Lost Arts

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

There's a few things these days that are becoming more and more obscure.  Self sustainable living goes beyond stocking up 20 years of MREs.  It also involves preserving lost arts which were common knowledge 100 years ago but are fast becoming lost for most people.


Tomorrow #1 wife and I will put up some dewberries.  While having dewberry preserves is not very high on the list of foods to have in a survival situation, it's still good to know how to do it and it certainly is important in that in survival situations berries are a great source of many vitamins and other nutrients.


We don't do near as much canning as we should but we do way more than most folks and most importantly, we know how. 


Sausage making is becoming a lost art as it drying meat. 


The most important reason to know how to preserve food right is that if you do it wrong, you could end up wasting a lot of food, make yourself and others very sick or even dead. 


What are some lost Arts that you preserve.


Alan

[geezerbiker]

The only dying or lost art that I'm good at is lacing and truing wire motorcycle wheels.  I talked to a motorcycle mechanic a few years ago that didn't know how to do this and I was stunned as hell.  This isn't something that will feed me in a crisis but I found it interesting...

Tony

[ratdog]

my wife was canning beans the other day i told her is that all the beans you put in a bottle she would only fill the bottle about 1/3 after there done canning they look full. i didn't realize how much we were paying for the metal canned stuff what a rip off. my daughter has been canning a lot of stuff she is really dedicated.

[spooked]

Gardening,raising and milking cows, curing pork, picking berries&canning,know how to join lead pipe(useless knowledge),some blacksmith skills.carpenter without power tools,have shod a horse..can't do now due to health..many more I use on my little patch that I can't think of right now..

[Lloyd Smale]

I really enjoy canning and sausage and jerky making. I guess its about like reloading to me.

[Cornbelt]

 I get a kick out of making BP. Though it can't be considered worth the time, it does keep me aware not to waste it on questionable shots. (The secret is in the C-clamp.)

[blind ear]

I get a kick out of making BP. Though it can't be considered worth the time, it does keep me aware not to waste it on questionable shots. (The secret is in the C-clamp.)

-
You bout lost me there Cornbelt but I believe I got it all but the c-clamp now. ear

[Victor3]

I get a kick out of making BP. Though it can't be considered worth the time, it does keep me aware not to waste it on questionable shots. (The secret is in the C-clamp.)

-
You bout lost me there Cornbelt but I believe I got it all but the c-clamp now. ear

 Used to compress the mixture into a solid mass (if you don't have a hydraulic press handy).

[Victor3]

What are some lost Arts that you preserve.

 I still have a timing light and know where the #1 plug is located on a Chevy V8. 

[Lloyd Smale]

me too but i havent used it in over 10 years

What are some lost Arts that you preserve.

 I still have a timing light and know where the #1 plug is located on a Chevy V8. 

[guzzijohn]

Quote from Victor3:
" I still have a timing light and know where the #1 plug is located on a Chevy V8. "


Or how to set the points for it without any type of gauge.
GuzziJohn

[Cornbelt]

   Bullseye, Victor3.
                                                                                                                                  I used to know a mechanic who put a mic on his fingernails and let the one best one grow so he could use it to set his points.

[guzzijohn]

Don't even need fingernails.
GuzziJohn

[reliquary]

I'm a hobby gardener, my wife and I know how to can food, make preserves, etc.  I can tinker with power machinery and know elementary gunsmithing, rudimentary metalworking and woodworking, and can do them with handpowered tools.  I can sharpen things, including saws and have the tools.  I do a little amateur flintknapping and can make traditional wooden bows & arrows.  I reload for a couple of calibers and cast my own slugs.  And I remember how to set points & plugs using the cardboard off the box they come in... .

[Blue Duck]

I still can quite a bit.  Mostly meat, soups and stews.  I do my own butchering, smoking, dehydrating and sausage making.  We grow a garden but eat most of it fresh.  Might have to expand that operation a little.   

[ironglow]

  Mine is illustrated by my avatar.  Not meaning a farrier..that's a different deal. 
     Artist/blacksmiths are not as rare now as they were for a while, when I first started.

[mannyrock]

 
  Ironglow,
 
      If we ever get tossed back a century or two, I think that blacksmiths and farriers would be in very great demand.  They would probably get rich pretty quickly.
 
   But I wonder where you would get your coal and iron?  I guess that for a long long time, the huge mountains of raw coal that sit at power plants and in rail hopper cars would be the source, if  you could get to it?
     
      As for good iron to work, I always wondered about the lowly metal T-Post.   I used these alot on my farm, and found that they are fairly maleable, will bend under high pressure, but never break, and were very very tough.   Just for fun,  maybe you could buy one post at a farm supply, heat it up in your forge, hammer on it for a while, and give us a report of how the metal works?    I think that would be really really interesting.
 
   By the way, I also wonder about pig iron.   In colonial times, they built stone furnaces, filled them up with charcoal, then dumped iron ore on top, and set it afire.   After several hours, the iron in the ore melted and streamed out the bottom of the furnace, between the stones, into troughs that were dug in the sand.  This iron cooled into little loaves (called pigs) and was called pig iron.   But, how did they take this pig metal (full of impurities) , and "work it" into a high quality iron?   
 
    You are correct that being a farrier would be a totally different thing.  Takes huge strength, a powerful back, and the ability to handle horses like an expert.  It is extremely dangerous work, because it only takes one pissed off horse one second to kick your teeth out with one short kick.   I've seen fully mature horses that would just never let you pick up their feet without a fight, and you couldn't shoe then unless you put a rope lip-lock on them and really tightened it down, putting them into a trance state, and then tied their heads between two posts.  Really really scarey to watch.
 
