2008 Sacagawea Golden Dollar

The 2008 Sacagawea Golden Dollar is now available at the US Mint web site. The gold dollars are available in rolls and bags. The obverse of this beautiful coin is engraved with a likeness of Sacagawea, the young American Indiana woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expdedition. The reverse features an eagle soaring among seventeen stars, one for each of the states which made up the United States at the time of the expedition.
The Sacagawea Golden Dollar is legal tender, and may be used as money, if you so desire. The coins were minted at the Philadelphia mint, thus feature the "P" mint mark.
© 2011 Hobby Hobnob
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Dandelion Wine - Part 3

The dandelion wine was ready for the next stage in the wine making process - straining the pulp and putting the fermentation jug.

Today I used a plastic colander to strain the raisins and other pulp from the must. Then I used a plastic spoon to squeeze the excess juice from the material in the colander. The must didn't quite fill the gallon jug, so I added one half cup of sugar syrup to the jug and topped it up with water.

Then I fitted a fermentation lock on the jug and put it on a plate on the kitchen counter. This is a precautionary step, in case the fermentation goes crazy and overflows. In a day or so, if it stay relatively quiet I will move it to the wine cellar.

The color is a bit more pink than I wanted. I used grape wine as the starter for the yeast, so the normally golden colored wine will probably have a tint of pink to it. Back to Dandelion Wine © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Dandelion Wine - Part 2

That evening I placed the raisins in the bucket I used to pick the blossoms. This bucket is only used for wine making. I squeezed the juice from the two oranges and added the juice from a lemon. I added three cups of sugar syrup, the equivalent of one and a half pound of sugar. Then I topped up the water to the four quart line on the side of the bucket. I used a hydrometer to measure the sugar content. It was only around 1065, equivalent to about 8.5% alcohol content. Since wine should be at least 10% to be good, I added another cup of sugar syrup. This raised the specific gravity to around 1085, which is just over 10%. Since the raisins add sugar and this is impossible for me to measure, the finished wine should be around 11% or so.

I then added my fermenting wine yeast culture which had been previously prepared. You can add the dried yeast directly to the must, but it will take a bit longer to start. I then covered the must with a clean dish towel and let it stand in a warm area. By the next morning the wine had started fermenting. This should sit for around five or six days, fermenting on this pulp. Stir is two or three times a day with a plastic or stainless steel spoon.

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© 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Making Dandelion Wine - Part One

On Monday I picked the blossoms for a one gallon batch of Dandelion wine. My mother made a mean dandelion wine when I was a kid, and I have her recipe.
About two quarts of picked dandelion blossoms. Pick off the green base of the flower, it will provide a bitter taste to the wine.
Two oranges
One lemon
One one pound box of white raisins
One pack of wine yeast
Four cups of standard sugar syrup or two pounds of sugar
One tea bag.

The first step in making dandelion wine is to pick the blossoms. Choose a sunny day when the blossoms are at their fullest. Pick the blossom, then pluck the base of the flower off and discard. Place the blossoms in a clean container. I have a water bucket which had quart graduations marked on the inside. This bucket is used only for wine making, so it is not contaminated with anything.

Once the dandelion blossoms have been gathered, boil two quarts of water. Place the tea bag in with the blossoms and pour the boiling water over the blossoms. The tea bag will add tannin to the wine, improving its flavor. Allow this to steep for several hours. I let it stand overnight. In the morning, I didn't have time to make the wine, so I strained the blossoms using a plastic colander. Don't use a metal one, which may impart a metallic flavor to the wine. Press the soggy blossoms with a plastic or stainless steel spoon until most of the juice is removed. I then placed the mixture in a plastic pitcher, sealed it with the lid and placed it in the refrigerator.

I would make the dandelion wine that evening.

Dandelion Wine - Part 2

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Dandelion Wine - Part 3 © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Making Wines From Grape Concentrate - 4

Add the grape juice concentrate, the two cups of sugar syrup and three quarts of water to the bowl and stir them well. Next, add the fermenting yeast starter. Cover the bowl with a clean towel or other covering and allow to stand for four or five days. The ferment, in its initial vigor, will froth up, possibly overflowing the bowl if it is not big enough.

