Friday, September 7, 2018
Great DIY Quain Pen from SS Prepper!

Sunday, August 12, 2018
My Left Thumb, or How I Learned To Start Worrying And Love My Body
By Forest Puha
Note: the following article has graphic medical pictures. Viewer discretion advised.
A month and a half ago, I was cutting
wood with a circular saw and then I cut open my thumb.
Yeah. I make that seem low-key, but
it's actually more painful, time-consuming and life-altering than it
sounds.
It was fun to drop everything,
including my tools, and yell in pain. It was fun to run inside and
watch my family try not to faint. It was fun to rush to the nearest
clinic, freaking out the staff, getting injected with whatever
painkillers they had and arguing about whether or not antibiotics are
covered under insurance while I was mildly stoned. Fun times all
around.
Partly as a record to remind myself of
what NOT to do in an emergency, and partly as a teaching opportunity
to everyone else, this article will go over what happened and how you
can prevent the same thing from happening to you. I learned a lot,
including that ignoring common sense will only result in bad things
for myself and everyone around.
Here's what happened using re-created
photographs of the incident.
The equipment I was using at the time.
As follows: 3M-brand eye wear protection, 3M brand silicone earplugs,
a Master Mechanic brand handheld electric circular saw, and cheap
generic black elastic gloves with yellow leather finger protection.
Note that the gloves are neither full leather or employ knuckle protection. This is Mistake #1.
Note that the gloves are neither full leather or employ knuckle protection. This is Mistake #1.
I was sawing wood for a project, using
my wooden table as a cutting platform. Note that I failed to secure
the wood to the table surface with a clamp. This is Mistake #2.
I operated the saw with one hand, while
holding onto the piece of wood with another. This is Mistake #3. Never, never, NEVER hold a handheld
power tool with only one hand, ESPECIALLY a saw.
When operating a power saw, sometimes
the wood will shift while cutting. Because the saw blade can only
move in one direction at a time (forwards) any subtle movement will
gather more wood than the saw's engine can handle, which forces the
blade to suddenly stop. The momentum generated by the blade will be
transferred into the saw, and as a result, the saw kicked back on me
while I was holding onto it. It's not a problem with two hands...
...but I was only holding onto the saw
with my right hand, and holding onto the wood with my left hand. The
kickback of a power saw is like the recoil of a full-size rifle or
shotgun. I had no control and I paid the price. I felt the saw and it
really hurt more than normal. I looked down, saw drips of blood and
very gently pulled the glove away. It was a gashing, gaping wound. The saw had hit the spot of the glove that wasn't covered with leather or any protection, but simple black fabric. Which happened to be right on my Metacarpophalangeal, the middle thumb joint.
I calmly rushed inside, while my family freaked out over my accident.
Mistake #4: I washed the wound with
cold water. Don't do that. The wound has particles of dead skin,
leather, plastic, fabric, oil, wood and heaven knows what else
inside; it needs to be properly disinfected with sterile solution
found at the neighborhood clinic. The clinic promptly informed me I
was very lucky; my wound didn't completely expose the tendons in my
knuckle, so I wouldn't have to be airlifted to the nearest emergency
room for surgery. They could simply put in stitches where I was at.
Then they gave me a shot of something
to numb the pain while they stitched up my hand. It took a couple of
weeks to be able to grab things and use a computer's keyboard, and a
month to where I could bend my fingers around and not be in constant
pain.
I learned a great deal from this
incident. Mostly, I learned that overconfidence is a slow and
insidious killer, and that even when I thought I had the required
safety gear, I didn't have the RIGHT safety gear. I nearly paid for
it with my thumb. It could have been my hand, or my life.
I'm in the market for a new pair of
gloves. These Youngstown Utility Kevlar-lined gloves seem like a good start, roughly $30 on Amazon. Supposedly the entire glove is lined with Kevlar, even the fingers. I think they're cheaper than surgery and I'll have to review a pair.
From top to bottom: a carpentry wood clamp, a cast iron C-clamp, and a spring clamp. These are three kinds of clamps I have on hand,
cheaply found in any hardware store, and I recommend everyone not
only buy them for their tool box, but also USE them whenever you need
to hold something down. I neglected to do so and paid the price for my stupidity.
Step 1: slide clamp over object and surface. Step 2: tighten until they don't move. Step 3: you're done. They're so much better than using your hands.
And the clamps allow me to use both hands when operating
my power tools now. I have more control over the tool now! It's amazing!
It could have been so much worse.
Our Family Tire Garden: Unusual but Effective!
By Forest Puha
Car tires. They start out new, you drive a while, they wear out and you replace them. But instead of just throwing them away, people have been coming up with
ways to re-use them. I've read accounts of people learning to reuse tire rubber for shoes, for new roofing tiles, for protective surfaces, anything they can figure out a need for.
So this summer, my family decided to try experimenting with tires too. Instead of buying increasingly rare and expensive straw to protect our plants, or figuring out a mulch that wouldn't hurt them, we planted with old tires!
It turned out to be very good thing that we did, because it's been extraordinarily
HOT this summer, with the temps well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit most days. (That's 37 Celsius and above, for non-Americans.)
It seems the tires do a lot. First, they keep the dirt damp and cool as we water the plants, and really slows the sun's evaporation that would otherwise occur. It also seems the wild jackrabbits and gophers do not like tires. Unlike when we've used animal fencing and other means to protect our plants, the critters have stayed out of our garden this summer. In addition, the tires shielded the baby sprouts from wind in early spring, so they could sprout wide and tall without getting blown around. And the tires have protected the plants from getting trampled very well. I accidentally kicked a zucchini while wearing slippers and my toes ached all day.
Close up of zucchini. They matured in two months and became giant with the tires. |
IMPORTANT: we
used tires that were only in good and recently new condition. We did NOT use old tires that were starting
to degrade or leak chemicals, which is where we think the major problems come from. We cut the inner walls off the tires. This means the tires only ring
around the plant, and do not keep the roots enclosed in the tire, but grow
down into the garden soil. Then we filled the tire with garden dirt and
compost and planted the seeds and plant starts. We used large tubeless SUV and pickup truck-sized tires, which give a lot more room and protection for the plants.
Name brand, naturally, does not matter. However, tires with nylon belts are easier to cut apart and manipulate, using a sharp knife and scissors. More common steel-belted radials will require a pair of sturdy wire cutters, a lot of strength and significant patience to cut open the inner wall.
Havasu Hot Peppers, sold by Bonnie Plants. Scoville Heat Scale: 3,000 to 5,000 in the JalapeƱo category. Good eating if you're used to them. |
We planted zucchini and Havasu peppers and they are doing great compared to previous gardens. Next year we will use more tires, especially as the climate keeps getting hotter. There
is some online conflict about tires leaching chemicals anyway, but I read up on this
issue and many organic farmers say it is not a problem. I like to wash the tires off before we use them around our food anyway. When the tires finally degrade so they can't be used anymore, we'll cut them up and take them to the dump for official disposal.
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