smitty55

For some reason I thought you were still using a Big Chief but obviously not if you're smoking at 250°. What are you using now?
I recently joined the Smoking Meat group on FB. Some good posts there.

I also only use free versions of Avast, MBAM, and Spybot along with script blockers like AdBlockplus, Ghostery and uBlock origin. I used to use avg but the Avast has been real good at blocking malware in real time.

The only thing I pay for is my VPN which is cheap and can cover up to 7 devices. The odd time I'll do a scan with Zemana as well but don't have it running.
If I ever have a feeling that something seems funny my go to just in case is a system restore which has never failed me.
Personally I would never use Norton as it's always been known to be a resource hog using way too much CPU and memory.

On 10/20/2023 at 5:05 PM, BITEME said:

Keep telling yourself that

Wow, what eating you? Line counter reels can be real handy for trolling for numerous species. A lot more accurate that coloured  mono trolling line. I've used them lots for copper line trolling too for Lakers.

4 hours ago, Barry Willis said:

Hi Spiel, it's been a spell. I'm not sure if I was to comment on this and I don't expect I am about to mention anything you don't already know but here goes anyway. I've done a lot of work with antlers and the only way to avoid it at least somewhat is to just do a bit at a time and then let it sit for a while to prevent it from heating up. I know it's a pain and very time consuming but the warmer it gets the worse the smell. At least that's what my wife tells me, she would know, I swear she has a nose equal to that of a Blood Hound. Many times when we've been Elk hunting she will smell them long before we see them. My kind of hunting partner.  Haha.  Not that it comes as a surprise, your pics, illustrate very nice work as always, second to none. Thank you for sharing them.  Cheer's - Barry.

Getting of topic here but Barry, I only found this out a couple years back but it's a biological fact that women have a better sense of smell than men. My propane furnace was going on the fritz back then and my wife mentioned that the outdoor exhaust was smelling funny while to me it seemed normal. So I have a neighbour who has a gas license and installs furnaces for a local company. So he comes over and the first thing he does is gets me to turn the furnace and he takes a deep breath of the exhaust and says it burnt his throat a bit so yes I have issues. Turned out the furnace was off grade and the acidic water was pooling under the heat exchanger and it was rotting out. I mentioned to Jordy that my wife could smell it but I couldn't and he said that they were taught in school that women naturally have a better sense of smell than men, hence why he had to actually inhale the exhaust and feel the burn to be sure something was wrong. I got lucky too, the original install company had to cough up for all the repairs.

4 hours ago, HTHM said:

What about doing it on a wood lathe? You're welcome to try it out on mine. Using chisels rather than metal cutting points. 

Antlers are so much denser and harder than wood, pretty sure that's why metal bits are needed.

That's looking good Spiel, neat to see the different steps in the process. How many hours in total you figure to do the handle?

3 minutes ago, siwash said:

Figured out the problem! toggle switch is fried!

That's why I mentioned the switch, always start with the basics to confirm or eliminate components. I bet that's a relief, wtg.

55 minutes ago, Sasquach said:

You can also check to see if the kill switch is engaged. (Safety switch usually connected to your wrist) 

Lol. I'm on the Kipawa forum and one member was up for a week and on the first day after doing some slip bobber fishing they went to leave and the motor was dead. Fortunately they actually had cell service and phoned the lodge for a tow. Once they got back to the docks he noticed the kill switch was on. Well of course he got razzed all week and he actually changed his handle on the forum to killswitch.

Could be the starter itself, or it could be a switch or a solenoid or an open connection. Was the starter acting up at all before? Also, does it not still have the starter rope?

Looks like the same type product as SeaFoam.

On 8/25/2023 at 5:22 PM, KraTToR said:

JDM stratic spinning. Nothing major, the spring for the spool clicker popped out and I'm not dexterous to get it back in. Not a big deal, so I have a reel that doesn't click when the line is pulled out but would still like it fixed.

