Old Country Pecos smoker?

Looks like the one in my backyard. 👍

 

I dropped by in Texas to checked it out after finding it online, just to be sure it met my expectation, as well as stopping by a brisket place that is highly regarded. I haven't use it that much really. I did make Texas style BBQ meat a few times. In retrospect I found a propane smoker easier to use unless you are preparing for a big party.

 

it was the industrial green router that caught my eye...

 

It's a 6" Grizzly jointer that was made in Taiwan long before the rise of China's factory for the world. I just have so much crap as there is nothing that I don't try do myself.

 

I was really impressed for the price. Less than half of what a first quality stick burner runs, and after about $20 worth of mods, it is just as good.

Stick burners are inefficient, more hassle, and generally less desirable than the high tech, computerized ones you can run with your smartphone.

But I prefer mine because it is the one thing that I do old-school. It is art, not science. There is sacrifice associated with my brisket - - I give up sleep, and am chained to that box for a full day, making sure the wood is replenished, the temperature stays in the zone, pushing it through a 3-4 hour stall...

Sometimes there is peace in the old ways.

 

Sounds like fly fishing.

I am not a nuke-it-cook, but that is more dedication than I have. Now I have a little corner bar that does their own corn beef. I am more than happy to have them make me a sandwich while I enjoy one of the many craft brews they have on tap.

 

Smoking a whole brisket in the old country Barbecue definitely takes a lot of dedication. I would realize that I can cut the brisket in half and smoke it in the propane smoker which is much easier to control the temperature and less stress on the mind.

Meanwhile back in the ranch I broke out the Weber grill and had half of a steak.


in case you wonder, the propane smoker is in service mode allowing cleaning of the gas jet that had been clog by spider web and who know what; if not taken care off the flame will backfire and melt the propane hose - which means a real possibility of crispy BBQ ranch

 

Love it!

I have been doing my best to keep the economy here moving by doing take out from my favorite restaurants and tavern, 3 or 4 nights a week. So not much cooking for me...

And someone said we are supposed to get snow next week? What?
I just put the 3 season tires on Blue!

 

You cannot be getting more snow this time of year, can you? Our club ran one track event in late march. The early April one has been cancelled so we are looking forward to early May right now.

We are having a streak of good weather only after the week of the heavy lifting move. I appreciate it being a nice introduction to the property and the region. Envy not as in the coming winter I would have to deal with deep snow out in this neck of woods.




getting acquainted with the neighbor



my gull wing mid engine exotic with real carbon fiber aftermarket body panels; someone sure loved the little car once



thankfully I fit fine in both the AZ-1 and the Daihatsu fire truck



the day of the kei cars delivery



a photo from a week ago; Desire the runabout braving the pandemic shopping for things to help the move; BTW, she've gotten a new set of RE71s as street tires

 

Yup, Snow!
Yesterday (not next week). The main part of it went just north of us. We were just warm enough and enough south of it to only got some passing rain from it. If you look at today’s radar for NY and the boarder with Canada you will see the remnants of the snow we had, still hanging around.

It is looking a bit like the start of spring around, with buds on the trees and tulip shoots coming up. But it will be a bit longer before it is there in full. We have an other week of below freezing nights coming up, which will slow its coming.

You are lucky to get out in your MINI and space with few people. Right now I am finding the Wrangler to be my go-to vehicle. An exhaust clamp on the ‘04 MIMI went. This will need to be fixed before I use it again. The JCW Pro suspension I put on Albert is stiffer than I would like for the street. I have a set of new Conti non-RFTs that I plan to put on it to see if the ride improves. If not, I may go back to its base suspension. I had hopes of getting the JCW out on the track a little, which is where I thought the JCW Pro suspension would be fun. But my guess is that track days are done around here for this year. I may bring Smokey, my “track car”, out to run around in. Even with the really stiff sway bars, B8 shock, and RFTs, but the stock springs, it rides better than the JCW does now. And it probably handles better. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but with this “do nothing” management of this mess for the last 3+ months, I see myself following a stay at home policy for a long time to come...

’nuff said...

I appreciate being able to read your posts and others (one much like yours).

 

Yesterday I took the AZ-1 out for a spin on public roads with the temporary plates. It is the first time I drove it on the road. With spirited driving on county roads and pulling 6% grade it returns 37 mpg in a 115 miles round trip. I went and meet my track buddies and they all wanted to have a go with the micro car.

