That, and fixing the economy, that's my life.

Mowing the lawn this past spring, I stopped short when I saw a little patch of grass, the kind you might say Wow, I wish my whole lawn looked like that! It was dense, it was short, it was a pretty shade of green, and the blades were narrow but not too narrow, just like I like. It was a couple weeks since I mowed that spot, and that little patch of grass was still short and even. I shut the mower down right there so I didn't lose the spot, went up to the house and got a shovel, scooped up a bit of that precious green patch, and planted it in my garden where I could keep an eye on it.

It used to be a farm, where I live, a cow farm. I don't know if they ever planted lawn grass after they built the house, or if people just mowed what was there and it started looking like lawn. But I know that beyond the rock wall, where I found my precious little green patch, it wasn't mowed when I moved in. Looked like it hadn't been mowed, ever.

I'm there now 10 years or more, and mowing beyond the wall since the start. It looks like a lawn now, mostly. But it's patchy, a little of this, a little of that. That's why I look it over when I'm mowing, looking for things I like and don't like about the different patches of lawn. And when I saw that patch of short grass, I knew that was what I wanted.

Most people would buy some grass seed and "overseed" their existing lawn, or just hire somebody to make it nice. Me, no. I'm gonna dig up a little bit of it and grow my own lawn from scratch.

//

The bit of lawn that I dug up was about a four-inch circle. (About four inches, but not really a circle.) I measured it this morning, in the garden: It's a foot square. (More than a foot, but not really square.) Across the long points, 20 inches by 24, where it's reaching out with runners to take over more territory. So it's fast-growing.

No, that's not right. It is fast spreading. I could take my 12-by-12 clump, tic-tac-toe it into nine little four-by-four squares, plant the squares a foot apart, and a year from now have nine, maybe 10 square feet. After another year, 90 or 100 square feet. After four more years I could cover a couple acres. Two or three years after that, maybe the whole county.

Hey, I'm retired. What else am I gonna do? (But not the whole county!)

//

I didn't tell you the best part. It's fast-spreading, but not fast-growing. When I got back to that original patch of grass with my shovel, I mowed it before digging up a sample. So it was 2½ inches tall when I transplanted it to the garden. That was back in May. Five months have gone by, and I didn't mow it again after transplanting it. Didn't mow it for five months. I measured it this morning: It's five inches tall. In five months it only grew 2½ inches.

It grew half an inch a month. Oh yeah, that's what I want. I'm doing it. I'm doing my whole yard.

Thermoplastic

To me it's a pretty new word, thermoplastic. You get some, heat it up, form it to the shape you want, and let it cool. Done.

Links so I don't lose them:

https://www.pnta.com/customer-service/faq/tips-on-thermoplastics/

Owen Duffy's idea

At owenduffy.net: Garden hose couplers – there has to be a better way.

Not sure what I'm looking at in the picture. Looks like a hose end repair fitting where instead of a threaded end you have a quick connect.

I was looking for something like that the other day, a hose-barb fitting that slips into a hose end, a hose-barb fitting with a quick connect instead of a GHT threaded end. Th'aint no such thing.

But if I'm looking at what I think I am, owen duffy made one by modifying some other fitting.

GHT Tap & Die: Looks like I should do nothing with it

Dunno what to do with this, so I'm writing it down so I don't lose track of the links.

From the HomeOwnersHub forum, from 2010: What is the exact tap & die size for a USA garden hose thread (it's not NH):

From Terra Arcane:

I don't see how you could make these with just a tap or die, as they involve a pilot, a relief, and a different lead-in thread angle, not just threads. Google ".75-11.5NH tap die" = 0 hits."

From MonkeyButler:

http://www.widell.com/popular%20special%20supplement%2004-09-01.pdf
Scroll down to 3/4-11-1/2. You will see a garden hose size tap listed. Don't know about the die though.

