Comments

Episode-1584- Calls and Questions for the Council 5-29-15 — 44 Comments

  1. Hi Jack. You have mentioned the language barrier issue with the poultry processor on a past show as well as today. If they are spanish speakers I would be happy to translate via email any questions you would like to ask them and you could just point at the paper and at least confirm a yes/no etc. Optionally, I would be glad to help if you wanted to get me on speaker phone at their shop to translate in real time. Just throwin that out there, thanks for all you do.

    • I wish man, I don’t know what they speak but I speak good enough Spanish to know that ain’t it.

  2. check out the A 200 Hobart for the back room mixer/suffer
    many attachments and its built like a tank

    Mike

    SnoHam13

      • My girlfriend swears by her Bosch Mixer. Both her and her Mother have used them for years. Im not sure about all the accessories you can get with them, but they seem to be plentiful. Just another option for your consideration. Love the show.

  3. I have a Porter Cable, Lithium Ion battery powered cordless drill and I have 2 spare batteries sitting next to my charger fully charged…I have been doing an experiment for 4 years now! Once a month I put those batteries into the charger just to see if they were dead and they HAVE NEVER lost their charge, the light shows 100% charged….I have never used these batteries in my drill more than a few minutes just to test them to make sure the charger wasn’t wrong…So while some Lithium Ion batteries may degrade…Choose Porter Cable cordless drills made in the Good Ole USA and from y experience you can’t go wrong!

    • You know that is another solid brand and what I see a lot of contractors do is buy those for their day labor crews etc. They can take a beating but when a drill craps out you are not out 350 bucks like with a dewalt.

  4. Gorram it, Jack!

    Now we have Keith *and* Erica!?

    I know Erica isn’t just about food, but you’re going to need a disclaimer for Expert Council shows….

    Lamb chops with tzatziki…
    And now I’ve got to tell my parents and sisters that we’re having a family dinner soon…

  5. Regarding the Dewalt drills. I did not mention them because they just did not come to mind when I was making the recording. I’ve never owned them, I’m sure they are fantastic. I’ve only owned the Ryobi tools from Home Depot which have always done a great job for me…but I’m not using them daily. I’m an infrequent user.

    11 Council members on Fridays show…great show Jack. Love the new format.

    Steve

  6. We bought our KitchenAid 600 (575 Watt) on eBay last Dec. It’s a factory rebuild that looks & operates like new & was only $300.00. If you do an eBay search for the mixers, you will find the outlet in Santa Monica, Ca.

  7. In your answer to John in West Virginia, you failed to mention Mark Shepard’s acronym for the method you proposed: STUN: Sheer, Total, Utter, Neglect. Just this past week I enjoyed some arugula I planted 4 years ago that I have been using the STUN method on. And, I do mean, that I planted 4 years ago, not that I have been replanting for the past 4 years. I just let it go to seed.

    However, while your answer was very good, I’m not sure it was optimal in terms of yield for work, especially for a “brown thumb”. The easiest thing for anyone to grow is WEEDS! Just learn which ones are edible, like lamb’s quarters, redroot amaranth, evening primrose (seeds), etc., and they will grow themselves. Learning how to grow stuff is extremely valuable, but knowing wild edibles can be very useful, too.

  8. I have no idea why DeWalt got such a cult following. Their products pale compared to Bosch or Festool (my faves). When I did masonry we had a mix of drills but the big hammer drill to go into concrete was always a Bosch. Not putting DeWalt down, but for a few bucks more a Bosch makes sense. I admit Festool is for us up-tight folk.

    With regard to the Kitchenaid, get the Professional model. You’re paying for the motor. Get the best motor. With the solid non-tilt top accessories work better and the added power is nice. The lift bowl also works better when whipping things.