Thoughts?

P

This may help you out. If it's that clicker in the spool gear you're referring to it doesn't look very complex at all, in this case the tab on the retaining ring had popped out of it's slot.

15 hours ago, siwash said:

I actually got a friend to help me... well, he did it! He's an electrician and insisted! He used the heat shrinkable connectors and staggered.. works great! 

Quick story I spent 38 years from right out of high school working on electro-mechanical aircraft instrumentation, for the first 25 at Sperry Gyroscope and then 13 at a mid size airline in the instrument shop.  So I'm like fresh out of high school and had worked on dismantling gyros and a few other things the summer before. Along with high school electronics that was all I had. A lot of the instruments were very fine mechanical engineering.  A lot of instruments also used hairsprings, so there was a lot techs with a watch makers background. They all had the machinist type tool boxes.  One senior tech in particular I got to know let me try his watchmaker quality tweezers and jewelers screw drivers and impressed on me as a 19yo on the importance of quality tools. So I followed his advice and took a bus downtown to Geneva Watch. This would be '75, so I bought 3 different Swiss made Dumont & Sons fine tweezers, back then they were like $25+ each. I also bought a set of Moody screwdrivers, over all it was all over a Cnote. Absolutely the best move I ever made, almost 50 years later those tweezers and two of the drivers spend their time on my on my desk and get used often enough still. With a little touch of a fine stone I bet I could pick up a .002 shim. So I learned a long time that you'll never regret buying quality tools, it's never cheaper to have to replace them. Same as buying the Knipex cutters, if that's the best tool needed then just buy it once and you'll be good forever.
  At Sperry it was union so when you were given something you had never worked on before you would get so much training time and help from a lead hand to train you. Some of these instruments were quite complicated with R&O times up to 100+ hours, think of all those cockpit instruments like the larger indicators and then of course all the different gyroscopes. At First air it was different, you could end up working on anything off the plane, if it had a wire anywhere it came to our shop. It was actually rare for me to work on anything I'd done before so everything was new. In the shop basically when you pick something to work on off the shelves the first thing you do is go grab the manual and start learning. Or we could go into the hanger and work on a component on the plane itself. I remember one week I spent on a new plane they had bought and I had to modify all those overhead personal service panels.  I also worked on clock movements and replaced hairsprings to repair/modify/certify these clocks for use with lithium battery in cold climates up north, and the next day I could be working on an engine harness, or ovens, or coffee makers. I learned a lot. Never got bored.
So with all that being said hehe, this is what I have learned over time. You learn some when explaned how to fix or do something. You learn more from reading a good repair manual. You then learn some more when you watch how it's done. But you always learn the most from doing it yourself and then the more you repeat it, the better, faster and more confident you get at it. Whether it's working on a vehicle, using a chain saw, adjusting a carb or dismantling and maintaining your reels. Things get easier to do. 
Cheers

7 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Interesting, you clearly know far more than I ever would, but I have also heard rumblings somewhere before that solder connections in boats are actually not the best due to the vibration and beating a boat takes.

 

less so on the trailer side of things but more on the marine electronics side of stuff I’ve done a ton of research on how the “pro” installers are doing their work, and everyone these days has their own favourite crimp style connectors that they use. 
 

I personally dig into it for a while and settled on MC4 style connectors. Not great for a trailer, but ideal for in boat. Waterproof, , easily disconnected, but both crimped, and then ratcheted and then snapped together. They’ve been awesome in mine and other’s boats I have wired since finding them.

Yea I've heard of that with boat harnesses too. Some of those environmental splices had a metal butt splice type crimp in the center that you would just slide the stripped conductors in each end and crimp and then seal with that shrink sleeve that had the sealant ring on each end. The other kind had a solder ring in the middle and an adhesive on the inside of the shrink sleeve where you would slide the stripped wires in to sit side by side and then with high temp on the heat gun the solder would melt as the sleeve shrunk and create a good solder joint in the middle with the ends sealed. No chance of that solder joint breaking as the wire was held solid by the sleeve.
One more thing is that with the old pvc type insulated wired you can't really use a heat gun as the insulation will melt, even with a soldering iron you had to be quick. Most of the newer instruments had teflon insulation as did all our spools of wire.

