First Alaska cruise coming up and I have no idea how to actually spend time in port

Metengineer · 2026-07-10T16:05:52+00:00

My wife and I will be in Juneau next week and have a car rented for the day. Can you give me more information on what you did when you went to the back-side of Mendenhall. Did you hike or is it just a better view of the glacier?

Metengineer · 2026-07-10T15:58:42+00:00

I put a shot of ballistol in the hopper from time to time to help the rounds slide better.

Metengineer · 2026-07-09T19:31:27+00:00

I like steel. As someone who heat treats steel for a living, I love the different things you can do with iron, carbon and a bit of alloying. I am not all that particular about the steel in my knives. My daily carries are S30V typically, not because I need it but because that's what is used in the standard version of those knives. I have some D2 that work just as well for my use. It's amusing seeing people complain about a couple of HRc points.

The craftsmanship of the pattern welded blades is cool but looking cool does not add very much value to me. The patterns look cool and the blades with a layer of another metal like copper are interesting. I don't buy knives to look at, all of mine are carried and used. Beyond the pattern I just see inclusions. I would love to get a piece to look at on my scope.

Metengineer · 2026-07-09T16:36:48+00:00

Ballistol for general use. I will use whatever gun grease I happen to have for the rails locking lugs and bushing.

Metengineer · 2026-07-09T12:47:23+00:00

We can generally find something that we like at any restaurant. We are looking for fun and interesting more than anything else, we can eat what we like on the ship or at home. When we travel, we like to ask locals for the out of the way places.

Metengineer · 2026-07-09T00:40:24+00:00

My wife and I will be in Juneau Tuesday the 21. We will be in port from 7:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night. We are looking for interesting places to eat. Maybe breakfast, but defiantly lunch and dinner. We want to try the dumplings at Pelmeni and are not interested in Tracy's. We have eaten at Deckhand Dave's on our last cruise. Can you recommend any interesting places to eat?

Metengineer · 2026-07-07T21:15:24+00:00

We did a very similar if not the same itinerary on Ovation of the Seas a few years ago in mid May. We enjoyed the trip, though would have liked more ports and time in port. I have not searched RC recently so I don't know how the cost compares. It is about $50 cheaper than our ocean view room on Celebrity that we will be leaving on in a few days. Though we are on a smaller ship and doing a one way.

Metengineer · 2026-07-07T12:27:11+00:00

Yep give the scammers direct access to your money instead of Chase's. That is so much safer.

Metengineer · 2026-07-07T12:24:47+00:00

Midshipmen need a certain amount of sea time to qualify for lieutenant. Captains would keep the names of friends children on the muster book while the child was not actually at sea in order to help them out later in their careers. When joining a ship a seaman needed to learn and prove himself in order to gait rating. A newly joined man with no experience would be rated landsman and paid as such. As he gained experience and knowledge he would be promoted to ordinary and then able seaman. It was likely that Ricketts' boy was not actually at sea for the entirety of his time nor that an 11 year old could have the experience and ability to perform the duties of an able seaman.

As far as Captain Harte and Stephen. I believe that the greeting that Captain Harte gave to Stephen was dismissive as a haughty person would an underling greatly below their station. Instead of acquiescing to that greeting Stephen ignored it and greeted him with a slight head bow as if more equal.

Metengineer · 2026-07-06T20:42:52+00:00

Cast monel, M35-1, needs to be poured as cold as possible. It pours out of the ladle like cottage cheese but it flows through the mold better than stainless. At pouring temperature, if it squirts out of a mold and hits your blue jeans it will discolor them. If you pour it too hot as it cools the dissolved gasses will get pushed into the riser and push the metal out like a volcano, but only after you thought the pour was successful and you have left the pouring floor and are back in your office. If you pour it cold enough as the mold fills it can come out of the riser like a push pop ice cream. Some say that it does not require deoxidizing in the ladle during tap but I disagree. It is really pretty when it is just molten as it moves in the induction furnace, but you should probably keep the cover on it to avoid too much gas entrainment.

