Friday, August 13, 2010

What is takes to be a MAN!!!

Yes!!! Men have muscles, and we like machines like power tools and drills and grinding things, and metal, yes metal, and black oil that get dirty, and... and... um.. and other thing of a manly nature.

Okay, so today we're talking about what it means to be a man (a la Phoenix). In my youth i remember my dad making, fixing and building EVERYTHING in and around our house. "No", he would say, "We don't need a plumber, I'll unplug it". "No, we don't need a mechanic, I'll fix it". "No, we don't need a dentist, I'll pull it out". He is a real man, if he needed something done, well by golly he did it himself!!!

I feel 'modern man' is far to lazy and/or wimpy to try and build something with his own hands. Yip, i said it, prove me wrong. Its far easier these days to pick up the phone and say "ooooh, mister fridge fixer, my fridge isn't working" or "aaaah, iv got a flat tire, let me phone road side assistance."

So, with this in mind, let me take you on a little journey. We have an anthracite heater at my house and its super impossible to get that bad boy going so we predominately use the electric heater. So i figure, there must be a way to get the anthracite hot enough to get the coals glowing, then it hits me. I remember seeing a device that quickly gets braai coals hot (goes for about R150), so i figure, let me be a MAN. What would a MAN do?

A MAN WOULD BUILD ONE!!!

So that’s just what I did. I started by drawing a few sketches of what it would look like. Then i got into action. Into dads garage I went. I used man things like hammers and wire and pliers and those screwwy things those clamping things and a whole other bunch of tools. Yes, i felt like a real man.

So after an hour or so this is what I came up with.






















This is the inside. The coals sit on top while the fire lighters are protected at the bottom. What a genius.

















So everything was going perfectly!!! The fire starter worked amazingly, the coals were cooking in no time at all....

And then it happened.






















It seems it worked a little too well, it melted the side of the fire starter. This thing was soooo hot!!!! Okay, so after trying to get the molten coals into the fire place (and not setting the house on fire), the coals got to cold in the transition and the fire flopped.

Oh well, points for trying, and next time i know i can do a better job, mabye get it right next time.

Dedicated to all the real MEN out there.

3 comments:

Bron116 said...

AHHHH!!!! Hilarious!!, but super good job and A+ for effort. Unfortunately you could have bought one at Builder's warehouse. Even the brownies have one :)

Meryl said...

Lunch time thing says sorry, but that is an epic fail. ;-)

Phoenix Steel said...

I'll cook Lunch time thing in my fire starter. hahahaha.

I found a local place that sells these for R790, http://www.beehectic.co.za/Main.asp?D={C310E800-F70D-462B-B4FA-DA7C6CFF70A0}&PageType=Product&SKU=Eva058&CategoryID=133

I'll make you one for half that price ;)