Dr. Bronner’s - Perfect Travel Soap

Posted on July 13, 2008
Filed Under Travel | Leave a Comment

I’ve been a big fan of Dr. Bronner’s soaps for decades.

Right now I’m traveling, working on some renewable energy and water related projects in Guatemala. My travel kit includes a small bottle of Dr. Bronners Peppermint soap. A good all around soap for showers, cleaning clothes and it even makes a passable shaving soap in a pinch.

Dr. Bronner, and now his son, make all natural, organic and Fair Trade soaps. The peppermint tingles a bit when you bathe with it, a plus in my book.

You don’t need to use much so my small bottle will last me for the three weeks of my trip.

From Bronner’s Website-

Marking the 60th Anniversary of the company, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps is pleased to announce that all classic liquid & bar soaps are now not only certified under the USDA National Organic Program, but also certified Fair Trade! In addition, we are pleased to introduce a revolutionary new range of high-quality organic products, from hair rinses to shaving gels – all certified under the same USDA program that certifies organic foods.

Treehugger has an interesting post about Dr. Bronner’s lawsuit against cosmetics manufacturers that use the term “organic” when they have very little organic material in their products. Check out - Treehugger

Check out Dr. Bronner’s Soaps

Leatherman Skeletool

Posted on June 19, 2008
Filed Under Craft, Real Tools, Travel | Leave a Comment

I travel a lot. I conduct workshops in developing countries on Appropriate Technology. While I wish I could bring my toolbox with me on every trip, I have to depend on locally available tools in the countries I work in.

The Leatherman Skeletool helps me through many a workshop. It is unusually lightweight, it functions just like a pocket knife when you need to and it has a bit driver that works for screws, phillips screws, torx and hex key.

Don’t let the Terminator look put you off, this is a valuable tool that is lightweight enough to be in your backpack or emergency toolkit, but it belongs in the top drawer of your toolbox.

Leatherman Skeletool

-jsb

Gorilla Tape

Posted on May 28, 2008
Filed Under Real Tools | Leave a Comment

Gorilla Tape is duct tape on steroids. It bonds to just about anything including brick, stucco, wood and more. Gorilla Tape is made with a double thick layer of adhesive on a strong reinforced backing, and a weather proof shell. The thick adhesive provides a stronger bond to almost any surface as it fills the gaps, especially in porous surfaces. The reinforced backing is a lot like regular duct tape so it can still be ripped by hand. It can even be used in place of electrical tape.

Like duct tape, Gorilla Tape is not recommended for use on warm or hot surfaces. So don’t use Gorilla Tape to seal your ductwork!!! Also like duct tape this stuff will pull the paint off of drywall so be careful where you choose to use it.

The roll is 1.88 inches x 35 yards long and features a 17 mils thick adhesive.

Check Out: Gorilla Tape

Nomadic Travel

Posted on May 7, 2008
Filed Under Travel | Leave a Comment

Chicken Bus - San Pedro Guatemala

With rising oil prices and the dollar at new lows, travel might seem out of reach for many of us. However if you have the desire and you are willing to “rough it” a bit, you may find that travel to exotic locations is still possible.

First, you can control costs by choosing where and when to travel. If you want to see Paris, Rome and Barcelona in summer, you will probably spend double what it will cost to see Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia. Better yet, see Guatemala. Antigua was a Spanish Capital for a large part of Latin America so you have Cathedrals and ruins plus active volcanoes.

We took a family trip to Ecuador a few years ago, we stayed at hostels and we ate at inexpensive restaurants and had a few DIY meals purchased at the local grocery store. I figured the cost to be less than taking the family to Disney World, and that is including airfare.

True adventure costs less. It is cheaper to take the local mass transit than it is to take a cab, and you get to interact with the locals, which is why we are traveling to begin with. (isn’t it?)

If you are planning a long road trip the book to get is First-Time Around the World. The book is loaded with up to date travel information, including air fares and the costs of other modes of transportation. The book includes what to bring, when to go, how much it will cost and which vaccinations are required. The short but informative individual country profiles highlight good places to visit plus informative websites and budget information.

TechShop - Tool Heaven

Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under Camera & Photo, Real Tools | Leave a Comment

Xeni at BoingBoing TV has a great short video on the San Francisco area TechShop. Video Link

From the TechShop Website:

TechShop is a fully-equipped open-access workshop and creative environment that lets you drop in any time and work on your own projects at your own pace. It is like a health club with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment…or a Kinko’s for geeks.

TechShop was founded in 2006 by Jim Newton, a lifetime maker, veteran BattleBots builder and former MythBuster. TechShop is located in Menlo Park, California, on the San Francisco peninsula 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Anyone can come in and build and make all kinds of things themselves using the TechShop tools, machines and equipment, and draw on the TechShop instructors and experts to help them with their projects.

