rosemarybeetle

ha ha - thanks. I enjoyed this one largely because it was so ridiculous. When people saw the monstrous pie for the first time, they were somewhat slack-jawed : )

Thanks - you also consider upgrading whatevere the useful bits of teh CostCo one are (e,g, glass, windoes openers etc) - It may be cheapish and quickish way to get what you want : )

That is epic - love it!

Ha ha - not me guv, although there is a back gate from one my neighbours that serves as part of the back wall of the greenhouse. They offered that, honest!

Thanks very much - yes. I agree. The door and window came from our house. Totally insecure, but beautiful. They are from about 1915. I couldn't chuck them out : )

ha ha - I like the idea of naming your tools

Ha ha. I was lucky as I lived in the South, which is dryer, but my folks are from mid Wales and the so much water there, they use it to supply Birmingham :)I like Guinness though, so yeah. If i ever get to Ireland, that works :)

interesting - thanks. I have only made those once, in the 1970s when helping my dad build a garden wall (I was a child, back then, honest). He had a mould and we made the hollow blocks ourselves using it. This was by making a fairly dry mix and pushing out mouldings while wet(tish) and the the dried out of the mould.I didn't know about police boxes being concrete, although vaguely recall the idea of locking someone up in them temporarily. Blimey, you'd not get away with that now!Over here wood is quite cheap and much more usefully, it is easy to get it free. I walked past three different piles of 8' baulks of timber (lumbar) varying from 2"x3" to 3"x4" THIS MORNING on my early morning walk. These are leftovers from domestic building works

It is nice to walk on the chips and reasonably self-draining. They do need refreshing occasionally as they rot down eventually if damp for any length of time

Definitely design your basic frame around the dimensions of whatever windows etc you can find, taking into account any special features you want to make, either from special found frames or from your own bespoke ideas that you want to build from acrylic.Then you can size the overall frame so the units will all fit nicely. Alumininium frames are great, because you can drill them and use the holes to attach them to the wooden posts/rails of your frame carcass

Hi,nothing like say, Minnesota or Ohio. When i was in Cleveland, it was -20C in the day one day!Normally ranges between about -15C min on a really really cold night, but more usually a frost will be -5C on a cold night, and it can be 10C in the day in December sometimes, so fairly mild really.However, if you used some form of heating, you could get away with it. What it does provide eitehr way is protection from wind chill

thanks for the kind words :)

That looks well good. I love geodesic structuresAnother material that is really strong and can be free is willow. It has the advantage of being totally carbon neutral tooHere is the frame of a very large puppet body I made using willow geodesy. This method could be adapted to hold panes (or covered in PVC sheet, albeit not so carbon neutral for that bit)

I have updated step 7 about flooring with some images on how to do this :)

I rested the pallets on bricks and broken slabs. This was a sufficient barrier.you can add plastic sheet between stone and brick too.I'll amend the step when I get a moment

We don't have Craigslist in the UK, but i use Freecycle..Org.The big work bench in this build was free from there

Batons means long thin strips of wood, used in this case to make a rebate to hold the glazing in the frame.baton is also used in the UK to mean the lathes you rest roof tiles on

Thanks. Also very kind. It is pretty isn't it

Great job. I've been thinking I should build one of these, and this is a really clear how-to.I really like the super tall chimney : )

Hi. Sorry I missed this.I would add the camden tablets after pressing, as it is easier to disperse it consistently in a liquid.Havind said that, if you are not pressing the apples immediately, you could wash them with a camden tablet in water to sterilise the surface. This will last a day or so. Longer if kept in a sealed container.If you sterilise the juice, let it stand (covered) for at least 24 hours before adding the yeast. This lets the sulphur dioxide dissipate. When you add the yeast and nutrient, give it a damn good stir to bear some oxygen in. The yeast needs this at the beginning of the fermentation (to reproduce initially). After that, keep air out or microbes can get in.Hope that makes sense

Hi, thanks - you should always use cleaned equipment, bottles, airlocks etc. If washed well in soapy water and rinsed thoroughly then you can risk not sterilising them as well but it's always best to sterilise everything. I use sodium metabisulphite in water for this. It's very cheap.If you only wash and rinse things, then you won't get any sulphur dioxide in it, which is commonly added in lots of wine for preserving it, but harmless. the trade off is that there is more of a risk that any airborne microbes that get into your cider will spoil it if you don't use it. It's a choice. BUT everything must be at least clean : )

