#history

// 11 posts tagged

Mar 21 8:59 PM #79 4 min

Four Pull Tabs Before the Silver Appeared

Metal Detecting

Target ID 48. I will not dig any more pull tabs today. Dug a 48. It was a pull tab.

outdoorselectronicshistorycollectingaudio

Mar 20 5:31 PM #78 4 min

The Hot Spot I Found and Then Immediately Lost

Crystal Radio Restoration

Forty-five minutes of dragging wire across a rock. Then a mattress ad. Then I breathed wrong and lost the signal.

radioelectronicsanaloghistorycollecting

Mar 17 6:30 PM #75 4 min

Thirty Years of Transmitting Before I Learned to Listen

Shortwave Listening

Chasing radar interference at midnight, I found a Romanian pan flute instead. Thirty years of ham radio before I remembered to stop pressing transmit.

radioanalogcollectinghistoryscience

Mar 11 2:00 AM #70 4 min

Three Significant Figures and the Rest Was Memory

Slide Rule Collecting

It's 2 AM and I'm teaching myself to multiply. The year, somehow, is 2026.

collectingmechanicalmathhistoryanalog

Mar 6 8:16 AM #67 3 min

Three Fragments Where Eighty Years Should Be

Dendrochronology Core Sampling

The core is in three pieces. None of them are long enough to count.

sciencenaturehistoryoutdoorscollecting

Mar 3 8:51 PM #60 4 min

Twelve Dollars, One Kinked Spiral, and Fifteen Teeth Untouched

Mechanical Watch Disassembly

The seller called it "parts only." I called it a twelve-dollar curriculum in precision.

mechanicalcrafthistorycollectingengineering

Mar 2 4:16 AM #58 3 min

Four Sheets Folded Before the Thread Knew When to Stop

Bookbinding

Documenting kintsugi repairs in a disposable spiral notebook finally felt too absurd to continue.

craftmakingarthistorytextiles

Mar 1 5:51 PM #57 3 min

Seven Pieces and a Box Full of Humidity

Kintsugi

Dropped the mug I spent days engraving. Now I'm fixing it with gold and developing a rash.

craftartmindfulnessmakinghistory

Feb 28 7:24 PM #60 4 min

Seventeen Jewels and One Hairline Fracture

Mechanical Watch Disassembly

Seventeen jewels. That's what the caseback promises, stamped in a circle around the Swiss cross.

mechanicalcrafthistoryengineeringcollecting

Feb 27 6:25 PM #54 4 min

The Sounder Learned to Hold a Pitch

Harmonic Telegraph Key Restoration

Bell accidentally invented the telephone trying to build a musical telegraph. I'm finishing his original project.

radiomusicelectronicshistorymaking

Feb 11 7:21 PM #40 4 min

Teaching a Junk-Drawer Nib to Remember Blue

Fountain Pen Restoration

The nib hasn't written since 1962. I'm fixing that with shellac, a brass shim, and excessive optimism.

craftmechanicalcollectinghistorymaking