This thing just wants to go, and easily break the rear end loose in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. When I decided to buy this over the Cappuccino I was hoping in addition to the suspension mods it also have drivetrain mods. While I haven't driven a stock AZ-1 there is no doubt this thing has a bit more power than stock. It has no problem accelerate from any of its 5 gears. I later would find out it can pull the 6% grade in 5th and accelerate. As I paid attention to the boost gauge I realize why. It pegged the needle in the red zone which is over 30 psi.


the turbocharger and the side mounted intercooler; you can also see the vacuum actuated wastegate



the PO installed this digital wastegate controller




the max boost pegs the needle at the red zone which is over 200 kPa (> 30 psi)

Breaking the rear end loose a bit in turns is a blast, but I didn't go crazy doing it as I am still getting to know the car. Seeing my friends drove it you can see how fast it can accelerate. It grabbed attention everywhere even in the countries.

Here is one short video taken with the phone. It was breezy so the audio is awful. Most funny is when it passed the ATV and the rider must had thought WTF?

 

There is this wild jack rabbit that has been hanging around the house. My sister in law said it is an Easter Bunny.

 

Cute, but let’s hope it doesn’t leave any little Easter Eggs on any of your car seats...

 

This is the tool cart that broke the camel's neck. In the previous house the 2 cars garage was just so jam packed that it could not accommodate even a modest tool cart like this. And I am needing more storage for cars. This tool cart is the symbol of a step in the right direction. More space for the tools, equipment, and space for automobiles.


the package is very heavy so I decided to unpack it in the Land Rover - divide and conquer; the instruction specifically warns not to attempt to life the tool chest by yourself - that is exactly what I planned to do and I am no heavy weight



separating the pieces makin it more manageable by myself; lifting the chest from the Land Rover down to the ground just about killed me







rather than lifting the chest onto the cart base which is quite difficult and awkward I figured it is far easier lifting the base onto the upside-down chest



while the gauge of the sheet metal is quite think it is very well designed and made; once you put it all together correctly it is very solid with all the reinforcement braces; it is just like the arts of making a unibody car with thinnest sheet metal you can but through the creases and folds a thing of beauty can be accomplished



now I just need to go buy more hand tools to fill it



yes! it is a small step in the right direction from this improvised Ikea cart as tool cart


I have a track buddy that absolutely thinks that anything from Harbor Freight is crap. He has a construction business and he says anytime he see an employee uses tools from Harbor Freight he take them away and throw in the garbage. I told him next time throw them my way. I bet he will change his mind when he see this tool cart. It far exceeds my expectation for the price point.

 

Nicely done!

With HF, I have gotten some good stuff (12v tire pump), but I have also gotten some stuff that wasn’t worth the effort to throw it away (tape measure that was off by 1/16” - that really F’ed up a project I was doing). Sanding pads are another thing. Nope, cheap glue or something. I pick and choose with them. In a way I don’t blame you buddy for his attitude. He can’t afford to have workers not be able to complete a job because of the tools they are using. Even some of the Dewalt stuff I have could be better. I can make it work for home stuff but would consider stepping up a notch or 2 if I was making a living with it. That said, I have found some Dewalt stuff being discounted and bought a few more toys... Oops, I mean tools. Never can have too many. Now, I need a place to put them. Where did you get that roll-around? Oh, ya... I know...

 

I have pretty good luck with buying HF. Their hand tools generally are quite good but you still need to select them carefully. The 1/4" ratchet socket set is one gem and I bought 3 sets. Of course the tire pump is the other one. Also their compact hydraulic floor jack for taking to the track is another. It is heavier than other aluminium jack that looks alike but the price is right being heavier. Oh, the aluminium jack stand too is light and good for taking to the track.


this 1/4" ratchet set on the Ikea cart is always a pleasure to use


This tool cart is exceptional and it never goes on sale. I did use a special 10% off coupon on top of the rare sales price as the normal 20% or 25% off coupon exclude it. They sure get even with you as you are likely want the pricy optional foldable side shelf. It just looks cool. HF is getter smarter. There is no more free (cheap but very useable) DMM with any purchase.

I was helping a track buddy doing compression test for his track M3, and the gauge kit he bought from HF is really decent and cheap. I think I need to go get one for the rainy days also.

