Month: July 2016

Manscaping – You can be a man and not be an animal

Manscaping not just hair removal and not just hair growth. Although for me RedBeard a beard is essential. What to use for scents, beards, grooming and cleaning the essentials.

I’m not a fan of most smells that are marketed for men and on top of that after using most scented products, especially deodorants, my skin becomes sensitive or irritated. To combat this and not smell like a hobo I started using lye soaps, natural deodorants, unscented deodorants and castile soaps.

I tend to prefer some of the deodorants marketed to hunters and the Arm & Hammer unscented. I will note that I’ve tried a lot of all natural deodorants with no luck. If you’ve found natural deodorants that work for you please let me know using the contact form.

Lye soap is awesome but Pine Tar soap is even better. I have an article dedicated to Pine Tar soap coming out soon. Until then just know a good source of natural soaps and skincare products is Bee Natural Soap. Tracy the owner is awesome and makes the best Pine Tar soap I’ve ever used. If it isn’t listed in her Etsy store shoot her a message and request it saying RedBeard sent you.

Beard Wax, Beard Butter & Beard Oil. I have tried so many products out there but to be honest most of the ones that I liked or found most effective were too expensive to keep buying so I started making my own. It started by finding several Amish recipes and old balm recipes that have been passed down for generations. I then experimented with almost all of them until I came up with what worked best for me. You can find my beard care products in our store.

As far as scents I tend to stick with woodsy essential oils including cedar, pine, eucalyptus, mint and patchouli. When hunting I use primarily cedar and it really seems to do the job in masking scents especially in wooded environments where cedar trees are present. Watch the store because later this year I will also be selling a cedar spray that can be applied to clothing before and during your hunt.

If you have questions or topics you would like to see covered please contact us.

MrRedBeard’s Beard Butter

In addition to my Beard Wax I am also making my Beard Butter available. This is another recipe I developed and use for myself. Made from all natural ingredients and works. This Beard Butter is for the evening man. Beard Butter is formulated to stop itching, soften your beard and skin. Put a small amount in your beard before showering to assist in cleaning. Smell is neutral while moisturizing, conditioning, softening and aids in cleaning your beard.

I’m trying to keep to cost low so I’m making these to order. Contact me if you want custom scents or custom products.

Beard Butter

[purchase_link id=”989″ style=”button” color=”inherit” text=”Add Beard Butter to Cart”]

MrRedBeard’s Beard Wax

I’m making my Beard Wax available to those interested. This is recipe that I made and use for my own beard using all natural products. I’m trying to keep to cost low so I’m making these to order. Contact me if you want custom scents or custom products.

Beard Wax Products

 

Industrial Shelf to Awesome Bed Build

Instead of buying an expensive frame that was large enough for a queen size mattress and provided storage I decided and be cheap and build one dubbed The Princess Bed or Big Girl Princess Bed because it’s so tall and my wife is so short.

Video below

Materials

  • Shelving
  • 6x 2×4
  • 4×8 sheet of half inch plywood
  • Reciprocating saw
  • Circular saw

The sides of the shelving came whole instead of 2 pieces so I had to cut out the supports using a reciprocating saw then cut them in half using a metal cutoff wheel on my circular saw. The bed was a bit too tall after this so I went back and cut another 2-3″ of each leg. Because the supports were welded in place I had to cut new 2×4 angled supports to make the bed more rigid. The 2×4 supports for the mattress are just the right height so that the cuts on the shelving did not have to be exactly even. The plywood was cut to fit the platform and then covered with canvas to protect the mattress.

Next for this project is a small staircase with additional storage inside.

R2 Trashcan

This was a fun little Arduino Robotics project that I built with my daughter at the AR Regional Innovation Hub an awesome place I mentioned in the Maker Faire post a while back. Come to think of it I need to post about this year’s Maker Faire. Anyways the robot can be controlled via bluetooth using an Android app.

We have everything mounted to a chassis from another robotics kit much like the Ardokit but only to hold the parts. The motors were aligned with arms of R2 that were printed on the trash bin which turns out are not entirely even with each side. It should not have been a surprise but hey we wanted it to look cool. This posed additional problems with the motor mounts being flat which canted the wheels out. R2 moves a bit awkward. The plastic trash can from Target is a bit brittle so I had to tape the drill marks first and drill with care. A caster was mounted under the front of the R2 to stabilize.

Parts

  • R2 trash can from Target
  • IEIK UNO R3 Board ATmega328P from Amazon – Not an authentic arduino but works great and is cheap.
  • Motor Controller – I think this came from an ebay purchase
  • JBtek HC-05 Wireless Bluetooth from Amazon
  • Battery Pack
  • Motors and wheels from something like the Ardokit from Amazon but I’m not a fan of these because the terminals are real week and broke with very little stress.
  • Caster

I have better parts most from Adafruit coming in soon for a cooler more thought out project. Better wheels, better chassis and better motors.

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