Shoe-wax lipbalm

It's getting cold and the air is dry here in Sweden, and since we were at a pharmacy last weekend we decided to pick up a tube of a new lip balm. (why is it pictured upside-down on their website?) The cashier sold us on the lanolin content, and reading the Norwegian description I picked up on the beeswax content too. (Oddly, beeswax wasn't mentioned in the Swedish description.) I told the cashier that it sounded a lot like my shoe wax, and there was a good laugh all around.

After coming home, I decided to compare the labels more closely. Indeed, both my "universal lederbalsam" and Decubal Dry Spots Balm share almost their entire ingredients list:

Beeswax (cera alba), lanolin, paraffinum liquidum (petroleum jelly), petrolatum, and castor oil (ricinus communis oil) are the basic components in both the shoe wax, selling for €80 per liter (note the price tag on mine was in Swedish kronor, making it actually significantly cheaper than the suggested retail price), and the lip balm, which at 65 kr for 30ml makes it about €230 per liter. It's hard to say what the exact proportions of the two compounds are, but they have a similar texture and odor. I suppose the Decubal has more lanolin, which can't be cheap. (Unrelated: In Sweden there's a whole ad campaign based on the premise that "cheap" sounds like "sheep" in English. Ridiculous.)

Anyway, something to ponder.

Frugal Engineering

This article makes some interesting points about engineering and product design, concluding that frugal design and engineering have a lot to contribute to both the developed and developing world. Curiously, the article skirts the ideas of appropriate technology or the Long Now foundation.

At the same time, I read in Newsweek that there will be 5 billion mobile phones in use next year, out of a global population of 7 billion. Considering the number of people either too young or too old to use mobile phones, that is a truly incredible statistic. Of course, the majority of those carrying mobile phones around the world use them for little more than calling or sending text messages. Phones like the Nokia presented in the first linked article offer these services and little else.

This is a frustrating use of resources. Sometimes I felt like I was the last person in Sweden to start using a mobile phone five or so years ago, but I couldn't really be convinced of the utility of carrying a device that could only make (expensive!) phone calls. When I bought my first mobile phone it had a decent camera on it, which was useful for note-taking, but I also very quickly learned to love Opera Mini, which gave me access to almost the entire internet through GPRS. This was a more monumental event than gaining access to the internet for the first time in college. Back in '96, the internet had the tiniest fraction of the world's information searchable, but by 2006 it was a different story altogether.

The point is, every mobile phone has the basic functions to allow access to the internet. They are by their very nature telecommunication devices, so network access shouldn't be a problem. They have displays, even if they are rudimentary, that can present text. And they have some sort of input device, a keypad. The internet is now a great depository for all manner of sounds, video, and images, but it is still largely driven and organized by text. That 5 billion people next year can have access to that information from almost anywhere is truly revolutionary. But can these simple phones access the internet? Are they provided with the software to make it possible? I certainly hope so.

Smart phones are great, but I think these not-so-smart phones could be truly earth-shattering.

Pastry Cutter Improvement

I've been making a lot of biscuits lately, partly inspired, I guess, by Bad Bart or whatever The Dude II was called in Crazy Heart.

"Oh yeah, biscuits. Need to do those more often."

By the way, why the cream of tartar? I'm guessing he was using some antiquated recipe before pre-blended baking powder was available? At any rate, I don't use cream of tartar, though I have found a source in Sweden: Curry House, in Haga has it in stock. I forget if they call it vinsten or cream of tartar, but at any rate you can't get it at the pharmacy anymore.

To incorporate the butter and flour in biscuits, or for pie crust, I've been using my stand mixer for the last number of years, because it's there and it works, and because I hated my pastry cutter. Maybe I've been using it wrong, but I didn't like the way the handle rotated in my hand, and the protruding nut on one side always dug into my skin. So the pastry cutter languished in a drawer, and every time I set about making a little batch of biscuits I'd fire up the Hobart, which seems like overkill.