 

Agree on your others good HF tools. I still have one of their original light weight aluminum jacks that they sold before this current design. It is several lbs lighter than what they sell now. I am looking to get a set or 2 of their aluminum jack stands. Glad to hear there are a worthwhile purchase.

oh, their little hand vacuum pump is a good one too. I use it with their two hole bleeder bottle to suck the brake fluid from the reservoir when I am doing a complete fluid change.

 

I was too late for the original track day lighter weight hydraulic jack. I know you can still buy them from other brands but they are quite spendy now. I bought a hand vacuum pump but I didn't get it to work. I ended up with a good pressure bleeder in the end. Hate to buy things twice. I want to get another one of those track day jack to make a pair when it can be handy to have two.

 

The fire and rescue was called upon the scene for an emergency.


the local fire self-defence force arrived to the scene within minutes



it turned out someone need more safety training on boiling water ; the kettle was declared a total loss



a gullwing exotic parked in front of a nice home; this family is living the ultimate American Japanese dream



it is in a secluded neighborhood



the fire brigade is always in the ready to deploy

 

nice choice on the tool cart, I've had mine for many years. HF tool quality has gone way up and now much of it has a warranty like the old craftsman warranty. I just picked up the fancy digital torque wrench, beeps at me and tells me how much I over torqued, like the 500 $ snapon I lusted over but for a heck of a lot less money

 

I have a Craftsman click-type torque wench, I use regularly, and a really old (late ‘60s) Craftsman beam-type. The click type uses a spring and a threaded rod with a nut on the end (no, not me. ) to set the torque. Problem was, one time that nut came out of its holder in the handle that is twisted to set the torque. I figure out how to put it back together easily enough, but then I was lost as to recalibration it. I used to have access to a torque wench calibration machine, but the place that had it went out of business. I was about ready to call it quits and throw it in the “bin of broken tools that I may someday fix or figure out some use for”, when I realized I could recalibrate it with the beam torque wrench. I just mounted the click-type wrench in a fixture and set it to a torque number (I did 50 & 100 ft-lbs). Then I put a socket on it, into which I put a long joining nut. With the beam-type wrench I “tightened” the nut until the beam-type wrench clicked, all the while watching the needle on the beam-type wrench... Easy! So if you ever need to check the calibration of one these fancy contraption type torque wenches, there’s a method...

I have been leery of the HF tools, even the newer ones with their “life time” warrantee. Glad to hear they have stepped up their game on those. Can’t say I have alway had good success with some of the name brands at the big box hardware places, either. I bought a name brand set of big slip-joint pliers I thought would be good. But, the metal was soft and the slip joint part got damaged the first time I used them. A waste of money.

 

Still on sale for 20% off. I am tempted to get one more for the other garage as you can't drag it across the gravel driveway.

What color is the question of the month. Since they are separated by the expanse of the gravel ocean there is zero chance of mixing up so I would incline to get another white one. There is no "take another $10 off" coupon from now until June so the pot is not as sweet when I bought my first.

 

I love how you are saving “$630”... Or is it really just $40
And their flyers now have on the front “HUGE LIQUIDATION.... EVERYTHING MUST GO”. My first reaction to that was: “they couldn’t possibly be going out of business.” Nope...

Red, absolutely, the red...

That said, another thing I really like of theirs is that blue zippered tool bag they sell in different sizes.

And, sorry about the tea kettle... I have recently destroyed 2 sauce pans that were also bottoms to a double boiler pan (does anyone under the age of dirt know what a double boiler is?). It doesn’t work well to try to heat something in a double boiler without water in the bottom... Just a note, the first sauce pan was a Revereware pan set from the late ‘60s or early ‘70s I picked up for a few $s at a thrift store years ago. I went on line when I destroyed it and found them on EBay for $100 to $200... OMG

 

I take their liquidation and out of business claims with a sack of salt.

There is a Youtube video comparing side by side between this $199 cart to the very similar Snap-On one. The latter is $930 today I checked. They look like made in the same factory. The Snap-On has 4 rather than 5 drawers.


snap-on 4 drawer tool cart

Oh, and there are even vendors re-selling the HF one on Amazon for 2x to 3x the price also.




I too like HF's soft zippered tool bag. They are great for all sorts of thing and do not damage your auto interior.

The destroyed kettle is a perfect demonstartion of laws of thermodynamics and conservation of energy. This is the first time it happened to many of these Korean aluminium kettles that I have.

 

So, the elimination of a drawer costs about $730 extra?
But, then there is the added value of the name...



Damn physics. Why can’t these pots, pans and tea kettles be like the rest of the world and ignore science...