About a year ago I put a post here about building a HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer). What I didn’t put in that post is the homemade wooden computer case I built for it. I didn’t post it because I couldn’t find the cable for my camera to post the pictures…but I just found them today, and now have them to put online. I did such a sloppy job with it that I ended up throwing it out, but it gave me ideas to build upon for a new case, if I end up going for it again. I think next time I will find a shop to do it in though…I must have pissed my neighbors below something awful, trying to saw, and drill the case together

Here they are…click on the pictures to get a larger view…

It’s been a LONG time since I posted anything (months).  I’ve tried a couple ways of changing the layout of the page to make it easier to post, but keep returning to what I’ve got.

Anyway, so today I’m writing about the amazing tea called Kombucha.  This stuff is a fermented sweet tea that sits in a bath with a pancake-like “SCOBY” which stands for (if I remember correctly) Symbiotic Colony of Organisims Bacteria and Yeast.  It is supposely capable of curing everything from skin alements to cancer, but I just like the taste…which ends up being a sort of vinegary effervescent product.

To be honest I’ve sort of lost most of my desire to make the stuff after months of tinkering with it.  I just can’t seem to get much bubbly in the end product…mostly just an acidic sweet tea.  I actually still feel more energy and like the overall taste, but it’s not what I’ve found commercially in the store (which was my goal to immitate).  Anyway, the benefits I’ve found are on-par with the feelings I’ve had with herbal detox plans, I haven’t been sick for a number of months, and have overall more energy after drinking it.

I got my scoby and recipe from getkombucha.com which also sells kits to making the stuff.  I actually found my own lead-free porcelain brewing container from a local heal foods store though, so I saved a lot by building my own kit.  You’ll see in my pictures, I also bought a heating pad designed for germinating seedlings, with a thermostat to keep in just above 80degrees F.  It’s been over 100F lately though, so I’m thinking my results might be more consistent in the winter.

My favorite so far has been to add ginger while bottling, although Craisins has been a good second (dried cranberries).

Anyway, if you’ve never tried the stuff, I suggest Dave’s G.T line of Kombucha in the store.  You’ll find quickly though that it’s rediculously expensive, which is why I’ve been trying to brew it myself.

*NOTE: In that last picture of the SCOBY mother culture, the black thing isn’t mold…it’s actually a tea leaf that accidentally got in the brew.

As a mechanical engineering student at Gonzaga University I’ve had to take the manufacturing process course.  In lab I had the opportunity to build a ramjet.  It’s simple and probably doesn’t even work, but was sure fun to make.  It’s my second attempt at MIG welding too so it’s not much to look at but it all held together, so I suppose that’s good enough for me.

They wouldn’t let me fire it up but I was told of a couple methods.  Both involve injecting propane gas through the top intake pipe, allowing room for air to enter as well.  One method involves simply tuning the intake diameter and introducing a flame until the chamber ignites and continues on it’s own, or drilling a hole and inserting a pulsing spark plug in the rear of the chamber.  Living in an apartment I haven’t had the chance to play with it, but I certainly will at some point, and will update my post if I do.

Last week I decided to make my own shaving soap and aftershave.  The aftershave was easy to make, but the soap was….quite an adventure.  Why did I do this you ask…’cause I get bored and it’s better than trying to make rockets or something along those lines that usually end in disaster.

I made the aftershave because I wanted to be able to tailor the scent to my liking, and make it mild, not really bold like some of them out there.  In addition I wanted to know what was in it unlike some of them out there that have all sorts of chemicals probably used in the taxidermy business.  For my first try I ended up using a recipe I found off of the internet, and it turned out pretty good.  I like the scent, and it works well after the shave.  I use a DE razor so it’s rough on the skin unlike those mach 5 (or whatever number they’re on) razors that have slick strips and rubber pads on them.  I’ll have to admit I nick myself all the time too so it’s good to have something afterwards that will heal and cleans the skin from infection.  Here’s the link to the recipe…I used the cedarwood/juniper one at the bottom: AFTERSHAVE LINK

The aftershave done I decided to make some soap.  I did this for similar reasons and was hoping to turn out a product that would have cost me top dollar commercially.  I could also alter the scent and its intensity if I wanted (I went with a vanilla/sandalwood-cedarwood mixture…turned out alright).

So back to the story…the soap was where it really got exciting.  The aftershave was just pour and shake, but the soap uses lye (Sodium Hydroxide) and it’s some nasty stuff.  After mixed with water, the solution turns boiling hot.  The lye itself (aside from temperature) will severly burn your skin, is bad to inhale, and can cause blindness if it comes into contact with the eye.

So there I was at 10pm in my apartment with big scrubbung gloves, sunglasses, and my cooking pots trying to make soap.  One detail I overlooked is the part where you mix it to produce “trace.”  The little detail was that with a high speed mixer, it would take about a minute to work…hand stired…an hour or more.  It definitely took more than an hour, and I had soap all over the kitchen by the time it was done.  It was still a fun experience, but I think I’ll do things a little differently next time.    Here is the recipe I used: SOAP INSTRUCTIONS

I poured the soap into some cheap cups I found at Walmart.  In hindsight I think I should have poured it all in a pipe and cut it into pieces later…the cups are too full to whip up a lather very easily.

I cant decide if I like the lather or not.  I’m used to creams by now that whip up with my brush into really thick coats…this isn’t worse, just different I guess.  With the oils in the soap, and clay, it provides a really soothing slick finish, and I think that more than makes up for the thin-ness of the lather.  All-in-all I’m pretty happy with the end product of the soap and aftershave.  In the long run I’m going to save a lot of money this route, and can with time, perfect the scent and characteristics of each…which is right up my ally…more fun to play with things than just buy them sometimes

Above is the stained walnut stand I made for my shaving kit.  I bent a walnut dowel over steam for the twig effect, put a border inlay on the base, and stained it all with a walnut/colored stain.  My badger brush hangs over my homemade soap.  The blue bottle contains the aftershave I made, and the far right is my Gillette DE razor.  It’s a 1957 Gillette adjustable 195 (because new at the time it cost $1.95) or more commonly known now as the Fat Boy because of it’s short fat design.  It is the old butterfly model and can be adjusted for aggressiveness of shave.