[OFB Cafe] Bio Fuels

[Chris Olson]

From: Derek Broughton

> Chris is an urban cowboy who happens to have translated all those urban toys to his little corner of paradise.

I don't know that that's all that accurate.  The only time I ever lived in the urban setting was when I was in college, and I hated every minute of Big City life.  Isn't the "urban cowboy" the maverick who moves to the Big City, or came from there?  I'm neither.

I just like to play with machines, but I'd like to point out that the existence of machines are not dependent on Big City resources.  They're only dependent on Big City resources to the extent that the labor is available for mass production of those machines.  But if the Big City didn't exist at all those machines can still be hand built, one at a time, outside the Big City manufacturing setting.  For instance, the finest rifles on earth are not mass-produced by Sturm, Ruger and Co's factories, but hand built by a skilled gunsmith, who didn't learn his craft in college, working in a small, relatively ill-equipped shop.  The finest, most educated, most highly-trained Big City engineers and mass production factory workers on earth will never build a product that's superior to one hand built by a skilled craftsman who learned and refined his craft from his predecessors.  I don't care if it's something as simple a silver spoon or complicated as a jet aircraft.

This is not to say that I'm not somewhat of a "fanatic" when it comes to machines of any sort.  Even when it comes to something simple like my wife's string trimmer.  A couple years ago I was using it to cut some tall grass and it kept stalling the head.  So I took it to the shop, split the crankcase, pulled the crank, and recip assy out of it, went to work with the Dremel rotary file in the cylinder and altered the port timing.

When I got done with it, that little 50cc Husqvarna two-stroke was putting out about 3.5 hp and she'd swing 1 foot long .090" "strings" at 6,500 rpm - you could cut brush with it as long as the "strings" didn't break.  Except for one problem; my wife couldn't get it started no more.  I had the port timing so radical that you had to remove the rewind starter and spin the crankshaft with an air drill, plus give it a little shot of ether, to get it to start.  So she went and bought a new one and told me to never touch her frickin' weed whacker again.  Didn't faze me any because I got one hell of a high-performance weed whacker out of the deal that I can play with.
--
Chris
-------------- next part --------------

   From: [1]Derek Broughton



   >  Chris  is  an urban cowboy who happens to have translated all those
   urban toys to his little corner of paradise.



   I  don't  know  that  that's  all that accurate.  The only time I ever
   lived  in  the  urban  setting  was when I was in college, and I hated
   every  minute of Big City life.  Isn't the "urban cowboy" the maverick
   who moves to the Big City, or came from there?  I'm neither.



   I  just like to play with machines, but I'd like to point out that the
   existence  of  machines  are  not  dependent  on  Big  City resources.
   They're  only  dependent  on Big City resources to the extent that the
   labor  is available for mass production of those machines.  But if the
   Big  City  didn't exist at all those machines can still be hand built,
   one  at  a  time,  outside  the  Big  City manufacturing setting.  For
   instance,  the  finest rifles on earth are not mass-produced by Sturm,
   Ruger  and  Co's  factories, but hand built by a skilled gunsmith, who
   didn't  learn  his  craft  in  college, working in a small, relatively
   ill-equipped shop.  The finest, most educated, most highly-trained Big
   City engineers and mass production factory workers on earth will never
   build  a  product  that's  superior  to  one  hand  built by a skilled
   craftsman  who learned and refined his craft from his predecessors.  I
   don't  care  if it's something as simple a silver spoon or complicated
   as a jet aircraft.



   This  is not to say that I'm not somewhat of a "fanatic" when it comes
   to  machines of any sort.  Even when it comes to something simple like
   my  wife's  string  trimmer.  A couple years ago I was using it to cut
   some  tall  grass  and it kept stalling the head.  So I took it to the
   shop, split the crankcase, pulled the crank, and recip assy out of it,
   went  to  work with the Dremel rotary file in the cylinder and altered
   the port timing.



   When  I  got  done  with it, that little 50cc Husqvarna two-stroke was
   putting  out  about 3.5 hp and she'd swing 1 foot long .090" "strings"
   at  6,500  rpm  - you could cut brush with it as long as the "strings"
   didn't break.  Except for one problem; my wife couldn't get it started
   no  more.  I had the port timing so radical that you had to remove the
   rewind starter and spin the crankshaft with an air drill, plus give it
   a  little shot of ether, to get it to start.  So she went and bought a
   new  one  and  told me to never touch her frickin' weed whacker again.
   Didn't  faze  me any because I got one hell of a high-performance weed
   whacker out of the deal that I can play with.

   --

   Chris

References

   1. mailto:auspex at pointerstop.ca