How to Make Dakin's Solution DIY Antiseptic

How to make Dakin’s Solution: DIY Antiseptic

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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This post shows how to make Dakin’s Solution, which is a great homemade antiseptic.

Dakin’s solution is an antiseptic solution containing sodium hypochlorite (Common Household Bleach) and water. It was first developed during World War I to treat infected wounds.

Dakin’s solution is not the only antiseptic that can be made at home.  As there are several stronger germicidal solutions available, however many of these  contain either carbolic acid (phenol) or iodine to prevent infection. Which unfortunately means they either damage living cells or lose their potency in the presence of blood serum.

Dakin’s solution does not damage living cells; its solvent action on dead cells hastens the separation of dead from living tissue.

Dakin’s solution is easy to make, and is prepared by passing chlorine into a solution of sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate.

Unfortunately, the solution is unstable and cannot be stored more than a few days.

It is used by periodical flooding of an entire wound surface with the solution.

As always, I am not a doctor, and you should research anything you find on line so you are assured of its use and the accuracy of the material presented.

Precautions:

• Keep out of the reach of children.
• Do not swallow it if used as a mouth wash,
• Do not use longer than one week.
• Obviously you should not use this solution if you are allergic to any of the ingredients.
• Stop use of the solution if your condition worsens, or a rash or any other reaction develops.

Call Your Doctor If You Have:

• Pain or burning sensation
• Rash or itching
• Redness of skin
• Swelling, hives or blisters
• Signs or symptoms of wound infection

Storage:

• Keep the solution stored at room temperature.
• Cover jar with aluminum foil to protect it from light.
• Be sure the jar lid is tight for storing.

Cleanliness is very important to this procedure, sterilize everything, and keep your hands clean. Remember the maxim: you cannot sterilize what is not clean

Ingredients:

  • Sodium hypochlorite solution 5.25% (Clorox® or similar household bleach).  Be sure to purchase unscented bleach. Do not use ultra bleach products it is more concentrated and thicker.
  • Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
  • Tap Water

Equipment:

  • Clean pan with lid
  • Sterile measuring cup and spoons
  • Sterile jar with sterile lid (see above)

Procedures:

  1. Measure out 32 ounces (4 cups) of tap water. Pour into the clean pan.
  2. Boil water for 15 minutes with the lid on the pan. Remove from heat.
  3. Using a sterile measuring spoon, add ½ teaspoonful of baking soda to the boiled water.
  4. Add Bleach per chart below to achieve differing strengths of solution.
  5. Place the solution in a sterile jar. Close it tightly with the sterile lid.
  6. Label the jar with the date and time you made the solution

Throw away any unused portion 48 hours after opening. Unopened jars can be stored for one month after you have prepared them

Strength of Solution is dependent on how much Bleach to water.

The following chart is for 32 oz. of water.

 

Full Strength

 

 

 ½ Strength ¼ Strength 1/8 Strength
Clorox 3 oz. 3 Tbsp + ½ tsp. 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp 2½ tsp

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90 amp Harbor Freight Welder Review

 

Gear Review: 90 amp Harbor Freight Welder
Not the same welder (This one is even cheaper)

This review may be a little controversial – it all depends on if a professional welder reads it…

I want to learn to weld, it’s on my “hope I never kick the bucket” list. You know skills I wish I had, but if I had them all I would be 176 years old simply due to the time it takes to learn everything. I also have the unfortunate experience of working somewhat close to a harbor freight store. Due to the cost I tend to buy a lot of consumables there – media for my bullet tumbler comes to mind. I tend to stay away from their durable goods though because I am concerned about quality, but something about a $100 welder just called my name.

I have the willpower to say no when something calls my name once, but this darn thing was persistent, it just kept calling. Finally after getting some overtime from working the last TN disaster I bought it. I bought it after looking at hundreds of reviews that says this thing is junk. BUT, all of these reviews were from professionals that use big name welders for commercial purposes. The lowest cost welder these guys were recommending cost thousands of dollars and with capabilities far beyond my scope of use.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t WANT some of these great welders, just that even if I had the cash to spend on one, my money would be better served buying tools I actually need.

As one review said “Anyone who does fabrication and builds for pay simply needs the ability to lay heavy bead, with long duty cycles. If you were a factory mechanic, and spun wrenches for a living, you wouldn’t use 99 cent store sockets for long term. A full-time logger doesn’t use $100 kmart chainsaws. For the homeowner trimming one tree once a year, it works. You don’t need a $700 Husqvarna ‘Rancher’ chainsaw with a 20+ inch bar for that kind of like duty. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to own….”

I need something simple, and cheap that lets me weld up to 3/8 inch thick steel. And this welder does that.

Out of the box the Harbor Freight Welder comes with one 2 lb roll of flux core wire, a combo brush/slag hammer, and a face shield. I bought some heavy welder gloves when I bought it, and picked up (but set down) a auto darkening helmet. Next time I go back to the store I am going to pick it back up, as not being able to see until the spark is stuck is a little scary for me.

It did take some minor assembly to get it ready, but it took less than 10 minutes and the hardest part was assembling the cheap welding face shield. The instructions were not that hard to follow especially considering they were written overseas.

I tried to weld two things one was a cheap china made charcoal grill that had a leg knocked off during our April storms (it stuck, but I melted through some sheet metal), the other was a set of crucible tongs I made. Once again it made a very ugly weld, but in fairness it was probably more my lack of skill than the limitations of the welder.

