Installing a new bath or sink faucet is not hard, you just need a few tools and the knowledge you will gain from watching Eric. or maybe not. who knows what can happen when Eric tries something.
Category: DIY TV
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How to make a potato cannon or potato bazooka – GF Video
Learn today how to make a potato cannon, aka spud gun or potato bazooka. Build this cannon with PVC and hand tools, let it dry overnight, and you are good to go.
“My husband must never know of this” is the best comment I’ve had on the Bazooka video.
Use the information at your own risk, OK? Be very careful, if you are not an adult, have an adult around to make sure everything is done safely. Wear safety googles and ear protection and never point this at anyone or anything.
A big thanks for William Gurstelle for writing his book “Backyard Ballistics”
Mr Gurstelle is the author of some really cool books:
There is a new kind of PVC pipe on the market now that you CANNOT use for this project. It is not solid PVC, it has a foam core, and will break if you try to use it. Don’t. You want to use Schedule 40 solid PVC pipe.
Here is a drawing of the potato cannon we made. Its based on Mr Gurstelle’s plan, there are other designs on the web. I like Mr Gurstele’s book because you learn about physics and make cool stuff. Be sure to let the assembled potato cannon dry completely overnight before use.
I’ve gotten a few queries about the ignitor and a few compliments as well – not often that happens. Some people have not been able to get the ignitor to spark in the tube. I started with the ignitor screws almost touching, and making sure it sparked, then I slowly backed the screws away from each other to the widest point where I had a spark.
If the ignitor stops working after a bit of use, clean the two spark screws, they can get coated with hair spray.
Another viewer suggested using brass screws, which conduct electricity better. This is a good idea. Its also important that the connection from the ignitor wires to the screws is a good one. I used crimp on connectors, maybe you could solder them as well.
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Ikea Hack, how to make a food BBQ smoker from Ikea parts
NOTE: Depending on who you ask, there is concern about using galvanized metal in a cooking container. Viewer uses the information here at their own risk.
Want to make a food smoker? watch us. As part of our work with Ford promoting the Ford Fiesta, we went to Ikea, and bought the parts to make a salmon smoker. neat. and it works great.
Eric and his Ford Fiesta at the Red Hook Brooklyn IKEA
have you made a smoker? tell us :
First the recipe for the brine. You take the salmon, slice it into 2″ strips and place it skin side up in this brine. a 9″ x 13″ cake pan works well for this. Place the salmon in the refrigerator for at least an hour, longer is better.
Eric’s Salmon Brine Recipe:
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt – must be non-iodized
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon black pepper
Place the fish skin side down in this brine in a flat pan, cover in refrigerator for at least an hour.
Take out the salmon and place on a wire rack skin side down,
Drain the brine pan carefully, reserving the brine solids an. Take the brine solids at the bottom of the pan and use a brush to coat the salmon with the brine solids.
Point a small fan at the brined fish until the brine has pretty much dried on the fish.
How to smoke salmon:
Add a large handful of wet hickory woodchips ( or whatever kind you like ) to the cast iron pan on the electric hot plate.
Place the grate in the smoker and spray with non-stick cooking oil, or brush with vegetable oil. Lay the salmon skin side down on the smoker grate.
Place a digital thermometer probe in the fattest part of one of the pieces of fish, place another digital thermometer across the grate to read the ambient temperature in the smoker.
Turn the hot plate on, ( i set mine to HIGH ) close the lid, and let it cook. Check the ambient temperature, you want it to be 160-180 degrees. Adjust the hot plate accordingly.
Hot plates sometimes turn off by themselves, so one needs to pay attention if you notice smoke not coming out of the smoker. Also, use a heavy duty extension cord, the shortest possible, to plug in the hot plate. Its possible to trip a circuit breaker.
When the salmon reaches about 140F, it is smoked.
how to build an Ikea hack food smoker
for this Ikeahack, we’re using
2 Skrin storage containers
1 Lamplig trivet
1/4 threaded rod, 2 pieces cut to 17″
Four 1/4 nuts , preferably acorn nuts for the threaded rod
2 hinges – 2″ or 3″ metal hinges work well.
Bolts, lockwashers, and nuts for hinges. 1 1/2″ are a good length.
Washers that fit the bolts you are using for the hinges: you’ll need about 5 for each of the bolts you use to attach the hinges.
Attach the hinges to join the two Ikea Skrin boxes. Because of the rolled lip of the Skrin boxes, you’ll have to use the washers between the boxes and the hinges, so that the center pin of the hinges sits on top of the rolled edges of the two boxes.
Mark and drill the hinge bolt holes. Wear safety glasses when doing this.
