Recent content by paredown

At my dad's metal stamping shop we used a parts tumbler (which he made). Pretty much all stamped parts that were going to be handled went in and were tumbled with sawdust to knock of any burrs that would cut or make the parts hard to handle for assembly or whatever. I can't remember what size...

Our house is a '60s modern with those first generation 'drywall' planks covered with skim coat plaster. All of the corners and ceiling joints are reinforced with mesh. Harder than hell. And of course, I took down all the ceilings to insulate. Some blood was shed... For cutting large cuts, a...

First step always--get the water tested by a reputable place and figure out what you are dealing with. In our case it was iron, sulfide and borderline bacterial contamination. So originally we set up a four stage--coarse filter, Greensand/Pot perm injection, fine filter and UV light. We...

My Dad grew up on a farm--it was more often than not that he had to come up with solutions on the fly. One I remember was a friend toasted his clutch in an old FIAT 124. Of course none of us had money, and the shop we took it to said that there was no way to do the clutch without pulling the...

Festool? (Then you can buy all the gear to go with it! https://www.festoolusa.com/accessories/accessories-for-equipment/work-benches/work-benches/495465---mft-kapex

Built the same style, screwed to the wall with countersunk GRK construction screws into the wall studs. It holds what I put on it. EMT tubing cut to length with a plumber's pipe cutter, plastic caps readily available and it is cheap to build. I find it works better with at least some 'shelves'...

I was thinking that you might want to try an wood cleaner. This is not the one that I have used (product line has changed) but it is a bleach free product. I would be tempted to stop by your local Benjamin Moore dealer, show them your pictures and ask what they think might work...

My $.02 Rent a Pod and spot it in the driveway. Get a couple of strong-looking guys off the local corner. Move everything out, sort some as you go. Clean space and have a think. Back into the empty space, rip out the fiberboard etc. Get a dumpster if needed. Re-wire as needed. Patch concrete...

I'm working on it. Got some new tools which forced a lot of juggling and sorting, plus some cabinet/bench building. An old friend who had not seen any of the places I lived over the past 20+ years (we roomed together in college) visited recently, and when I showed him 'the workshop' he said...

Did mine last year as well. I have a peaked section with torch down--that got the Henry's Silver (fibrated I think). Other two parts were flat, and will pool water on a bad day. Those sections got the Henry's Tropicool as noted above. Since both had been left too long, I used a leaf blower...

Quite a few years ago, I did the same. Gut reno inside and out. Bought the sprayer--but I was lucky that we had someone on the crew who gave me some 'lessons' on how to use it, and I sprayed the whole outside and primed and backrolled inside by myself, masking as I went. He fixed me up with a...

Concrete doesn't look that concerning to me, but I agree about the quality of the tile job. Big tiles = back butter... And Ditra plus acrylic grout with a properly prepped floor is a must, I remember the first floor I did (I was still a young guy, so a long time ago). It was the office for my...

We've had them in the house this year--it is unbelievable the damage they can do! Caught three this past week, and the war continues!

Emtek is decent--somewhat like Baldwin mortise locks in the higher end and decent quality. I love Baldwin, but they are pricey! For my passage doors for this house (and the previous one) I got to use a set of German handles that were part of someone's warehouse sale. Cast handles, solid shafts...

Or remembering that you have it--or worse, where you put it! (at least if you are older like me) My personal annoyance--we have old gas furnaces with live pilot lights, with the thermocouple sitting in an active flame. The replacements all seem to be Chinese ****, and I puzzle every time about...