MonkeyButler's link, from 9 years ago, doesn't work. But http://www.widell.com does work.
I looked around a little. Under SERVICES on their menu is CATALOGUES.
I got it. The file is named catalog_wid.pdf

Page 1: Contents

Page 2: Popular Special Taps

On page 14 I come to "3/4-11 1/2 garden hose 6fl" and "call for pricing".



http://www.widell.com/index.html#

//////

worth another look maybe:
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/forum/garden-hose-thread-size
"put 2 washers in a 3/4 female hose fitting they will seal to a clean 3/4 NPT."
"For a temporary setup where there isn't much mechanical force on the joint (and a little leakage is tolerable), you can put male hose threads into female pipe with some teflon tape."


//

no shit! Home Depot:
$36.60
"Set: Contains taper, plug and bottom taps."

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Drill-America-Garden-Hose-Threading-Tap-3-4-in-to-11-1-2-in-NGH-High-Speed-Steel-DWTNGH3-4TAP/308821680?cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D25T-G-D25T-25_1_HAND_TOOLS-Multi-NA-Feed-PLA-NA-NA-HandTools_PLA%7c71700000034127224%7c58700003933021546%7c92700031755124844&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi97qhPD-5AIVA-iGCh03NArIEAQYAiABEgID0PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

but "for this tap we recommend a 63/64" drill bit"
yeah, nfg for tapping the inlet end of wye connectors with the swivel nuts broken off.

//

Suppose I round off the outside of the inlet end, and tap it for NPT ...
then buy a brass adapter to go from NPT female to GHT female ...
then put a quick-connect fitting into it.
I get swivel from the QC
and I get QC
and I get to use all these damned broken wyes and shutoffs I'm gathering...
//
plumbingsupply.com offers "3/4" FHT Swivel x 3/4" FIPS" for $1.54 apiece.
https://www.plumbingsupply.com/pvc-by-size.html#hose
//
now... could I actually cut threads in a plastic part?
//
Okay, I can buy a 3/4" FIPS
so I would need to make a 3/4" MIPS at the inlet end of the wye fitting.
//
For $34.99 at Harbor Freight I can get a
"1/2 in. - 1 in. Ratcheting Pipe Threader Set"
and
"Cut accurate threads in 1/2 in. - 1 in. pipe"
//
but first I would have to make the inlet end smooth and round.
It has two full-circle ridges on it now that were supposed to hold the swivel nut in place.
so I need... a lathe or the equivalent.
and what size should the OD be? ...same as 3/4" threaded pipe...
1.050 maybe (?)
//
this one looks nice, from Amazon, $56.98
https://www.amazon.com/FOONEE-Portable-Woodworking-Resistant-Standard/dp/B07V5L6TFP/ref=asc_df_B07V5L6TFP/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=366336020149&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15275114182161493519&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003708&hvtargid=pla-818321105506&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=77662751433&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=366336020149&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15275114182161493519&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003708&hvtargid=pla-818321105506
Not out of reach, at least.
//
DIY?


//

uh-oh

Well we got a new thing.
Pressure washer.
The wife told me this morning it was coming, but she didn't say what was coming.

UPS.

I see it has a hole in the box
looks like a forklift fork jammed thru it

Dragged it into the garage.
A label on one side of the box says THIS END UP with an arrow that points at the top.
The box is right-side up.

Why don't they put the "this end up" message ON the end they want to be up? Instead of pointing at it. The message as they give it is so ambiguous I'm just guessing what they mean.

I cut thru the tape on the top end. Opened it.
There's no way I'll be able to grab that thing and lift it up out of the box.
I looked things over.
I decided to look for damage where the forklift stabbed the box.
I cut down the two corners of that face and un-folded it out onto the floor.
I don't see damage... That's good...

Inside the box the first thing you come to at the stab wound is the "Quick Setup Guide".
One, two pages thick.
No stab wound in the setup guide.
That's good. Everything else should be okay.

Took down all four sides the same way, cutting down the corners and laying the sides of the box down on the floor.

Looked at what I had.
Mostly thin gray plastic bags full of foam, all around the thing.
Packing material.
I can picure the machine poking into the box and going FFFFFFT and pulling out,
leaving bags full of foam in all the right places.

