In another post here you can see fixing up an old Norlund axe.  The axe had a scabbard on it with the Norlund logo but it was pretty old, crusty and stiff and the stitching was gone on one side of it.  I used some leather conditioner on it and cleaned it up some and stitched the side back up.  It came out pretty good and is back on the axe.  

Below are a couple pictures and a video of the process. 

I found an old Norlund Axe in the corner of my garage from many years ago that had been neglected.   The axe was made by A.O. Norlund company out of Lewiston PA and were known to be good axes.  This one appears to be the log splitter axe model and was covered in rust, had some green paint on one part of the side and the axe head was loose.  I did some cleanup of the axe, sharpened it and put new metal round wedges in the head to secure it.  It turned out pretty well and I can't wait to try it out.  

Below are some pictures and a video of the process.  

My little old Stihl limbing saw needs to be repaired and not sure if worth the expense of fixing it or the $800 to buy a new one for the amount of limbing I do.  So I decided to order one of these Neotec 12" saws to test out.  It was only $140 shipped to my door and you can buy direct from them or from Amazon.  I have no affiliation with either them nor Amazon and just needed a new saw.  

I ran it for a few hours one day to clear up some limbs from a downed pine tree on property and was surprised by it.  I am not sure how it will do long term so we will have to wait and see with that but considering I could likely buy 3 of those saws for what I am pretty sure the cost of fixing my stihl will be, I think I may test this out further.  

Here are a picture of the saw and a video I did about it.

I ordered a cheap solar kit from walmart at one point because I wanted a solar panel I could keep in my truck or bang around without thinking much about it.  This kit also had a very cheap solar charge controller with it and some decent power adapters.  The solar charger was labeled for specs that I personally feel were way off.  I have never seen a cheap controller like that with specs anywhere near that.  Also the item was sold as a "200 Watt solar kit" but I knew it was the 20 watt solar panel by looking at it.  So that was the first issue.  Below is a picture of what comes with the kit and also a video of testing the kit and seeing how it performs and if it was worth the $35.

Testing and comparing the new Harbor Freight 1.5w trickle charge solar panel to the old red version HF used to sell.  I had a couple of the old ones and one of them I used once on a 69 VW street buggy for a couple months then put it in storage.  I picked up the new version last week to try out and test against the old ones.  The results are in the video below.

Having seen people make claims that using 4 tealight candles in a muffin pan that you can boil water in a pan above it, I decided to test out that theory and see if it actually works.  I used the same type and size pans so that the candles had room to burn correctly below the water pan and also have room for plenty of air to get to the candles.  Using 2 cups of standard tap water I put the pan of water over the 4 burning candles and set a timer with my phone, used the finger temp test, and also a cooking thermometer to see just how hot it got.  You can see the setup in the pictures below and the results of the test in the video.

I had purchased two different portable solar panel kits for use with charging portable power banks when I couldn't have access to grid power.  The first one I purchased was the Dokio kit and it is a decent kit.  It comes with a solar charge controller as well as a bunch of cables and adapters.  I also have a lot of power adapter ends from universal kits I purchased from Amazon in the past so I can charge various things with different size and style inputs.  I ended up making each of the panel kits to be able to charge both the power banks you see in the picture below.  The eco-worthy kit I had purchased not too long ago and it doesn't come with a solar charge controller but it does come with a lot of cables and adapters.  

The Dokio kit uses SAE to XT60 cables and the Eco-Worthy kit uses MC4/universal cables so that may help in your decision of what is right for you.  I prefer the Eco-Worthy for that reason and it is also much more rugged and a little smaller than the Dokio kit.  Also the Eco-Worthy kit has pins on that back of each side you can use for stand legs.  The Dokio kit does not and requires you to buy their stands for them separately.  

If you watch the video below you will see the kits in better detail.


No affiliated links for products below.  I purchased them for my own use. 
Dokio:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
Eco-Worthy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...

Purchased the Vogelzang VG1820 woodstove insert to have installed at the NH lake house after I had removed the old gas insert that was in it.  I had a company come sleeve the chimney for the stove and install the insert.  In general it has been a decent insert for use up here.  If I could have still got the one installed in my house I would have but had to get this one instead.  The company support was very good and I was able to get a new blower motor sent out when they sent new door hinge pins.  The heater blower would not stay on high setting but the replacement has worked perfectly.  The door pins were a serious issue.  They would walk themselves out when opening the door and closing it over and over.  The first time it happened was a huge surprise because the door came off the top hinge while using the stove but luckily the bottom hinge was still connected.  So the door was hanging down and couldn't close.  I had to grab a fire mitten I have and the ash shovel and lift the door back into place and put the hinge pin back in all while the stove was running.  Not exactly fun.  The company did send out new replacement pins they claimed were a new design for the stove with holes for cotter pins.  Those pins were the same length as the others and did not go below the bottom of the hinge allowing cotter pins to be put in place.  So I made new pins for the stove with cotter pins and they have worked great.  In the two pictures below you can see the picture with the surround on and access door open still has their old pins in it and they are too short.  The other photo of hinges has my new pins I made for it.