      • For kneading bread, the larger kitchenaide motor is better. I have one I have had forever, in the smaller motor size, and I knead whole wheat bread dough with it. But, my eldest dd was married last year, and insisted she wanted an artisan in a specific color, she now slightly regrets not letting me get her the Costco one, professional series in only one color, grey. First is perceived strain on motor with whole wheat bread dough, maybe they arent made quite as well as my 20 year old made in the USA one…..second one she hasnt noticed yet, but the larger bowl is nice when making those larger batches of stuff for the holidays, it realy would be better to have a bit more room — less mess.

        All the accesories are great, for the most part. Grinder, slicer, Ice cream maker, pasta makers. But, the flour mill is just so-so. definitely would be fine for bread making and/or when you need to use those stored up red wheat berries. And, is way better than the by-hand mills. For everyday use, I like my wisper mill with its super-fine grind.

    • Just as an anecdotal data point into the tool brand discussion, I bought a Milwaukee M12 12-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless 3/8 in. Drill/Driver Kit (the $99 cordless drill with two batteries and a charger from Home Depot) about two years ago, and have abused the heck out of that thing since. It’s still has strong as the day I bought it, and the batteries still hold a very good charge left on or off the charger for long periods (weeks->months) of time. The drill fits my hands very well, and is comfortable to use for long periods of time. The drill has a high speed and low speed gear box, a nice ratcheting key-less chuck that *actually works well* (have never had to stop and re-tighten the chuck) , a variable speed trigger that is repeatable and offers a lot of highly granular speed control (great for when you really need to power-drive a screw in, or gently seat a screw in a junction box, etc.), and a very accurate battery meter. The batteries are small, seem to last beyond my personal expectations per charge, and charge very quickly (~30m). My only criticisms about the drill is that due to the lack of battery weight, the drill is a bit front heavy, the built in clip doesn’t really work well for me, and the drill components don’t fit very well back into the case for storage and transport.

      I’ve owned a high end Dewalt I inherited from my father , multiple cheapo B&D Walmart specials, and a mid-grade Ryobi drill over the years.

      The Dewalt was, by far, the best quality tool of the bunch (I see why Jack has an affinity towards the brand), but it was heavy (huge batteries) and cumbersome for every day around the house, and the charger stopped working after a few years – the charger and replacement cost was quite high if I recall correctly. I eventually gave that drill to a friend that had compatible battery packs, and it’s probably still being used today. These things are tanks.

      The cheapo B&D drills would ultimately either have the motors fails, or the batteries would stop holding charges over time. They do the job for the price, but aren’t a pleasure to use or a quality tool in my experience. In my opinion, they are a tool designed to do a job, and generally live up to the expectations for the price. For the average “suburban dad”, they probably do the job well enough to put together a piece of furniture or drive a screw here or there…

      The Ryobi was a decent tool – and I would likely still be using that drill (I forget the model now), but it was “lost” during a move we did a while ago, and by lost, I mean someone probably “accidentally” drove off with it in the back of their truck… I guess I would say that I have a neutral memory of using this drill. It worked well, was dependable, but I don’t recall ever being wowed by the features or design of the tool. Nothing against the brand at all – again, just a neutral experience.

      However, for the price, function, and quality, I would buy the Milwaukee M12 for my own everyday light to medium home use over all other drills I’ve owned. I wouldn’t, however, recommend it for professional use by any means. The take away is that I buy the tool based on the intended use and budget, and set my expectations accordingly. The M12 fits best for me to date, and I’m quite happy with the tool.

      Anyway, that’s my unsolicited and subjective input into the discussion. Thanks everyone for sharing their knowledge, opinions, and experiences! Always an interesting read.

      Oh – and as far as kitchen mixers go, I bought my wife a Kitchen Aid KSM150PSPK mixer from our local JC Penny’s store a few Christmas seasons ago ($375 after rebate??). She’s what I would call a causal baker and bakes mainly around holidays when she gets some of the wives together and has a baking party or what-have-you… She’s says that she’s thrilled with the mixer in every way. She’s happy as a lark, and I get baked goods. Need I say more? It was somewhat strange to me that she excitedly posted to Facebook about getting a KitchenAid mixer. Is there some kind of club wives join when they obtain one of these things? I suspect there are better or equivalent brands out there, and that, again, expectations and budgets should be set around the intended use! 🙂 Happy baking… and eating!

