How to Build a Wine Bottle Torch

How to Build a Wine Bottle Torch

DIY: Wine Bottle Torch
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Lighting is very important for Preppers, campers, and honestly everybody else.

Today’s article will show how to make a lamp out of an old wine bottle.

This works well as a tiki torch, and can be used outside with citronella oil to repel bugs.

Besides being a source of light and a way to repel bugs, this is a classy piece of decoration as well as an excuse to buy more wine.

Of course if you don’t want to buy more wine you can always make some homemade wine.

 

Materials

  • Empty Wine Bottle – Use any kind glass bottle with a 1” diameter neck
  • Teflon Tape
  • Copper Top Plate Connector (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
  • 1” Split Ring Hanger (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
  • 1/2” x 3/8” Copper Coupling
  • 1/2” Copper Cap
  • Two Hex Nuts (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
  • Two #10 x 1” Zinc Plated Wood Screws (if your mounting it to wood)
  • 3/8”-16 Zinc Plated Threaded Rod (a 3’ rod will cut down to 8, 4-1/2” rods)
  • Tiki Replacement Wick
  • Torch Fuel

Tools

  • Channel lock pliers
  • Adjustable wrench
  • Hacksaw
  • Screwdriver
  • Funnel

Procedure

Hanger

  1. Position the Top Plate Connector on your mounting surface and mark the holes for where the screws will go.
  2. Install Plate connector and screw in the 3/8”-16 Rod until it stops.
  3. Thread the two Hex Nuts on to the Rod and tighten one all the way down at the point where the Rod meets the Top Connector Plate. Leave the other Hex Nut at the front end so it can be used to secure the Split Ring Hanger.
  4. Thread on the Split Ring Hanger just enough so that the Rod is flush with the inside of the ring. Turn the 2nd Hex Nut counter-clockwise to snug it up against the Split Ring Hanger.

Torch

  1. Carefully and tightly wrap the 1/2” end of the Coupling with your Teflon Tape.
  2. Continue building up the tape until it fits very snugly into the opening of your bottle.
  3. Insert the Wick into the Coupling until it sticks out about 1/4”.
  4. The Tiki replacement wicks are about 3/8” in diameter so they fit well.
  5. Unscrew the Split Ring Hanger on one side and position the bottle neck into the ring.
  6. Flip the front half of the ring back into place and tighten down the Hanger evenly on both sides. You may need to loosen the other side to make sure both sides are an even tightness. (Don’t over tighten the Hanger. You don’t want to break the glass.)
  7. Use a funnel to fill the bottle with your favorite torch oil.
  8. Insert the Coupling & Wick into the top of the bottle and twist it snugly into place. Give the Wick a few minutes to absorb the oil before you try to light it.

Use the Copper Cap to keep the Wick dry when you’re not using your torch.

How to Fix Loose Micro-USB Cables

 

Can't Charge Your Cell Phone
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Every experience the frustration of when you phone port breaks and Can’t Charge Your Cell Phone unless you do all manner of acrobatics to hold the cable JUST RIGHT.

The video shows how I made a simple hack to fix the problem.

Well this does not exactly fix the problem, but it does give you extra time before you have to buy a new phone.  I have used this hack on my cheap streighttalk wireless phone to give me an extra six months between buying a new one.

All you need is a charging cable, a rubber band, and some tape.

The idea is that the metal band inside the charging port wears down so it does not hold the cable securely.  This is the reason why you can’t charge your cell phone.

A rubber band holds the cable tightly which reduces the need for the metal band.  You would think they would build a sturdier charging port, but I think it is planned obsolescence so you drop another couple hundred on a phone.  With as often as new phones come out and people trying to keep up with the Jones I would imagine a lot of people would not have the problem of wearing out your phone port.  However, I bet many of those reading this probably have.

How to Build a Tarp Shelter Using Canopy Fittings

 

Conduit Tarp Shelter
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I wanted a cheap solution to roofing my goat kennel, and since I had a lot of conduit left over from my geo-dome experiments and I have been thinking of roofing solutions using ferrocement, I decided to try using EMT conduit connectors to make a conduit tarp shelter.

This EMT conduit tarp shelter is simple, inexpensive, and easily put up in an afternoon.

I ordered about $60 dollars of connectors to fit together some EMT conduit, that and some rope, zip ties, and some tarp made a fairly decent shelter.

The connectors made this project go together much easier than it could have been.  It also made the project very strong.

I feel this is pretty strong, and using the connectors with shorter runs of pipe (3 feet or so instead of the 5 and 8 feet runs) with welded wire attached similar to how I did my Doomsday prepper dome (without a tv producer wanting me to make it ugly so it looks like a “rock”).

This setup can make a pretty cheap roof for a shed.  Especially If you use cloth and latex cement instead of a tarp.

I guess I need to add that project to my list.

Update:

We have used this for about 6 months and have had several heavy storms, including snow and it is working well.  My goats are happy under the shelter.

How to Start Spoon Carving

 

Basic Spoon Carving
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Spoon carving is one of those things that can be very elegant and skill intensive.  Alternatively, it can be simple and functional.

There are a lot of specialized tools available and much in the way of instructions online.

Today I just want to go into the basics of spoon carving.  I don’t have a lot of instructions here.  This is so that someone that is interested can start, but not be overwhelmed.

The tools needed are pretty simple and inexpensive as spoons have been hand carved for thousands of years.

As I showed in my 52 Prepper Project for Kids book, the depression can be burned out with coals.  However, most use hook knives.

You Do Not Need Much to Start

Simply purchase a curved hook knife like the one shown from amazon.  You will also need a simple knife, some sandpaper, and a little bit of edible oil.  That is all that is truly necessary if you are carving from a blank.

A pencil and a small axe are helpful.

Start by designing your spoon and drawing the rough outline on the blank.  I like to start with the bowl.  This is because I don’t want to spend time carving down the handle and then ruin the spoon during the depression carving.

Once the bowl is formed I carve around it to form the rounded spoon form.

The last carving step is to trim down the handle.  That is the simplest part.  Also, I like having the leverage of the thick wood blank as I form the spoon head.

Once the spoon is fully carved, sand down the spoon.  That is to remove the tool marks and make it smooth.

Let it dry slowly and then coat with an edible oil to protect it.

Do not use oils like olive oil as they go rancid with time.  Many like to use tung or walnut oil, but some are allergic to nut oil.  In the spoon pictured above I used normal canola oil from the grocery.

How to Baton Wood With a Knife

How to Baton Wood With a Knife

How to Baton Wood With a Knife
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Batoning wood is a common bushcraft/survival technique in which a strong knife.

The technique can be used to split wood.

I am showing it here because it is a good technique and useful and is necessary to know to get to my next post – which is basic spoon carving.

How to Baton Wood

Equipment:

  • A knife with a strong spine.  My USMC issued Ka-Bar is perfect
  • A baton (I used a stout piece of limb – which is also perfect)
  • Something to split

Procedure:

  • All you need to do is to set the log to be split up on its cut end so it stands vertically.
  • Next, the knife blade onto the log so that the blade is orientated where you want the split to occur.
  • Hold the knife handle and tap the spine of the blade smartly and evenly with the baton.
  • Finally, the blade will be driven into the log and a split will develop.

Similarly as using a froe to make shakes (split roofing shingles), you can turn the knife handle to cause the knife to exert pressure into or away from the split to make the split thicker or thinner (this takes some experience).

Do You Really Need to Baton Wood?

Bladeforums has an interesting discussion on the situations in which you would actually need to baton wood.