C.S. Bell Number 2 Grist Mill

Several years ago my brother-in-law gave me this C. S. Bell Number 2 Grist Mill. They may still be in business. Their website is up but has many broken links. I plan to put the burrs in the e-tank. The rest of the machine will be cleaned up so I can use it but other than that will be left in "as found" state. I like the patina on the adjustment screw and level so that's staying.I saw another blog post that's I can't find now where they seasoned the burrs just like a cast iron skillet.  Might be worth a shot but I'm not sure how well that finish will hold up. I guess the worst that would happen is that it'll be burnished off. 

 

 

The main complaint from modern folks that use these is that the cavity fills with hulls and milling as you can see in the pictures. Not a big deal to me it came apart very easily so there's no reason not to maintain it properly. 

 

That little race that my thumb is pointing at sits between the adjustment screw and the crank shaft.  Glad I didn't drop that. I'd never find it in the garage.

Don't feed the Trolls

 

Don't bother correcting mockers -b/c- Haters Gonna Hate.

Spanish Rice

 

 

We're having a Mexican themed movie night/potluck at church tonight. My wife thought we should take our version of restaurant style Spanish rice. I’m making a triple sized batch in the pictures. 

 Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup Basmati rice
• 1 14.5 oz can chicken stock
• 1/4 cup water
• tbsp tomato bouillon

Optional:

• tbsp finely diced onion
• ¼ cup corn

Heat the pan and add the olive oil. Sauté the onions until just transparent. Add the rice and toast slightly. Add the chicken stock, water, and tomato bouillon. Bring to a boil , cover and cook for approximately 12 minutes.

 

Toasting the rice will give it a slightly nutty flavor. You're trying to brown it like Rice-a-Roni. I really don't care for plain white rice.  I use basmati rice for everything. You could use minute rice for this recipe. That's what most of the Mexican restaurant use. For weeknight dinner I often skip the onion and just use a little onion powder. I keep a bag of frozen corn to add.  The Knorr bouillon comes in chicken and beef.  I just use a heaping spoon. 

Rice is cooked two to one water to rice.  A can of stock is not 16 oz so you have to add a little water. The first line in the bottom of the can is 1/4 cup - that's one less thing to wash.

Shale Splitter

I like to do a little rock hounding/ fossil hunting when I'm traveling.  I make it to Eastern WV and North Western Virginia around the Lost River area once or twice a year.  I've been looking for a good tool for splitting the shale that holds the trilobites found there.  They range from thumbnail sized to 2 1/2 inches.

 

 I needed a little to bump up an Amazon order for free shipping so I slipped this Hultafors Chisel Knife in the cart. At $9 I'm not worried about chipping it up and for the price I can buy 3 for the cost of the Stanley chisel knife that looks to be stronger. It feels good in the hand and the sheath is very secure. The blade is beveled on both sides. We'll see how it holds up.  Spring is coming.

You can read about the location on Fossil Guy. This is a very well know area but I've only run into one other person while I was there; not the crowds like you see in the pictures.  The area is littered with road cuts that also hold fossils so if you go make sure you explore the side roads.

 

I've also found Spiriferid Brachiopods in the more fragile, oily shale but were difficult to remove any intact.

Flashlights

I'm stoked. One of my good friends from church gave me a Streamlight stylus pro last Sunday.  He's a professional tech guy and this is the light that he carries.  

 

So far I'm impressed.  It's rated at 100 lumens, uses 2 AAA batteries, and is similar in size to my glasses case. It features monetary and constant on from the tailcap button which is very stiff so there's little chance of it turn on accidentally That always seemed to happen with my mini maglites leaving me with a dead light when I really needed it.  The included sheath won't fit my belts, but it's small enough that I don't notice it in my pocket.

 I've been carrying an OLight 1R2 that came as a freebie with one of my tac light orders.  I've been very impressed by it's durability. My pocket is where most lights go to die. I've carried this one daily for 16 months and it's still working.  It's been dropped countless times, attached to my key ring and generally abused in it's daily life.  It's rechargeable which is handy.  It features low/high output modes rated at 6/150 lumen via twist on/off.

The other light that sees daily use is the Quantum shown above.  It was a stocking-stuffer from 2021. It's rated at 588 lumen and features zoom via the focus bezel and on/off/strobe from the tailcap switch. I use this when walking the dog and have found that it's very forgiving of low batteries.  It just keeps going; just dimmer.

Ditch Lights and Antennas

 I decided to spend my Christmas money on electronics this year.  I managed to find a Radioddity DB25 and a Cobra 19 on sale.  After looking at various antenna mounting options I figured that using a ditch light, no drill bracket would be the easiest route.  Of course scope creep quickly set in and I figured I might as well add the light too.  Antenna extension brackets were not really cheap but I'm a pack rat so  figured I had something that would work in scrap pile.  Turns out that I had these two nicely angled brackets left over from my tractor mounted snowblower. Here's the outside view.  I'll post the radios once I have them mounted. The electronics are routed through a rubber grommet in the engine compartment. 

 

 

 

New (to me) Cast Iron

My sister-in-law gave me this Cooks Signature cast iron.  Cooks was/is carried by JC Penney's  This has been stored in the shed since before her husband passed away. It was closed and as you can see the temperature changes allowed condensation to form on the lid and form rust "crystals." 

 

After a little time in the e-tank and some TLC it's started to look better. It can use a couple more layers of seasoning but at least it's usable. This should be just the ticket for fried fish.

I used a 5 gallon bucket, Arm and Hammer Super Wash and a 12 volt bench top power supply.  

 

Finding the super wash was the challenge.  I eventually found it at the hardware store.  The super wash is sodium carbonate (NOT BIcarbonate baking soda) that is used at 1 to 2 tbs per gallon of water to create a electrolyte.The alligator clip is attached to the handle which I leave sticking out of the water.  You can just barely see the red wire has no clip. I twist that to a piece of wire attached to a  sacrificial piece of scrap steel.  Once the black dust created from the process has been cleaned off I put it on the gas grill for a few minutes to dry.  Then I coat it with a very light coating of oil and let it "cook" for a hour.  The oil/heat process is repeated until it's got the desired look.