Early Retirement Extreme Forums

@J_, TA sent me this article on building a bike-powered band-saw. It doesn't solve the hand-planing-is-brutal problem but it looks like it might help with things that are brutally hard to do by hand, like sawing a piece of lumber in half down the face for book matching purposes. I just learned this ...

@Gilberto de Piento, no not at all! I knew it was a long shot. Even getting a bike to make a thing spin to wash clothes is probably highly advanced for my current level of skill. I've seen those too. I have this crazy notion that I'm going to spend a year without electricity (after creating an exten...

@Gilberto de Piento - I think I was imagining that I could somehow hook the bike up to the motor and through some sort of magic get the blades to do the mystery thing they do when the motor kicks on, just slowly. Having now observed a planer in action this seems not viable -- one would need to someh...

@jacob where I used to live we had a guy with a portable mill and he was cutting to actual dimensions, which I appreciated, but mostly didn't care about as I was done with the exterior construction of the tiny and didn't need a whole lot more exterior-grade 2x4's. It's weird to go and buy lumber tha...

Got to use a planer for the first time today. I've seen them before but never used one myself. Seems difficult to hook one up to a bike. One would need something that could also feed the wood in. Brief googling shows me that hand-cranked planers are not a thing. Also does not seem to remove the need...

@Salathor, that's pretty counterintuitive I would think. Are these wrists facing your face, away, or both?

@Slevin, me too. VERY glad I was able to stop and take a couple days off when I did and that the school has been so supportive. Between the service dog and the wrist flare up I'm like a poster child for ADA accessibility, which has been a psychological challenge in and of itself, but honestly everyo...

Saw the PT (technically occupational therapist) today. Very positive meeting -- I'm already doing a lot correctly from my own research and your/a fellow student's suggestions. She showed me some additional exercises, made a suggestion for adding an additional, more supportive brace for sleeping, and...

Pretty solid day. Swelling in the palm went down some and the tendons in my wrist are less sensitive to touch. Things I can do tolerably well with my left hand: non-precision sawing, use the shooter board to clean up end-grain, brush my teeth I can feel the places my tendons and muscles get worn out...

@Slevin, yeah, navigating the various issues involved with continuing in the course vs. dropping out and re-taking at a future date sucks. On the plus side, I think it's more like 2-3 days of serious injury, not a full week, although it's possible I was ignoring issues for longer than a day. I was g...

Am enrolled in woodworking school. Major flare up of swollen stuff in fleshy part of right hand between thumb and wrist, also tendons running along wrist, about an inch's worth. Started Wednesday of last week, ignored being in pain on Thursday, spoke with the instructor Friday after no overnight imp...

I'm the mystery ERE'r also at wood woorking school. (Hai!) Small world! Delighted to find a kindred spirit here, and my roommate (who I accidentally outed us to over dinner, ergh) might be reading some of these posts now. She's quite fascinated by the concepts we were discussing and is asking a lot ...

Health and Fitness In the Apocalypse N=1 I think it would be interesting to have a variety of tests done prior to and post project. I can imagine the following data being of possible interest, perhaps with the sidebar that I stop artificial supplements, but do some research on foods that contain so...

In reverse order: @shaz - there are currently three chickens on the property. There used to be 4, but one got snarfed by a neighbor's dog. The current chicken set-up is insufficient for more chickens (very small yard, although the coup could probably hold a few more). I would like to make a chicken ...

I'm turning 35 in 2025 and for a couple of years now I have contemplated the book I want to write, including going so far as to telling a semi-mentor/professional figure in my life a couple of years ago that when I turned 35 I would know enough to write a book. This idea isn't totally crazy -- I hav...

I think if two people meet, it is a meet-up!

Hello Portland people.

How are we all feeling?

Is the pandemic sufficiently over yet?

Can we hang?

I live! House still not done. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel. P.S. It is hard to build a house. Especially if you are interested in aesthetics. Currently living in condo, not in community anymore. My life there imploded a bit, long story. Happy to have had an easy fall-back. My life's ...

Still alive! Put the last board up on the last wall today! Houses take a really long time to build ya'll! Someday I will make another video.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZjVt3LpuM5mH4KJv6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GWpwe78in4iQWxWc7

We use wood chips instead of sawdust and actually found that if we didn't pee in it the mixture didn't sufficiently decompose over the 2 years we let the barrels sit. Also, yes, hoping to at least have some space for starts in the greenhouse. So a mixture of heat sources for that. I *think* the wors...