Homemade Beer or Baby Float. Chopeira Flutuante.

It's summer. It's sizzling hot. It's time to float the river with your family, your fishing pole, and your beer with the all-new, make-it-yourself beer cooler and baby float!

This beer and baby float was designed for my nephew who just became a first-time father, LOVES artisan crafted beer, and lives in a town where a river runs through it.

OK, so it's politically incorrect to float both your beer and your baby at the same time. But it is a great way to float either your baby (with a shade canopy) or your lunch--watermelon, a pack of sandwiches, some sodas--down a lazy river on a hot afternoon.

The video below shows the step-by-step construction of this float.

List of Materials:

Two bicycle wheel rims
Six bicycle spokes and nuts
One bicycle brake pad or large gear
Three pool noodles
A mouse pad
One lumbar support (from the Dollar store)
A scrap of sheer outdoor fabric
Six broom hooks
Six 1 1/4" spacers
Six 2 1/2" screws with lock nuts
Two 1 1/2" screws with lock nuts
One bottle opener
A piece of string

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Homemade Portable Bandsaw Stand - Cut off & Vertical

In this video I built an aluminium stand to attach a portable bandsaw too, which can be used in conjunction with a vice as a cut off saw or raised into an upright vertical position to be used as a typical bandsaw, and when necessary removed to be use freehand. 

I got my hands on this bit of kit for £50 and it's as rough as they come.  It sounds quite coarse but will save me having to cut large stock by hand.  The aluminium all together cost be about £25 whilst I had all the fixings and scrap sheet of ply. 

Initially I wanted to be able to cut various angle from the top but realised to do this, the chopping tilt had to be above the blade rotation.  I made it the other way which means the only adjustment I can make is to at 90 degree cut.  As it is now, any rotation to the left or right would mean the edge of the blade would make contact with the material to be cut instead of the teeth.  I don't plan to make any compound mitre cuts, so will focus on true square cut.  And in any case I could always rotate the vice.

For now I used a cross vice which I clamped down to hold a piece of mild steel box tubing when testing the cut.  It seems quite accurate but I am hoping to build a vice.  I will also make a larger detachable bed for the upright position, a means of clamping the saw while upright and maybe a spring to slow the drop while using it as a cut off saw.

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Homemade rocket with rocket fuel and engine

I really like and enjoy estes rocket, and I decided to make one myself. 
I also made the fuel and the engine. All is made from the materials you can easily obtain or even have at your house right now. 

They can go up to 300 meters (1,000 ft) on this fuel. 

Making the fuel involves working with the ammonium nitrate, please before you do it, read this article - http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/chemical_terrorism/ammonia_tech.htm
Especially the "What are the immediate health effects of ammonia exposure?" paragraph, so you realize the risks you are taking and I am not responsible for the consequences.

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Homemade Sparklers for the 4th of July! - (Improvised Hand-Held Fireworks)

In this project, we're making hand-held sparklers for the 4th of July.  When it's time to celebrate with fireworks, you could just buy them.  Or you could improvise, and make your own.Instructables seems to be having technical difficulties with embedded videos right now, so in the mean-time, you can just CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SPARKLER TUTORIAL VIDEO

WARNING: There is a very real risk to health and safety.  This project should not be attempted without adult supervision and adequate training.  Pyrotechnics are not toys, and should be handled with extreme caution and respect.  High temperatures on the stove or oven may cause auto-ignition of the pyrotechnic composition which may lead to serious injury, death, and/or permanent damage to equipment and property.  Ignition of an incendiary or explosive material may not be legal in your area, and resulting damage may not be covered by your insurance.  Check city laws and ordinances before attempting.  Use of this video content is at your own risk.??

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Healthy Delicious Homemade Granola

Never buy granola from the store again! This tastes so much better than anything you could buy - and you can customize this to put more of what you like and less of what you don't!

Please note: This recipe was adapted off of Rachel Ray's Addictive Granola recipe. I made a "Healthier" version by cutting down on some of the sugar and butter! It still tastes great - without overloading it with sweets and fat! I also made a bigger batch than her recipe called for, so I could store and save more for later.

Ingredients: 6 cups of Oats 2 cups of Almonds (I left 1/4 of a cup of them whole, and crushed the rest) 1 cup of Sweetened Coconut Flakes 2 cups of Chopped Walnuts 1/2 cup of Brown Sugar, packed 4 tablespoons of Honey 3 teaspoons of Cinnamon 6 tablespoons of Butter (if yo have Coconut Oil on hand, you can replace 2 tablespoons of butter with that) 1/2 teaspoon of Salt Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, pour in the oats. Crush the almonds in a bag or with a mortar and pestle - add to the bowl. Add coconut flakes, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well.

Step 3:
Place a small saucepan on the burner over low heat. Once heated, add the butter (and coconut oil, optional), salt and the honey. Once melted, take it off the burner and pour over granola mixture and all ingredients - mix really well with wooden spoon (and hands if you're careful not to burn yourself).

Step 4:
Spread the granola out onto the baking sheets as evenly as possible - it's ok if the layer is fairly thick (ie: an inch or so in height).  But much thicker of a layer, will require you to either bake longer, or do another batch after the first has been taken out and cooled. Bake for 40-45 minutes total. Every 15 minutes, pull it out enough so you can stir and move the granola off the edges and mix it around for even cooking.

Step 5:
The granola should be a golden color and the nuts will be soft when done. Don't worry - once it cools they will harden. It is advised to not overcook this stuff! Once it has cooled, remove it from the pan and seal it up in airtight containers. I keep mine in the fridge - and it lasts a long time.

According to the original recipe, it can stay fresh at room temperature in air tight containers for up to two weeks, or freeze for up to three months or longer.

Lastly, if you find it's not sweet enough for your taste, then you can always melt a bit more butter and brown sugar and pour it over your batch of granola. Or, just add more the next time around. Personally, I think this is just sweet enough but still very natural and healthy.

My favorite way to eat this:
-Slice up whatever fruit you have into chunks. I prefer to peel and cut apples into chunks.
-Add some yoghurt.
-Top it off with some delicious homemade granola!
It's my favorite snack!

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homemade pork won ton - 2 different ways of preparing

for the won ton:

- 1 package of frozen won ton leaves (you could also make them yourself, but the frozen ones are nice and so much less work)
- 200 g of ground pork
- 1 garlic clove
- slice of ginger, about 2 cm long
- chives
- 1 teasponn sesame oil (forgot it on the picture)
- 1 teaspoon rice wine / sake
- 1 egg
- salt & pepper

if you'll going to make the fried won ton you will also need:

- neutral oil for frying

  for the chilli dip sauce:
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon chilli oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or neutral wine vinegar if you have no rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground sichuan pepper
- 1 small peeled and chopped garlic clove
- some chopped chives

if you'll going to make the won ton noodle soup you will also need:

- chicken or vegetable broth (instant or homemade)
- thin chinese noodles
- 1 carrot
- a handfull of fresh spinach leaves
- sesame oil
- some chopped chives

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