Gun Porn

A friend came to visit this weekend. He brought a gun to show me. He said they found it when cleaning out his grandfather's house, after he passed. He said he thought his grandfather brought it back from the war.

The lanyard loop is missing, but the threaded hole where it screws in is on t uh e bottom of the grip, and the serial number has a "v" prefix.

Pretty cool old Smith, even with the complete lack of finish, and the surface pitting. Bore looked good, though.

EDIT: apparently you can't see it, but the top strap says that it belongs to the gub'mint. Also, sorry the bottom pic didn't rotate properly...

Retention

I decided to make my wife a new concealed carry holster. She likes carrying AIWB. The holster she has been using for years is one I made about 3 years ago for her. I figured that I have progressed in my leatherworking ability significantly in the last 3 years, and had good leather again, so I might as well try to make her a new holster.

It turned out beautifully. I mean, it was GORGEOUS! Problem was, it came out attached to the gun on the draw stroke. So I thought about that, and realized the belt clip I put on it was rather dinky. So half an hour later, I had taken it apart and installed a better belt clip.

It still came out on the draw stroke, about 75% of the time. F@€k! $h!t!.... that didn't work, so I started thinking about retention. This is a SWEET looking holster. It has been perfectly fitted to my wife's carry gun. It was molded to fit like a second skin... apparently I did such a good job that you can't get the dam thing out of the holster. Made the holster pretty worthless. So I decided to *ahem* judiciously re-contour... the holster.

Now, my wife has a good looking new holster, that actually works like it should.

It was more of a headache than I thought it would be.

Iron Dye

I decided to dye the holster black. I used some iron die I had laying around. As soon as the dye dries, I can oil it and polish it. Then I just have to wait on the Venigar smell to dissipate, and I can use it!

New Holster

I haven't done much leatherworking in the past few months. Life got in the way, I guess. And we all know that a hobby you don't make time for is a hobby you quit doing. I decided that it was time to do some leatherworking. I have recently acquired a good piece of 6-8 oz. Veg-tan leather. I sharpened my leather knife, drew a pattern, and started cutting.

I can't BELIEVE how much I missed working with Veg-tan leather. I have been using Chrome tan leather for the past year or so, because I had a ready, cheap supply. Veg-tan ain't cheap. But as soon as you start working with it, you realize why Veg-tan costs more. I can only liken it to the difference between potter's clay and river mud. Veg-tan leather is just SO MUCH easier to work. And it cuts better. And you can form it. Chrome-tan leather won't form to an oblect like Veg-tan will.

Anyway, I'm happy with my little project, and super excited to be working with quality materials again. In a day or two, the holster will be dry (you have to wet the leather to form it), and I can decide if I want to stain the leather, or leave it natural. After that, I can put some preservative on it, and I will have a dandy new belt holster for my Kahr.

Louisiana Hombrewers

The Louisiana Homebrewers put on a home brewing class today at the Library. I have been homebrewing  for several years now, but decided to go so that I could ask a lot of questions about the All-Grain method of brewing. I have been brewing using malt syrup, but have been wanting to get into All-Grain for a while. The class was very informative, they answered all of my questions, and walked me through what the differences would be.

I had fun, and really enjoyed the program. I learned some things I didn't know, too.  I learned about different hop varieties, as well as different types of grains. The Louisiana Homebrewers are professional, knowledgeable, and polite. I  will definitely be buying all my homebrewing supplies through them from now on.

Saturday

Yesterday was a good day. Took the boy to a chemistry program put on by the local science museum. He got to make a batch of lotion, and learned how to mix oils and water, through the use of emulsifiers. He enjoyed it. BASF funded it, and provided all the ingredients, supples, and gave swag bags to the kiddies including an apron, goggles (they will go in the range bag), a notebook, a pencil, and a drawstring bag. Not bad for a free program.

I got a barbecue pit. My wife said it was an early father's day present. It's a plain-old barrel grill with a smoker attachment, which is what I love to use. This will be the third I have owned in a row. I got 6 years out of my last one, and hopefully I can get 6 out of this one.

After assembling the grill, I ran down to Trader Joe's, because they have 6-packs of good beer for cheap. As I was checking out, there was an employee by the registers handing out bags of charcoal. He said the 18lb bags only had about 17lb in each bag. The distributor missed the quality control step on them, and a few pallets made it out to stores. The distributor said it would be cheaper for them to issue credit to Trader Joe's, and have them give away the bags, than to send them back.

So fun with the kiddo, a new barbecue pit, and free charcoal? It was a good day. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go prep some ribs for smoking.

The Kidd

My sister and her crew were in town this weekend, and before she left for home, we all went to see the USS  Kidd, a destroyer that served in the Korean War and WWII. It is now (and has been for years) docked in Baton Rouge. It is a great piece of history, and serves as a great reminder of what the navy boys lived in while at sea. If you are ever in Baton Rouge, you should go see it.