TechShop is designed for everyone, regardless of their skill level. TechShop is perfect for inventors, “makers”, hackers, tinkerers, artists, roboteers, families, entrepreneurs, youth groups, FIRST robotic teams, arts and crafts enthusiasts, and anyone else who wants to be able to make things that they dream up but don’t have the tools, space or skills.

The TechShop workshop provides a wide variety of machinery and tools for the open and unlimited use of its members, including milling machines and lathes, welding stations and plasma cutters, sheet metal working equipment, drill presses and band saws, industrial sewing machines, hand tools, plastic working equipment, electronics design and fabrication facilities, tubing and metal bending machines, electrical supplies and tools, and pretty much everything you’d ever need to make just about anything all by yourself.

The community of DIY makers at the TechShop looks pretty fantastic to me. I have several projects that are waiting for tools and some pointers on how to use them. A TechShop in my neighborhood would be a great asset.

Check out: TechShop

Home Otoscope

Posted on April 25, 2008
Filed Under Real Tools | Leave a Comment

I’d give out a home otoscope with every baby if I could. Parents should make informed decisions about their children’s health starting at birth. From our experinece the most common early childhood health problems were ear infections - or not ear infections but kids teething and having soreness that mimics an ear infection. You can either take your baby in to the doctor every time it seems like you may have an infection or you can learn to use a good quality otoscope to see the condition of your kids ear drums.

You can find photos of what different ear conditions look like: here. With a little practice you can tell the condition of your child’s ears and potentially save unnecessary antibiotics.

When we did take our kids in to the doctor I compared my impressions with theirs, even taking turns looking at the ear drums in question.

Our first otoscope was a cheap plastic model which was not worth much. The otoscope above comes highly recommended (note, I have not tested this model) and the ones made by Welch Allyn are superb, but possibly overkill for occasional use.

Check Out: Dr. Mom Otoscope

Buy Nothing

Posted on April 23, 2008
Filed Under Real Tools | Leave a Comment

Buy Nothing. Nothing is good for the environment. Nothing will make you look younger. Nothing will make your teeth whiter and brighter. You get the picture.

What I really intend by this little rant is to encourage you/us all to purchase less stuff. One of the goals of Access to Tools is to find the stuff that you will want to keep a long time. If you can go twice as long as average with your cell phone, you save a lot of energy, pollution and electronic waste. For each pound of laptop made there are hundreds of pounds of waste generated. Finding a worthwhile laptop and keeping it till it for half a decade or more is better than buying the cheapest or even an average model every 18 months to two years. (yes that is about the life span of a cell phone or laptop these days)

Our goal is to find the really outstanding products, often products that are made in an environmentally friendly manner, and bring them to your attention. We are not a techno-lust blog. There are plenty of those already. We just want to share the stuff we find really worthwhile. I use my old Nikon camera as a model. I purchased it in 1970 (or around then, it was just after the ’60s and my memory of the time is still a bit foggy). My Nikon still works like a champ. I have had it in for cleaning a few times and they tell me the light meter can’t be fixed if it goes. The thing weighs a ton but that now steadies my somewhat shaky grip.

So - find a cell phone that you can live with for 4 years. That is over double the average life of a cell these days. Find a laptop that you will want to be using for a long time. Replace your digital camera with one that will last for a decade. The megapixel count will go up on new models but for my printing purposes 6 megapixels makes a nice 8×10 which is about the largest photo I’ve ever printed. Just because you can now purchase a camera that will make a billboard sized print doesn’t mean we all need one.

Ok, this was a rant. Not as well organized as my usual post, but you probably understand who is writing this blog a bit better and you may just find that life with older stuff is pretty good.

Nothing will save you money.

BTW- The Buy Nothing website is pretty fun: Nothing

Locate Energy Leaks With Digital Infrared Thermometer

Posted on April 2, 2008
Filed Under Real Tools | 2 Comments

Mastercool MSC52224A Infrared Thermometer

A digital infrared non-contact thermometer is a great tool for locating energy leaks in a building. In winter you can trace the cold spots in your house and even tell where insulation is missing. The Mastercool MSC52224A works great and is more than accurate enough to find the real energy hogs in your house.

On the outside of a building you can trace temperature gradients, “see” hot spots and measure temperatures around windows, air conditioners, doors and roofs. I’ve found consistent problems where houses have been added on to. Somehow builders omit insulation or make compromises at the intersection of old and new construction.

For anyone who wants to increase the energy efficiency of their home, or just find the exact temperature for making pancakes, this digital thermometer is the prefect thing.

Mastercool MSC52224A Infrared Thermometer in Case with FREE MSC52220 Analog Thermometer

The Mastercool plus the Kill-A-Watt make a great pair of tools for making your home energy efficient.

-jsb