Sometimes people overlook simplicity

Here is an interesting theory about the construction of Stonehenge. Makes a lot of sense to me.

Studley by name, Studley by nature

Back in the mid 90s, I remember picking up a magazine at the military dentist. Airforce magazine or flight international or something like that. Inside was a picture I stared and stared at. It was an advertisement for something, I can't remember what - but I never forgot the image.
It's been well over 10 years and I was chatting to my mate Irish Stu about this tool chest I once saw, and how impressive it was.
Well, after describing it to Stu, I figured I do my darndest to find it on the web.
Using image google, I was surprised to find it within minutes.....so here it is:
The Studley Tool Chest

Massachusetts piano maker Henry Studley built his magnificent tool chest over the course of a 30-year career at the Poole Piano Company. The chest lived on the wall near his workbench, and he worked on it regularly, making changes and adding new tools as he acquired them. Using ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, rosewood, and mahogany -- all materials used in the manufacture of pianos -- he refined the chest to the point that now, more than 80 years after his death, it remains in a class of its own.

Considering how many tools it holds, the famous chest is really quite small; when closed, it is just 9 in. deep, 39 in. high, and just more than 18 in. wide. Yet it houses so many tools -- some 300 -- so densely packed that three strong men strain to lift it.

For every tool, Studley fashioned a holder to keep it in place and to showcase it. Miniature wrenches, handmade saws, and some still unidentified piano-making tools each have intricate inlaid holders. Tiny clasps rotate out of the way so a tool can be removed. In places the clearances are so tight that the tools nearly touch. The chest, which hangs on ledgers secured to a wall, folds closed like a book. And as the chest is closed, tools protruding from the left side nestle into spaces between tools on the right side. Amazingly, despite being so densely packed, the tools are all easily accessible.

Studley was well into his 80s when he retired from the piano company. Before he died in 1925, Studley gave the tool chest to a friend. That man's grandson, Peter Hardwick, loaned the chest to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s and later sold it to a private collector in the Midwest. That owner again sold the tool chest to another private collector, where it now resides.

Fine Woodworking Magazine Article (incl High Res downloads)

The Plywood Tree

Here is an interesting site detailing what I guess you'd call, well I dunno what.

http://plywoodtree.grographics.com/


Basically, a guy creates a tree out of plywood, and then chops it down, recycles it into a sheet of plywood and then returns it to Home Depot for a refund. Some kind of statement I guess.

Personally, I really like the tree he made, and it is a shame to chop it down after all that work.

Trailer Trash

I like retro caravans, and mark my words they will make a comeback. Vintage caravans are where it's at.

Anyway, I came across this interesting site that is all about making you own retro travel trailer. $60 USD gets you all the plans and info you need to make your own caravan.
http://www.desertteardrops.com/

Plug + Play Construction

This interesting article in wired magazine reminds me of something I have thought about for years: Modular housing. The concept itself isn't new, but previously it's been done only to a certain level.

This "Loblolly" house by kierantimberlake.com is a prototype of a true plug and play house which incorporates wiring, communications, plumbing, heating etc into the wall, floor and roof modules.

"THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY to construct a house is to build it in a factory. This reduces a home's "embodied energy" – the amount of power expended in its fabrication and construction. And conventional homebuilding is dirty work. From the fuel used by commuting workers to onsite diesel generators, the construction and operation of homes and other structures generates 40 to 50 percent of all the greenhouse gases in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration."

Wired Magazine Article
Loblolly House homepage

Another Perfect Day in Paradise

One time camping around 2000 in Arrowtown (near Queenstown NZ), I heard a scottist tourist at the next site over come out of his tent and loudly proclaim "Ahhhh....another payfact dey in paradiyce".
At the time I had only left NZ's shores once, to go to Fiji for a holiday, but as I was about to head away from NZ for at least a few years, what the scotsman said got me thinking. It got me thinking that maybe I take this place for granted.
Now that it's almost 6 years since I lived in NZ, I now realise I sure did take it for granted.

So, here is a quick shot of me in a small slice of heaven. You can't see my face by I am grinning. It's not easy work cutting gorse but I got a decent gas powered cutter last visit which makes it a bit easier.
In NZ, Gorse, Thistle and a bunch of other weeds were brought here by the English and Scots when they came here a couple of hundred years ago. Thistle was brought to remind the Scots of home, and Gorse was being used for farm hedges in England. Unfortunately, Gorse is nothing but a real pain in the ass (sometimes literally) in Aotearoa.
Anyway, its good to get away from the desk and do a decent days work in the sun on the land. Another perfect day in paradise.

Buy some Uranium online

Not to be outdone by my previous post about how impressive the web has become, how about this: http://unitednuclear.com

Buy some radioactive material for the hell of it. I bet Osama is pissed off he can't get a Credit Card....but wait, they take paypal.

To be fair, I just noticed that this website will not ship outside of the US, which is really lucky for the rest of us at least that the US has narrowed down a safe haven to sell uranium and other radioactive material. There are obviously no idiots living in the land of the free.

The site has a disclaimer:
Because our products can be potentially hazardous in the wrong hands, we will occasionally terminate & refund orders if we feel you are juvenile posing as an adult, inexperienced with the materials ordered, or using our products to make any sort of explosive device.

That makes me feel all warm inside. How about you?

Buy a DIY Aircraft online

I had to share this. In my view, the internet has come of age when I can go and add a kitset Aircraft (yes a real aircraft) to a web shopping cart, and pay for it with my Visa.

DIY + Aircraft + Internet + VISA = one helluva busy garage.