It still depends on the forklift driver stopping before he breaks something.

It took me half an hour to get the foam-filled bags un-wedged and removed from the sprayer.

Next, I looked at the booklet in the baggie. It says
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
MANUEL D'UTILISATION
MANUAL DE INSTRUCCIONES

Fuck me.
At least they put English first.

First: Six pages of Safety Instructions
Then: the Quick Setup Guide. I saw that already. The forklift didn't stab it.

A few pages later: Assembly Instructions
1. Locate and remove all loose parts from the carton.
2. Cut four corners of the carton from top to bottom and lay the panels flat.
3. Place handle (G) onto frame (H) ...

Oh, well, good! At least I opened the box right.

Table of Bow-Tie clips (as used to mount [some] mower decks)

At pivotpins.com, from Pivot Point, Inc. Looks like minimum order is 100 pieces of a size, but the ones I'd want to attach my mower deck are less than 25 cents apiece (as opposed to maybe $4.95 each & Free Shipping.)

They also offer an 80-piece kit (at this writing, $13.99; shipping is probably extra).
The 80-piece kit includes 24 pieces I can use to attach my mower deck to the tractor.

Table of Flat Washer Thicknesses

At InStock Fasteners

Also: Lists of screw & machine screw diameters, under Guide to Fastener Sizes
And more in their sidebar.

//

EDIT 19 March 2020
See also:

Washer Size Chart at engineering.com: ID, OD, & thickness for SAE and USS flat washers

Fastener Identification Guide (PDF, 165 pages) from the Illinois Department of Transportation: Bolt head markings, studs, nuts, washers (washers start on page 145). These are mostly material specification markings, grade, maybe manufacturer.

I'm looking at flat washers from Home Depot, some marked UAC and some UAD. These are size markings, they told me at HD one time. But now that I have em home, I want a list of the markings and what sizes they represent.

The one marked UAD measures 1" OD, 7/16 ID, so that's a 3/8" USS flat washer, according to the engineering.com link.
The one marked UAC looks to be 7/8" OD, 3/8 ID, so it's 5/16" USS. Note that it fit on a 3/8 bolt.

For the anti-sway rod on my Husqvarna riding mower, the UAC washer fits easily. Why did I think it wouldn't?

//

Sizes of -- good grief -- everything!

Rubber bands... the most powerful engines... sandbags... everything!

Table of Cotter Pin Sizes

At sizes.com.

See also American Fastener.

Table of USS and SAE washer dimensions

At Bolt Depot.

At engineering.com

I'm trying different wye connectors

Okay okay, I got tired of my "wye" connectors going bad, leaking at the inlet fitting. I know, it's my fault, I got a good deal on Gilmour wyes and bought ten of em. Well, at present there are four new ones left in the box they came in; three others in use; two more, both gone bad, sit in the garage waiting for me to fix them or throw them out; and one that is MIA.

Started thinking about buying better quality wyes, brass maybe. Okay, but the price makes me hesitate. So, cheaper brass ones? I could get ones without shutoffs. I hardly ever use the shutoffs on wye connectors. I like having shutoffs at the end of a run of hose, not in the middle where the wye often is.

Plus, the ones where the inlet doesn't swivel must be less expensive, and are not likely to break at the inlet end. So okay, that's what I went looking for. Found em: two-for-$15 ($14.99) at amazon of course. Gave it a try.

They came in a little box, one black washer in each, two extra washers (red), plus a little roll of teflon tape. It felt like a pretty good deal. Oh, and the ID: between 5/8" and 3/4". Bigger than the ID of the hose washer. That's good. I'm not gonna do better than that.

Then I got thinking about positioning the wye as I want it when it doesn't have a swivel. In this case (to replace one of my three Gilmours presently in use, and to add an extra hose connection at that location) both the new brass wyes will connect to short (2ft or less) lengths of hose that have swivel fittings on their inlet ends. I should be able to turn the short hoses as needed to position the wyes correctly. That's my plan, anyway.

