I find crumpets a bit tricky, but in the past few weeks I’ve managed to learn how to turn out worthwhile crumpets every time. This post goes through my journey, and gives the recipe I’m using now.
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Making British Scones
A few weeks ago I decided to make some British-style scones – how hard could it be? I discovered there’s a lot of art involved, which I describe in this post.
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Names of Clock Parts, from 1734
As an amateur clock repairer, I’ve been hunting for a good glossary of clock part names. Then one day I found clock conservator Matthew Read talked about one in his How to repair pendulum clocks – LIVESTREAM #005, where at about 1:26:00 he mentions a 17th or 18th Century work by William Derham. One of the live-stream attendees found the title of that work.
What follows is Chapter 1 of “The Artificial Clockmaker” by William Derham, published in 1734, courtesy of Google Books. This chapter gives the then-current names and descriptions of the parts of a mechanical clock. Many of these names have survived into the 21st Century. Where necessary I’ve added annotations in brackets.
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Using SSH in GitHub on Windows
A while back GitHub moved to requiring SSH authentication for checkins. I was puzzled and put off for a long time because the Git instructions about SSH cover every case rather than being a “do this and it will work for GitHub on Windows.”
These notes describe how I set up and use SSH with GitHub.
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Using Microsoft Authenticator with GitHub
As of 2023 GitHub requires all users who contribute code on GitHub.com to enable two-factor authentication (2FA). This post describes how I set up the mobile Microsoft Authenticator app as GitHub’s 2nd factor authentication.
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Exporting a FreeCAD Body’s Face as an SVG File
After I’ve created an extruded Gothic Tracery design in FreeCAD, I like to Export the top Face of that design as an SVG file that I can use in other FreeCAD designs and in scrollsawing (the poor-person’s laser cutter).
This post describes, step-by-step, how I Export one Face of a Body, in FreeCAD 1.0. A companion post explains the process of Importing a Decorative SVG file into FreeCAD.
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Importing a Decorative SVG file into FreeCAD
Often I have a decorative design that I created in Inkscape, and want to emboss or engrave that design into a FreeCAD Body.
This post describes, step-by-step, how I Import a Gothic Tracery design and emboss it on a simple block, in FreeCAD 1.0.
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Storing Pivot Wires in Paper Straws
I recently bought my first pinion wires (pivot wires) from Timesavers, and was stumped for a while about how to store the tiny things without mixing them up.
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Don’t Polish Cuckoo Clock Lever Ends
Sometimes I can be too enthusiastic in repairing a clock. For example, I have a Regula 25 cuckoo clock movement that I bought on eBay, to practice repairing cuckoo clocks. In the process of cleaning it, I polished the scratches off of the ends of two levers – a bad idea.
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My Favorite Clock Repairers on YouTube
I really enjoy watching clock repair videos, and have picked up loads of great advice from these helpful hobbyists and professionals.
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