  9. I haven’t heard anyone mention duckwax or beeswax for finishing ducks or geese. Before gutting the bird, pull the big wing feathers and everything else that pulls off easy. Melt the wax on top of hot water and dunk them 3-4 times, they get coated with wax. Dunk them in cold water to harden the wax and rip off everything left fairly easily. Re-melt the wax and strain to recover most of the wax used and you can use it again.

    Paul

  10. Regarding the pollen question for Michael Jordan: Pollen as a cellulose shell and is indigestible by humans. Even bees must ferment it to bee bread before consumption. Pollen is not a reasonable allergy remedy. In addition, pollen collected by bees is sticky, not the wind-borne pollen we are allergic to. If humans were able to digest pollen, it would be broken down to amino acids and fatty acids and some sugars–none of which would have any reasonable way to reduce allergies.
    The sale of pollen by beekeepers for allergy reduction is a scam which needs to be discredited by informed beekeepers when they are questioned about it. In addition, honey sold for allergy relief is a similar scam–though even less credible as there is no pollen in honey. Even if pollen existed in honey, we would expose ourselves to much more allergenic pollen every time we inhale.
    If we could somehow absorb full grains of bee-collected pollen into our blood, it would cause a whole-body allergic reaction, i.e. anaphylactic shock.
    Allergic rhinitis is a local nasal allergy unlikely related to food, and very related to inhaled allergens.

    • I’ll agree with you Steven but what do I say about posts like this on my page regarding my raw lightly filtered honey? Placebo? Real? At this point I only gift honey so I don’t have a dog in the hunt.

      Paul….I gotta tell ya this! I suffer from awful acid reflux and get horrible heartburn. I take a prescription for it but still sometimes get it. Then I try rolaids, tums or whatever and that doesn’t usually work. I’ve read that honey helps and have tried the store bought honey, notta! Well tonight I got it again and didn’t have anything to try so I had a little bit left of the honey you gave me so took a spoonful, BINGO! I need more honey when ya get it…I’ll bake you cookies!!

      • The annecdote isnt about allergies/pollen. Honey IS great medicinally for alot of things having nothing to do with bee pollen.

  11. On drills and batteries.

    The problem with Nicd batteries isn’t really “memory effect” my best understanding from researching it on my own and talking with a few experts on NiCD chemistry is that the memory effect is real but totally irrelevant to home use. It was discovered on satellites which had a very precisely repeated charge/discharge cycle over and over again. Discharging the same amount every time before being recharged. For your drill this won’t happen, you’re not going to discharge it the exact same amount 200 times in a row. The problem with NiCD’s in consumer electronics are the chargers. A NiCD cell is difficult to charge intelligently, it doesn’t give a signal of “hey I’m full, quit charging me!” that can be easily detected by cheap consumer grade chargers. This results in the chargers over-charging the cells and instead of having a VERY robust high cycle life rechargeable battery (which NiCD certainly can be) you have something that tends to die out after a few years. You can probably minimize this by running the battery down fully before recharging (NiCD’s like this, most chemistry’s do not) and NOT storing the battery on the charger which may keep trying to charge it, the problem with this is you say “hey, I need my drill” you pick it up, and the battery is stone dead. Even if it had some juice left when you last used it a month prior, the high self-discharge rate of NiCD means it’s dead now. Now you have to put it on the charger and wait and hour or more until it’s ready.

    Now my NiCD tools were fairly entry level, It may be that Jack’s Dewalt NiCD charger is better designed and has the smarts to avoid overcharging the batteries. But here today if you’re buying a NiCD drill you’re probably getting an entry level tool, and it probably won’t have a very sophisticated charger, and you’ll probably find yourself with a battery-less drill and a big paper-weight of a battery in a few years.