Attach the hinges with the bolts, washers and lockwashers. Its handy to have a helper when doing this.
Drill four 3/8″ holes just inside where the hinges mount on the lower Skrin box.
In my original design i used bolts to hold up the Lamplig grate, this is not a great design, so I changed these bolts to threaded rod which extends across the Skrin box.
Cut the threaded rod to 17″and slide them through the holes. secure with acorn nuts. This will hold up the Lamplig grate.
Additonal Modification: If you want, you can cut an access panel on the short side of the lower skrin box so one can easily add more woodchips to the hot plate. This is a lot easier than having to open the smoker and pulling out the grate.
The Skrin boxes come with metal covers, and you can use that metal to fabricate a access panel cover with a piano hinge and lock.
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How to repair cracks in concrete floors and walls
We’re at my sister’s house again, and as usual she puts me to work. hmm.. BUT you might learn a bit about how to repair cracks in basement floors and walls, and how to use hyrdraulic cement.
Do you have some tips or tricks you can share with us? Let us know below:
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How to make Yogurt in a solar oven
Solar oven cooking is very cool. Take a box, take some milk, and make yogurt using solar energy to cook the yogurt. neat. Solar ovens are not super efficient in New England, but in summer you can use one. I think this is a good thing for kids to work with, they make their own food and learn about solar energy as well.
Have you used a solar oven, or have you made one? let us know below.
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How to hang a mirror on a wall
My sister needed a mirror that was glued onto a wall removed, and a new mirror installed in her bathroom. Watch the fun as my sister and I try to work together and make a video. fun. maybe…
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How to replace a circuit breaker
I helped a friend of mine replace some circuit breakers in his electrical panel that needed replacement.
BE VERY CAREFUL
IF YOU’RE NOT SURE, STOP AND CALL AN ELECTRICIAN
TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKER
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How to make a compost bin – GF Video
Its easy to make a compost bin like this. I’m all about simple when building compost bins, these wire screen compost bins are easy to make and work well for leaves, garden waste and kitchen scraps.
If you want to make a compost bin like this, you can use any screen you have. Or maybe your neighbor has a roll of stuff they want to get rid of. This is one of those projects where checking out what your neighbor is throwing out can come in handy.What you don’t want is screen that has large holes, as your compost material will fall out of it. Avoid what looks like wire fencing for chickens or goats, it usually has rectangular openings and are too big.
Its better to make one large bin than two small ones. Because compost is all about mass. The more mass you have, the better the compost will break down. We talk about this in another one of our compost bin videos here. Mass allows more heat in the pile, which is good.
If you put screen across the top and bottom of this composter, you can turn it upside down. Its a cheater way of aerating the pile, and it works. Not sure if you want to devote the time and energy to cutting wire caps for the bin though.
The beauty of this design is how easy it is. 3 pieces of scrap wood, a staple gun, and a hammer. done. I usually cut the wood stakes 18″ longer than the screen height so I have plenty to drive into the ground. If you cut the bottom of the stakes with an angle, or even a wedge-knife point, they will hammer in easier. This cut can be done by hand or with a chop saw. Use what you got!
We have more compost bin and compost 101 videos here. Let me know your thoughts below.
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How to unclog a drain or sink
The drain in our laundry area is clogged, and I made a video showing how i fix a clogged drain. Clogged drains can usually be unclogged by mechanical means, i’m not a big fan of chemical drain cleaners. Watch here and see how i do it.
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Outdoor Dripping Water Faucet Repair
is your outdoor spigot leaking? watch here as we fix one, with excellent camera work by my neighbor.
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How to strip paint the green way, green paint stripping.
While working on our apartment, I learned this neat way to remove paint from doorknobs and other small stuff that doesn’t use toxic chemicals. Its green paint stripping.
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Drip Irrigation System with Soaker Hose – GF Video
I use this homemade DIY drip irrigation system with soaker hose for my raised vegetable beds. Its easy to build and works great. Watch the video to see our first take on a soaker hose system. If you want to build a simpler version see my video for PVC connected soaker hose system.
The drip irrigation system I built uses copper pipe, which can be expensive, you can also use PVC pipe to build the manifolds that feed the soaker hoses.
I dug a slot into the ground and pushed the garden hose into it to hide the hose feeding each raised bed. This makes lawnmower much easier too, no chance of running over a garden hose that way.
Key to watering your garden with drip irrigation is to not water it too much, i know its fun to watch the water ooze out of the soaker hoses, but you want the beds to dry out a bit between waterings. I water my vegetable beds every 4-5 days. Tomatoes, especially, grow best when the soil dries out between waterings. Too much water is just as bad as not enough water, it makes it easy for fungus and disease to grow.