The first thing I noticed when getting ready to burn off for the first time was that there was a ton of smoke and crap burning off the stove on first use.  I put the stove out and pulled out the manual to read first burn information.  They stated to do 3 burns to cure the paint and burn off remnants on stove.  First one for 250 degrees for 20 minutes and let cool, second one the same, and third one was 500 degrees and let cool.  This stove burnt off so much smoke during that burn off it was awful.  I have never had a stove that did that much.  However, it has been fine ever since and the finish has held up well.  

The other issue I ran into was the surround itself not working how it came from factory.  This was not manufactures fault but a space issue with where it was being installed.  So where the stove had to sit the surround came too far towards the front of the stove and covered the damper lever on the right side.  So I cut the material on the surround and added hinges and a knob to have an access door.  It works and looks like it was made for the surround.

Overall it has been a good stove for this location and has kept the place warm in cold weather so I can't complain.  It does its job.  The only annoying thing is that it also pings a great deal with heating up or cooling down.  Our other insert stove at home barely makes a sound once it is warm.  Considering the cost of this one was the same as the one we have at home I don't think I would buy it again and would work to find one more like the other one.  

I had purchased an inexpensive Craftsman hatchet 15 or so years ago to keep around for small cutting needs.  I never liked the finish on the handle and the hatchet head was not ideal and cutting edge on it was pretty awful.  So I put it aside with a bunch of stuff and came across it again a couple weeks ago.  I decided I was going to make into a better hatchet that I would like and use.  One thing I did like about it was the handle itself had a shape I liked and it was shaped to fit in your hand better than many of the other less expensive ones that were basically a chunk of wood that made it cheaper to build and sell.  

I didn't care for the finish on the handle and the poly/lacquer type shiny finish because it made it slippery and can give blisters over time.  That was pretty easily fixed by removing that and putting lindseed oil on it.  I also filed the hatchet head on the cutting edge to take off metal and make the cutting shape better.  Then used sharpening stones to give it a sharp edge like a knife.  Then I needed to make a sheath out of extra leather pieces I had.  Overall it came out well and now I will use it instead of my Fiskars hatchet.  Didn't take long to do, used basically inexpensive tools and things I had lying around was not an expensive hatchet to begin with.  I detail a little more in the video what was done to it.

First picture shows what the hatchet looked like before I started doing any work to it.  

I have setup for testing out various setups, panels, controllers and battery banks a temporary testing area in my small back wood shop.  I had purchased long ago four of the old Harbor Freight 45W solar kits that had three 15w panels and mounting bracket and hardware.  The charge controllers and lights that came with the kit were not really of much use (even back then tbh) and were tossed.  I mounted the 4 kits on the roof and then put a small solar controller and one single lead acid 18ah battery I had sitting around.  Pretty sure I ordered the wrong battery for generator or something so had it available.  You can see in the first picture it was just a quick basic setup.  I slowly upgraded the system to include a breaker shutoff for panels coming in, a battery charge monitor, usb charging ports that worked off a switch and kept making changes.  At one point I added a 2nd identical 18ah battery in parallel and later a 3rd battery to the bank.  I also changed to one single new 200watt 12v solar panel and two 100ah lead acid batteries instead of the other battery bank.  

I am by no means a solar expert but have been testing smaller setups seeing what works well and what doesn't.  I have been increasing solar setup sizes and will be doing a hybrid solar/wind turbine setup at the lake this summer.  So keep in mind you need to do your own due diligence and research when setting up your own systems.  There are so many variables at play such as solar panels, 12, 24 or 48v systems, different controllers, wire gauge sizes, etc that will affect how well your system works and what your needs are.  

I will actually be pulling the current 200 watt panel and two 100ah batteries from this setup and going back to the HF old panels and three 18ah battery bank for the shop since it is a testing setup and that setup works well for just the lighting I need.  

In the video below it is a little long because I start going over the setup in the shop but then give information about the lights used, amount of watts they draw, different inverters etc and give information of what you could expect for light run times based on the battery bank size and battery type at the end of the video.