As a substitute for the swivel inlet I could use quick-connect fittings I guess. Not cheap, but they swivel. And then I got thinking about getting little fittings, nothing but a female swivel and a male GHT end. It would be like a replaceable inlet-end swivel for my new wyes. There are lots of little fittings like that, that go from FGHT to MNPT, from garden hose to pipe thread. That does me no good. Interstate Pneumatics has what I'm looking for, via amazon. Nice, except they're seven and a half dollars apiece. They cost as much as the brass wyes I got. I object.

There are PVC fittings similar to what I want for a couple dollars apiece, but they are "slip" fittings or they have pipe thread. No good either way. Could be a project for my 3D printer, if I get one someday.

//

Both wyes came with the black washer "nubs down". I reversed em, to put the nubs closer to the inlet end in case it makes a difference.

Yesterday we had the plumber here, replacing our old pressure tank for household water. I watched him put teflon tape on pipe thread, four times around. So I used the teflon tape that came with my wyes, four times around. Then I put coke bottle caps loosely on the wye outlet threads, to keep spiders out.

//

I shoulda known  Teflon be damned, the first brass wye leaked at the inlet end. I disconnected the two outlet-end hoses -- there's no swivel at the inlet end, remember -- and removed the wye. Surprised me, it was a little loose. So I tightened it, put the output hoses back on, tried it, and still had the leak. Took the outlet hoses off, took the wye off, took the black washer out, put in one of those Gilmour washers, ugly orange but noticeably bigger than the black one, and threw the black one away.

Put it back together again: So far, so good. But it just became a one-beer job.

Quick Connect Interchange Types

Dunno if this will be useful, but it can't hurt: Different "interchange types" for quick connect fittings... Note that these are AIR fittings & may not be at all relevant. Like I said, dunno.

From Grainger

Defeats the purpose, no?

You get a hose of larger diameter not because it is heavy to carry and unwilling to bend, but in order to maximize water flow. But this...

this fitting is designed to block the water flow of the larger size hoses.

Amazon apparently doesn't care. They'll put anything up for sale.

I like the design of this fitting

This:

The upper part is a hex fitting, designed to be turned with a wrench. That's the NPT side obviously, the National Pipe Thread side.

The lower part is a round fitting, designed to be turned by hand. That's the GHT side, Garden Hose Thread.

I use a wrench sometimes on garden hose fittings, but only because arthritis makes my grip sub-par. Took me a while to learn this secret: NEVER TIGHTEN GARDEN FITTINGS TIGHT WITH A WRENCH. With a wrench, just a hint of snug will do. If it still leaks, change the rubber washer.

Yeah, I don't like the price too much, but I like the design.

I'm trying a different rule

I can't go by that "cut off no more than one-third" rule when I mow. I'm trying a different rule: If I mow once every four days, I don't get piles of clippings that make the lawn look bad.

Even this rule is difficult to follow. But I'm trying.

I figured it out

I've seen it said, a couple places on the internet¹, that when you mow the lawn you should cut off no more than one-third the length of the grass. So for example, if you mow when the grass is 3 inches tall and you cut it down to two inches, you cut off one-third of the original length.

Yeah. But a lot of my lawn is in a low, wet area, and it grows as much as an inch a day. So I cut my lawn to two inches tall, and the next day it's three inches tall and ready to be cut again.

To follow that "cut off no more than one-third" rule, I'd have to mow my lawn every day!


Note:
1 -- It might have been one place on the internet, which I found more than once. Can't rightly say.

Documenting differences in QC fittings: True Value and Harbor Freight

Based on one set of each brand. Hopefully these differences are consistent.

