Rusty Ring

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Analysis Kyôsaku

Why are you unhappy?

Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself

And there isn't one.

Wei Wu Wei

(Photo of redundant analyst's couch courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

Thursday, 4 August 2016

The Prison Koan

The hermit Hyung asked:
"What's the difference between a monastery and a prison?"

Wu Ya's commentary: "Fuck you for asking."

(Photo of Nelson Mandela's cell window courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

Thursday, 28 July 2016

Hermitcraft: Bindle Cookset

For some time now I've been designing a bindle cookset (and by "designing" I mean thinking about it, for example when I'm supposed to be meditating), and I thought I'd share my process to date. The project has proven more difficult than one might guess, given the low level of technology.

When I was a kid, my dad had a mess kit he'd made out of old food tins. As I recall, it consisted of a small pot, maybe a pint in capacity, nested inside a larger one. Both had lids with wooden knobs made at my dad's bench, and coat hanger bales. In the middle was a cup made from a pineapple tin. Try as I might, I can't remember how he attached its handle.

But it's the lids that really make the stunt difficult now; in my dad's time, the food tins that have plastic covers in our day, had fitted metal ones that made fine pot lids. Filling this deficiency is a challenge, though some of the new "safe" can openers are promising: they cut the top of the lip rather than the bottom of it or the inside, leaving a lid that mates back in place.

Nor has the Internet – which generally solves such problems for me – been very helpful. Most of the short list of examples I found aren't worthy of mention; they're tiny or weirdly-shaped ultralight gear, and/or have no lid, rendering them unusable for practical cookery.

But this week I found a good one. Fittingly, it's made by a metalsmith, and features a (very nifty) cup that requires specialised skills to fashion. But the pot is within reach of even a clumsy tinbanger like me, and the sort of thing any self-respecting hermit would be proud to cook in.

So without further ado I'll send you off to see it. Note how he's solved the lid problem. I considered a similar approach, and am gratified to see I wasn't completely dim, although his design is much better than what I was imagining. (His wok, though beyond my needs, is also terrific.)

Anyway, have a look. It's a great job. Be sure to scroll down for details.

PaleoPlanet > Metal Working > Tin Can Cookware
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/49489/Tin-Can-Cookware

(Photo courtesy of the fellow who made the kit, Photobucket, and PaleoPlanet.)