Sunday, March 27, 2011
Making knives!
So we decided to spend a day and some cash for the chance to try our hands at blacksmithing. This was so much fun, we are actually thinking of starting something similar in Maine when we get back. No stealing our stolen idea!! :)
Start with your mild steel clamped into a handle. Make sure the forge is nice and HOT!!
Heat your steel for about a minuet until it is glowing orange.
Pound on the blade edge of your steel to force carbon into the metal therefore making the blade edge harder. It's not shown here, but after heating and pounding on the steel about 3-5 times, you quickly cool the metal in cold nitrogen enriched water. This gives the steel a stronger and harder structure which is much better for holding an edge.
Next cut your steel to the length you desire, including the handle length.
Sand and polish only the middle of the knife so that the brass edge of the handle can be fixed to the steel.
You literally use super glue to hold the brass on (along with some brass pins added afterwards)
Trace your steel handle and cut 2 pieces of wood to match. These will be used for the handle.
After pinning the handle in place sand the brass and wood down until it matches the shape of the steel.
Sand off the brass pins and begin giving the handle its shape... At this point we actually handed the knives over to Steve, our instructor, who ground them to their general shape. As this is a delicate process and you can mess the knife up pretty badly if you slip, Steve does this for all of the knives while we eat lunch and play on his old time bicycle...
Here are all the knives ground down to their general shape.
There was still lots of sanding and polishing to do, so we got to work...
Here are all the finished knives from our class put out on a cloth along with the materials we started with. We did lots of sanding and polishing near the end, as well as sealing the wood and oiling the knives to prevent corrosion.
A glass of home made sparkling wine to celebrate at the end.
Our class with their knives.
Start with your mild steel clamped into a handle. Make sure the forge is nice and HOT!!
Heat your steel for about a minuet until it is glowing orange.
Pound on the blade edge of your steel to force carbon into the metal therefore making the blade edge harder. It's not shown here, but after heating and pounding on the steel about 3-5 times, you quickly cool the metal in cold nitrogen enriched water. This gives the steel a stronger and harder structure which is much better for holding an edge.
Next cut your steel to the length you desire, including the handle length.
Sand and polish only the middle of the knife so that the brass edge of the handle can be fixed to the steel.
You literally use super glue to hold the brass on (along with some brass pins added afterwards)
Trace your steel handle and cut 2 pieces of wood to match. These will be used for the handle.
After pinning the handle in place sand the brass and wood down until it matches the shape of the steel.
Sand off the brass pins and begin giving the handle its shape... At this point we actually handed the knives over to Steve, our instructor, who ground them to their general shape. As this is a delicate process and you can mess the knife up pretty badly if you slip, Steve does this for all of the knives while we eat lunch and play on his old time bicycle...
Here are all the knives ground down to their general shape.
There was still lots of sanding and polishing to do, so we got to work...
Here are all the finished knives from our class put out on a cloth along with the materials we started with. We did lots of sanding and polishing near the end, as well as sealing the wood and oiling the knives to prevent corrosion.
A glass of home made sparkling wine to celebrate at the end.
Our class with their knives.
Climbing Mt. Robert, St. Arnaud, NZ
Heaven?
It was misty in the morning on our hike up mt. Robert, but this gave the forest a very mystic type of atmosphere.
Alpine beech forest
Summit of Mt. Robert!
On our hike down the clouds cleared and we got a great view of what we missed on the way up!
Doesn't look real does it?
That's a mountain range that will make you feel pretty small.
Grassy walk down.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Ritchie and Pirate Beer
Mom, NO, I am not drinking and driving, notice the steering wheel on the other side... We are parked at a campground.
So we met this guy named Ritchie, a traveling kiwi. He says to us, "Ugh, gross, of course you americans would be drinking Tui beer." For those who do not know, Tui is somewhat known as the national beer of NZ. It is much better than Bud or Coors or any of that. So anyway, we say to Ritchie, "Well Ritchie, what should we be drinking?" And he says, "Pirate!" So of course we had to go find a Pirate beer at that point. Unbeknownst to us Pirate beer was a 8.5% alcohol malt beverage... In other words it was basically a Colt 45 (or Olde English, or Hurricane, whatever you please...) Ritchie... What the heck were you think... er... drinking??
