Anyone Can Weld

It has been almost 40 years since I’ve done any welding and there have been several times over the years where a welder would have been handy for various projects I was involved in. However, the price was always more than I was willing to pay. In recent years inverter-based technology has brought the price of welders down.

I remember learning how to weld as a kid of maybe 15 in a semester of high-school shop class. I hold the belief that anyone can learn to do basic welding for DIY or homestead projects. Of course, someone that is welding pipes underwater or doing something structural needs to be well trained. But for the rest of us doing household projects learning to weld at that level is well within reach.

Looking For a Content Creator

After running this blog for 7 years I’ve come to realize that while I enjoy reading and learning about traditional skills, I don’t have the knowledge or experience needed to create content on this subject.

If anyone (or several people) wants to take over the role of creating content I will manage the backend. I’ll take care of the site – you write the articles.

Contact me at jerry@jerryandtabby.com if you are interested.

In the meantime check out my new site at https://ShopClassOnline.com

YesWelder FLUX-135 – Review of an Entry Level MIG Welder

I was looking for an entry-level welder at a price point anyone could afford for my article series on learning to weld. There are many options online, but I wanted a stable offering that I could recommend. I first learned of YesWelder when they were running a Kickstarter and after researching them I reached out and they provided their FLUX-135 for this review.

The street price of the FLUX-135 is around $160 so it is a very affordable way to get into welding. It does have some limitations as it is designed to plug into a standard 120 V house outlet, but that gives you the flexibility to use it anywhere. As it ships this is a flux-core wire feed and a stick welder. While it can also do TIG, that requires buying additional accessories that will more than double the price of the machine.

The specs say you can weld up to 5/32″ mild steel which is more than enough to learn how to weld and probably good enough for most homestead/DIY applications. An advantage of flux core is you can weld outside or there the air is disturbed that would disturb the gas shielding of traditional MIG.

This is absolutely a great welder for someone just starting out learning to weld. It is a capable and affordable option with a price point of just over $200 for the welder and a helmet – everything you need to get started. The controls are simple, just select the size wire you are using and start with the knobs in the middle and you are good to get started.

Go Bag – Start With The Bag

This is part of the Go Bag series.

Putting together a Go Bag, AKA Bug-Out-Bag or 72-hour kit requires something to gather things together into. That is some kind of bag. I’ve selected a backpack for the flexibility to have my hands free while carrying it.

Keeping in mind the limited use of a bag for emergency use is you should consider the balance between spending the money enough money to get a bag that fills the need vs something that would fall apart the first time you use it.

For me it needs to be a back-pack. This gives you the option of having your hands free while carrying the bag and generally you can carry more weight on your back than griping it in your hands. Additionally, I wanted the options that the MOLLE system provides. Further, I’m looking for my bag to visibly stand out, any kind of camo pattern is not what I’m looking for.

I selected this bag in the yellow and purple

In the past, I have used backpacks and bags that were one single compartment and found that I didn’t like it as I usually had to take everything out every time I needed anything. This has several compartments so I can organize the stuff I have in the bag. I have used it on vacation trips and so far like it. Future posts in this series will go through what I think should be part of a go-bag.

4-H Country Ham Project

University of KY Meat Science Extension has something they call the 4-H County Ham Project that teaches youth how to make a country ham. This is about a 9-month project that starts with a fresh, or green, ham and ends up with a county ham that is shelf-stable and worth a fair bit of money.

Think about the value of a protein source that doesn’t need any refrigeration and enhances the flavor of anything that is included with it. I would willingly pay for someone to teach me how to do this. I know there are food laws that make it difficult for places that are not state inspected to offer this. I’m sure there are ways around this. Imagine a place I could go where someone would “help” me prepare a green ham. Afterward, I would pay them to store it for me in the proper conditions. The ham would be tagged as mine and when it has reached it’s cured & aged state I would go pick it up.

Curing meats is rapidly becoming a lost art and I applaud this effort to save this skill. Personally I don’t know anyone that has ever cured meat. If I can find a way to do this anywhere near me I will give it a try. We are planning on getting a whole hog (butchered into parts) and I may risk one of the hams to see if I can do this.

Skill Builder – Pounding Nails

Why you should pound in some nails

How many of you are comfortable swinging a hammer and have confidence that you will hit where you intend? Can you drive a 16d nail in straight without banging the wood up with misses? A skilled framing carpenter can drive a nail to just below the surface with two hits – one tap to set the nail and then a power hit to drive it home. And they can do it all day.

I’m not saying you need to be that good, but unless you actually practice you will not be able to drive a nail when you need to. So rather than mess up a project you are working on you should spend some time driving nails, until you are at least competent at it. I recommend you get a hammer and practice with it until you become comfortable with it and then keep it.

My hammer of choice is a 20 oz straight claw Estwing. I have had this same hammer for over 25 years. As a homeowner, this hammer will serve you for the rest of your life. Get a smooth face head, do NOT get a hammer with a crosshatch pattern on its face. When, not if, you hit your thumb with the hammer you do not want the head to grip your thumbnail.

My recommendation is to buy a 30lb bucket of 16 penny nails, a hammer, and a couple of 2×4’s or 2×6’s. Then proceed to nail the two boards together. Don’t get carried away and do too many to start. For something you haven’t done before you can strain your arm if you do too much before you build up the muscles. Gradually build up the number of nails you drive each session until you build up the strength and coordination to nail two boards together – it is not as easy as it sounds.

Laundry Room Make Over – Adding Cabinets

Adding wall cabinets to the laundry room.

Before

No one has ever said they wished they had less storage. In many cases, the answer is looking up. This is our laundry room, which has 9′ ceilings. That means there is a lot of space above the washer and dryer. A quick trip to Menards and I find that two 36″ wide by 40″ high wall cabinets will fill the space nicely. Granted a shelf up near the ceiling will require something to stand on to reach it, but I have plenty of items that I use less frequently that can go on the upper shelves.

Here you see the cabinets installed providing a considerable amount of storage. This is all “found space” since it was completely unused prior to installing the cabinets. We found that we can easily reach the bottom shelf, but the middle and upper shelf requires a step stool. We also have tall cabinets in our kitchen that is close to the laundry room so we have a step stool available.