Preferences: Shut-offs

This isn't bad, because I can tell that the water is on. Both valve handles are in line with the water path, so both outlets are on. If the handles were crossways the water would be off. I can tell at a glance. Are those screws rusty?
This isn't good, because I can't tell at a glance if the water is on or off. Similar to the connector above, but the valve handle doesn't indicate "in-line" or "crossways".
This is better. Instead of a "valve handle" this shut-off has what the packaging calls a "large easy to use knob". I like it. I know the water is turned on because the knob's grabber is in-line with the water path. Turned 90 degrees -- crossways -- the water would be off.
This one also: I can tell from the position of the knob whether the water is on or off. I find this type much easier to use, this and the one before this, easier to use than the first two shown above. Maybe because the handle is more accessible. Maybe because pressure is applied on both sides of the pivot screw when I open or close the valve. Both those things, I think.
Same story here. Hey... I wonder if the knob would fit on those first two fittings... or on other fittings that give me grief. Hmm...

The latest (and greatest!) in multi-language labeling

Lookin for some "soaker hoses" to help me water my landscape & garden plants. I found a good one at Northern Tool. Below the image of the hose they ask: "What do you think of our product images?" Kind of an odd question, no? So I looked at the blowup of the package:

I'm too old to think highly of the multi-language product labeling that is so common nowadays. But this Gilmour label is certainly one I can live with.

Dethatcher with Achilles wheel

Couple years back a friend told me a "dethatcher" might be good to use on the lawn once in a while.

My tractor's a Husqvarna. They offer two different dethatcher models: front-mounted, and rear-mounted, made by Agri-Fab. The rear mount didn't make sense to me as I figured I'd dethatch and mow and bag the clippings all in one operation. The bagger occupies the rear, so the dethatcher has to go in front.

Image from the Agri-Fab Owners Manual

So that was my plan. But it turns out the front-mount dethatcher costs about $200 more than the rear-mount one. Nice, huh? Well, you know I struggled with that decision, then went ahead and spent the extra money for the front mount model. I got the thing during the winter so I'd be all ready for Spring.

//

Spring came at last. I used the thing once, for maybe an hour. Hit a soft spot in the lawn. The wheel and the dethatcher tines sunk in the mud, and before I could stop the tractor, it rolled up on top of the dethatcher. The cheap plastic wheel couldn't take the tractor weight. Bent the wheel so bad it had to be replaced.

To buy a new one was $40 -- for a plastic wheel that's practically worthless. I so I spent the rest of dethatcher season shopping for a 7-inch wheel.

The 7-inch wheel is a common size. But this one takes a 5/8" axle, unusually large for a 7" wheel. And apparently the only one manufactured, in this solar system, is the $40 one. Eventually I broke down and bought the damn wheel. I installed it and put the dethatcher away, ready for Spring.

//

Spring came again this year. I put the dethatcher on and set to work. I have to say, the bagger catches a nice mix of dead grass and powdery soil, and I love adding that to my compost pile. It'll give me some impressive volume, too, if I can ever get the whole yard done.

But it is slow going, because I don't want to buy another flimsy $40 wheel.

//

Well, it was good for maybe an hour before the thing got stuck in mud and the tractor climbed on top of it again. And I was crawling slow. Damn tractor only has to go a few inches after the dethatcher gets stuck, and that's all she wrote. This time, though, I had an idea.

Images from the Agri-Fab Owners Manual

With the 7" wheel installed on the funny bent axle, I had a little over half an inch clearance above the wheel. So an 8-inch wheel should fit. I went to Harbor Freight and looked a their 8 in. Solid Rubber Tire with Polyethylene Hub (item#61706). That's the one that says its maximum working load is 1100 lbs. It's an eight-dollar wheel. The first time I saw that "1100 lbs" I thought it was a typo for 100 or 110 lbs. Even so, if it can support 100 lbs, that's better than the original wheel without a doubt. And $8 instead of $40.

The wheel measures 7³∕₄" diameter at the tread face. Just under 8": a little forgiveness there; I may need it. It's a rubber tire on a plastic rim, but the rim is thick plastic, not paper-thin like the original wheel. I bought two.

Harbor Freight #61706

The original wheel used about 1¹∕₂" of the axle. The new wheel is about 2", 2¹∕₈" wide at the axle. The axle doesn't provide that much room to fit the wheel on.

However... As you can see in the picture, surrounding the axle bore hole the hub is inset about ³∕₈", which means the wheel occupies less axle space. There's an inset like that on both sides of the wheel, so the wheel only uses about 1¹∕₄" of the axle. It'll work!

