The Field Lab

Nice mid morning visit with new friends Neil and Elizabeth.  They are from the Austin area - visiting Big Bend for their first wedding anniversary.  They win the prize of "most photogenic couple".  Cranked up the micro mini all day and pumped out 11 ingots.  Just got a second mold and a third one is on the way.  Need some extras to keep production going because of the cool down time on the molds...they come out of the furnace at 1800°+.  Here is one pound of sterling.  One of my cheap Ebay items was a salt server.  A much more sophisticated way to season your food rather than using a salt shaker.  I melted the little bowl but just as I was about to melt down the spoon, I caught a glimpse of my Mexico Midget tomatoes and the spoon was spared.  92,108,59,0,B,.36

Interesting turn of events today.  A picture of Carl and a bunny will have to suffice.   Did an Alpine run for feed and supplies.  Got home around 3 and it was getting hot finally...up to 93° inside the hut (I think Pepino II season starts tomorrow).  Decided it was time to put on shorts and sandals.  Went out to do chores around the grounds and Carl came after me just like he does with all my visitors.  He was relentless no matter what I said to him.  Put my jeans and boots back on and....nothing - he was my buddy again.  This could definitely be a problem as summer rolls in.  Now I have to train Carl to accept my bare legs - maybe they are just too white.  Perhaps I will try shorts and boots tomorrow to ease him into it.  83,102,57,0,B,0  

Ben just got a new tip to tip measurement this afternoon... 24.5",  He is only getting more lovable as he grows - which is good because he is big enough to kill me now.  Hardly horns me anymore...just wants to be scratched.  Bud has come along quite well.  He hand feeds from strangers now and reluctantly loves getting scratched and brushed...but not into the tape measure yet.  They were romping around like crazy last night after the cool temps and rain we got.  

Looks like summer is finally getting here.  87,97,55,0,B,.32

Fired up the micro mini for the first time today.  From a stone cold start, it takes all of 5 minutes to get yellow hot and melt the silver.  Had trouble with the first five pours - didn't fill the mold even though there was still melted silver in the top.  Suddenly something Canvasman34 said to me in an email popped into my head after my first success with the mold and that fork I cut up..."That is great that the mold worked with so little silver. Normally it needs twice the ingot volume to get a full pour."  I guess I got lucky with that first pour I did in my makeshift brick oven.  Added more silver and got 3 good pours in a row.  I was only using about 35grams for the failed attempts.  55 grams seems to work well. Turned my partial ingots back into nuggets and pickled the batch.

Got rain this afternoon!  60,95,62, .4",W,0

Hunted for an hour to find a chunk of copper tubing in my stuff.  Finally found one and made some copper tongs.  Mixed up a batch of pickle acid ( sodium hydrogen sulfate - "to effectively remove surface oxidation and flux from silver, gold, copper and most other nonferrous metals after soldering or casting" ) for my nuggets in a mason jar and set it in my old solar oven without the glass cover and it still got up to 150°.  Cleaned all the scale and flux off the pieces (including ingot #1) so they are ready for the final melt into ingots.  Reserved numbers are as follows: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12,13,16,17,26,27,28,30,31,32,33,34,35,38,42,44,46,50,51,54,56,62,67,72,77,98,99,100
Number 5 is reserved for Pablo Jaramillo who came out just over a year ago with his daughter.
http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/2012/03/blt.html  He contacted me a year before that and it seems to me I remember him telling me about coming to the area to spread his wife's ashes in Big Bend.  That ingot is my memorial to her and free to Pablo's daughter but I will need to get her address from him. 

