Kintting Needles

Tools

• Pencil Sharpener
• Sandpaper
• 60
• 100
• 150
• 220
• 600
• 1500

Materials

• Dowels (2 ~6"-12" x 1/8"-1/4")

Sharpen the end of the dowel until it is very pointy. Sand with the 60-grit sandpaper until the point is rounded and also knock the sharp shoulder off of the reverse end. Once everything is shaped (mostly pointy on one end and a gradual transition coming back about an inch or so on the dowel, bump up the grit up until the needle is smooth.

Observations

12 inch dowels are a little cumbersome to learn on. The smaller the needle, the finer the knit. The larger the needle the looser the knit. 

Next Steps:

Need to seal with beeswax or oil.

Removing Handwax from a CrockPot

1. Set CrockPot to high. Melting took less than an hour.
2. Place liner into separate pot.
3. Stir wax to make sure everything is melted, if the resin has not completely integrated. There will be a liquid layer floating over a thicker stickier layer.
4. Pour into lined pot.
5. Use paper to absorb remaining wax, prior to turning off the CrockPot.
6. Put the lined pot into the freezer. This allows the bag to pull free easier.

This mostly worked, there is still a thin layer  of gunk on the crockpot, going to grab some isopropyl and see if this dissolves the remains. Other possibles include kitchen oils as the wax/resin is oil soluble.

Firestarters/Handwax

Tools:
  CrockPot
  Stick

Ingredients:
 2 part  Pine rosin (available here)
 1 part  Beeswax (available here)
6-10 in lengths of sisal rope (3 strand, 1/4in)

To break the wax, freeze for a few hours. (need better times on this). This allows you to hit it with a hammer and it will shatter. Measure wax and rosin into the crockpot and turn on high. Checked ever 5-10 minutes until it was melted (need times to weight data). Stir with the stick to thoroughly combine. When everything is liquefied, continue stirring until the color becomes uniform.

Firestarters:
Soak the sisal rope segments in the handwax mixture while it is liquid. Wait for the bubbles to stop. This means that the waxes have sufficiently penetrated the rope.

Results:
Burn time ~4 minutes, catches 1/8"x1/8" dried oak without issue.

Next Steps:
Re-melt/pour wax into a liner and clean the crockpot.