How long do soaker hoses last? I’ve had these in the ground year round for about 10 years. Some hoses have leaked, but not a lot. And its obvious when they are leaking, and easy to fix. All you do is cut out the leak, and connect the two pieces back together with a piece of pipe.
If the water pressure going into the hoses is fairly low, or if you use an inline pressure reducer attached to the garden hose, you can use cable ties instead of clamps to put the lines together.
Water timers for garden hoses have improved a bit lately, below is one i recommend. Some of these timers are awful to try to program.
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Power Tool Repair
Want know how to repair power tools? Watch Gardenfork.tv and see how Eric repairs a reciprocating saw ( aka a Sawzall style saw )
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How to build a raised bed for vegetables or flowers GF TV Video
Build a simple raised bed with this DIY video. With this raised bed plan we show you how to make raised vegetable or flower beds without using pressure treated lumber The current raised beds in the garden have been there about 8 years now. So we must have done something right. how unusual… If you want to build raised beds, the ones we have are good for vegetables and flowers, check it out, let us know your thoughts.
Our raised beds are 4 feet wide and 12 feet long, make sure the raised beds are 4 feet ( 48″ ) wide on the outside dimension. This will make it easy to use floating row fabrics or plastic sheeting that comes in 48″ wide rolls. I learned this the hard way.
DIY raised bed plan complete You may want to consider putting 1/2″ galvanized wire screening across the bottom of the raised bed frame before siting it and loading in all the dirt, this will keep out moles and voles. We haven’t had a huge problem with that, but I see how it could for some people.
For our garden soil, we had a delivery from a local nursery that sells a garden soil mix. It can be hard to find a company nearby that sells what you want, you may end up mixing it all up yourself. Let me know how you have built your raised beds below:
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Tap maple trees with tin sap buckets : GF Video
A number of our neighbors tap maple trees to make maple syrup, here is a video about using sap buckets and taps.
Learn how to identify Sugar Maples trees, make sure you are tapping the right kind of maple trees with this neat tree identification book, Bark. The great thing about this book is that its based on bark identification, not leaf identification, because when you think about tapping trees, there aren’t any leaves on the trees, you know..
Here is the tree identification book we like to use:
Buy From An Indie Bookstore Here
Buy From Amazon Here
Watch all our maple syrup videos here on the site! -
How to boil maple syrup GF Video
Despite a wonderful head cold, i spent a large part of the weekend with my friend Bill at his sugar house boiling maple sap. Making maple syrup is one of my favorite things to do in late winter, and in this video Bill shows us how to boil maple sap to make maple syrup
{ bill’s farm is also where we have some of our beehives, you can see them in the Beginning Beekeeping Videos }
T
Check out our other Maple Syrup Videos:
Click here to watch a video I made about our other friend’s sugar shack in the next town.
How to tap maple trees for sap Priscilla shows us how to tap sugar maple trees
One error I see people do is to tap maple trees that are not sugar maples, there is a difference. Consult a good tree identification book, like this one called Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast
, which is handy when identifying trees in winter, it has lots of pictures of tree bark.Do you tap your trees? How do you boil your sap? I plan on doing it myself this winter, and am deciding between using tubing or buckets. What are your thoughts on buckets or tubing lines? Let us know below, thanks.
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How ( or how not to ) cut down a tree with a chainsaw
Safety First when using a chainsaw, it is the most dangerous tool one can own without having to be licensed or have a permit to carry.
A few quick tips: wear ear and eye protection, steel toed boots, work gloves, and if possible, a hard hat. Read the instructions that came with your saw, the booklet that came with my Stihl is quite good.
Full disclosure: I am not a professional lumberjack, just a DIY guy who wants to get people to pay attention to the proper way to use a chainsaw. One thing that is not in the video, but you should wear a helmet with a face shield and ear protection built in. I bought one for about $45, so go do it, one piece of equipment takes care of your head, eyes, and ears.
There are more than a few opinions on how to cut down a tree, I’ve changed the method seen in this video, in this how to cut down a tree video, i use a slant cut on the back side of the tree, and i now use a straight cut just above the front wedge cut. Slant cuts can cause the tree to twist when it falls, which is a very bad thing.
We have more tree felling, cutting down a tree, chainsaw use videos here on the site, watch them all.
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How to repair your windows – window glazing
My good friend Bobby is a professional window glazier. In this episode Bob shows us the right way to remove the old glazing compound and apply new compound. I’ve wrestled with this for years and Bob shows how to do it easily.
