Quarantine Projects!

One thing that really made sense was how he described that you can add sketches to a plane or surface. When I was crashing around on my own I figured out how to make a simple box but couldn't figure out how to add features to it. Now I know you must select the face of the body you want to add features to, then create a sketch on that face to add features.

It really is a great tutorial!
 
You would have to try it. I'm not clear on whether the commercial lard is before or after pressing.
The stuff is cheap enough.
Let us know.

Just got done trying an experiment with lard.

I was attempting to obtain lard oil from lard. I did a bunch of reading last night and the process by which you separate the waxy solid components from the liquid oil components of a fat is called winterizing or destearinating. Here's an excerpt from Britannica Online...

"It is often desirable to remove the traces of waxes (e.g., cuticle wax from seed coats) and the higher-melting glycerides from fats. Waxes can generally be removed by rapid chilling and filtering. Separation of high-melting glycerides, or stearine, usually requires very slow cooling in order to form crystals that are large enough to be removed by filtration or centrifuging. Thus linseed oil may be winterized to remove traces of waxes that otherwise interfere with its use in paints and varnishes. Stearine may be removed from fish oils in order to separate the solid glycerides that would detract from its use in paints and alkyd resins. At the same time, fish stearine is more suitable than whole oil for edible purposes. Cottonseed and peanut oils may be destearinated to produce salad oils that remain liquid at low temperatures. Tallows and other animal fats may be destearinated for simultaneous production of hard fats (high in stearic acid content for special uses such as in making candles) and of liquid oil called oleo oil." (Britannica Online)

I also found some information and research papers about the formation of crystals in lard at various temperatures and the process by which they can be separated. In case anyone is interested in the chemistry of lard...

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/34617334.pdf

As much as I could read before my eyes started crossing tells me that fat crystals form in certain sizes and at certain temperatures in lard. To get lard oil you must separate out those crystals from the surrounding oil in which they are suspended. If I interpreted the information correctly (up for debate) I figured I'd melt some lard, let it sit awhile til it cooled to about 18 degrees C then try to filter it through a coffee filter.

So I melted some, a few spoons, and set a thermometer in the melted lard for a while. Of course I left it sit and forgot about it...

I remembered in time to catch it at 25 C. It had already begun crystallizing and was the consistency of, maybe latex paint or a tiny bit thicker. Maybe pudding. Anyway it was still very soft, yet not liquid. I tried to put some through a coffee filter but it would not pass through under gravity.

The bottom side of the filter did get coated with a very clear film of oil. This may be what I'm looking for. But as I tried to gently force the soft lard through the filter, some of the crystals were coming through.

Ultimately I think you'd need a much finer filter than the paper coffee variety and you'd have to force the soft lard through the filter with some kind of press.

All in all it was a bust but I learned more about lard than I ever wanted to know!

Oh! I also tried dissolving some lard in acetone (about equal parts) and then filtering that through a coffee filter. All it did was catch the lard in the filter and allow the acetone to seep through. Not sure what I was expecting with that one. Maybe the filtered acetone has a small amount of lard oil dissolved in it. Then I suppose you could allow the acetone to evaporate off and be left with pure lard oil with no waxy solids?

That might be worth another try...
 
Just got done trying an experiment with lard....

That might be worth another try...

You are truly a man after my own heart. This sounds exactly like the sort of rabbit hole I would wander down just to see what's at the bottom.
I spent several days last summer exploring the possibilities for removing the sulfation from lead-acid battery plates. I was, of course, unsuccessful, but it was fun and quite educational. Currently playing with black oxide methods.
 
Thanks! Gotta keep busy somehow, right?!

Yes. My wife came home last night (she's still working). I thought I had cleaned up for the black oxiding so she wouldn't know. Yea, right. She wiped a clean rag across the kitchen counter and it came up black. She said I'm just like a kid, trying to get away with stuff while she's gone. I said thanks.
 
Yes. My wife came home last night (she's still working). I thought I had cleaned up for the black oxiding so she wouldn't know. Yea, right. She wiped a clean rag across the kitchen counter and it came up black. She said I'm just like a kid, trying to get away with stuff while she's gone. I said thanks.
And this is why I'll never get away with using the oven to cure painted parts!
 
I’m still trying something with my lard experiment.

I’ve got some lard in a jar with acetone and one with mineral spirits. The acetone one dissolved easily but the mineral spirit one didn’t really react at all.

Gonna let it sit overnight and see what happens.
 
I start with bacon grease. Boil it and an equal volume of water for a while, stirring occasionally, to extract the salt. Discard the water. Then dissolve the lard in kerosene. My cutting fluid of choice for aluminum. A bit of the lard will separate out during colder days, but it still works well.
 
Got some updates from the lard experiment.

Here's what they look like after and overnight soak.

Acetone is on the left and mineral spirits on the right.

EM520566.JPG

In this short vid you can see the mineral spirit sample. It still has some chunks undissolved.

View attachment Mineral Spirits Overnight.mp4

















I drew off the top clear layer of solvent and dumped the rest into a jar with two layers of coffee filter.

EM520573.JPG

Next, the acetone.

Here's a quick video of the top layer consistency. It's like a foam.

View attachment Acetone Top Layer.mp4

















I dumped the top layer into the same type of doubled up coffee filter.

View attachment Acetone Top Layer Filter.mp4

















Here's what was left on the bottom of the acetone sample.

EM520571.JPG

I stirred it up to re-dissolve it. This is what it was like yesterday just a few minutes after the lard was combined with the acetone.

View attachment Acetone Bottom Layer.mp4

















Here's all three samples I have.

Left is the top foamy layer of acetone, middle is the bottom soupy acetone and right is the mineral spirit sample.

EM520580.JPG

A view of what's in the filters.

EM520581.JPG

I'll let them drip for a while and check them out later. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the manufacture of lard oil is outside the scope of the home shop. At least with my limited knowledge...
 
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