The cider will be "live" when you bottle it. That is, there will be traces of living yeast in it. By adding a small amount of sugar, once bottled, the yeast will slowly ferment that last bit of sugar and this will give off carbob dioxide which dissolves in the cider. This is how you give the cider its fizz. You will notice a tiny amount of sediment forms in the cider. This is the dead yeast once it has fermented all the available sugarThis is called bottle conditioning and is how champagne fizz is created. In that case, there is an additional process for getting rid of the yeast sediment, but that is not straightforward. It involves special corks, turning the bottles upside down and freezing the bottle neck etc. That is beyond a beginner's guide : )But anyway, that's what the su…

The cider will be "live" when you bottle it. That is, there will be traces of living yeast in it. By adding a small amount of sugar, once bottled, the yeast will slowly ferment that last bit of sugar and this will give off carbob dioxide which dissolves in the cider. This is how you give the cider its fizz. You will notice a tiny amount of sediment forms in the cider. This is the dead yeast once it has fermented all the available sugarThis is called bottle conditioning and is how champagne fizz is created. In that case, there is an additional process for getting rid of the yeast sediment, but that is not straightforward. It involves special corks, turning the bottles upside down and freezing the bottle neck etc. That is beyond a beginner's guide : )But anyway, that's what the sugar is for. Adding it is called "priming" the bottles .If you don't want it fizzy (i.e. you like still cider), then don't add any sugar. I hope that makes sense

apologies, I never answered this. That looks great by the way. If the juice is still as sweet as when you started, then it probably hasn't fermented and may actually just still be juice! Try drinking some on a Friday : )

Hi, there's a whole load of argument about what the difference is between beer and ale, but basically they are more or less the same thing. There can be bottom fermenting yeasts and yop-fermenting yeasts; with hops and historically without hops (hop-free beer is pretty much non-existent now), but it is best to not care too much about that. I learned how to make beer originally by using a kit, then by reading various books etc. Older books used to have a lot more of the chemistry than newer books do, but it is not that important. I wouldn't start by getting into malting barley grains etc. That needs quite precise temperature control etc. Just buy a standard kit that uses malt extract and try adjust it by adding different barleys and/or hops.I used to have a copy of this bookhttps://www.ama…

Hi, there's a whole load of argument about what the difference is between beer and ale, but basically they are more or less the same thing. There can be bottom fermenting yeasts and yop-fermenting yeasts; with hops and historically without hops (hop-free beer is pretty much non-existent now), but it is best to not care too much about that. I learned how to make beer originally by using a kit, then by reading various books etc. Older books used to have a lot more of the chemistry than newer books do, but it is not that important. I wouldn't start by getting into malting barley grains etc. That needs quite precise temperature control etc. Just buy a standard kit that uses malt extract and try adjust it by adding different barleys and/or hops.I used to have a copy of this bookhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Brewing-Beers-Those-Amate...It is quite technical in places, but it does go into what makes beers taste like they do.Pretty much though, I'd just suggest going to a shop that sells beer-making kit and seeing what books they have etcHappy brewing!

Hi, ha ha - yes. I am definitely not a purist. A juicer is likely to be more efficient. Also doing it by hand is a pretty hard workout. It is really tiring! Using a juicer MAY release a bit more pectin, but if you are adding pectin-destroying enzyme that's not an issue. (Essentially, if you don't use pectin-destroying enzyme, you just get cloudy cider. That is even more "traditional". In the UK, rough farm-made cloudy cider made with just juice is known as Scrumpy.)

Thanks - I had fun doing this one. It's not a bad run down. With all power carving stuff, be careful and wear the protective stuff, especially eye protection!

I'm not sure if I'd replied, but first, thanks it was a bit of personal favourite of things I've baked. With the eggs, they are quite well contained so their moisture doesn't escape easily. I've never had a problem doing this. It's quite a traditional pie and has been done loads by others before me, so I wouldn't worry about it. Getting the pastry cooked is usually trickier. You sometimes need to remove the mould and turn it upside down to crisp the base, for example

Go for it. It can vary depending on apples, conditions, etc, but as long as you do the initial sterilisation of the juice, it should work fine. If you make it, post some pics later of what it looked like. It's always great to see people riff on an idea :)

I try to only just hard boil them, to be on the safe side. Having said that, I've made this quite a few times and never had a problem. The meat kind of insulates them for most of the bake.That pie was quite hard to bake. I would recommend using a rectangular tin. You can use a bread loaf tin, but they are tapered. A straight-sided cake tin with removable base is better, because you can turn it upside down and bake the base a bit to avoid it getting too soggy

Always covered. The vinegar forming bacteria acetobacter is in the air everywhere and the tiny fruit flies that appear are covered in it too. If you let that in, your alcohol will be turned int vinegar!