Indeed, for those of you who know me, we have found a match.

http://hummelbird.com/#UC
is the site of a small DIY aircraft company in a place called Bryan, Ohio. I'd like to go to a place called Bryan. Bryan is also a brilliant name for a cat don't you think?
Personally, I think if I was going to build an DIY Aircraft, I would go for a Van's RV. I just like the look more and there are a lot of them around.
Both the Van's RV and the Hummel Ultra Cruiser look to be similar construction, predominantly using Aluminium Alloy which is something I personally prefer over GRP (resins & fibreglass n shit like that) as it's more retro. Besides that, I have the tools already.
http://www.vansaircraft.com/
The Vans RV-10 is a sleek 4 person aircraft, so it's in a different league in my opinion.
Anyway, there goes ANOTHER thing to add to the list of things to do. Just incase I ever get bored.

Making a watch by hand

Here is a "how to" on designing your own watch and making it. Handy. Very handy.http://web.ticino.com/dcorson/watch/index.html

Everyone needs a spiral cellar

OK. The weekend after I make the DIY wind generator, I am going to make one of these with my Dremel. (the fact that right below truantpad is fatnazidoghatingtaiwaneseman only encourages me to pursue this...)

From spiralcellars.com:
The Spiral Cellar system was first developed by a Frenchman, Georges Harnois, in 1978, who recognised that few modern houses had cellars, but people still wanted somewhere to store their wine.

It can keep up to 1,600 bottles in ideal storage conditions and since, like a traditional cellar, it relies on the surrounding earth for its insulation, plus an ingenious air-flow system, it requires no power to maintain its constant temperature.

Hmm, interesting. No really it is. I have always liked the idea of trap doors n shit like that. That's one problem with 20th & 21st Century buildings I find: lack of decent trapdoors.

Perhaps this is the next thing to be incorporated into the design of truantville. Would be quite handy for putting annoying visitor's children.

But...check out these quotes from the site. A bit of a worry:

"The cellar in the garage has been such a success, my husband has decided he'd like to install a second one in the kitchen" Jolly good, eh what?!

"Having a proper wine cellar is like a badge of honor that proves you enjoy food, drink, and the finer things in life" Too rah, old chap!

What about "Cos it's wicked man" and "It's the shit"? Oh well, guess that's what I am not in marketing.

spiralcellars.com

DIY Wind Generator

I'd really like to make one of this next weekend. Seriously.

We have a 2m x 4m balcony, so I reckon I could do it. Better not, Jack likes to hang out there so if there are blades out there chopping in the wind - well, it might end in tears. Maybe up on the roof of the building....hmmm.

From the instructables website...

Chispito Wind Generator

The Chispito Wind Generator was designed to be simple and efficient with fast and easy construction. There are no limits to what you can do with wind power. There is nothing more rewarding and empowering than making a wind powered generator from scrap materials. Most of the tools and materials in this manual can be found in your local hardware shop or junk pile.

Chispito Wind Generator
A really good NZ article about converting washing machines into Wind Generators
Another excellent wind generator site

Dr. Dre - mel

I was lucky enough to visit Vancouver last week for work. It's a really nice place, and it's growing on me.
We switched hotels from the last couple of visits, and the prompt calculations to the nearest pub resulted in "The Flying Beaver" coming up as the best contender.
What a find that was, turned out to be waaaay better than the Foggy Dew, but to be fair, the Dew was about 30 meters away which was nice.
The Flying Beaver is a conversion of a Flying Clubrooms or something like that. There is a dock out the front for the Beavers (yes the planes with floats) to tie up alongside.
I was a nice way to end a day of strenuous work by having a pint of Red Truck Beer (or whatever else the special was) and a nice meal of Halibat or Salmon or ....er....the Big Kahuna Burger, all while watching Flying Beavers land on the river at sunset. Quite habit forming really.

Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't have much time to do anything apart from work while I was there, but this time it was my mission to try to do a tiny bit of shopping. I find clothes (that fit) damn near impossible to find in Taipei, so it's handy to buy those whenever I am in a western country. DVDs are also favorites to hunt out. This time however, the hotel was right across the road from a Rona DIY store, and next to a Costco. On the way to/from the office was another cluster of shops that had a Home Depot and a few other things....so all in all my visits to stores consisted of:
Rona = 3 times.
Home Depot = 2 times.
Costco = 1 time.
The Future Store = 1 time.

5 visits to DIY stores in 5 days. Pretty impressive indeed.

I was thinking about checking out the electrical gadgets at the Future Store, but soon after entering I realised that living in Taiwan likened me to an eskimo going to Jamaica to buy a refrigerator.
DIY shopping was where is was at, so it really became an exercise of what CAN I fit into my check-in luggage.
I had to hold myself back in the end, but what I did leave Vancouver with was a Dremel kit. The new 10.8v 35,000 rpm cordless one. ("Corded performance, Cordless convenience" the box says). I had a "Binford" moment, and decided to get some Dremel accessories (yes they are probably available in Taiwan, but it was nice to be able to read/speak in english) I ended up with the Dremel Workstation, which is a mini drill press thing, fully adjustable for angles & depth....and a Dremel Plunge router. Oh yeah, some router bits too.
I was tempted to buy more, but thought I was getting carried away as it was so left it at that.

Now I have got to find some projects to make use of this stuff - I really could have done with a Dremel when I did the iPod charger project, as it took about an hour just to cut that hole for the rocker switch nicely. I just had a look at the Dremel website. You know you are in North America when they have a Dremel Cordless Pumpkin Carving tool.

So, a good week of therapy for me. It's nice to get away from the craziness of Taiwan now and then and feel like I am 'normal' for a while (but who am I kidding right?)

5 nights. 4 visits to the Flying Beaver, and 1 visit to a place called.....Anton's. :)

Flying Beaver
Red Truck Beer
Rona DIY
Home Depot
Dremel website
Story about a guy who made a boat in his apartment using a Dremel
Anton's Pasta Bar