get all the tools you see. Some things are a bit rusted out, but everything is able to be cleaned up to make serviceable again. There are hardies, tongs, hammers, chisels, punches….. The list goes on and on. I am truly blessed and honored that this family passed these treasures along to me.

Here is another picture of this time capsule from a different angle.

Coal forge

If you look at the bottom of the picture, there is an unfinished draw knife. Finishing that up will actually be one of my first projects, after I build a covered area to set everything up in.

Of course many thanks go out to the wonderful family that passed this along to me, but I also have to give my wife SO much credit. She puts up with all my weird projects, strange hobbies and crazy gear/equipment that I drag home. Although she complains about the clutter and calls me a hoarder, she understands and supports my need to have creative outlets such as this. She truly is amazing and I can’t wait to make some really nice things for her.

As I get this set up and start pushing out finished products, I will post them here.

Coal Forge

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by Woodsbum

This week I have spent every available moment working on my Truck. Last fall, I ended up losing the engine and mistakenly picked up a long block that was built by S&J Motors out of Spokane, WA. From the beginning there was trouble. The first time I turned it over, there was a really bad tappet sound like the valves needed adjusting. The problem with adjusting the valves is that the lifters are hydraulic. There is no adjustment for them. Days, weeks and months of fighting with this motor and S&J finally led me to where I am today. I had to do the following:

Replace the flex plate
Replace the lifters
Replace the timing chain tensioners
Disassemble the engine back to long block or there about several times
Change out coil packs
Remove rockers to check valves and springs
The list goes on and on…….

I now have the timing chain tensioners installed, but after the last time I ran the truck and drove it around the block to see if the noise was associated with some hydraulic lifter/tensioner I now have what seems like a cylinder misfire or burned valve.

S&J has been 100% useless in this entire process and have basically just thrown out things for me to look at. They are doing everything that they can to somehow blame me for this engine that didn’t even have the timing chain tensioners adjusted correctly when they shipped it to me.

How does all this issue with my truck even remotely have anything to do with a coal forge? Well, I am glad that you asked – Without my truck, I have been unable to go pick up the coal forge and tools that someone is going to give me if I drop by to pick it up.

Since I have no truck, I am going to have to drive the 500 miles round trip and haul this entire setup back in our Subaru Outback. Hopefully, this forge breaks down to a point where I can make it fit in the back of the car.

If all goes well and I get this forge back to my place, I will be starting to make things the minute my current projects are caught up. This means that it will probably be some time this fall at best. There are 2 motorcycles, a truck, flooring in the house, 35 feet of fencing, painting the eaves of the house, a retaining wall and transporting 3 trailer loads of yard debris and trash to the dump before I can even think about starting a new project. “If I want to keep from getting throat punched by my wife, I will have to get those other projects completed first,” is what I should have said.

Keep your fingers crossed for me because if I can get the forge, I will start to make some things and sell them on my website at seriously discounted prices.

Dehydrating Vegetables

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by Woodsbum

The time has come again where I bust out my dehydrator. This week I found a great deal on frozen peas, carrots, and green beans. Somehow I wandered into an almost 40% off deal on store brand bags, so I picked up something like 20 bags of my “soup 3” as I call them. I also ran into a deal on carne asada so I grabbed a package to test it out. In a few weeks our plums should be ready to pick, dehydrate and store.

The reason that I like frozen vegetables for dehydrating is that they are already blanched. It completely skips a tedious step in the process of food preparation. Before you dehydrate fresh vegetables, they need to be blanched first. This involves dipping them in boiling water and then putting them in ice water. Some people say that this is unnecessary, but I have found that they rehydrate better when blanched without turning into veggie flour.

When I dehydrate vegetables, I use my Excalibur unit on 125 degrees for about 12-14 hours. For some reason it seems to take longer to get food dehydrated or jerked here due to humidity. My jerky for example takes about 18-22 hours with all 5 trays full. The carne asada that I use for soups is kind of greasy, but doesn’t have to be cut or prepared before turning into jerky. You can just put it on the trays right after marinating for 24 hours. No cutting, no carving, no fuss involved in the process.

Once I get done dehydrating, I use my Foodsaver vacuum sealer for long term storage. The fruits seem to last a couple years if I completely dehydrate them and seal them in this manner. I end up using my vegetables and jerky before the year is out so I don’t have a good handle on how long they will keep. My sealed packages are kept in a food safe bucket and lid. You can also put them in Mylar bags to keep them longer, but the buckets seem to work well.

I also keep barley and bouillon on hand to make my soups. I start by boiling up some water and then add barley, bouillon, and jerky. After cooking about 30 minutes, I add my vegetables and finish cooking. It should take another 30-45 minutes to finish cooking, depending on altitude.

Ringing or Girdling a Tree

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by Woodsbum

Ringing a tree is a great way to kill a tree that can be used later on as firewood. It will dry and cure in a standing position rather than getting all wet from sitting on the ground. Some species of tree will also drain a huge amount of pitch into its stump/root system so you will have a supply of fatwood as well.

Here is a video where a guy goes through the whole process.

Yard Work

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by Woodsbum

Well, I have started my yard work projects that will include building a small herb and medicinal plant garden. This last weekend I had to replace the fence between myself and my neighbor to the back of my house. We did about 70 feet of “good neighbor” fencing, build a retaining wall to level his property and also dug up two huge stumps on my side so that I can start gardening a bit. I will have to set a new retaining wall around the tree in the corner as well as a fence to keep the dogs out. It should be nice.

Now I have to plan ahead to figure out how I want to build the wall and fence. If I use railroad ties there is a potential for the chemicals in the ties to mess up the fragile plants that I want to grow. This may require me to build myself something out of stone and set fencing around it. If I use cinder blocks, I can set the fence posts inside the blocks, thus making it stronger and less of a need to go to a taller fence to keep the dogs out. I may look at that as a possible method.

Now for the plants, I really want to do some serious research before I just go all “plant” crazy. There are definite things that I will have to look at such as medicine qualities, climate in which the plant grows best, etc. I also don’t want my plants to end up taking over the entire area so I will need to make sure that none of them start acting like blackberries either.

If anyone has any good suggestions for plants that will grow well in the PNW, let me know.