What did you do today?

[Tom S]

I spent far too much time doing that sort of thing in the snow, in bitter cold in Nova Scotia when I was young, broke, and had no sheltered place to work. I used to carry enough tools to rebuild the engine by the side of the road if I had to. (Never quite came to that, thankfully.) I haven't even changed my own oil now in years, and now that I have an electric I never even have to do that!

Best story may be when the clutch cable on the minivan broke when visiting the folks in TO - on a long week end with all the parts places closed. Had to get back to Ottawa for work (living there at the time) and drove all the way back by starting in gear, and shifting clutchlessly. A clutch really is just a convenience, after all...

I had a Ford Focus with a stick back in college that would every once and a while decide not to idle. I think it was some sort of vapour lock issue, so long as I kept my foot on the gas and the fuel pump running the engine would keep going, but stop giving it gas and it would die. Drive it hard for 15 or 20 minutes and the issue would go away. So I got really good at driving with one foot always on the gas, other foot for the brakes, clutch only for starting off. Also got good at cursing out city drivers who had obviously never driven a stick in their lives and felt the need to hit the brakes when not necessary. Never could figure out what the issue was, and being in college I wasn't going to spend the money to have a mechanic try to chase down an intermittent issue.

[The Metal Butcher]

No inspections here in Alabama. Gotta be bad enough to get you pulled over. Friend got behind one car burning so much oil it coated his car. 'Course that **** only runs a month like that before it dies, so it wouldn't be caught anyway.

[DennisCA]

Made this jig so I could plane down this end grain cutting board I am making.







Worked pretty well despite the small router bit I was using (19mm or 3/4"), need to get a proper bit for planing. And I'd have less work sanding that pattern out.

[Mcgyver]

Made this jig so I could plane down this end grain cutting board I am making.

I like that....something I've wanted to make. Have the maple, just haven't got to it yet. Whats the plan for finishing it?

[DennisCA]

Just using mineral oil, might add some beeswax yet to it and polish it up

I should route some cutouts on the sides for gripping.

[Ironbearmarine]

Sounds like you know what your wife wants (been married how long?) Show us pics when you get it all rigged up. Are you going to heat it?

well i have 50 years experience as a married man. I am most seriously pair-bonded. I do plan to heat it. I have a couple of sailboat diesel heaters that would work nicely. Sorry for the delayed response.

[Dan Dubeau]

Started this morning to finish this cart and got this far. Expanded sheet just sitting there, not sure I like it yet. But it's all I had for now.




Here they are tucked in there home


I don't know about your shops, but in mine that's a very valuable 8" I just freed up

Nothing fancy, just some 2x2x1/4" angle with 6" castors. Still have to finish hooks, hangers, handles, and bottle racks, but I wanted to get them on to check fit to figure the rest out.

And one last "moving" panoramic pic shop tour.


Next project is a mobile stock rack. I'm tired of stacking and restacking material....

[Mike Burch]

Just using mineral oil, might add some beeswax yet to it and polish it up

I should route some cutouts on the sides for gripping.

Is mineral oil a good idea on something that's going to be used for processing food?

Nice bit of work, by the way.

[The Metal Butcher]

Is mineral oil a good idea on something that's going to be used for processing food?

Nice bit of work, by the way.

Yes. It's entirely food safe. You can drink it as a laxative, and it is sold labeled for such purposes.

[Tom S]

Mineral oil is actually the one coating accepted and mandated by the National Sanitation Foundation for that purpose. In a commercial setting mineral oil is to be used to keep the cutting board in good shape so it can’t harbour bacteria growth and can be periodically applied without any risk of someone getting sick from it.

[Noitoen]

Ikea has it for their cutting boards

[Dave C]

Taking the day off after a rough day yesterday. Actually started on Friday afternoon when my rental house tenant called and said the air conditioning was not blowing cold air. Spent a couple of hours diagnosing the problem which included cleaning ants out of the control housing for the condenser unit. Checks with the vom showed the contactor was not closing, but it had signal voltage on both terminals. By then the parts stores were all closed for the weekend, so told the tenant it would be Monday before it could be fixed. Decided to call a friend who is an actual, experienced HVAV tech, and he agreed to come on Saturday to check it out. Long story short, the contactor was OK. An ant had gotten between the armature and its frame and was keeping it from closing. Got it running for a minute and it quit. Went into the unit inside and a transformer went open. Replaced the trans, and it ran a minute and crapped out again. This time the thermostat had gone bad. Replaced it and all was good. WTF!! Maybe lightning, we have had some stormy weather lately.

[Cenedd]

Dave C Ahh Dave, you're neglecting the possibility that it just hates you. People say about machines being inanimate etc....but I work with computers and I know the truth! Sometimes they just do it to spite you. How else would you explain how computers near a window with a very long drop behave so much better than those on the ground floor?!

[140mower]

Taking the day off after a rough day yesterday. Actually started on Friday afternoon when my rental house tenant called and said the air conditioning was not blowing cold air. Spent a couple of hours diagnosing the problem which included cleaning ants out of the control housing for the condenser unit. Checks with the vom showed the contactor was not closing, but it had signal voltage on both terminals. By then the parts stores were all closed for the weekend, so told the tenant it would be Monday before it could be fixed. Decided to call a friend who is an actual, experienced HVAV tech, and he agreed to come on Saturday to check it out. Long story short, the contactor was OK. An ant had gotten between the armature and its frame and was keeping it from closing. Got it running for a minute and it quit. Went into the unit inside and a transformer went open. Replaced the trans, and it ran a minute and crapped out again. This time the thermostat had gone bad. Replaced it and all was good. WTF!! Maybe lightning, we have had some stormy weather lately.

You could always move up here to Canada....... All our air-conditioners work great this time of the year....😁

[Mcgyver]

You could always move up here to Canada....... All our air-conditioners work great this time of the year....😁

get ready for it...its coming up....one of the 3 days annually we don't need heat or AC