It is best in an airlock, to avoid allowing bad micro-organisms getting into to it. In particular, acetobacter which is a bacteria that will turn all the alcohol into vinegar - bad!You can leave in a fermenting bucket, if you have either a closed lid with a fermentation lock or a lid that is on sufficient to stop air getting in, but not actually completely sealed. Because the carbon diaxide produced will create pressure inside the bucket, you can't close the seal, but if the lid is on, then no air will get in because the same carbon dioxide will be seeping out all the time. This gets less reliable though as the fermentation slows down

Those look excellent - so glad you made them. Hope you liked them

Hey, I was really happy reading this. I'm glad you tried it and really glad you liked it so much. Pork pies are a guilty pleasure. I love them, even if they are a tad naughty. If you make them again, do take a pic first. I'd love to see that. You should also consider gala pie, which is a picnic pork pie with eggs in the middle.This epic bake was the largest I've attempted:https://makingweirdstuff.blogspot.com/2017/08/whal...Thanks again. It made me laugh reading your comment. Get some English mustard from your son if you don't get it in the US. It's hot and goes great. American mustard is pretty good too, though, to be fair :)

Hey thanks. I made it for our new house we just moved into. We've already had some good meals at it, and it's especially good knowing you built it. It'll get scratched and dented and will swell or contract a bit over time, but I like that. I do love it but it is not an ornament. It's there to be used and lived in. In 20 years time, it'll be beautiful and linked to lots of good times, hopefully : )

Thanks for voting too. Appreciated.

It's mainly about just keeping an eye out for opportunities. Old furniture is thrown out all the time and can contain all sorts of good old woods that are not available now. The trick is to ignore the thing it is now and see what it is made from and the potential of that.I got lucky with the beech logs, but if you live near managed woods, logs can be found sometimes. The most luck I had was finding three large mantlepieces in a skip. These were thrown out by a company who do refurbishments.

Thanks - I wouldn't claim to be the expert on any of this, but I always like it when people just spell out exactly what they did (even the bodges), so I try to do the same!Often you find that something that someone has stumbled upon can help you do something that looks super hard in books.

On the use of oils. I have only really used linseed oil on things like tool handles, which it is very good for, especially anything used outdoors like sledgehammers, pick axes etc. It dries slowly as well as making the wood water resistant, it also gives it a slight tack so the grip is better than a really smooth surface like varnish. French polish is good, although it can be affected by heat and it is a little brittle, so you can chip and scratch it. To be honest though, I like furnished to look lived in. If it gets dented or chipped, then it adds character over time when you polish it with wax or whatever.

Thanks - yes, even when it works, something could always have been done better, so I reckon if people can just see how it all was done, they can nick the good bits and ignore the ropier stuff!

It's certainly a risk, but to be honest, I predict it will be shrinkage not expansion that causes problems. The spalted beech is the least stable wood in here. The oak and red hardwood are very old and stable. I think that because the table was built outdoors in my not amazingly dry shed, once indoors, the centre panel will contract. It is contained in tongue and groove so some shrinkage will be fine. we'll see in ten years :)But anyway, I am not especially worried about a fair amount of distortion and shifts . I like a bit of character. The last table I made had a table top that was butt-jointed planks. It shifted and curled a little and a few gaps opened up, but given that my kids were young and drew all over it and gouged it with pens and what-not, it actually made it more appealing.

Cheers for the kind words. I enjoyed doing this one. Lots of problems to solve : )

Thanks. I just got these logs when a tree had been felled. It's likely that it was felled because it was already found to rotting. Maybe keep a look out for tree surgeons and you might get lucky

Cheers, you are very kind. If you like the artier stuff, check out the Gargoyle Chair. It is quite amusingly creepyhttps://www.instructables.com/Freaky-Gargoyle-C...