Reconstructing the Antikythera Mechanism

 

"Clickspring" makes gorgeous videos about an inspiring project: building a replica of the Antikythera mechanism using only period-appropriate tools and methods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBRCL090PxA

 

I particularly like this project because it's an excellent way to debunk the "ancient astronaut" kookery surrounding this piece of ancient technology (and other "too advanced" ancient human achievements).

Friday Links: German Expression, Knife Sharpening, a Recipe, and Atlanta

I know that the principles of this knife sharpener are sound, I don't know if this version works well. At this price I'm tempted to try. A company called "Wasabi" has been selling the same thing at a multiple of this price.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002806278575.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.100009.1.6013e215hW2M1i&gps-id=pcDetailLeftTopSell&scm=1007.13482.271138.0&scm_id=1007.13482.271138.0&scm-url=1007.13482.271138.0&pvid=5946f051-089f-46be-8974-ac65ec5f40bc&_t=gps-id:pcDetailLeftTopSell,scm-url:1007.13482.271138.0,pvid:5946f051-089f-46be-8974-ac65ec5f40bc,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238108%231977&pdp_ext_f=%257B%2522sku_id%2522%253A%252212000025558963981%2522%252C%2522sceneId%2522%253A%25223482%2522%257D&pdp_pi=-1%253B30.8%253B-1%253B-1%2540salePrice%253BUSD%253Brecommend-recommend

A varenyky recipe. I think this is too much sour cream but I haven't tried it yet. Let me know if you do!

https://www.allthingsukrainian.com/Recipe/Varenyky/VarenykyRecipe.html

Did you know? One German near-equivalent to "painting the town red" is [literally] "letting the sow out."

https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/die_Sau_rauslassen

Here are some good local writers and reporters making their suggestions for improving Atlanta. I am in strong agreement with Andisheh's.

https://austinlouisray.com/#/how-id-fix-atlanta/

Random Friday Links: FAO Blacksmithing Manual

 An FAO publication: Agricultural Engineering in Development: Basic Blacksmithing: A Training Manual. Might be worth getting a hard copy of this one.

https://www.fao.org/3/ah637e/AH637E00.htm

Friday Links: Diet for a Small Planet at 50, Scythe Resource, Farm Tractors in Forestry

 Diet for a Small Planet is being issued in a new 50th-anniversary edition: 

https://www.dietforasmallplanet.org/

I have unexpectedly become interested in working with a scythe. I own two, a heavy one for brush and a very light and slim one for grass. Turns out you can still buy all the parts and maintenance tools, and there are modern-day experts ready to train you. This seems to be one of the good sites for both:

https://www.baryonyxknife.com/scac.html

And here's an English translation of a Swedish government publication about using a small farm tractor in the woods. There are still forestry winches being made for tractors, so this is all of interest to me:

https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/publications/general_publications/farm_tractor_in_the_forest.pdf

Friday Links: an Onion Video Series, Axolotl Husbandry, a Woodworking Blog of Note

 Amusement:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C7941B0228E0240

Axolotl information:

http://www.axolotl.org/

Jack Plane's sister blog, Orson Cart, is building a vardo (house on wheels):

https://orsoncartatlarge.wordpress.com/2020/12/07/a-vardo-part-one/

Shaving Horse in Action: Hungary 1940

I found this on Fortepan. A man cuts stovewood (or something like it) with a bent-wood bowsaw, using a shaving horse to hold the wood still, or so he can cut wood while sitting down:

Source: www.fortepan.hu, Rosta László, tags: "barefoot," "pillow," "saw."

What I did on Margaret's (Sort of) Spring Break

Last week Margaret attended the CCCC in Portland, Oregon. This is a big convention under the auspices of the National Council of Teachers of English. I took three vacation days to accompany her; while she conferred, I did some sightseeing on my own and visited Gary Rogowski at his Northwest Woodworking Studio. We also visited with my old friends Chris Murray and Shannon Riley.

Here are some pictures.

It's really quite simple

Just done with a weekend of teaching at Highland Woodworking. Saturday was "Surfacing Lumber in the Small Shop," and Sunday was "Tablesaw Basics." I've been doing a lot of teaching lately, and there's nothing like teaching for learning. I get reminded of things I've known all along, of course, like "Practice on Scraps!" but I also learn new things too. On Saturday I got better at flattening the second side of the board, and bringing it into parallel with the first (or face) side when I saw how David Charlesworth's "stop shavings" give a surface the shape I used to think of as "gravy lake" when I was an 8-year-old playing with my mashed potatoes.

Writing that sentence made it quite clear to me I'll need to add photos to explain this. Just now it's late at night, and I'm nowhere near my camera, or a roughsawn board, or a workbench or a scrub plane. So it will have to wait.