The thumbs up is definitely not for Pirate, we continue to consider Tui the beer of choice.
Wellington to Picton Ferry
The Kiwi House
We WISH we could show you a wonderful picture of a NZ Large Spotted Kiwi here, but the place does not allow photos, and besides, kiwis are nocturnal, and so the lighting in their enclosure would be impossible to take a picture in. Let's just say that it was a REALLY cool experience to see a kiwi awake and running about looking for worms, bugs and whatever else he eats.
This is a Pukeko, a ubiquitous NZ bird. People love their blue color.
Waitomo Caves
Constructing a brick pizza oven
Vance and Kathryn at Magnolia Grove decided to make use of our oven building skills and had us build them a brick and concrete igloo shaped pizza oven. Granted we had never made one out of brick, but the basics should be the same... RIGHT?
Step 1: Locate where your oven will go. This is important as it will NOT move when it is done.
Step 2: Make a base for your oven's platform. This one will have a cement base even with the grass level, so a square hole was dug (by Kathy) to pour the concrete into.
Step 3: Create the base for your platform. This one consisted of 3 wheelbarrows full of concrete.
Step 4: While the concrete is still wet place your first run of blocks for the platform (get them somewhat level)
Step 5: Make your second run MORE level.
Step 6: The third run should be totally level. Fill the blocks with cement.
Step 7: Prepare your oven platform top. This one has a space in the middle and at one end for the fire bricks.
Step 8: If need be, move your platform to the oven base
Step 9: Make a flat and level sand base for your fire bricks.
Step 10: Place your fire bricks, and any outside decorations such as tile that will end up under the oven.
Step 11: Set your first run of bricks for the oven!!
Step 12: Make the arch door. We used 2 pieces of cardboard fastened together with more cardboard in order to support the arch while we set it up.
Step 13: Add another run of bricks to the oven.
Step 14: Keep adding bricks to the oven while tapering the size of your circle, also tilt the bricks inward by about 20 to 25 degrees starting at your third run. This will allow the dome to close up by the top middle.
Step 15: I forgot to mention, add sand, or bags full of something... to create a dome shaped structure inside your oven to lay the bricks against while the mortar sets.
Step 16: Almost done! Add a pipe at the top for a chimney. This one will be removed afterwards. You might want to line the outside of the pipe with paper, we kept turning this one while the mortar dried so that it didn't harden into the cement.
Step 17: Watch it dry...
Step 18: Give it 2 days to completely set, then pull out the insides.
Your new brick oven all done!!
Just in case you were wondering what you were wondering what it was like to be a pizza :)
Step 1: Locate where your oven will go. This is important as it will NOT move when it is done.
Step 2: Make a base for your oven's platform. This one will have a cement base even with the grass level, so a square hole was dug (by Kathy) to pour the concrete into.
Step 3: Create the base for your platform. This one consisted of 3 wheelbarrows full of concrete.
Step 4: While the concrete is still wet place your first run of blocks for the platform (get them somewhat level)
Step 5: Make your second run MORE level.
Step 6: The third run should be totally level. Fill the blocks with cement.
Step 7: Prepare your oven platform top. This one has a space in the middle and at one end for the fire bricks.
Step 8: If need be, move your platform to the oven base
Step 9: Make a flat and level sand base for your fire bricks.
Step 10: Place your fire bricks, and any outside decorations such as tile that will end up under the oven.
Step 11: Set your first run of bricks for the oven!!
Step 12: Make the arch door. We used 2 pieces of cardboard fastened together with more cardboard in order to support the arch while we set it up.
Step 13: Add another run of bricks to the oven.
Step 14: Keep adding bricks to the oven while tapering the size of your circle, also tilt the bricks inward by about 20 to 25 degrees starting at your third run. This will allow the dome to close up by the top middle.
Step 15: I forgot to mention, add sand, or bags full of something... to create a dome shaped structure inside your oven to lay the bricks against while the mortar sets.
Step 16: Almost done! Add a pipe at the top for a chimney. This one will be removed afterwards. You might want to line the outside of the pipe with paper, we kept turning this one while the mortar dried so that it didn't harden into the cement.
Step 17: Watch it dry...
Step 18: Give it 2 days to completely set, then pull out the insides.
Your new brick oven all done!!
Just in case you were wondering what you were wondering what it was like to be a pizza :)
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