Homestead Ideas, Page 3
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6. Homemade stainless chicken waterer
I got tired of buying plastic chicken waterers that break easily after exposure to the sun:
So I built a simple waterer using a stainless steel ice bucket and fry pan from the local thrift shop:
I used stainless wire to suspend the fry pan. I placed the ice bucket upside down in the fry pan to see where to drill the hole in the ice bucket. The top of the hole to shouldn't be higher than the lowest "leak point" in the fry pan. In this case, the holes in the fry pan that I drilled to hold the stainless wire were my lowest "leak point", so I located the ice bucket hole with that in mind. I made the hole about 5/8 inch in diameter.
The waterer hangs, so it remains level, and so the chickens don't kick dirt in it when they dig. The reservoir holds a little over a gallon and provides enough water for the 8 chickens for the whole day even on hot days. Easy to build, inexpensive, and no more broken plastic!
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7. PTFE engine treatment
For 15 or 20 years I've used a product called "Slick 50"(tm), which is an 15 engine oil additive used to extend engine life. I was sold on it when my brother-in-law accidentally started his lawn mower forgetting to replace the oil he had just drained from it. His mower engine had been lubed with "Slick 50", and ran for about 15 minutes without seizing before he realized his mistake and quickly put oil in the engine. I've never tried this experiment, but am taking him at his word that this actually happened. With many small engines around the farm, I do what I can to extend their life and keep costs down.
Slick 50 used to contain a dispersion of tiny particles of the lubricious polymer PTFE, also known as "teflon"(tm). The sales pitch for Slick 50 originally went like this: Much engine wear occurs in the first few minutes of starting an engine, before lubricating oil has a chance to intrude between metal on metal wear surfaces. The PTFE particles in Slick 50, once introduced into the engine, reside in these wear areas, and remain in place even after oil drains down from a previous use of the engine. These PTFE particles greatly reduce wear to the engine in that high-wear, "cold start" period.
I don't know if this really works, but I've dosed my vehicles and small engines with Slick 50 for many years. My Toyota Pickup 4 cylinder has about 250,000 miles, and I've been happy with the engine life of our mowers, tillers, etc.
Recently, the Slick 50 product changed it's formulation - no more PTFE particles. I've heard that this is because vehicle oil filters are getting finer and are filtering out the particles, but this may be conjecture. The "Slick 50" folks say their new formulation is better.
In any case, for my small engines (no oil filters), I decided to try my own formulation. I purchased some PTFE powder (1-9 micron particle size distribution). By using a light 10W30 motor oil and a mixing method from my old summer camp "government powdered milk" days, I was able to get a nice, seemingly colloidal dispersion:
The picture above is about 1 tsp (less than 4 grams) of the PTFE powder in a little less than 1 quart of motor oil, two days after mixing. Some of the larger PTFE particles have settled out, but judging from the relative cloudiness, I'd guess I have more PTFE in my formulation than the old "Slick 50" product. 1/4 pound of PTFE powder (about $US12.00) would give me enough powder to treat about 25 quarts of oil. I was paying about $15 per quart of the "Slick 50" additive - so a nice savings if equivalent.
Not sure how to know if PTFE powder in an engine oil really makes an engine last longer without a comprehensive, side-by-side test, which I can't afford. But I'll report if anything negative happens when I put my "Slick Danny" formulation into my lawn mower!
Update 3/19/07: After about 5-7 days of settling, the "colloidal" suspension shown above noticeably settled out. When I shook it up, it went back into suspension pretty easily, so Istuck it in our 1991 Honda Accord.
Dan Vorhis tel: 800.443.2607 dvorhis@whidbey.com
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8. Bottle/Jar Washer
A lot of the small commercial brush makers have gone out of business or been gobbled up by the big manufacturers. When that happens, as in other industries, the most profitable product lines are kept, and the specialty, small-market products disappear. So you can find a baby bottle brush in the dollar store with bristles that will take the hide off a football, but it's hard to find the weird little brushes that actually do what you want them to do.
I seem to clean a lot of canning jars for some reason. Those baby bottle brushes in the store are too stiff or too wimpy, or their handles aren't long enough, or SOMETHING! So here is an idea I came up with:
The stainless wire accepts a 3M® - type scrubby, which is replaceable. The scrubby is oriented like a paint brush, so you can reach the bottoms and sides of a jar. I think I could make one to fit in a beer bottle, it would just have to have a smaller scrubby.
If you want one or two, let me know, I'll make some up. Let's call it US$5 each including a couple scrubbies. If there is enough interest, I'll retire.
Dan Vorhis tel: 800.443.2607 dvorhis@whidbey.com
