Anti-Viral Activity

Francia Floater

Or, what to do with empty wine boxes. I have 16 bags saved and knew there was something “useful” I could do with them. I attached them together, on both sides, with Gorilla Tape. I could have made the raft longer, or wider, but it fits comfortably, and I may come up with a use for the remaining bags.

Weed Grabber

We all have one of the forked metal weed diggers, and we all have had questionable success using this tool. If you manage to align the digger correctly, then you may achieve an extraction. The Weed Grabber is an end to my dandelion removal frustrations. This unit is a small improvement on my original grabber. I have made the jaws longer and wider. To use the grabber you simply open the jaws and jab them into the lawn such that the jaws are on both sides of the weed's buried stalk. Then grip, and pull the plant out. The pointed jaw tips also allow you to pull weeds from tight spots, like sidewalk cracks. The jaws are etched on the tips to prevent slippage. The jaws can be set to open wider, should that be necessary.

Cross Country Banjo

I have made longbow limbs from cross country skis. I cut the ski ~24” from the tip. I then mount two of them on a riser (16” grip) and attach a Dacron bow string. The ski limbs have made comfortable 45# pull bows. Sometimes, however, compost happens. A limb may break. This means I start over with another set of skis. I am also left with a singleton bow tip.

I decided that I would use one of the bow tips for the neck of a banjo. I first used a cookie can as the mold for the shell of the banjo. I wrapped the tin with a couple of layers of fiberglass. I lay a square of carbon fiber on some sheet metal and created a glass-smooth lid for the banjo's shell. I glassed to the inner top rim of the shell a wood frame. The frame would add anti-warp strength to the shell and it would also present a wider surface to which the carbon fiber sound cover could attach. This completed the banjo can.

To the ski limb neck I added a fret board. The fret board was attached with dowel pegs. The pegs also serve as standard fret markers. The neck was attached with dowels to exterior and interior wood blocks. The blocks, themselves, were pinned together with dowels and they sandwiched the shell. The neck integrated solidly to the banjo can.

I mounted four of Chris' patented string tuners on the curve of the ski neck. The tuners are a short distance in front of the nut. I had built the nut at the end of the fret board. At the rear of the can I mounted a piece of copper which serves as the anchor for the strings. The strings come with a solid metal lump on the end, or they are finished with a small loop. The string holes in the copper will stop the metal ends. For the loop-ended wires I used small tacks in the loops to keep them from pulling through the small holes.

As expected, the neck bowed some as the strings were tightened in their tuning. The usual remedy for this flexing is to incorporate a truss rod inside the neck. The slender ski tip did not have the mass to be able to build in a truss. The bowing problem was solved by adding a length of para-cord to a turnbuckle inside the banjo can. The neck tip already had notches cut in it for attaching the bow string. The turnbuckle is attached to the lower rear of the can.

The para-cord and turnbuckle allows me to counter the pull of the four strings. The cord does the job, and it also serves as a means of creating a “Wow Wow” effect to a strummed cord, when the para-cord is flexed. (Say. No one said this was an effort to create a museum masterpiece.)

The notes sound clear and the loudness is campfire adequate. A Mylar skin would have been a better choice over the carbon fiber. Mylar would be thinner and more consistent. Otherwise, all I need to do is learn how to play a banjo. That'll be the hard part.