I put one of the original washers back on the axle, far as it would go. Then I put the Harbor Freight wheel on, far as it would go. It was stopped by the washer. I had about half an inch of axle sticking out past the inset.

The axle didn't come out past the wheel enough to install the hitch pin that keeps the wheel on. However... There was enough axle sticking out that I could get an axle cap nut on it. The brim of the axle cap is smaller than the inset diameter, so the cap nut goes on okay. And you should have seen how pleased I was with myself then!

//

I used the dethatcher the same day I fixed it. No problem. And I used it longer that day than all the time I had used it before. And the wheel is still good. And I was gaining confidence and going faster, so that dethatching my lawn may be a less endless task than I thought.

You bought a what?

I bought a used chipper shredder, good size, five horse, runs great, looks like this:

Except I don't have a bag yet.

It's an old Craftsman. Apparently Sears made a million different models that all look the same. Mine still has the label on it, but the ink is faded and I can't read the model number.

It's hard as hell on my hands when I push branches into it. But I didn't buy it for branches. I bought it for cardboard.

Wife bought an "air convection fryer" the other day. Still in the box. The box is about 15" each way, a cube, single-layer cardboard. It came in a shipping box, corrugated cardboard, just big enough to hold the other box.

I cut the shipping box along the edges and cut the flaps off. The biggest piece is small enough to fit flat on the bottom of my utility sink. I plugged the drain, put a couple inches of water in the sink, and sunk the cardboard into it. [EDIT 26 April 2019: I'm no longer comfortable using the utility sink to soak cardboard. My impression is that the glue they use for making cardboard is a water-soluble glue. I started to worry about glue clogging the drain pipe. Dunno if it would, but I don't much like the risk.]

After a couple minutes I took out the cardboard one piece a time and rolled it up into a log. The logs came out about an inch in diameter, perfect for the shredder. I took an old coat hanger, cut off the hook, and cut the rest into four pieces each maybe 8 inches long. Bent each one to put a 1-inch hook on one end and a 2-inch Vee on the other.

I caught one of the cardboard logs in the Vee and hooked the hook on the old ClosetMaid shelving that's over the sink, to drip dry.

Needed one more coat hanger to hang up all my little cardboard logs. When the logs dry I'll set em aside, collect more, and run em through the chipper. Uh-oh.

Need a bag.


Update, 8 March 2019:

My cardboard logs were dry two days later. Maybe only one day, but I didn't check em.

[EDIT 26 April 2019: First of the hopper (big) instead of the chute (small) recently. Works great for the drop from hedge-trimming arborvitae and juniper landscape plants. Flat stuff slides in easy. So I'm thinkin about cutting my cardboard into flat pieces 6 or 8 inches wide instead of soaking and rolling em.]

The long ones (each from one 15"x15" square) are about 16" long and 1¼ (or so) diameter at the bulge near the middle. The short ones (each from two flaps) are 9 or 10 inches long and 1½ (or less) in diameter.

They take up a lot less space than the cardboard box did. Even after it was cut up. They'll go in the shredder better too.[EDIT The cardboard logs are WAY too short to hold onto after they're in the chute. Often, they jam the shredder and it runs slow for a minute and I just have to wait.]

Didn't shred em yet. Still need a bag.

Meanwhile... I keep them in a cardboard box!


Update, 12 March 2019:

Found some good-size burlap bags on amazon, four bags for $16, 24"x40" bags. No drawstring. (The bags with drawstrings are all way too small.)

I saw cheaper bags but they have a lighter shipping weight. I'm hoping more expensive and heavier shipping weight means heavier, stronger burlap.

Perimeter of the outflow opening from the shredder, about 34 inches. A bag 24" wide with a 1" hem, two sides @ 23", about 46" bag opening perimeter. A foot more than I need.

I'm thinkin to use a bungee cord to hold the bag in place. I can bunch up the extra burlap. Maybe I can bunch it up so it closes up any gaps due to shape of outlet.