    For the light user I’d strongly recommend spending the small amount extra and getting Li-Ion. It’s just such a superior chemistry for this application. The batteries are lighter and smaller even though they have more capacity. They charge MUCH faster (my Milwaukee batteries charge in about 15 minutes), if the battery sits there unused and uncharged for a month or 6 or 12 it’ll still have most of it’s charge thanks to Lithium’s low self-discharge, and the chargers 100% MUST have the intelligence to avoid abusing the cells because an abused Li-Ion cell is a very bad actor. Finally, the higher output of Li-Ion batteries means your drill and whatever else has more torque to get the job done. For someone used to NiCD tools the first time I picked up a Li-ion drill was a memorable experience, the difference is VERY apparent.

    Ironically where I see NiCD’s as still valuable is in very heavy use scenarios. The guys who build the shipping crates where i work hated the fancy new lithium drill/drivers they got because the lithium didn’t fade as the battery ran down, giving them warning that they needed a new battery. And most the limitations of NiCD relative to Lithium don’t really apply when you’re using your drill constantly 8+ hours a day 5 days a week and swapping out batteries every 45-60 minutes.

    On brands, not sure it matters. I’m not a loyalist to any brand, I have fairly high-end stuff from Dewalt and Milwaukee and a nice collection of Harbor Freight cheapo stuff. my battery power tools are Milwaukee M18 just because I got a screaming good deal on a drill. I’ve also used Dewalt, Makita, Porter Cable and they all get the job done just fine. I wouldn’t worry about brand so much as features and price, make sure you get 2 batteries, and a drill with a 2-speed gear box, having that low speed allows you to use the drill as a driver which is way more helpful than you might first imagine. The one caveat to my “don’t worry about brand” is that if you do buy a higher end brand you can be very confident that 5 or 10 years you’ll be able to find replacement batteries, and/or expand your kit with other tools using the same battery (if you do a lot of wood framing a 1/4 impact driver is a wonderful addition) if you get a black and decker from Walmart that probably won’t be the case.

    • Jake, just about every single word and thing you said about Ni-Cd’s is 100% incorrect. You went and did research on the ‘internet’, I lived it starting about in 1983. I remember charging my first ni-cds with a variable voltage power supply manually.

      I’m not even going to bother to respond because I’d just be insulting and hurtful to you and I don’t want to do that anymore.

      That was one LONG post you made, probably took you over an hour just to write it. I think that is a fine thing that more people should do that and I honestly appreciate you taking the time and interest in writing a post that you wanted to help your fellow man and TSP’ers. However most of what you said about Ni-Cds just helps perpetuate all of the myths about them.

      Welcome to the batters box, but you struck out. I’d go over these details with you personally in a phone call, and I invite you to do that because I’m here for all TSP’ers, but I’m not going to spend an hour writing a rebuttal to so many incorrect things.

      Thanks again for taking the time for such a long post.
      Steve

      • Mr. Harris-
        Could you clarify something the above poster said about leaving NiCad batteries on the charger? I’ve always been told that you should take NiCad off the charger unless you are actively charging the battery. Is this urban myth or was the technology different 10 years ago, or perhaps something else? All the new stuff I have (LiON), the manuals say it is OK to leave on the charger, but I’m asking about the older NiCad stuff.

        Also, a tip from someone who has owned many cordless tool sets over the years- get a drill and impact driver, and the cordless demo saws are actually quite handy (especially for trimming small tree limbs and such). The rest: circular saw, flashlight, etc are practically worthless. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but this has been my experience.

        • >> Koontz

          I’ve left my Ryobi batteries in the charger for YEARS… well over 5 years and they were all fine. Its when I left them out of the charger they died and I could not bring them back.

          Charing of a NiCd is very simple, does not require complex circuitry like a lithium ion does. Its happy to be fully charged and ready to go.

