The Random thought thread

[Litespeed]

As a ex chimney sweep and stove builder, I like it.

[Litespeed]

I even would take my son to play on DVD  Mary Poppins for the house kids whilst I swept. 

 

Blue mtns is heaven and hell for a sweep

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, old man emu said:

Old diff housing: $ Nothing

Chimney flue: $800

Installation: $1000

If you can make that, you're not going to pay for someone else to install it.

[nomadpete]

12 hours ago, Marty_d said:

If you can make that, you're not going to pay for someone else to install it.

Last time I looked, a flue kit (to meet the standards) was $500 at the hardware monopoly shop.

 

And it isn't much more than a bunch of low grade thin walled stainless pipes.

Edited September 2, 2024 by nomadpete

[onetrack]

Have you seen the cost of all types of steel lately?? The stuff is going to need an armed guard on the steel delivery trucks, soon! 😮

 

Edited September 2, 2024 by onetrack

[willedoo]

I wonder how long it would take to burn the oil smell out of the diff housing. I imagine it would be cast steel. A hot drum made from a 44 takes a bit of burning in depending on what's been in it. Burning the paint off is a bit smelly.

 

This is my old hot drum. It's on it's second drum but all the add-ons are the same as the original one I built. The first one was full length but it's now 2/3 length to fit this space. It was all made from scrap I found on the junk heap at my dad's farm in the late 1980's. The hatch is an old boiler hatch with an old horse drawn plough handle bolted to a scrap piece of plate steel. The lower vent I made out of scrap steel with the welder and gas axe. The semi-circular cradle the drum sits on is a wooden spoke car wheel rim cut in half. In hindsight, it's probably off my grandfather's T Ford. The rest of the support is just old pipe and angle iron. The collar the flue sits over is a round thread protector from an oilfield drill pipe.

 

[willedoo]

5 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Have you seen the cost of all types of steel lately?? The stuff is going to need an armed guard on the steel delivery trucks, soon! 😮

 

Funny you should mention that. On another thread I mentioned that I got rid of five truck and trailer loads of scrap steel, aluminium, vehicle bodies etc. when I was cleaning up to sell and move in 2021. Plans changed and I'm staying for the foreseeable future and regret getting rid of three quarters of the stuff. Yesterday I was having a wander around and picking up every rusty scrap of steel I could find lying around the place. That was brought on by checking the steel prices lately. What a shock.

[willedoo]

The world has gone mad. This bloke wants $20 per sheet for this old corrugated iron.

 

[ClintonB]

Genuine patina, gotta be worth a fortune.

[onetrack]

You may be surprised, he'll probably get his asking price and sell it all. There's a market for rusty CGI as a canvas for artistic works, some of the art-sellers transfer enlarged photos onto the iron.

The same applies to rotten old wooden fence pickets, they get sought after for photo or picture frames. Cleaned up and sanded back a bit, they provide the necessary artistic impact.

 

Edited September 2, 2024 by onetrack

[willedoo]

[old man emu]

5 hours ago, willedoo said:

This is my old hot drum.

 

Thank for another decorating idea! If I get a wood burner, I reckon that I can put mini orb behind it to shield the gyprock wall a little bit, but the mini orb being silvery in colour would reflect radiant heat back into the room. As well, the mini orb would continue the theme from the batherroom. 

[willedoo]

You could make a small panel of mini orb with a timber frame around it containing some insulation behind the orb. Even a couple of layers of sisalation would help if you had some spare stuff lying around.

 

Something along these lines only with mini orb:

 

[willedoo]

or just go full medieval.

 

[onetrack]

OME wants a completely black, smoke-stained, interior finish??

[willedoo]

Years ago I rented a place with a similar cooking setup, except it had a recess in the top for the fire and BBQ and grill plates on top. Lucky I only lived there for a winter as it was the only stove and would be hot in summer if you didn't invest in a gas or electric cooker. Also lucky the chimney drew ok so it didn't smoke the place out.

[onetrack]

I can recall when we visited Chartres Cathedral in 2013, it was undergoing massive restoration works (after having been built in the early 1200's), and the smoke staining of the interior was terrible.

The workmen were meticulously scrubbing the entire interior of the Cathedral, and the difference in the appearance of the stained glass windows after restoration cleaning was staggering.

The light increase for the interior of the Cathedral was about doubled, and the colours in the cleaned glass were outstanding.

[red750]

Michael Leunig dumped from The Age

 

A controversial cartoonist delivered a blistering parting shot to his boss after he was sacked in a 'throat-cutting exercise'. 

 

Michael Leunig's 55-year career at The Age came to an end last week when the editor of the Melbourne-based masthead, Patrick Elligett, told subscribers the cartoonist had 'filed his last editorial illustration'.

 

But Leunig, 79, is refusing to go quietly, and delivered a blunt farewell message to the newspaper by accusing its editors of censorship and branding it a 'tacky tabloid'.

[spacesailor]

The ' clock. ' on the " BigBen " tower took a very colourful look , after it's cleaning.

( Elizabeth Tower is the correct name).

spacesailor

[willedoo]

Back to that subject of fireplaces earlier in the week, I bet there's been a few sore shins in this household.

 

 

 

 

[onetrack]

That's a pretty sharp fireplace alright, no doubt about that!! 😄

[spacesailor]

My wife misses an open fire .

I remember the ' cold back ' when facing the heat .

Turn & turn again . Like a pig on a spit .

To warm both sides .

spacesailor 

[onetrack]

[Litespeed]

No good on a boat but....

 

I would love to have made a Dalec aka Dr Who shaped one in stainless.

Would look very cool.

 

And a minions version also.

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, onetrack said:

The teeth give it a chunky steampunk look, but I think I'd play it safe and use a mud bucket.