Thread: We Have Skills Too !!

For cold smoking there is a great product called A-MAZE-N smoke. I have one and used it to cold smoke olives, cheese and fish.
It uses sawdust and stays cool while the "maze" is run. I have run it for up to 8 hours on one load of sawdust.

Great work going on guys, Roy you got this my friend. I think it should work great

http://straightrazorpalace.com/conve...ml#post1726231

Update to the above.

I've got the plywood trimmed, the corners rounded, and installed in the smoker complete with the burner.

I've had it operating for a couple of hours keeping a close watch on it and I'm confident that all is well.

As I thought the fan only comes on when power is turned on to the burner. When my Heating/Refrigeration Tech Friend installed the thermostat for me we wired it to a common metal box with two household plugins. Sorry but I failed to take pics of that set up.

Anyway here it is after test 'firing' of chips. I didn't use dampened chips so they went really quick.



Won't take long for that nice clean plywood will look like the walls.

Thanks for looking

Good Luck Roy! There is nothing better on the planet to eat than smoked meats.

Let me say this this: Your device is much like a straight razor. It doesn't have to be pretty to get the job done! Are you going to smoke some salmon? That would be awesome!!!

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

Good Luck Roy! There is nothing better on the planet to eat than smoked meats.

Let me say this this: Your device is much like a straight razor. It doesn't have to be pretty to get the job done! Are you going to smoke some salmon? That would be awesome!!!

I've cured and smoked both salmon and steelhead in the past. I use a dry cure and I've always gotten praise for how tender and moist the fish is. In fact my old store manager used to smoke salmon and the first time I gave him a sample of mine he took a bite and exclaimed "How the hell do you keep it so moist"? I told him--keep the heat low and slow.

A couple of years later he asked me to smoke a 22+lb turkey for him/which I did/and 1/2 of it was served at the Day Before Christmas On The Clock Luncheon at the store.

I concur that looks isn't everything, but my smoker is made from solid Stainless Steel and is Very Well Insulated. It was originally Natural Gas powered and the original thermostat went to 700 degs!!! I have No Problem smoking when it's sub zero out/well with the exception of not wanting to go out in the cold to check on things.

Still mucking about learning how effectively to use this engraving rig. No time for razors currently, but that will change.
Decided that corian makes a much more porcelain like finished image than the pvc piping does, or can, so modifying my technique, step pass and depth of cut per pass etc accordingly.


These test panels can be incorporated into wall outlet mounted night lights, or framed tea light covers etc. Handy stuff corian is. Need to get some more to practice other ideas.
Happy short week men and have a great Easter weekend.

Very impressive work Mike, the details and accuracy are striking.

The Achilles heel of Corian is it does not like to get hot and then cool. It tends to crack if it passes the critical temperature, and I do not remember what that is. I hope the teas lights do not get into that range, perhaps a little LED would be best, they are making some outstanding LEDs and LED tea lights.
Those are really looking good. I am amazed at the effect.

I can't swear this is absolutely God's Honest Truth but I found this online:

Is Corian heat resistant?
Answer: Corian® solid surface is stain-resistant. ... Answer: We do not recommend placing a hot pot directly on Corian® surfaces. Although Corian® solid surface remains stable and undamaged in temperatures up to 212ºF (100ºC), high heat or flame will damage your surface. In most cases, this damage can be repaired.

Thanks for the head up on corian limitations Shaun. Maybe led tea lights are the way to go with these. Corian is basically powdered acrylic with binding adhesives afaik so would be susceptible to the same thresholds and temp limits I always presumed. Worth looking into before I start to invest in more colours and pieces. Was thinking corian brush handles and scales potentially in the future, faux ivory etc.
The time to engrave I've been able to reduce with each test as well. First lithophane took ten hours, and I'm down to 40 minutes per pass now.
Dusty fun in the lab this week.
Cheers.

It is a beautiful product to machine and glue together. It makes for virtually seamless joins and does work very easily with carbide woodworking tools. It just has that one flaw. I have repaired a few cracked countertops from people putting hot pot directly on the counter top. You pictures are really nice, my mind goes straight to LED panels, similar to the ones used for tracing pads and the like. Your new lab device has so many possibilities.