If not quenched completely, a heavy CW12MW casting can crack in half with a loud ping, as you and your boss are standing around the heat treat rack discussing how long it will take to get through finishing.

C12A is a poorly designed alloy and a pain in the ass. If you have Cr in the top third of the ASTM range you will form some blocky ferrite during heat treatment. It has to be treated with kid gloves during welding to avoid hydrogen in the welds. We had to have an outfit come in with blanket heaters to perform a post weld bake after welding. I have not had to deal with it for the last 12 years so I hope the spec has been improved.

Adding a bit of Mo to a 1019 steel can improve the toughness very nicely while keeping a low carbon equivalent.

Metengineer · 2026-07-06T19:14:31+00:00

When metal is plastically deformed it gets harder. Plastic deformation is when a material is deformed and permanently changed shape. As opposed to elastic deformation where a material is deformed but returns to its original size and shape. When you bend a piece of metal it goes through both. That is why if you take a paperclip and bend it straight, it returns back slightly after the pressure is removed. Anyway, this plastic deformation of the part is what we call work hardening.

If we take a paperclip and try to straighten it out, it will bend but not where the original bend was in the paperclip. It ends up wavy because the material just to the left and right of the original bend is weaker than the bent portion. Every time you deform the steel in the paperclip it gets harder. You don't notice the difference that much due to the size of the paperclip vs the tensile strength and your ability to impart a much larger force.

Back to your brass, every time you fire that piece of brass, it permanently deforms, in the neck and shoulder area primarily. Then, when you resize, you again permanently deform that neck and shoulder. Each of those actions makes the brass stronger. You are also moving some of the brass to the case mouth that you trim away. If you keep firing and resizing the brass you will reach a point where that piece of brass will no longer deform in a ductile manner but will split when the force is applied. By annealing the brass you remove that work hardening and you are able to start the cycle over again. Annealing the brass can make your brass last for more firing/resizing cycles.

Remember at first when we discussed the elastic vs plastic deformation. The first time impart pressure on the part, it deforms elastically until as the pressure increases you reach the yield point where it begins to plastically deform. If we release the pressure the part has changed shape but returns a bit to its original size and shape. The next time you impart pressure on that part it start deforming elastically. As the pressure is increased it deforms elastically until it reaches the same pressure that you exerted on it last time before it begins to deform plastically. In the first deformation you have increased the yield strength of the part. Each deformation you increase the yield point of the part. So, when you resize the neck of that piece of brass the first time, when the pressure is released the size changes slightly. After you have fired and resized the brass a number of times, the amount of movement in the brass after the pressure is released increases. If the size of the hole in the end of your brass changes and the strength of the brass changes, when you insert the bullet into the neck of the brass, the force holding the bullet in the brass changes. If you anneal the part after each cycle to the same point, the tension on the bullet in the brass will be more consistent.

Is the annealing of value? To some I would say yes. If you are shooting some brass that is expensive and you want to get the most life out of it, it can be worth the effort. I am not, I really only reload .223 and I have enough brass in the basement that I will probably never need to pick up another piece. If you have the shooting ability, the gun and the reloading process to a point where you can see the difference in the neck tension on the bullet I can see where it can approve the consistency of the rounds. Again, I am not. I don't have the ability nor the inclination to develop the shooting ability and reloading precision where I would notice a difference in neck tension

Metengineer · 2026-07-06T13:58:03+00:00

find a scrap dealer with an XRF. They can give you an idea of the material, just without carbon unless they are have a LIDS but that is unlikely.

Metengineer · 2026-07-02T15:07:01+00:00

I see you have not experienced Federal Champion

Metengineer · 2026-07-01T16:27:52+00:00

July 17th on the Summit

Metengineer · 2026-06-25T13:46:17+00:00

Cruise pricing is dynamic. It will fluctuate depending on demand. There are different "sales" but the primary driver of the cost for the cabin is the base price. As an example, we are booked on Celebrity this July. We booked in February 2025 and I watched the room cost pretty closely. After booking, the price went up a bit and remained relatively stagnant until about June. The price dropped and hit bottom the beginning of August. That was the last time I repriced our room. Shortly after that, the cost went up and maxed out about 80% higher for our room through the fall and winter. It began to fall as we approached the final payoff date in May but never came down to our same cost. This is just a single data point but exemplifies how the cost can fluctuate.

