It's Fun To Make Useful Homemade Gizmos

Written by Alan Detwiler


It's fun and satisfying to design and then make simple items that serve some purpose. I find it very rewarding to conjure up designs out of my imagination and then build them using common tools and cheap or free materials. I've made all kinds of things. Most of them performed some function that no readily available, store-bought device offered.

I do a lot of text keying at a computer keyboard. After many hours of keying, day after day, my hands and fingers tell me (as in pain) that they're pushing too hard, too many times. After going from store to store looking for a keyboard with easy to press keys, I realized that I needed something to measurerepparttar force needed to pressrepparttar 115977 keys on a particular keyboard. Trying to judgerepparttar 115978 force by typing a little with each keyboard wasn't separatingrepparttar 115979 Tylenol endorsed keyboards fromrepparttar 115980 more finger friendly keyboards. So I rigged up a plastic tube taped to a vertical wire a few inches long. Pennies could be put inrepparttar 115981 tube. The lower end ofrepparttar 115982 wire is rested on a key. The number of pennies needed to push a key down is a measure ofrepparttar 115983 key's required press force.

Then there wasrepparttar 115984 see through, wall hung beehive that I put on my bedroom wall. My father used to keep bees to harvest honey. One cold day in March, I discovered an abandoned hive that had fallen over exposingrepparttar 115985 bees torepparttar 115986 elements. There was only several hundred bees left out of what was once thousands. I put a sheet of glass, about 2-foot by 2-foot, onto a wooden frame that I attached to my bedroom wall. Then I carefully transportedrepparttar 115987 faltering bee colony to their new home. A tunnel made of metal window screening provided a path forrepparttar 115988 bees to come and go under a slightly raised window. The colony's queen had not survived being exposed torepparttar 115989 weather, so I knew no new bees would be reared. This colony would only last as long asrepparttar 115990 lifespans of its current members. But it was interesting to watchrepparttar 115991 bees doing what bees do throughoutrepparttar 115992 next several months. Andrepparttar 115993 bragging rights for having a bee colony on ones bedroom wall was something to envy.

Bothrepparttar 115994 keyboard force-o-meter andrepparttar 115995 wall-mounted beehive were inspired by circumstances. I just sawrepparttar 115996 possibility of what could be done and wanted to do it. I try to be open to possibilites for other gadgets and gizmos that would be of value. It is well worthrepparttar 115997 effort: It is fun to make improvised gizmos, and you get a valued item. The item may suit your needs better than a purchased item because you make itrepparttar 115998 way you want it. And it feels good to prove that your ingenuity and imagination can produce things of value.

Below is a description of a couple of items you may like to make.

Bootjack:

If you often find it annoying to remove boots as you enterrepparttar 115999 house, this project is for you. The bootjack makesrepparttar 116000 task easier especially ifrepparttar 116001 boots are tight fitting or you are carrying something so that your hands are not free.

Why Ultralight Backpacking?

Written by Steve Gillman


Want Safer, More Comfortable Backpacking?

Contrary to what many think, ultralight backpacking is not just aboutrepparttar freedom to hike more miles or to take your whole pack uprepparttar 115976 mountain with you. It is also about comfort and safety. Backpackers with heavy loads work too hard and threaten their joints too much. Challenges may add torepparttar 115977 experience, but why suffer more than is necessary?

The Disadvantages Of Traditional Backpacking

Lack Of Freedom

You can't easily take a side trip up that hill, just to see what is there. If you do it without your pack, you have to go backrepparttar 115978 same way to get your pack.

It's A Hassle

Putting on and taking off your heavy pack quickly becomes a chore. You start leaving it on even during rest stops, just so you don't have to deal with it.

It's Tiring

Backpacking is clearly more tiring with a heavy pack, and you probably won't enjoy yourself as much when you are tired.

More Injuries

Sprained ankles, blistered feet, sore muscles, and back and knee problems are just some ofrepparttar 115979 common consequences of too much weight on your back.

Slowness

More weight equals slower progress, which means less access to wild places (you can't go as far on your four-day trip), or it means less time to for enjoyable activities, like a swim in a mountain lake, or a relaxing evening in camp.

More Dangerous

More injuries, andrepparttar 115980 inability to move quickly when a storm is coming or an emergency requires you to get to a road, means that backpacking can actually be more dangerous with a heavy load. Add to thatrepparttar 115981 possibility of bad decisions due to tiredness.

The Ultralight Backpacking Alternative

Donerepparttar 115982 right way, ultralight backpacking gives you more freedom, more comfort, more safety, more enjoyment and less suffering than traditional backpacking. It allows you to move faster, but notice that I say "allows." It doesn't require it. It just gives yourepparttar 115983 option. That's more freedom.

I have yet to meet or hear about a person who has tried lightweight backpacking for a while, and then gone back to a heavy load. I'm not saying it is for everyone. Bad ankles may require heavy hiking boots, and bad habits may require a big pack to satisfy them. But even a backpacker who needs a pillow and big rectangular sleeping bag, can find these in lighter forms.

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