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/splices/wire-connection-type~solder/solder-loaded-heat-shrink-crimp-on-butt-splices/

https://skygeek.com/military-standard-m81824-1-2-terminal-splice-crimp-butt-cu-20-16-wire-blue-insulator.html

8 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Connectors are up to the discretion of the person doing the wire. 
 

solder is always ideal if possible but over my time working on boats and trailers in hard to reach places, I find myself crimping more connectors than ever. A good solder to me has always been a challenge unless you can essentially sit over the two wires and put them together nicely in a vice.

insulated crimp terminals with heat shrink over the entire section so there’s no exposure has served me well.
 

I dip my exposed wire sections in dielectric grease prior to crimping, and then shrink wrap everything. 

Actually, in a lot of aircraft harness connectors you have to use crimps on the pins or sockets before inserting them in the connector because with solder the wire is too stiff and from the constant vibration the wire can break off at the joint. So different methods for different applications

2 hours ago, SlipperyVic said:

Here's a wire soldering tip that's useful for every joint, but especially handy for hard to reach joints.

Use a technique called the Western Union splice.  Look it up on Google. 

Wire joint is mechanically locked together before soldering so as long as you can get the iron in there you can solder it.  You don't need to hold it as it won't come apart. 

With a bunch of practice and a couple of burns you can solder a joint with one hand, upside down in the underside of a dashboard as you lay in filth. 

Boy I miss being in the trade, lol. 

 

I will also add that the Western Splice also leaves a very smooth easy to shrink tube joint. Not a big ugly blob.

Never knew that was the name but at times in aircraft instrumentation that was a splice we used. Just had to make sure you put the shrink sleeve over one wire before doing it. We also had to show the joint to an inspector before sleeving it.

22 minutes ago, siwash said:

Thanks man! I just watched video. ReAlly easy. 

Yep, the best way to become handy is with practice and success. If you want to improve on that splice to ensure better waterproofing, before you use the shrink tubing use some goop on each end of the butt splice and then shrink it. In the aircraft industry we use milspec environmental splices that have a ring of sealant on each end that melts from the heat gun as the tube shrinks.

6 hours ago, CrowMan said:

Btw, those Crappy Tire special Red Wolf cutters are useless...

 

So is anything in the Power Fist economy brand from Princess Auto, it doesn't come much cheaper than that. Even for general household chores I'd never buy anything of that brand.

On 7/29/2023 at 7:31 PM, akaShag said:

Once again, adding to my education, never heard of this before........looks delicious!

I googled it and the first two results were totally different recipes, I liked the one with lamb.

On 5/23/2023 at 8:33 PM, jnic said:

Hi all, looking for a trip where the walleye are typically bigger, you see some places say average 3 to 5 pounds. Be realistically looking for somewhere where every fourth or fifth fish is on the good side of 2 plus. Has anyone experienced where the walleye are actually bigger on average thanks

Have you ever considered Kipawa? It's not a fly in. Alwaki lodge is a 14 mile boat ride and Kipawa lodge is another 8 miles past there, you'd think you were at a fly in destination with how few boats you'll see. Lakers, Walleye, Pike and Smallies are all abundant and always chances at trophy size fish, my best Walleye there is over 11 lb. It's an absolutely gorgeous lake that will have you wanting to return  year after year.

Cheers

2 hours ago, Terry said:

I think you mean series not parallel 

Yep, won't work otherwise on that 24V motor

Just looking at that Cominsky guy, he has that sleazebag look to him.