          I’ve had good luck with the Ryobi circular saws, you just don’t go and rip 20 feet of board with it, I use it mostly in cross cut for trimming up 1×2’s, 2×4’s etc…. for larger stuff I use a 120 volt circular saw. The flashlights mostly suck because they are not LED. Some of the new ones are, the other ones are just old fashioned bulbs.

          I was just at home depot on Saturday. They had 1 NiCD Battery on display, NONE in inventory, EVERYTHING was all Ryobi Green and ALL lithium battery based. They want $99 for the BIG lithium ion battery.

          Steve

    • Yea man be careful of what the internet says.

      Entry level is also subjective.

      My drill was made at least before 1996 when I picked it up off a highway. Think about that!

      The Lithium Ion batteries that now fit the old school Dewalt go into the exact same charger that I bought for that drill in 1996.

      In 1996 that drill would have cost 350 dollars, or about 525 bucks in today’s money. It was the absolute top of the line you could buy at the time.

      Comparing the batteries with something like a 49 dollar black and decker in 96 or today just because they are either both Ni-Cd’s makes no real sense.

      I would also say your last paragraph is pretty spot on for most people. I just don’t know anyone with a 20 year old Milwaukee drill that still will do the job after a beating like my tools have taken, as for Harbor Freight, don’t see it happening.

      Most people will never be as hard on tools as I will be though. So in context you are right.

  12. Jack, great show. My wife has been talking about propagating some of the Lilacs that are her favorite in our area, so I’m glad I can pass that info along to her. Thanks.

  13. For Nathan – Regarding the Ham Radio HF bands that are availableto Technician Class License holders. I toohave some resources to share. If you areusing 2 meter and trying to scan and listen for people talking, you areprobably going to be limited to 75 miles under the best line of sightcircumstances. If you are in a valley,your limits might be more like under 15 miles or even 2 miles. If you are having trouble finding other hamsin your area, you might google the repeater list in your area, repeaters takeyour signal and retransmit it at higher power from a higher elevation. You’ll find the list may include some otherinfo that you don’t understand yet like frequency offset of 600 plus or minus(+/-). Example is 147.300 Mhz to listen,but when you transmit + 600 you are on 147.900 and the repeater makes yoursignal able to be heard at a much farther distance. Repeaters can pick up weak signals at lowpower and that can really help.

    Everyarea has a local traffic net that handles messages to and from hams, they areusually around 6:00 to 9:00 pm, you can check in and ask for a signal report, testnew equipment, ask questions, hear some good conversations and learn things.

    If you are using a cheap baofeng radio with the factoryrubber duck antenna, you need to spend $20 to get a much better 19 inch antennaon amazon or ebay. Some improvements caninclude a 19 inch piece of speaker wire connected to the ground of your handheld to make a better di – pole. Thereare dozens of antenna designs out there, you can make out of coat hanger wire whichgive incredible performance for low cost. You probably have a hanger or 2 that you can spare. Almostany metal can be used to make and tune an antenna including copper pipe, bunnyears, a broken beach or camping chair, aluminum foil wrapped around a broomhandle or even a broken tape measure. Heightabove average terrain (HAAT) isimportant as well as keeping your antenna at least half a wave length away fromany large metal object as your antenna could couple with that other metal thingand ruin your performance.

    You don’t need a General class license to operate HF, theattached link has the bands that permit HF use for Phone (voice) or CW (Morsecode). Technicians have privileges on 6,10, 15, 40, 60 and 80 meters. What, youdon’t know Morse code? So what, downloadFLdigi for free on Windows or Ubuntu (maybe MAC) and listen for free andtransmit for about $120 extra with a Signal Link computer / radiointerface. The computer will translateeverything you can hear and show the words on the screen. When you transmit, the computer turns yourtyped words into the dots and dashes. Thereare other digital modes which are also real cool.

    http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf

    Buy the Alinco SR-8T HF transceiver, which is the best bangfor your buck and then build your own wire dipole antennas. You will need an antenna tuner unless you cutthe length of the wire specifically for the band you want to use. I built a G5RV antenna and use a tuner. Avoid used equipment that you will have towork on or fix. Seek out other hams bylooking for their antennas on their house or car, call sign vanity plates.

