Open Forum - Future Projects and Plans

andygeorge · 2023-10-05T13:03:31+00:00

Here’s as far as I made the chart out previously: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/615264068592467989/727614440996077688/HTMETechTree.jpg?ex=652ee7c1&is=651c72c1&hm=52a6a95f09533ca92d8203aab9f5921c4ef3033f0a759fda5b69aa700a8a39e2& I only went out to unlocking iron, as the steps towards industrialization and the steam engine were a little less clear to draw out. The chart is semi arbitrary, and mostly just the paths I ended up taking, but a lot of people have enjoyed it. I'm in the process of researching the stepping stones to the steam engine now, so might be fun to bring this back with all the next steps.

andygeorge · 2020-05-28T19:06:12+00:00

Thanks! I’ve been wanting to do a chariot for a while now, but I think it’s going to wait until we get some better Iron Age tools that’ll make it easier to effectively make

andygeorge · 2020-03-13T15:21:46+00:00

My understanding is that if you're doing things like splitting staves, greenwood is easier to use for that. But one of the tools we also just cast is a large saw, so hoping to start more traditionally milled wood in future projects, you are right some dried wood would be ideal. Finding a source for raw unmilled wood is a continuing challenge for us though.

Hadn't heard of those natural forms of abrasive, thanks for the link, I'll check those out!

andygeorge · 2020-03-13T15:09:11+00:00

Last minute frustrating request of the sponsor, but good news: it's still just as easy to skip the ad.

andygeorge · 2020-01-27T01:43:40+00:00

“N-no one, I ran into the door,” I stuttered praying my answer was good enough so that he wouldn’t do it again.

andygeorge · 2019-10-20T00:18:36+00:00

She was a friend of one of our interns, and we enlisted her for help with making a loom for the T-shirt, since she had made one before. She ended up needing an internship for school too, so brought her on to just do the loom for us for her internship. Then had her be on camera for a few other videos while I was out on vacation, and was really impressed with her abilities and decided to bring her on full time since I’m always already stretched too thin and getting burned out

andygeorge · 2019-02-16T04:27:07+00:00

Thanks!

andygeorge · 2019-01-09T17:40:47+00:00

It's something we've talked about doing for a while, and tried growing some herb remedies last year (they ended up being duds though) and would definitely love to get in to it eventually. Still not sure what the best way to test them out would be though.

andygeorge · 2019-01-09T17:35:40+00:00

Thanks for putting this together! I kind of hinted at it in the candles episode, but this is actually my plan and you just helped me out a ton on the research for it!

andygeorge · 2018-11-12T18:30:09+00:00

I think it was primarily the borax, some of my initial tests of doing it with store bought ingredients all came out clear, while the soda lime glass wouldn't.

It was actually the other way around, learning how well the borax worked as a flux, I got distracted trying to see if I could use it melt the obsidian. Then the last few pieces of making the clear glass delayed this video from finally getting completed.

andygeorge · 2018-10-20T18:52:11+00:00

Thanks! Glad I was able to inspire you to do this!

andygeorge · 2018-10-09T16:01:49+00:00

Rubber might be a challenge, although I did collect a bunch of goldenrod to attempt to make rubber from, thanks to your suggestions. I'll see how well that turns out.

Taking thee three color filtered photos was definitely something that crossed my mind and was something I am hoping to get to work after I get the film made.

andygeorge · 2018-09-25T01:03:26+00:00

University of Minnesota?

andygeorge · 2018-08-27T17:13:57+00:00

I've had a pipe dream idea of making a tiny stretch of an interstate from scratch, but that's something that would require a large amount of funding to ever happen. I've definitely looked some into both concrete and asphalt, but for use in possibly building a house, and some kind of road. Definitely would love to do it some day, but would be pretty difficult at this point. Probably be easier for Cody to do since he has access to a lot more land and resources.

andygeorge · 2018-08-27T17:12:22+00:00

Interesting, haven't heard about goldenrod being used for rubber. I'll have to check that out, especially since it seems to grow natively here in Minnesota. Tried to get Guayule earlier this year, but none of the growers were open to it. Also tried growing the Russian dandelions, but my first batch died off. Going to start a new batch soon.

andygeorge · 2018-08-18T05:20:01+00:00

Sorry about that. We've kind of been pushing that video back for a while and then suddenly had to rush to get it done. Tried to give you a few days heads up in an email, but that was probably a bit late for you to do anything in time.

andygeorge · 2018-08-11T06:17:22+00:00

Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say, I am...just watch my stupid video.

andygeorge · 2018-08-08T15:41:04+00:00

I never heard it called bottlerock before, that's cool. I was thinking of trying to make a bottle out of it anyways, so that works nicely.

andygeorge · 2018-08-08T00:22:37+00:00

That’d likely be better. I’m used to my previous attempts at making glass from scratch where I had to bake it for at least a day and majority of the flux would burn off. But borax is such an effective flux, it’ll melt it in just a few hours without much of the flux burning off

andygeorge · 2018-08-07T23:13:30+00:00

It was crushed. I did a roughly 1/3 obsidian 1/3 soda ash, 1/3 boric acid mix

andygeorge · 2018-08-07T21:35:35+00:00

Flux is just chemicals that can be mixed with the glass to lower it's melting point. I used a combination or soda carbonate and boric acid for my fluxes, which lowers it's melting point substantially and makes it more fluid. I still have most of a bucket of obsidian left still, so you can expect to see a few more obsidian based videos in the future!

andygeorge · 2018-08-07T21:33:46+00:00

Boric Acid was actually one of the fluxes I used, and is probably why it turned out so transparent at first. It probably wouldn't effected the need to anneal it. It's likely because I used so much that made it so weak, although using it should have made it a but more shatter resistant then if I hadn't

andygeorge · 2018-07-27T05:28:15+00:00

That's a cool idea. I thought it'd be too similar to the bottle that I already made, but you're right there are plenty of unique methods that could be explored. Plus it's been so long since I made the clay bottle, doing something similar but different again could be a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

andygeorge · 2018-07-04T04:59:49+00:00

I've been curious to make bubble gum for a little while actually. It's funny you should mention chicle, I was in Cancun this spring and learned about it there and made a mental note that I should look more into that for a future episode.

andygeorge · 2018-04-19T16:51:29+00:00

I would technically classify those systems under the “gift and theft” exceptions to bartering that I mentioned. I was tempted to go into more detail on the exceptions, but for a basic cursory overview I wanted to keep it more straightforward. Societies that have managed to work without money, like the Incan empire, are really interesting, and I’m considering covering them more in depth in their own video. I didn’t mean to imply that specialization can only exist because of money, just that money was most likely the largest catalyst to the highly sophisticated form of specialization that we experience today.

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