Forgery League: The Lab

Tuesday 7 November 2006

treadle treadle treadle

This recent thread on Treehugger reminded me of a longterm project I have in mind, namely to build a muscle-powered multi-appliance built into a countertop. If we can run pottery wheels off a foot treadle, why not use the same principle to power an interchangeable set of blades and mixers? Imagine a countertop with a little socket set into it, maybe a little cover to keep food-gunk out, and a treadle tucked away in the cabinet below. A gearing system might be a good thing to have too, but I’m not sure yet. Might have to investigate how much torque and how many RPMs it takes to blend soup or make hummus.

I really have no way to build any such thing at the moment, but that may soon change. Our new office will likely be upstairs from a cooperative metal and wood shop. I’ve always wanted to learn more of that sort of stuff, and there are tons of projects I could finally bring out of the “nice idea” stage and start making into reality. Including musical instruments, of course! And of course, it’ll be some time before I have enough know-how to build anything more complicated than a set of shelves, but give me time, and a long enough lever and a place to stand…

Meanwhile, a little web browsing turns up an e-book called Make Your Own Treadle Lathe, an FAQ on treadle lathes, and a page on Leach Treadle Wheels, apparently a classic among potters. I gots lots to learn.

(Sidebar, on human powered appliances: I find electric can openers a dumb idea for anyone who doesn’t seriously need one, and worse yet, the ones I’ve used have been crap. That said, most manual can openers I’ve encountered are crap too, with blades that don’t cut and grips that do cut - into the user’s hands. We’ve finally found a couple of good ones, however. I know one of them is from Ikea; I’m not sure about the other. But my favorite is the one my mum has, handed down from her mum, I think. It’s wall mounted, with a big lever to lock the can in place, a long, easy-to-turn crank, and a magnet to snag the lid, and it swings out of the way when you’re done.)

Tuesday 15 November 2005

Building

Recently Sean, Stephen and I visited Everdale, an organic farm/education centre near Erin, this side of Guelph. We may be doing some neat work on their web site, and part of the visit was to discuss that. Part of it was just to see the place, though… which was quite thrilling.

We’d never seen a real straw-bale built building before, and they have several. The main one is Home Alive!, a cozy little two-story house with a well thought out heating and cooling system, a rainwater catchment system, plus photovoltaic and wind power, and radiant heating in the floors and bathtub(!) The thick walls give it a wonderfully snug feeling, and deep reveals for the windows… so much of it is straight out of Christopher Alexander and co.’s A Pattern Language. The beams are made out of recycled timbers, for an extra rustic touch.

Anyway, that got us excited all over again about the idea of building. Sean’s started talking about building a small set of offices that could serve as an “incubator” for green businesses. Sean suggested a music studio too. I’m picturing a network of people to hang out with, a room for coffee and hanging out, perhaps a little quiet space for people to do yoga or nap… I still have reservations about moving out of town, but all these ideas have me a bit more optimistic about the prospect.

Of course, the more elaborate it gets, the more time and money it takes. So I’ve been wondering what sort of stages we could go through to build something. We could start by getting land with a conventional building on it and living there, or using it as a retreat.

The initial buildings could be little detached cabins, usable later if we decide to offer the place as a retreat… but simple enough that it’s not a catastrophe if there are some mistakes. We’ll learn as we go.

The office could grow piece by piece too: one room, with some tables and a comfortable couch, a desk. Then build a second section, this one with plumbing, a two-piece bathroom and kitchen. And keep growing from there. The third section might be two stories… and so on.