After the ferment has calmed down, using a funnel, pour the still fermenting wine into the gallon jug. Fit a piece of plastic food wrap over the mouth of the jug and secure with a rubber band. Place in a cool, dark area to ferment. The wine will take about two to three months to complete the fermentation process. Back to Home Wine Making © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Making Wines From Grape Concentrate - Standard Sugar Syrup

It is helpful to dissolve the sugar in water before making the wine. To do this, you may use a recipe for standard sugar syrup, used by many home wine makers. To make sugar syrup, dissolve the sugar at a rate of two cups of sugar into one cup of water. Bring the water to a boil, then slowly add the sugar a cup or two at a time. Stir the solution until the syrup clears, then add more until it is all added.

The sugar syrup will clear when all the sugar has been dissolved. Allow the solution to cool. One cup of standard sugar syrup is equivalent to one half pound of sugar. Back to Home Wine Making © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Making Wines From Grape Concentrate - 2

The first step in making wine from a grape concentrate, or any other fruit concentrate, is to gather your materials. For a one gallon batch of wine you will need twenty four ounces of grape concentrate, one pound of sugar, one tablespoon of wine yeast and about a gallon of water.

In addition to the ingredients you will need the following supplies. A plastic or glass bowl or other container safe for food products which will hold more than one gallon. A plastic or glass funnel. An eight or twelve ounce drinking glass, a one gallon glass or food rated plastic jug, a bit of plastic wrap and a rubber band. Save the cap from the jug for use later. If you use a vinegar jug to make the wine from concentrate in, make sure it is rinsed very, very well.

Once you have these materials on hand, make up a yeast starter. Dissolve one tablespoon of sugar in the drinking glass filled with warm water. Make sure the water is just lukewarm, and not hot. Now pour the wine yeast into the glass and cover with a paper towel secured with a rubber band. Place this glass in a warm spot for a few hours. After the yeast has begun fermenting you will see a white foam on top of the water. Now you are ready to make your grape concentrate wine. Back to Home Wine Making © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts

Making Wines From Grape Concentrate

Drinking wine is a very pleasurable experience, and making the wine you drink can be even more enjoyable. After a long hiatus from this wonderful hobby, I recently began making wine again. Since I started in January, finding grapes to make wine with, I opted to make wine using a frozen grape concentrate. Since wine grape concentrates are not readily available locally, I decided to use frozen Concord grape juice concentrate from the grocers freezer display.

I have done this before, but it has been a long, long time. The wine made using this procedure is quite acceptable for a vin ordinaire. Making wine from concentrate is a pretty easy process, and you don't need a lot of fancy equipment. The next several entries will cover this fun little project in detail. When finished, you will be able to make wine from grape, or any other fruit juice concentrate, quickly and easily.

Coin Collecting - American Eagle Silver Dollar

The United States Mint has announced that American Eagle Silver uncirculated coins are available to buy on their web site. The coins have the "W" mint mark, testimony to their striking at the West Point mint. The American Eagle Silver Dollar coin is billed as the collector's version of the bullion version of this silver dollar and has a similar finish. The 2008 American Eagle One Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin's official beginning sales date is March 17, 2008 and any orders placed before that time will not be honored. You may buy this new coin issue at the United States Mint web site. © 2011 THC Toys, Hobbies and Crafts Back to Coin Collecting

Kite History - World War 2

As late as World War II, kites had a role to play in warfare. Sauls' Barrage Kite was a sort of double box kite which was a strong, stable flying kite. A man named Harry Sauls designed the kite to be used to fly advertising banners over tourist areas. The kite found a use during World War 2 as a means of protecting merchant ships from enemy airplane attacks. A wire, similar to piano wire, was used to hold the kite aloft over the ship. The wire was invisible to enemy warplanes and was strong enough to destroy the prop or cut off a wing. Strategically placed, these kites deterred enemy dive bomber attacks. In addition, explosives or bombs were attached to the wires to further deter attack.

