I hope you enjoy it! It has become part of my shop wardrobe. It's really handy having a few essentials at your fingertips, and not getting chips in my pants pockets is a bonus!
Thanks! Still working out what the essentials are and where it goes...so far only item with firm location is the Pica pencil...tape measure, small square, couple other things I think I want in it are still working out a home
Being a Texas Tech Graduate, it was fun to see Patrick Mahome win the super bowl again.
I'll say, i was disappointed that Hurt lost but someone had to lose.
Definitely a great QB game and looking forward to seeing those 2, Josh Allen with Buffalo, Burrow in Cinci etc make highlights for years to come
I have one of those Solo stoves as well. They are great for back yard fires where pretty much zero smoke is a good thing. The other side of that coin, is that the insulated sides (double walled for the secondary combustion air) also shields radiant heat which is something you'll notice right away vs an open fire. Someone needs to take that fire pit and install Pyroceram windows in the sides so you can still have secondary air, but also some radiant heat too.
The Pyroceram was an interesting rabbit hole to learn about...thanks! Kinda pricey stuff too. The smokeless is definitely a benefit...hadn't thought as much about the lack of radiant heat.....that may cause some additional effort....looking forward to trying it soon and seeing what we think.
I have a Solo stove as well. The mid-size Bonfire I think. We traded out a propane "fire pit" for it and it has its plusses and minuses. Firstly, 50% is a great deal, but I would never buy one full price, as they are one of those products that are perpetually on sale. Doesn't mean they are bad, it's just a personal pet peeve of mine as far as marketing tactics and I think it devalues the brand and makes me think their pricing is BS, probably because it is. But that aside, the smokeless feature works well. Super easy to light and get a fire going. I agree with
@Denwood about radiant heat, but especially on first light when the flames are big I was surprised how much heat it gives off. IMO the biggest downside to the double walls and secondary combustion is it's a really efficient, fast burn. The flames die off quickly and logs are reduced to embers quickly. If you want the 'ambience' of an open flame, you're going to be feeding that thing logs like crazy. Also the barrel design kind of blocks the view of the flames if you're sitting.
That said, they are portable, you can set it on the driveway and move it around, it's attractive, it has lots of nice accessories available, and the smokeless feature really does work which was a key factor in my small backyard at least. I think you'll like it for its intended purpose.
Your snowblower has to earn its keep every once in awhile!
So if it chews thru wood that fast maybe my scrap lumber pile won't last as long as I thought it might! The easy to move around and smaller making storage easier was a big part of the decision as it'll likely live in the garage when not in use. If it doesn't toss as much heat we may end up with a few driveway blankets also finding residence in the garage to help keep laps warm!
And yeah....the snowblower does need to earn it's keep. By the way...thanks for pulling this upcoming storm north and out of our path and keeping more for yourself!
Minor tangent/soapbox before returning to loosely garage related programming....
For those of you with kids who are still being financially supported by you and/or your husband/wife/partner/spouse etc, please do the at times difficult, challenging and uncomfortable exercise of figuring out how you can continue to provide and set them up for their best possible success if you and/or the other primary support person dies....
especially if both of you are gone. Then when you figure out a plan that is right for your situation, go and do it. Figure out how to financially support them if possible, I know not everyone may be able to do that and there are lots of different ways you could do this....but term life insurance is pretty cheap. Think about the worst case and who would you want to raise the kids if this happened...again every situation is different....but think about that, then ask those people about it, are they comfortable with it, if things happen how would they handle things financially etc. Then get with a family lawyer and get an estate plan drafted up, so your wishes, intents, desires etc are known, legally documented and available to multiple people in case of need.
Now, is it a conversation people want to have....hell no which is why it gets pushed back so often. I've been badgering my brother on it for his family for a year to finish the damn paperwork so the lawyer can draft the documents....and our own estate plan should be updated to reflect 2 kids so I'm definitely not perfect here. But the reality is...we all have an expiration date and not many of us know how close we are to it. Do not sit around and wait trying to make a "perfect" plan....make a good enough or a good first step and get moving to help protect your loved ones so that if the unexpected happens, those left behind will hopefully have 1 less worry on their mind
My wife and I updated the financial side of our plans when our son was born based around the concept that if something happened to either of us, we wanted the other to have the flexibility to not have to work for awhile and be covered....so there are 20 year term policies with sufficient value to allow living on interest and a bit of principal draw down for several years if we needed to and still retain substantial value to have set aside for down the road. If both of us meet an untimely demise in short order, we wanted the family member who will have their life turned upside down by this to be able to be financially retired if they desired, so again term life policies cost effectively provide that security and peace of mind to us. Every situation is different and what we thought was right for us may not be right for you, and may not be right for us down the road, but it's right for us right now and if our needs change down the road, we can adjust. We're fortunate we're in a position where we can afford this(it's the cheapest insurance policies we have I think), but please if you have kids or are thinking about kids...start the discussions, get something going and make plans for the "what if's" because they happen
This soapbox lecture brought to you by the hard realities of life leaving 2 of my nieces, along with 2 other kids from a different relationship without a father after running out of ammo in the fight against cancer. These 2 nieces are the ones who lost their mother 8 months ago to a drunk driver, at least everyone got to say their good byes this time around.
Alright, enough sappy, not garage related content....people come here for garage-ish things and to avoid "life"...stop encroaching Logan!
Some rearrangment in the garage...working to either remove 1 large, immobile flat surface and make it mobile...or gone entirely:
Chop saw previously spanned the semi-matching wood cabinets with a shelf between them, but I just don't cut that much big long stuff to dedicate that much space to a chop saw station right now. So going to make the miter saw station mobile....first attempt will be with the one where it's sitting now, incorporating shop vac into the base, some improved dust collection(thanks 3d printer) and some flip up wings...and of course wheels for mobility. I think the hardware cabinet with the Festool MFT on top may find a new, less mobile home....just have to figure out where that new home is. Short term I think the dust collector is going to stay in that corner, long term I want it mounted in that corner up on the wall, but for now I think functioning is a sufficient improvement....just working out how to make that most adaptable down the road.
While doing some rearranging, I did some demo, salvaged a piece of 3/4" melamine...and quickly rabbit holed into a shelf with too much effort
Found out my 18 ga nailer had jammed, so had to disassemble the nose to get that shiny nail remnant out so the hammer could work again
Looks like this after I nailed on hardwood edgebanding I jointed then cut down on the bandsaw....I tried to respect that it's just a shelf and melamine by not mitering the corners....
Intended to hold the tracksaw and jigsaw in slightly easier to access locations...knocked off the edgeband tails with the bandsaw, then quick sanding with the random orbital to smooth it out and take down the sharp corners
Tonight's contribution was a quick couple of 1/2" square-ish pieces milled down to serve as rails to help keep them in their place and not falling off the edge from an overly exuberant swing of a piece of lumber
Finish is just Danish Oil, wiped on. Couple of quick nails and this shelf should be done....then onto the next 2 I think I'll make with some of the remaining melamine...again with sapele edgebands....but it'll be an upgrade over non-edgebanded MDF!
Completely fills one of those oversized milk crates.
hold the youngest up in the air or marker taped to a broom ? My doors are almost never closed.
didn't think mine through. I thought they would be nice considerate little humans. Nope.