If you would like to reserve a number, don't send it as a comment on the blog - send me an email so I can keep track of them easier.76,94,45,0,B,.28

Just found this news from my old upstate home town.
http://news.yahoo.com/ny-man-finishes-writing-entire-bible-hand-014023251.html

Psalm 90 : 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 13 Return , O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.  74,79,53,0,B,0

All the big chances of rain scooted by TFL today....only got a sprinkle. Melted down the rest of the booty I got on Ebay into manageable nuggets (11 oz ). Still about a month away from coming up with a price and going into production.  Some folks have contacted me about reserving a specific number in the limited edition of 100 ingots.  If you are interested in a specific number, send me an email.  1,2,3,6,7, and 13 are spoken for.  That is just to reserve a number - no obligation to buy since I haven't set a price yet.  66,74,56,0,T,.34

Good odds of rain falling on TFL.  Finished installing the gutter on the greenhouse west shade.  Did a temp-plumb to a 125 gallon tank.  A half inch of rain from this roof will fill it.  68,86,75,0,B,.2

Hmmmm....got this cryptic comment a couple of days ago from my friend Wm. Pugh ( Slow down and wait......mail box will whisper your name and then they will come! ) and found out what he was talking about yesterday.  He gifted me with a very generous belated birthday present for TFL.  A micro mini furnace from Canvasman34 which included some extras from the builder as well! Thank You!!



Later in the day, UPS Manny dropped off the pickling acid I ordered from http://www.riogrande.com/Home  (these are the folks I just ordered my custom Benita stamp from)    Finally got a shot of Benny and Manny together...size is all about scale.

Ronald Nelson ( The nicest guy in Texas ) came by for a visit this afternoon.  He had a run in with the meanest rooster in Texas (Carl snuck up from behind and left him a message on his arm).  They are blood brothers now.  83,98,67,0,B,0

Thanks to those of you who sent cards and letters to Michael.  He really got a kick out of hearing from my blog readers during his last weeks. He was a Marine who lived his life by the slogan he learned in boot camp... Semper Fidelis / Always Faithful

1 Peter 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Had a great visit and interview today with my new best friend Bob Grafe.  He hosts a radio lawn and garden show on KWED 1580 out of Seguin, TX.  He brought me some goodies from his garden as well as a fig tree and grape vine for the greenhouse.  This is a guy who really knows how to grow stuff...I learned a lot more from him than he did from me.  Will post a link to the webcast when the episode will air.  82,96,63,0,B,0

Went to digging into the archives today...looking for antique sterling from my great grandmother (that I would never melt).  Haven't found it yet but came across my mom's set of Towle "King Richard" sterling flatware that was almost lost in the fire I had back in upstate NY.  In its' present condition, it has more value as future TFL ingots.  Nostalgic sucker that I am - I will preserve one place setting.  We used to eat with this only on special occasions in our seldom used dining room.  In my present state of mind that seems awfully bourgeois...but my parents were from a different time.  My meals now come from one pot with one spoon and knife in a 128 sq ft house that is kitchen, office, bedroom....and dining room.  I am quite comfortable with that.  On special occasions I might use a paper plate.  I don't dare use my grandmother's Limoges China.  78,94,65,0,B,.35    

When I moved out here to the desert, the first thing I learned was to have respect for storms.  It would be great if we got nice/gentle rain a couple times a month, but here we tend to get all or nothing...and when I say all, I mean all hell breaks loose.  My sustainable situation is a good lesson for our modern society.  Too many people rely on society and government to protect them when all they get is control, loss of freedom. and forced reliance.  Unless you are truly prepared and have a solid foundation, everything can change (for the worse) in the blink of an eye and you are lost...helplessly waiting for aid from the control group.  Christ is our foundation...following His Word prepares you for anything.  Trusting in God through faith will save you from the perfect storm that will come.

Luke 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep , and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose , the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth , and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently , and immediately it fell ; and the ruin of that house was great.

Decided to melt down more of the Ebay booty today.  Doing this before a final casting helps burn off whatever residue is on the flatware.  Yet another plug for Canvasman34....I bought a torch head he suggested.  The Bernzomatic JT539T is miles beyond the standard torch heads I have used for soldering copper....and it is relatively cheap for only 26 bucks.  Been using standard torch heads for some of my experiments and it has taken over 10 minutes to melt a couple of grams of sterling.  This new torch head takes less than a minute.
Melted down 5 cute little spoons then a small load of scrap bits for a total weight of 53.5 grams.  My regards to Billy, Auntie Kate, and Laco.  76,88,53,0,C,.3

