Tinkerer's Thoughts

My wife seen an episode on the Food Network where pulled pork was made with Coca-Cola and condensed milk. I did not get to see that episode but the soda and condensed milk pulled pork sounded really good. She forgot the recipe from the episode so we looked up recipes. From what we had on hand, we based our recipe of that from Crock Pot Coca-Cola Pulled Pork . We were not sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised and pleased with how the pulled pork turned out. Here is how we made ours. Ingredients (Rough estimates as we just threw stuff in) 1 (5-7 lb) pork shoulder 2 tablespoons garlic, minced 1 cup onions, diced (not sure if necessary to cut up in little pieces) 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sambal (chili pepper paste) 3 teaspoons liquid smoke (I like smoky flavored stuff) 2 liter Coca-Cola 1 14oz can condensed milk 1 barbecue sauce of choice Directions Cut up the onions and garlic, although i think this may be unnecessary since t...

The back of the ukulele was fairly easy to complete. Trimming the back braces were like trimming the soundboard. Like the soundboard, I did not cut the braces to width till I could mark the areas that intersects with the ukulele side. During the dry fit, I lightly marked the area that would be visible from the sound hole. This help me placed my label/signature on the back. I just used a permanent marker thanking my wife for the kit and signing my name. Since I had a chisel in hand from trimming the braces, I just used the chisel to trim the sides down to the lining. A hand plane would have been better as it would keep the trim nice and flat. My chisel trim wasn't perfectly flat but that didn't matter a whole lot since the back was sanded flat afterwards. There probably would be less sanding if a hand plane was used. After back edge was trimmed and sanded flat, my youngest inspected the inside. Then she inspected the outside. When I glued up the top to the s...

My wife is back to attempting to complete the Insanity Workout to get back into shape after giving birth. I'll occasionally join her if I haven't already exercised during my lunch break. Her friend mentioned that there is also an Insanity Asylum workout . I looked that up and saw that an agility ladder is used. I occasionally play ultimate frisbee, but I suck. I'm not fast and need to work on speed. The agility ladder would be a great help to increase speed. I like to make things and need to sprint faster so a DIY agility ladder just makes sense. Cost wise, I think its cheaper to make one depending on the materials you use. There are many tutorials out there that use a variety of materials ( duct tape , pvc pipes , and rope just to name a few). Here is my take on a DIY agility ladder. Table of Contents Summary Getting Ready Materials Tools Lattice Cutting Hole Drilling Assembly Extra Summary Project: Agility Ladders (His & Hers) Project ...

I finally finished up gluing the soundboard to the sides. I took so long mainly due to lack of equipment and supplies. My chisels were a bit dull and needed sharpening. I like to use the The D&S Scary Sharp(TM) System of sharpening but this time I was out of sandpaper. Took awhile before I found time to get the sandpaper I needed. After sharpening my chisel super sharp, shaping the braces were a breeze. The chisel cut through the braces like butter. I did not cut the braces to length at this time. Following the directions, I used a turnbuckle to clamp the side to the jig. I found that the back portion of the side did not sit flush to the jig. The cause was that the dowels holding in the waist line were not perfectly perpendicular to the jig base. I thought I could remedy this by wedging in card stock so that the ukulele side would sit perpendicular to the base. This turned out to be a problem later on (but could have been avoided). To sand the top flat, I used a sheet o...

Yay, I finally got around to writing up this post. I could have done the following while waiting for the glue to dry or waiting for the new side to come in. But, like I said, this is my first build so I'll just stick to the order given in the instruction manual. Here I transfered the lines from the template to the ukulele top. I wasn't paying attention and drew the lines for the lower back brace. Adding the sound hole purfling was pretty easy. The strips fit nice and snug in the channel. I used a bit of tape to hold it down while I cut each plastic strip to size. I cut each strip individually on a piece of thin card board to protect the sound board. My messy CA job. I just used "The Original Super Glue", well that is what it said on the little yellow tube. The back braces were easy, just clamp and glue. I used spring clamps as shown in the instruction manual. However, the clamps on each end of the brace didn't seem to be enough as the center of t...

I relieve mommy of baby doodie, I mean duty, when I come home from work so I haven't had much time to fit and glue the back linings. I have my baby on my lap on a Boppy pillow as I work on the uke (I even have her on my lap right now as write this posts). Here's a picture of work stoppage to plug the crying baby, I mean pacify baby with binky, just as I was about to cut the lining to size. I had to stop after the cuts because baby wanted my 100% attention. On the following night I was able to sand the edges of the lining to better fit the uke. Dry fitting went well till baby got fussy again. Luckily for me tonight, Mommy took the kids out. This gave me time to glue in the lining. I really should have done this outside but I had everything at my desk and was not sure how long Mommy would be out. Gluing was a tad bit messy. You try to be neat, but you still drip here and there. I did several dry runs, marked the linings left/right but I still managed to make a huge...