   Being in the east, I see lots and lots of horses that are finicky and big time trouble.  When I went out west to a working ranch, all 30 of their horses seemed perfect.   I asked the wrangler about it.  He said that in the east, most horses are big spoiled pets that don't have a real job.  People tolerate all of their bad habits.  But in the west, they just don't tolerate it.  If a horse is still a big problem after a reasonable amount of training, they shoot it and get it out fo the gene pool.
 
Best, Mannyrock

[ironglow]

  Manny;
  For most projects I use A36 mild steel..the same stuff you would use for making a horse trailer, repairing a snow plow etc.  It is normally what a steel supply house has out on the foor in the racks.
   If a smith wants to make a knife or tool, he can buy high carbon steel, but for me there is plenty out there already.  Most mower blades are made from #1095 HC steel, GM springs are of the same stuff.  Chrysler uses #5160 HC steel, last I knew.
 One of my favorites for knives is the "race" or "cup" from a tapered roller bearing, it's #52100.
    Coal..most any coal will work..with varying results.  We normally use bituminous or "soft" coal, and we prefer it come from the "Pocahontas" mines..burns cleaner & better.  I have a Canadian friend who uses industrial coke, because that's what he can get where he lives.  Coke is hard to keep burning, so when he goes to lunch he puts a block of wood in the mioddle of his fire to keep it.  Even charcoal, bagged for grille use will work if that's all you can get..not the briquettes though.
   I have a way of making a good, serviceable hunting knife without a forge and have been considering posting it for use by GBO members..I may do that yet.

[blind ear]

Ironglow, I hope you get the urge. I probably would never make a knife but I wold appreciate knowing your process. ear

[Couger]

..... I have a way of making a good, serviceable hunting knife without a forge and have been considering posting it for use by GBO members..I may do that yet. 

Please do that sometime when you get around to it! 
 
Could be vital information.
 
 
 
 
Also have never owned nor even handled one, but I wonder how many folks are aware of ANZA custom knives made from old files ...... ?
 
Many times I have liked the looks of his knives, although many of his blades/designs are skinny-er (without a deep "belly" or width of the blade) than I prefer.
 
Still the ANZA knives still are well made from what i hear and worthwhile.     
 

 
But as above, any shared "how to" info could be "quite important!" 

[ironglow]

  Over the years I have sold high quality knives as a sideline to my blacksmithing and blade forging.  The Anza knives are very good..and very nice to look at.  They are in effect, custom knives at a production cost.
   
  http://store.anzaknivesonline.com/catalog/
 
    Another brand I have handled..Custom Cutlery...custom work at a production price..
    http://www.customcutlery.com/hunting.html

[reliquary]

IG:  Thanks for the links.  The ANZA stuff looks very interesting.
 
Please, at least, give us an outline of what you're talking abou, blades sans forget?  I've made a couple of crude, but serviceable, knives out of crosscut saw blades and one from an old "reel" lawnmower blade, but that's a lot of grinding.

[mannyrock]

 
    If society got tossed back a century or two, a file (even an old one)  would be alot more valuable than a knife.  Knives are and always have been everywhere.  Files aren't.  Don't count on using files to make knives.  No reason to.
 
Manny

[reliquary]

Manny: agree 100%.  I have a box of old files (rusty, worn out) that I've salvaged, along with other odds & ends of flat steel, for use in making knives if it comes to that.  I also have several good sets of files, sealed, packed and stored...Harbor Freight has some specials occasionally.  I also have a good set of whetstones; would like to find one of the old hand/foot-powered grindstones, but they command a real premium in this area.  In fact, I have quite a few people-powered tools, too.
 
I browse GoodWill stores, resale shops, etc, and buy knives.  Have found some real good stuff.

[Reverend Recoil]

I load paper-patched cast bullets and make most of my gunsmithing tools.  I have three drawers of punches, screw drivers, and stock inleting tools.  These tools were made by forging and grinding old Allen wrenches, concrete nails and engine valve springs.  They cost only 10’ each to make.
 
Every now and then I put my old planemeter to work at the engineering office.  It still amazes me every time I use it.  The planemeter is a mechanical analog computer.  The sliderule and the Norden bomb sight are other examples of analog computers.  The planemeter has fewer parts than a door knob but it will calculate the area of the most complex 2D shape in less than ten seconds.  Most engineers don't even know they exist.  They sell for $25 to $75 on Ebay.

[mechanic]

I still practice the "black arts", or blacksmithing.  My grandpa would always stop the wagon to pick up metal on the road whatever it was.  He would fire the forge to make a barn door hinge rather than paying for one anyday, and I guess I learned scrounging from him.  Coil springs from autos, old garden tools, pickaxes, etc. can all be reworked to something usable.
 
I recently made a froe and mallet for a guy who is making cedar shingles by hand.  He called back and wants two more, as he is selling these faster than he can make them.  An old auto leaf spring put back to good use.
 
I also have been rendering ashes to get lye, and saving fat and grease to make soap.  Wife says I'm crazy, but I just like doing it.
 
I have just about finished making a shaving horse, and have a metal jig made up to make white oak strips for baskets and caning.
 
All this I was shown as a boy, and I'm passing it along, whether it's ever needed or not...
 
Ben

[reliquary]

Hey, Mechanic:  How 'bout posting a picture of your shaving horse?  I make traditional-style wooden longbows and am looking for something easier to use than my vise.

[mechanic]

Not finished yet, but it should look like this one.

[reliquary]

 
thanks!

[Hit or Miss]

I've spent most of my life trying to make something out of nothing!  Cooking, canning (large scale), butchering, gardening, fixing guns....whatever I need to do and don't want to pay someone else to do for me!  I'd rather make it than buy it any day!