Canvasman34's pour itself mold worked like a charm.  Just got it in the mail today and had to try it out.  Took awhile with my makeshift firebrick oven and lucked out with just enough silver to fill it.  Pretty rewarding when it finally went bloooop.  Now to build an insulated box to cook in for a faster melt. The fire brick really sucked the heat out...they got up to 750° on the outside.   Paul has plenty of info in his videos to try.  Just ordered 2 sq ft of kaowool to keep the heat in.  Can't help but wonder how many bites of food were had with this fork before I turned it into the official ingot # 13001.  59,72,35,0,C,0

The wind kicked in around 4AM this morning...been gusty all day.  Found a way to pass the time out of the elements.  Been looking for a metal stamp of a longhorn to add to my ingots, but the only thing close is actually more of a buffalo (you call those horns?).  Decided to spend the day in the graphic design department here at TFL.  Downloaded a trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and tweaked a picture of Benita to extract a sample to submit for an estimate for a custom metal stamp from http://www.infinitystamps.com/     54,59,52,0,W,.2

Every now and then I wonder why I don't have some big building project going on....then I remember that 5 years of construction was done in order to became a farmer instead of a builder.  79,102,55,0,C,.2

Been into the world of Ebay the last couple of days.  Last time I used it is when I bought the travel trailer I had back in upstate NY.  Picked up just over 7 ounces of odd sterling flatware at just under the melt price including shipping.  Thanks to Dale who commented a couple of days ago and renewed my interest in Canvasman34 and his YouTube videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/canvasman34?feature=watch  Paul Roccaforte is his name and he commented on yesterday's post after I contacted him with some questions about an offering he had on Ebay - (I sent him a link to the blog).  Rule #1 in life : If you have a question about how to do something - ask someone who has done it.  He has been developing some molds that pour themselves when heated....just what I've been searching for.  I bought one from him today to test at TFL.  85,98,49,0,C,.2

In case you've been wondering what is up with the recent casting experiments...it is all about my bovines.  Sustainability is also about balancing the budget.  Working on a merch idea to keep my boys fed.  I came up with this plan after I posted about my savings bonds that I found.  Was planning on cashing them in and buying some silver coins.  Got to digging around on the web and found loads of silver casting videos.  Figured providing something really solid that is a tangible asset might be the trick.  A Field Lab tshirt will ultimately wear out - but a nice chunk of Field Lab sterling never will....and will always hold value as opposed to our fictitious paper money.  Gave my first successful test ingot to my friend Suze from The Cheshire Cat Antique Store in Alpine since she donated a couple of ounces to the experiment.  I have known her since my first days in the area when she worked at the Antelope Lodge.  I reckon she is officially my first local friend...and a very good one.

So the ultimate plan is to do a limited edition first run of 100 ingots. Final price,weight, shape, and stamping yet to be determined.  I have already promised #001 to my friend Bill Trinkle who has the very first Field Lab tshirt.  Stay tuned....

Carl was a bad rooster yesterday.  He came into the house and jumped up on my bed, knocking my camera bag on the floor.  Lucky for him, the only casualty was the UV filter on my telephoto lens.

Jumbo zucchini to enhance dinner tonight... 1.14 lbs.  82,94,54,0,B, 1.5   (by the way...kale omelettes are really good)

Over the past year I have seen quite a few postings on Facebook of a photo by Angela Fisher & Carol Beckwith of a Dinka boy with some cattle in the Sudan.
(Ben has a bit of Ankole-Watusi genetic code in him.)  Sucked it up and bought my first coffee table book...and I don't even have a coffee table.  The publisher is Rizzoli.  I used to stroll through their fancy store in Manhattan every now and then back in my city daze.  What I find intriguing about the Dinka is their devotion to their cattle ( they have over 400 words in their vocabulary just to describe their herd).  Since Benita led me to Christ - it got me thinking about how this  "savage" tribe views religion when not exposed to the teachings of the Bible and if there are factions within the tribe who  (without outside influence) do not accept the teachings of their elders...as in America where the church is simply ignored by so many.  Our culture and society is so diverse and chaotic that the Word has been put aside as an option but not a truth.  Our tribe doesn't know what is true anymore unless they can buy it. (market an iGod, and they will come)  Found a good condition second hand book I just ordered that might help me find an answer.  66,90,50,0,T,0