8 hours ago, akaShag said:

Well.........................................I have not even gone for a look yet........................a day late and a dollar short, that's me 🙄

Doug

Yea, you'll be too late now Dougie for fiddleheads. Still lots of time left for leeks though and maybe some morels.

I've been saving seed and growing the same indeterminate heirloom Greek tomato for over thirty years now but I use a different method than you as I only grow one vine and pinch all suckers off. If they grew like yours I'd be overwhelmed with blight due to lack of air flow.  They average over a pound each and my largest is over 2 1/2 lb. Best tomatoes I've ever eaten, all meat and a fantastic flavour. Last year I made salsa and the three people I passed a jar to all said it was the best salsa they'd ever had. They make an excellent tomato sauce as well, I can lots every year. Long wait yet though, they're maybe 8" right now under the lights.

Cliff if you aren't using a VPN yet I highly recommend you start using one. They are quite cheap and normally you can use 5 or more devices under the one account. Not only is your IP address hidden and can come from anywhere in the world where there is a server but all the data you send and receive is encrypted and encapsulated. It's the best security there is to protect your privacy.

15 hours ago, CrowMan said:

Nice haul !

Yes, I got a few more...got a couple bags in the freezer. I parboil them in salted water first, cool in ice water, and then vacuum pack.

My focus is now on Morels...I've been trying to train my dog to sniff them out...like a Truffle hound...LOL. Can't get enough of those delicious fungi. The wet weather over the next few days should really get them going.

Cooked some pasta tonight with a Morel, Cream and Parmesan sauce...food of the Gods !

‐----‐----------------------

Congrats Leafs ! Hopefully they'll see the Oilers in the final round..an all Canadian Stanley Cup final would be sweet !

Yea I always blanch them first no matter what I'm doing. This is what I tell everyone I share some with. Boil for 2 minutes and then throw out that dark brown water. Then I boil for one more minute and throw out the light brown water and then saute in butter and garlic/leeks. With the amount of crap that comes out of them from being under water it's no wonder some people feel sick if they just rinse and fry. For freezing they just get one blanch and then like you a quick chill in ice water and then pat dry before vacuum sealing. The do last well for months in the fridge without touching them so long as they're not too wet. Cheers

On 4/28/2023 at 1:49 PM, CrowMan said:

It's been a strange spring. I think the warm weather last week really accelerated things. We had almost 30c for 5 days straight. In some of my places for Fiddleheads they were already almost a foot high yesterday.  I had to go looking in some of the shady north facing spots to find young ones.

So did you get out again? The rain finally slowed down here late afternoon so I headed out to that other creek in full rain gear. Someone had been there already but there was enough new growth there and across the road that I got a good pick in. Over two hours it never rained and I got close to 7 pounds so that should do me for the season and I'll freeze some too. They were real wet obviously so I'm letting them dry overnight before I bag them back up and into the fridge. I gave my neighbour who loves them close to pound but that still leaves me plenty.

11 hours ago, Big Cliff said:

Wow, Big brother shure is watching! Thanks that is an awsome link, I was amazed at how well it worked. I went through everything and cleaned out a whole mess of stuff and apps, reset my password and should be good to go. 

Yea most people don't realize what installing apps can do. Facebook is the only social media I use and I never sign in to anywhere with it. I can see twitter posts in links but I'm never signed in to it. It's mostly friends and family and the groups I'm in are mostly outdoor activities including gardening and also some sports groups, recipes and the high school and old neighborhoods I grew up in.
Some people however seem to need to be involved in everything in social media regardless of the potential repercussions. Take tiktok for example, most people know it's run by the CCP and should realize how unsafe it can be but the only thing that matters to their ego is their online presence. Even governments are now banning it but so many couldn't care so long as they can post. And nobody that signs up for it even thinks of what the terms of service mean. Listen to this from Joe Rogan who goes through what agreeing to install tiktok on your device gives them in terms of access to your life, it's amazing.