Lieutenant Commander Paul E. Garber served on the aircraft carrier USS Block Island during World War 2. An avid kite flyer, he watched as the carriers gunnery crews practiced target shooting using clouds as targets. He decided to find a better method, so he built a kite and threw the gauntlet down to the gun crews. Hit the kite, was the challenge. The gunnery crews found this to be a difficult task. The ships captain, seeing the improvement in the accuracy of the gun crews shooting, ordered Garber to build more kites for target practice. He eventually came up with a design which allowed him to mimic an airplane's movements as it approached the ship. It became standard practice for gun crews to use kites to practice and much credit is given to the target kites saving many ships due to the gunnery crews improved accuracy.

Another device used during the war was called the Gibson Girl. It consisted of a box kite, antennae, and hand crank radio. It was packed in with life rafts, to be used in an emergency. The kite both acted as a beacon to signal rescue aircraft to the location of the raft, and as a support for the antennae. The hand cranked radio, of course, was used to signal rescuers. Back To All About Kites History of Flight and Avaition © 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of Kites - World War I

During World War I, kites were used for various military purposes. The French assembled a kite corps which consisted of a trailer, car and a motor driven winch which was used for observation. Kites were used by infantry divisions of all the combatants to observe enemy positions. When the airplane came into general use, these divisions were disbanded.

The kite continued to be useful at sea. Germany devised a box kite which would fit in a U Boat to be used at sea. An observer elevated on a kite to an altitude of 400 feet can see almost 250 miles over open ocean. Similar systems were used on sea going warships of other nations.

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© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of the Kite - The Wright Brothers

In 1899 the Wright brothers designed and built a special box kite to use to test and develope their theories about controlling the flight of an aircraft. This was a biplane box kite about six feet long, fifteen inches wide and about fifteen inches tall. All the framework was hinged to allow it to twist. The kite was controlled from the ground with four strings tied to strategic places on the frame. Using this system, they developed ways to control the kites ability to bank right and left, dive and climb.



They designed and built several kites using this design, always perfecting the design and gaining more control. Using these kites as models they constructed a glider in 1900. This glider had the capacity to carry a man, but the brothers decided to test it before flying in it themselves. They did not want to suffer the same fate as Lilianthal, who died flying one of his gliders. The glider was flown like a kite at first, using the ground control system they had developed for the box kites.

All of this experimenting led, of course, to their eventual success on December 12, 1903. History of Flight and Avaition

Back To All About Kites © 2012 Hobby Hobnob

Kite History - The Telegraph

Guglielmo Marconi used kites in his development of the wireless telegraph system. On Dec. 12, 1901 Marconi and his team used a kite constructed from a wood frame and sail cloth. It had a hemp mooring cord attached to a wooden pole. A 600 foot long was also attached to the pole, with a lead going to the radio shack in which Marconi had his receiving apparatus. The kite most probably was a Levitor kite, which was well known among kite flyers for its lifting capabilities.



The originating transmission came from a tower located near St. John's, Newfoundland. shortly after noon, after much trial and tribulation, the signal was tapped out in New Foundland and received at Marconi's kite held antennae and the era of wireless trans-Atlantic radio communications had begun.

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History of Flight and Aviation

© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of Kites - Torpedoes

Admiral Sir Arthur Cochrane during the Crimean War devised some new weapons to be used against the Russian. These included explosion vessels and stink ships, which were ships loaded with coke and sulphur which, when ignited, would emit a suffocating fog.

Another of his schemes was the use of twelve foot kites towing torpedoes into enemy ships. The method was successfully implemented in practice runs, but was found to be impractical in actual use. The reason being that prevailing winds and the location of enemy ships were not always favorable.

Back To All About Kites History of Flight and Avaition © 2012 Hobby Hobnob

Ben Franklin And His Kite

Kites have also contributed to the pioneering efforts in the scientific field of electricity. Most people have heard of Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment. The story has entered into American legend. He flew the kite during the early stages of an electric storm, when he felt that electric power was building in the clouds, but before actual lightning was produced. being produced.



