What Did You Do Today (2017)

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

No yellow sun here in North-east Scotland, but the street lights came on at about 2pm, and they're still on. The rain this morning started a demand on ark plans. Anyone know where to get gopher wood?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Reports of a zombie apocalypse in Portsmouth…

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/10/2017 15:30:27:

Reports of a zombie apocalypse in Portsmouth…

Situation normal.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Here on the Isle of Mull the sun is attempting to break through the clouds and it isn’t at all clear what the fuss is about. Forecast of winds up to 55 mph but up here that is just a stiff breeze…

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Street lights gone out now, sky much brighter but still grey. Hold that gopher wood order….. I expect we shall be having Tony's weather here in the North-east soon.

[RobinParticipant @robin]

Distinctly weird, dark inside but outside is strangely clear, as if I was wearing them yellow driving glasses. Where will it all end?

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Same here in Kent, yellow glowing sky which illuminates everything, the wind is up at about force 4-5 now and thrashing the tops of the Oak trees. No rain visible on the radar maps.

Re the guns, I have seen two guns blow up, not mine. The first was a side by side Holland and Holland .450 No 2. On a Buffalo hunt and a big Bull came charging through the scrub and the Warden fired at it and his left barrel split open like a banana, meanwhile a client with .458 Win Mag. let loose and I saw the bullet bounce off the horns which wrenched the head around, it went down stunned and then another round from the .458 did the trick.

The second was down to a White Hunter accepting reloaded rounds off a client. The white hunter ( Sten Cedergren ) later went onto Mt. Kenya and was hunting a Leopard, he fired, but no bang, reloaded and fired again and the breech exploded sending metal into his left forearm and smashing the telescope back into his right eye. Lots of blood and shock! Subsequent analysis seemed to show that the first cartridge had no powder in it, only the primer. This enough to send the bullet half way down the barrel, the second cartridge then exploded the barrel ripping the bolt out of the breech.

Another one I was present at was a Ruger Blackhawk, .44 Magnum Pistol.The owner a young man had asked someone for details of some reloading data. He reloaded the cartridges but mixed up the data thinking that he had to use both powders in the cartridges, subsequently firing alongside me the cylinder burst and that ignited two other cylinders and half the cylinder went over my head into the bushes. I did search for it but did not find it.

I asked what his load was and he said, '7 grains of Unique and 11 grains of Blue Dot' That must have been a compressed load making it even more powerful. I have a picture of the gun.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Nice here in Devon ……….. but then it usually is!

Norman

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Jennycliff especially

Funny sky here at Bisley too and twenty three degrees at lunch-time.

Wind will make shooting 'fun' tomorrow.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by NJH on 16/10/2017 18:20:11:

Nice here in Devon ……….. but then it usually is!

Norman

Just a howling gale all day – so normal for the top of the hill. Only one slate down. People still walking their dogs not worrying about possible falling trees. Got a bit fed up with Radio Devon going on about the '87 gale. I had just moved house then and had the top 15ft of a fir tree throw itself across my apple just missing the bedroom but that was inside the M25 – they don't know how to build trees in London like we do in Devon.

[Martin NewboldParticipant @martinnewbold]

https://youtu.be/ikz4CJTTb6o

Edited By Martin Newbold on 16/10/2017 19:11:03

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Harking back to earlier posts regarding the red sun/yellowish sky. I not the red is being caused by smoke and ash from fires in Portugal and Spain. There are also massive forrest fires in California and who knows where else in the world. I can remember working in Russia when forrest fires swept an large area of Russia south of Moscow and a few years before that huge forrest fires occurred in parts of Asia.

A question I have is: are these fires ,or rather the pollution from them taken into account when estimating their effect on global warming?

[Steve PaveyParticipant @stevepavey65865]

There is a massive post on the Netweather forum about Ophelia and today’s weird weather. The consensus seems to be that both the fires and wind-borne Saharan dust is responsible for the lurid skies. One poster in Poole, Dorset, recorded a lowly 9W/m2 solar radiation when the sky was at its darkest at around 1:30pm, which later rose to about 200 when the skies cleared later in the day.

Amazing to think that some fires in Portugal and some slightly unusual wind conditions can have such an effect so far away. Not as bad as Krakatoa though.

[RobinParticipant @robin]

IIRC our last blue moon was caused by forest fires in Canada, that would be worth a photo

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

As I suffer from an Asthmatic condition I have later this afternoon been affected by this dust/pollution. Using the reliever puffer partly helped but now I have used the preventer I feel much better, I hope it all blows away soon. I go for weeks with no symptoms and then it suddenly flairs up.