I can hit the target with a cheap pistol, but my group size is tighter with a better quality pistol, but when I started shooting I did not know enough to tell the difference.

I have read that with a better quality torch tip and flux core wire it improves its weld capabilities. But it will sputter a lot and cause lots of little balls of slag to be thrown all over your work.

Is it worth it? I say yes if you’re going to use it irregularly and can get it for less than $100. My mind may change after I gain some skills – especially after I make that battery powered stick welder and the alternator welder I have on the project list, but who knows.

Watch the video below to see what it does out of the box, but be warned I don’t know much (anything) about actually welding…

BTW – Constructive comments about how I’m doing it are much appreciated…

 

How to Build DIY Akro Bin Rail for Simple Workshop Organization

How to Build DIY Akro Bin Rail

 

Workshop Organizer
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Here is the link for the instructables.com post that instigated this DIY akro bin rail project.

When I saw this workshop organizer project in my inbox I knew I had to try it.  I had just inherited quite a few acro bins, and when added to the ones I already had, I needed a place to store them.  Add in the fact that my spare parts box was full of nuts bolts and nails, and that it was taking an unreasonably long time to find the right parts when I needed them I had to do something.

In the instructuctable Mike Begley used aluminum flashing, but I found a piece of plastic molding first, and my ADD made me stop looking so I could get home and nail this thing to the wall.

I had a weird corner in my shop that left me about a foot of wasted space, so I cut the 8 ft section of molding into 8 sections and stapled them to the wall.

The lip of each bin clips neatly into the channel of the molding and holds them rather securely.  I do worry about the plastic breaking under extreme weight, but as long as I don’t put undo stress on the strips it should hold.  And if it does break, I get an excuse to buy a chop saw to cut aluminum flashing.

All in all I am very happy with my DIY Akro Bin Rail.

* Update

It has been more that 7 years since I made this Akro Bin wall, and it is still going strong.  I haven’t had a problem with the plastic railing like I imagined I would.  However, to be fair, I don’t really take the bins on an off the wall as I thought I would either.

 

M6 Scout Sling Swivel Modification

How to Install a Sling Swivel on a M6 Scout

 

M6 Scout Sling Swivel Modification
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One of the first guns I ever bought for myself was a Springfield Armory M6 scout rifle. Like almost all owners of the M6 scout, I really like the concept, but I find it needs a sling swivel to really fit my needs.

What is the M6 Scout

For the uninitiated, the M6 scout started life as a survival item for Air Force pilots. It is a hinge action over under that breaks into two parts for storage. The air force version is normally a .22 hornet over .410, but mine is a .22 long rifle over .410. The actual military model’s barrel is shorter than the National Firearm Act allows for unregistered firearms, so the civilian barrel is about 4 inches longer. It has two cutouts on the sheet metal stock that are supposed to be improvised wrenches, but I have never attempted to use them. In my opinion, other than the size and weight of the gun, the best feature is that the butt-stock opens to hold 4 .410 shells and 15 .22 (only 9 if it’s a .22 hornet).

While I am an unreconstructed tinkerer that loves messing with things, I am pretty conservative with my firearms, and do not modify them without having a clear and specific goal in mind. I don’t own any “safe queens” or Barbecue guns, all of my firearms are tools, primarily for my family’s or my own self defense. Over the years I have seen too many overly modified guns lose reliability with each “improvement” to the designer’s specifications.

A Few Nice Modifications

However, there were four areas that my scout needed improvement, and none of them modified the actual mechanical function of the firearm in anyway. Since the purpose of this gun is to forage in a E&E (escape and evasion) scenario its intended use makes it perfect for a GHB (Get Home Bag) kept in a car trunk. My first addition addressed this and was the purchase of the optional blue plastic case to hold both the gun, a 100 round box of .22 long CB caps and two .45 caliber bianchi clips that I stretched and forced 12 .410 shells into (an appropriate mix of 6 #6 shot, 4 slug, and 2 00 buck).

Remove the Trigger Guard and Add Para-cord

My next mod was to remove the trigger guard from the “trigger” which is actually a bar that you can squeeze with you entire hand if needed. All I did was pry the stock apart slightly and pull the guard out (its stamped steel).

Next, I wrapped a long length of para-cord along the barrel as the gun does not have any furniture on it. This provides me with a cool place to put my hand if I somehow shoot enough to heat the barrel, and it gives me some cordage for emergency use. According to some, crewmen were taught to do this using paracord from their chutes if they ever bailed out.

Adding a Sling Swivel

My last modification, and the subject of the video below, was the addition of a sling swivel on the butt-stock. For years I have tried to find a factory sling swivel to attach to my scout. The barrel has a hole at the muzzle for attachment, but the butt-stock does not. The only furniture on the gun is a small rubber pad on the butt-stock, but the screw that holds it in is not substantial enough to do its designed job and hold a sling.

While at the reloading store the other day, I saw a sling swivel for an AR-15 hand guard. I knew immediately that it would work. It was a normal QD swivel on a stud, a round spacer/washer, and an aluminum nut with a round base.

Basically, I used a drill press to drill a hole the aluminum nut could fit into, then screwed the swivel stud into it through the washer. Later I may trim it up a little with my Dremel, but for now it works well enough for my purposes.