He designed a kite specifically to draw electricity from the clouds which was made from silk instead of paper so it would withstand the rain without tearing. The kite had a pointed wire arising from the frame, which gathered electricity from the overhead storm clouds. As the storm wettened the kite and silk string, they were able to conduct the electricity to a key he hung near the ground. He stood inside a building so the end of silk he held did not get wet, and thus conduct the charge to him. The key became electrified, and sparked with electricity. He used the electricity to charge a Leyden Jar, which is a capacitor, which had been recently invented.

Franklin conducted many experiments with electricity during his lifetime, and made many contributions to the budding science. The kite helped him form some theories about it and learn something of its nature.

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History of Flight and Avaition © 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of the Kite - Niagara Gorge Kite Contest

During this same period, in America, another novel use for kites was found. In 1845, a bridge across the Niagara Gorge above the falls was envisioned. The Falls had become a huge tourist attraction and developers imagined huge profits if a bridge above it could be constructed. But in an age before helicopters how do you stretch a cable across an eight hundred foot gorge which towers over two hundred feet above a treacherous rapids.



Kites were suggested by one engineer. And from this the idea of the Niagara Gorge Kite Contest was born. In January 1848 the contest commenced. After several failed attempts, young Homan Walsh succeeded on January 30, 1848. His prize was about ten dollars. With a kite line now across the gorge, it was used to pull a stronger line across. Then a rope was attached to this line and pulled across. Finally, a steel cable was pulled across. This cable paved the way for the first cable car to cross the gorge, then a suspension bridge later that same year.



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History of Flight and Avaitio

© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of Kites - Carriages

George Pocock a few years later did a lot of experimenting with kites. Pocock was an inventor and schoolteacher from Bristol, England. He started his experiments using kites to lift weights. Starting with small stones, he gradually worked his way up to using a specially designed chair to first lift his daughter, then his son, into the air in 1825. He used the kite to place his son on the top of a high cliff on the English coast. His son dismounted, then remounted and returned safely to the earth.

Perhaps the most interesting idea he came up with was kite drawn carriages. In 1826 he designed a device he called the Charvolant (from the French char for carriage attached to volant from the French term for kite: cerf-volant). This was a fairly elaborate kite drawn carriage complete with steering and braking capability. He achieved speeds of up to twenty miles an hour with this vehicle and easily overtook horse drawn carriages with it. He even undertook a 113 mile trip through the English countryside with it.

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History of Flight and Avaition

© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History Of Kites - Meteorology

Alexander Wilson was a Scottish astronomer and meteorologist and was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He lived from 1714 - 1719 and made numerous contributions to astronomy and meteorology. Dr. Wilson was the first scientist to use kites as a scientific tool.



In 1749, while a professor at the University of Glasgow, he attached thermometers to a string of kites and measured the air temperatures at different altitudes. He managed to record temperatures as high as 3000 feet. He was assisted in this endeavor by a student named Thomas Melville. The thermometers were attached to the kite with a fuse. When the fuse burned out, the thermometer was released and parachuted back to earth using paper brushes. The temperature at various altitudes was successfully recorded using this method.

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© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

History of the Kite - Sir George Cayley

Sir George Cayley (1773-1857) was the first person to study the science of aerodynamics seriously. He is considered by many to be the "Father of Aerodynics." Scarbourgh, England was the place of his birth. He was an English baronet and inventor who created the basic design of the modern aircraft.

The first aircraft Cayley built was a kite type craft with a movable tail. The kite flew quite successfully for a ten year period, 1799 - 1809, Cayley experimented extensively with kites. It was during this period that he developed many of his designs for his later work.

All About Kites History of Flight and Avaition

© 2012 Hobby Hobnob

Kites - A History - Evolution

Regardless of where the kite originated, kite flying and building spread slowly across the world from its home in Asia. Marco Polo, a famous thirteenth century explorer and merchant, wrote extensively about kites when he returned to his home in Italy in 1295. Kites in Europe were made from parchment and were inititially regarded as children's toys.


This perception slowly changed over the ensuing centuries as military strategists and the budding interest in science saw their potential. The kite evolved over time to become a weapon, surveillance tool and scientific instrument as well as serve as a valuable precursor to the beginnings of controlled, heavier than air flight by humans.

Back To All About Kites History of Flight and Avaitio

© 2012 Hobby Hobnob