Something the NYTimes actually can do right

A package arrived from Numrich---er, Gun Parts Corp---today.  A pack of 1911 magazines. 

Instead of styrofoam dunnage, the box was packed with crumpled pages from the New York Times. 

¡Vachement!

little chores around the house

My favorite camp axe, an Estwing with a hammerhead, is going on 30 years old, and was beginning to show its age. The chrome finish is worn away, showing pitted steel. As I was browsing an oldtimer's page about restoring old Coleman camping equipment, there appeared a technique to remove rust and prep the metal surface for a newer finish.

The oldtimer described how to immerse the metal part in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, with a separate electrode of the same metal as that to be cleaned (discarded steel banding in this case). Put positive voltage on that sacrificial elecrode, and negative on the part to be cleaned. Flow direct current through it for a loooonnnnng time, and the rust will be pulled off the part. It worked nicely enough that some steel wool got the whole axe looking uniformly black and rust-free. Then an old slow-cooker heated up some Brownell's zinc parkerizing solution. After that, Johnson paste car wax rubbed deep into the pores; she looks beautiful.

The camp stove that prompted me to look up the Coleman restoration page got less elaborate treatment. The drip pan was pretty rough with some rust and food drippings, but they came off easily. Garage floor cleaner (probably phophate in there too) got most of the crap off, and I tried Rust-oleum's galvanizing spary paint. Gorgeous.

But the burner will not shut off. New generator is on there, but I need to replace the packing in the fuel stem assembly. Replacement packing parts are on the way.

No irreversible damage

The cheap milsurp plastic grips on Beater the utility blaster cracked, right across the panel, through the upper screw hole. Both panels.

A cast-aside 6' slab of 1/4" Lexan was looking at me from the corner of the garage, like the Cheetos cheetah: "you know you want to do it."

I hacked out two pieces about the size of M1911 grip panels, and started rasping away anything that looked like it didn't belong there.

The WECSOG grip panels aren't done. They are fitted to the frame, with the countersinking and the relief for the detent plunger doodad, and the outline. But the contouring is only begun.



When it is to the desired contour, it will be stippled for texture.