Feeding A Crowd On The Cheap

I have a big family. We are close, and do things together all the time. Because of this, a common joke among my clan is that we know how to cook for 50, but can't make a soup for 2. There's some truth to that. While I tend to cook too much for my family of three, I like leftovers, and they save me from eating fast food every day, so it works for us.

That being said, I CAN cook a boatload of food, easily. I have my sister, her fiancé and his kids coming down to see our new place, and since I'm cooking a big pot of food, I invited the neighbors over, too.

I'm going to have 9 people at my house tonight, and sure as it's muggy after a summer rain, there will be leftovers when we are done eating. I'm going to share with yall a recipe to feed 10-15 people for less than $12.

Dead-simple Red Beans and rice.

Wash 2 lb. Of dried red beans. After they are clean, place them in a crock-pot (one of the big ones).-$3

Chop up 2 lb. Of good pork sausage ( buy good sausage. It doesn't matter the brand. I always buy whet ever premium brand is on sale. If you catch a really good sale, like less than 2.50/ lb., buy 5 or 6 pounds and freeze some. This is the most expensive part of this meal. The sausage doesn't have to be pure pork, but you want a good pork content in it for the fats and oils) put sausage in the crock pot. -$5

Mince and add 1 head of garlic, chop and add 2 medium onions. -$1

Next, check your fridge. (These ingredients aren't strictly needed, but I like adding them. I wouldn't make a special trip to the grocery store if I was out, though.) If you have them, chop and add one bell pepper and 3 or 4 sticks of celery. -$.75

Add some salt and pepper, cover everything with water, and let it bump on high for about 6 hours. Check about once an hour and add more water as needed. Those beans are gonna soak up an amazing amount of water. Just don't get ahead of yourself. Only add enough water to cover the ingredients. You don't want the beans getting too soupy.

After about 6 hours, make a roux. (If you don't know how, Google "making a roux". It's an art form, and an entirely different post than this one. If you can find a recipe on making a roux by John Folse, he makes a good one. Mine is different, but you wouldn't go wrong making his.) Add the roux to the pot. -$.50

Make 4 cups of rice. (Again, if you don't know how, Google this. Making rice is as easy as falling out of bed. Screwing up making rice is even easier. If you don't know how to make rice, GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND! Find a recipe, and FOLLOW IT. Making rice is not the time to get creative, and frankly, if you don't know how to make rice, you aren't an advanced enough cook to get creative with recipes.) -$1.25

Serve it up, and enjoy the compliments on this genuine cajun-country dish! You just fed 10-15 people for about $12.

A few points:

Start this dish before 10am. That way you will have time to have it ready by supper time.

If it is done before you are ready to feed people, put the beans on warm, stir them about every 30 minutes, and otherwise forget them until you are ready to serve. This dish only gets better the longer it bubbles. Having it ready 2 hours early ain't gonna hurt it. It will just let the flavors blend better.

If you get the beans done significantly early, don't start cooking rice until about 30 minutes before you are ready serve. No sense in having cold, over-cooked rice.

Hiking

We went  hiking in a nature preserve right over the Mississippi  border today. I forget the name, but they had miles of hiking trails, and several waterfalls. As is always the case, we turned around when we started getting tired, rather  than BEFORE we started getting tired, so the trip back to the car through the hilly terrain was quite a slog. We had a great time, though, so some really beautiful sights, played in the water, and spent a day outdoors as a family. It was a fun time.

New City

Well, we moved to Baton Rouge recently, so that my wife can pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. I work for the state, so my job transferred with no trouble. We were able to find a decent house in a great neighborhood for a decent price. We got my son enrolled in a good school for next year, and we are overall happy with our situation. For being in a city, I am in a quiet neighborhood, which makes me happy.

There are a lot of great things about being in a city. Art, opportuinty, things to do, entertainment, children's  activities, etc. I have located a brewer's supply store, as well as a reloader's supply store, so I have plenty of things to occupy my time.

We took my son to a electronics fair last weekend, and he had a blast exploring all things electronics related. NASA was there, talking about rockets and Curiosity.

At any rate, my blog had gotten stale in the last year, and I couldn't place why. I think it was because I didn't have much to post about that interested me enough to post. I believe that is going to change, now. I originally started the blog when I lived in Florida, as a way to stay in contact with my family, and now what I moved several hours away from the again, I feel like family things will begin to make more of a comeback on my blog. I will still talk woodwork, leatherwork, cooking, brewing, shooting, reloading, and guns, but I feel as if my blog is going to be a conduit to my far away family, again. Anyone who still reads this thing regularly, feel free to continue stopping by, but expect more pictures of my kid and wife.

At any rate, I think you can count on me posting more often, at least.