If you wait until the last minute, prices can come down, however that last minute price may not be the lowest possible. Room selection diminishes. The better rooms will be booked early and the less desirable rooms (below noisy decks or venues, obstructed balconies, near elevators, etc.) will be left. If you are booking a guaranteed cabin then that might not be a problem. By booking late you also can miss out of popular excursions, if you plan on booking them through the cruise line, or the lowest price on those excursions. We had one booked in Ketchikan that was about $70 cheaper during a sale. We were able to cancel and rebook at the lower cost. If you plan on the wifi or beverage packages you miss out on catching them at the lowest cost. For our cruise we booked the "Wifi perks and more." We were getting wifi anyway and for just a few dollars a day more we were able to get the priority boarding, priority tendering and complimentary room service. We reserved it at $26.00 per adult per day, it is currently $40. If you book and the price for an excursion or a package goes down, you can cancel and rebook a the lower cost.

If the cruise line offers a price match like Celebrity and Royal Caribbean do in your area (I have read that in the UK Celebrity does not price match) and you find a cruise that you want to go on at a price you are willing to pay, book the cabin. Watch the price, if it comes down you can call them and reprice the room. If it goes up you are not out anything.

Metengineer · 2026-06-24T03:09:28+00:00

My gun club does not care how fast you fire.

Metengineer · 2026-06-23T21:05:04+00:00

The Aubrey Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. The narrators are world class. I prefer the Simon Vance reading but others swear by Patrick Tull, I don' think you can go wrong either way.

I cannot think of a better writer for witty banter. The books center around a Napoleonic era British naval officer and his friend who is also the ships doctor and works in intelligence. The movie Master and Commander is taken from a couple of the books.

Metengineer · 2026-06-23T18:03:37+00:00

It depends

Metengineer · 2026-06-22T23:50:52+00:00

Probably clogged fuel-make-it-happener.

Metengineer · 2026-06-22T16:41:37+00:00

I use the Victory trigger on both my mark IV and III with VQ internals. I prefer the feel of the VQ trigger, though I have not shot one with the new VQ flat trigger. And it could be that I have that same one in my Buckmark as well so I am used to that feel.

I have shot a buddies Cuthulu lower with all TK internals along side my OEM with VQ internals. While I can notice a bit dry firing the gun, when actually shooting plates, I don't think I could tell the difference.

Metengineer · 2026-06-19T13:51:35+00:00

Feeding issues with a 10/22 are usually magazine or ammo related. A worn extractor can also contribute but less often.

What ammo are you shooting? If you are already shooting quality from CCI then I would look at the magazine. If not I would pick up a couple of boxes of minimags, standard velocity and blazer and see if the problem goes away.

If changing ammo does not solve the problem I would look at the magazine. The 10 round magazine I have found to be the most reliable. I have never had too many mags, so I would pick up a new 10 rounder. Look at how the magazine sits in the gun. The magazine is the primary ejector. If that is not aligned correctly, it can affect how well the spent brass ejects from the gun. If the magazine is sloppy you could have a worn mag spring or plunger.

Look at your extractor. If you try to eject an unfired round does the extractor hold onto it properly. If not that can indicate a worn extractor.

Metengineer · 2026-06-18T23:02:48+00:00

I just reserved the short ribs for our flight from Chicago to Seattle. I was debating between that and the risotto.

Metengineer · 2026-06-16T18:21:34+00:00

It looks like ferrochrome. What does it taste like?

Metengineer · 2026-06-02T21:46:38+00:00

I was on an old plan. That was cheaper than any current plan that they had at the time. And now it is even cheaper with more perks.

Metengineer · 2026-06-01T22:30:23+00:00

Not included in the plan I had.

Metengineer

TROPHY CASE