If the bag slips out from under the bungee I'll fold over the burlap at the opening and hot glue 3" lengths of clothesline rope inside the fold, with 3" gaps between for bunching.

That's all I got.

[EDIT: The bag-and-bungee thing works great!]


Later, 12 March 2019:

Just finished rolling another batch of cardboard. Made hangers out of two more coat hangers. Everything's hangin up. [EDIT: Yeah, I'm gonna stop rolling cardboard, if wide flat strips go into the shredder easy.]

Apparently not all cardboard is created equal. The Amazon box that the 25-lb bag of dog food comes in seems to be thicker and tougher than the first box I rolled. In the photo you can see that the first ones were quite wrinkly. The Amazon dogfood box doesn't get wrinkly. They didn't want to stay rolled up, either. I soaked em for an extra half hour, and that helped. But it didn't help the first few I rolled today.

Couple days ago I rolled the thinwall box from a Schweppes 12-pack. That one was uncooperative. Didn't want to roll, and wouldn't stay rolled. I grabbed the cardboard tube from some paper towels and used the tube as a sleeve over the Schweppes roll. That worked! Gonna have to start saving those tubes now, too. PT and TP tubes, Jim calls em.

Oh, and the paper mache-lookin egg cartons that hold a dozen eggs? You don't need the shredder for them. Soak em, roll em, they fall apart. I threw them out. Think I'll try using egg cartons as seed trays this spring.

Hey, I'm retired. I have time for this. And when Christmas comes I'll be ready to turn all of those Amazon shipping boxes into garden mulch and worm food, I should live so long. Otherwise, I'll be the worm food.


Update, 13 March 2019:

The cardboard logs I rolled yesterday were dry enough this morning to take down and toss into my box of "ready-to-shred" cardboard. One-day drying.

To stop the "unrolling" while drying I can take another hanger and use the "vee" end to pinch and hold the log rolled up.


Update, 20 March 2019:

The days go by. It's a week since my last update!

I'm gonna have to be prepared to cut new cardboard boxes into flats right away when I get em. And soak-and-roll the flats into cardboard logs. So that cardboard doesn't pile up in the garage. And go down to the projects room every day to toss my drip-dried logs into the storage box.

When the storage box is full, it's time to drag the shredder out of the shed and run my cardboard logs thru it. [EDIT: Now I have the shredder, I have a reason to pick up twigs and stuff off the lawn. I'm keeping em in a big cardboard box in the shed. Gotta coordinate collection of shredables. A week or more often passes before I have enough stuff to drag out the shredder.

//

I did get some burlap bags. Didn't do anything with them yet. Oh, and the paper towel and toilet paper rolls I started saving do seem to add up quickly!

Our recycle bin now gets maybe 1/4 full in a week, instead of full full.


Later, 20 March 2019:

Oh, this is gonna work!

We have a river birch tree. River birches are always in the process of shedding bark. It's an interesting looking tree. But not only is it always shedding bark; it is also always losing branches. Not big ones, little ones: foot-long twigs, two foot, three foot at most, eh, maybe four. Half inch diameter or less. Nothing big.

But come the end of winter there can be a good lot of twiglets on the ground: under the tree, and beyond the tree in whatever direction a stiff wind was blowing. I spent an hour picking em up this morning. I got done, I evaluated the situation:

• I got twigs
• I got cardboard logs
• I got a shredder
• I even got a burlap bag to catch the shreddings
• and a bungee cord.

I had no excuse. So I pulled the shredder out of the shed, bungee'd a bag to it, and shredded the cardboard and the twigs.

Not bad!

Sometimes it pulls the cardboard in too fast and can't handle it, and it wants to stall. But I find this doesn't happen if I run the briggs at full throttle. It'll be good if I can remember that.

Silicone Grease

For hose washers, o-rings, etc: Eley Silicone Grease. Comes in a tube.

I just used the CRC spray, which I got locally. The Eley link provides access to an MSDS sheet for their silicone grease. First impression, it appears much less harmful than the CRC spray.