    73 Jim Sierra Oscar India

  14. My opinion on power tools: the best value out there right now is Ryobi. Many people call them junk, but I disagree. No, they aren’t as high quality as DeWalt/Makita/Bosch/PC/Miliwauke but they cost a lot less yet still stand up to a fair amount of abuse. No, they probably won’t last long being used by a contractor, especially in the environments described in the show. But I’ve seen them used for 8 years straight by high school students and keep going. The NiCd batteries have mostly died, but the tools keep going. I’ve seen this in two different shops across a couple of dozen tools.
    Another brand to possibly look at is Ridgid. Last I saw, they offered a lifetime warranty that also covered the batteries. In other words, when the batteries die they will be replaced under warranty.
    I have found that there is a difference in battery quality between brands though. Comparing a Ryobi NiCd battery to a DeWalt, they were both charged at the same time. After being in storage for a couple of months, the Ryboi had mostly self discharged to not be useful but the DeWalt was good to go for a while. I’ve had it happen multiple times and assume that the Li-Ion will be similar.

    • No no no no no…. the lithiums will not be the same as the Ni-Cads. The lithion ion battery is like no other battery you have ANY experience with. We’re talking wagon train with Ox verses the star ship enterprise. The lithium is a far far different creature.

      The lead acid was 19th century technology, the Ni-Cd when mature was 20th century technology. The Lithium Ion battery that is now mature and in extensive world wide production is truly a 21st century battery.

      Steve

      • Agreed Lithium Ions from a cheap as black and decker are impressive in many ways compared to older tech. I have a battery powered chain saw, it will run hard for 30 minutes on its Li Ion pack. It gets weak for say 15 seconds before it just dies, no loss of power until then.

  15. Dirty Jobs had an episode on processing geese (for hunters near Cleveland Ohio) and the best I could tell it looked like a tube style with the rubber fingers and it appeared to spin very fast, much faster than my homemade one. It did a damn good job of getting the feathers off. I am a big fan of skin on a bird, like the crispness and it cooks up moister for me.

  16. Dewalts are battle tanks. Outside, year round, in the midwest. Freezing, humid, hot, dry, rain, dropped, bounced, bumped, clay caked, just last night I forgot the grinder on the rig and it poured. The grinder fired right up. We used the drills to mix chemicals, grout in a bucket day after day and they sound like hell and it takes some “technique” to get bits to seat, the things still drill and screw as they are supposed to. Seriously, dewalt figured it out.

  17. How do you spell cour cur? The ferocious dog that jack talked about in the last question?? Re: jacks move to keep the businesses in the msb small, check out YouTube sustainability series: the upside of a down economy, by kimber lanning. VERY interesting take but she also is real happy to pay sales tax, makes for strange bedfellows.

  18. I been using cordless tools for 20 years. I’ve been using 12 to 18 volts dewalts. We use ridgid now because the battery’s have a 3 year warranty. My techs would kill dewalt battery’s in about 2 years. I think Steven Harris battery classes would of saved about 20 battery’s. Oops! Now we have lithium battery’s. I have a personal 18 volt dewalt that is 16 years old. It still drives screws great. I just bought 2 more battery’s. Most of my battery’s lasted 5 years. I swear by Bosch corded hammer drills. Key word corded. “All the way” jack

  19. Found the cordless drill section pretty funny because Dewalt is Black and Decker haha.

  20. We have the smaller kitchenaid and I would not use the meat grinder attachment. We burned up the motor. What we did was got a metal hand crank grinder and we use the cordless drill to operate it by taking off the handle. I do love my kitchenaid for mixing and other things but I also wish that I would have gotten the bigger one with the bigger bowl but KitchenAid true to their good name replaced the one we had.