I tried replacing the bolt with some stainless screws I had laying around from an earlier project, but the hole for the through-bolt was so big the screws didn't bite very well. So I decided to make a new handle.

I had some ash laying around, so I got out an appropriate knife, cleaned up its edge, and got whittling.

A little 240 sandpaper later and the handle was ready. I cut it off and rubbed some canola into the grain, followed by some beeswax, and then used the stainless screws to fasten the handle into the pastry cutter again.

The whole process was done before my potatoes finished boiling. And it didn't cost me a cent. And it will make using the pastry cutter a whole lot more pleasant. So why did I put it off for so long? These sorts of little projects can make life easier and more enjoyable, and aren't exactly a nuisance. And are in every way sustainable: I have repurposed a tool I found lacking rather than replacing or discarding it. This project will moreover enable me to use a simple hand tool over a complex and energy-demanding power tool when appropriate.

Fixing a broken or lacking tool is the sort of thing that should be second nature to us, but seems more and more to be a thing of the past. That I should be blogging about this mundane repair is on the surface ridiculous, but I believe we need to think more in terms of making do with what we have.

Oct. 5 update: I furthered refined the handle by rounding the hard edges visible in the above photo.

Presenting Pocket Coffee

The compact coffee press and alcohol burning stove for the minimalist outdoors enthusiast on the go.

A New Solution to an Age-Old Problem

The outdoors-person has a wide variety of stoves, pans, and other kitchen-wares available for preparing an evening meal or a hearty breakfast in the wilderness. A long-distance hiker or bicycle tourist finds great comfort in a warm meal at the end of a difficult journey, but manufacturers currently ignore the needs of the more modest adventurer on a brief excursion.

Pity the poor day hiker in need of a fresh cup of coffee! This wretched soul has hither-to been forced to either bear the burden of an over-dimensioned camping cook-set, suffer the indignity and clumsiness of stale coffee from a vacuum flask, or go without.

Pocket Coffee to the Rescue

Utilizing an optimized, lightweight and simple low-pressure sideburner alcohol burning stove unit, compact pot with incorporated handle, and separate press mechanism with molded-in sip-lid, Pocket Coffee is a complete system for preparing a cup of coffee in the open air.

Nevermore must a brave day-tripper let a thirst for a piping-hot cup of Java go unsatiated.

A simple tool

Pocket Coffee's simple and proven alcohol burning stove is the heart of the pocket coffee concept. Once primed, the pan may be placed directly on the stove, eliminating the need for a separate pot stand. In normal conditions the little stove will bring 2.5dl of water to boil in mere minutes.

Robust construction

The Pocket Coffee stove and pot are are manufactured entirely of lightweight, tough, and heat-conductive stamped sheet aluminum. The press mechanism is injected-molded in food-safe plastic, with an aluminum coffee screen affixed to the under-side. The proven and inexpensive materials and production technique ensure that Pocket Coffee is fairly priced, and affordable to adventurers of all types.

Truly compact

With a packed size of 10cm in diameter and approximately 5cm in height, Pocket Coffee is truly compact, and with a total weight of less than 100 grams there is room for it in any pack or pocket. Indeed, Pocket Coffee weighs far less than any combination kit available on the market, and less even than an insulated vacuum flask.

The stove element sits snugly inside the press mechanism, protecting it from shakes and preventing rattling. The entire kit fits inside the accompanying pot.

A versatile piece of kit

Despite its name, the Pocket Coffee stove and pot can be used to prepare any warm beverage, powdered soup, or a single portion of porridge.

Pocket Coffee is suitable for use during simple day hikes, ski outings, day-long bicycle tours, or any other outdoor activity when a warm beverage might be appreciated. True minimalists may choose to use Pocket Coffee as their primary cooking kit during more prolonged expeditions, but that is not this product's intended use.

A product of its time

Today's informed and cosmopolitan outdoor enthusiasts refuse to settle for the outdated and clumsy solutions of yesteryear. Pocket Coffee allows connoisseurs the pleasure of a hot and freshly brewed cup of coffee anywhere with ease.