Clive

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 16/10/2017 20:09:45:

Harking back to earlier posts regarding the red sun/yellowish sky. I not the red is being caused by smoke and ash from fires in Portugal and Spain. There are also massive forrest fires in California and who knows where else in the world. I can remember working in Russia when forrest fires swept an large area of Russia south of Moscow and a few years before that huge forrest fires occurred in parts of Asia.

A question I have is: are these fires ,or rather the pollution from them taken into account when estimating their effect on global warming?

Yes, I think they are quite important in terms of the smoke.

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

I have finally resolved my queries re. the drive shaft centre separation on my Perfecto shaper, or rather, Robbo has. On the basis that his worked fine on an A350 belt, I purchased similar and it works fine – and fits easily into the space available.

For those who don't subscribe to the GEFGW* school of quality and tolerance, I offer my apologies; however, the 'Flintstone' quality mobile bench suits its purpose admirably and, more importantly, I was able to construct it without assistance, in spite of the knackered knees and back. Next in line equipment-wise is getting the Myford back in service but in the meantime I'm trying to manufacture one of these …

… a 'turn and tilt' window tilt retaining bracket. We have two such windows in the bedroom and one of the brackets has corroded away. As the next photo shows, we are rather adjacent to the North Sea, so salt corrosion is a problem. I'm intending to make a new pair from some aluminium strip. The originals are cast from 'monkey metal'. From any of the experts' viewpoint is ali a reasonable substitute?

*GEFGW – Good Enough For Government Work

rgds

Bill

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Hi Bill, I'd suggest acetal resin. Blocks of Delrin brand acetal are readily available and not to expensive. It has a slippery feel , good strength, easy to machine, and is great for low friction hand-operated mechanisms like your window bits. No more corrosion either, sea or no sea.

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Cut my thumb checking the edge of my freshly sharpened HSS shaper tool (1 x 3/8&quot where i'd modified a couple of the rake angles. Can confirm it was razor sharp….

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Bill, would bronze be a good replacement for the "monkey metal". For real salt water proofing of fittings 316 stainless is the way to go, but I think the bronze would look better and be easier to make. Don't know about plastics, but it might be OK.

Hope this bit of weather misses you, saw some of it on the TV news.

Ian S C

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Thank you Jeff and Ian. I had considered Delrin but was concerned about the strength. Also checked on stainless but (at least on Ebay) suppliers don't seem to have any stock more than 6mm and I need 10mm minimum. However, thinking about the function, I reckon that all it does is provide location for the tilt axis – mainly vertical pressure rather than horizontal so minimal stress?? I'm halfway through lengthwise hand sawing a strip of tough ali to width so may continue , just for the exercise!!

rgds

Bill

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

What, one of these? "Fuhr Tilt Tip Keep Striker Plate" – £10 inc vat.

Murray

Edited By Muzzer on 17/10/2017 12:29:24

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Murray – to coin a phrase – BLOODY HELL!! I have been searching, in vain, for over a year for "one of those"!! The members of this site are quite incredible – is there NOTHING that they are unable to help with?? I have just ordered two off and will forgo the pleasures of another hour or so of hacksawing!! If you ever manage to venture into the wilds of coastal N Norfolk, there will be several bottles of sustenance waiting for you – you're a star!!

b rgds

Bill

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

You have to get lucky with the search terms, like striker, latch, upvc etc – then peruse the "images" tab if using Google. When living in Canada, I found this aspect even more frustrating, as Mercans have different names for almost everything.

You can now apply the time and money to the purchase of some suitable workshop equipment by way of celebration. Just don't tell the domestic manager it wasn't required to complete the job!

I also live close to the sea in Lytham St Annes and we have terrible problems with salt and sand. This morning after the storm passed, the cars were covered in a light coating of sand. But worst of all, we find that window latches need frequent lubrication to prevent them seizing up and external metal door handles corrode rapidly, whether "brass" or anodised. The "stainless" coach lamps on the new patio will be going back to B&Q shortly, after barely one season….

Murray

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Hi Murray, It's the same up here on the Moray Firth coast. We are only about 150 yards from the sea, and after a northerly blow everything is covered in salt. I notice that the "brass" fittings on my relatively new £2000 front door are corroding. Anyone know of a good clear varnish to prevent this problem, as everything I have tried on other such fittings doesn't seem to last for one winter.

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