Recent content by tmcquinn

I may have led a charmed life but every time I get water in a basement it's this...

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What a timely thread for me. I had an aircraft from 1997 to 2017 and needed a calibrated torque wrench for some of the things an owner is allowed to repair. I got mine calibrated every 12 months and never saw it off by more that 10% or so. This is a 1970s Craftsman click type. My...

I intended to wait another day (weak lungs) but I couldn't do it. It filled in fine. I didn't stay long enough to get a good photo but you can't even see where I stopped and picked back up. I think 2 more coats and I'll have just what I wanted.

With a brush I could've cut a decent line. But I have back issues so I'm using one of these with long handle. This isn't the same brand but it looks very similar.

One bedroom had the grain running across the threshold. I really wanted to tape it off on a board edge, do the one room, and see how it came out. But, sigh, the internet... I would've needed to tape off the finished side to continue and that is either fine for a short time with painter's tape...

I'm back at the project today and I'm pretty pleased with what I'm seeing. Don't get me wrong, like everything I've ever done, I'm certain I could do it better the 2nd time. (This is my last.) I'll try to report back after all 3 coats are on. I appreciate every one of you taking time to...

Yeah, that makes me even more pissed at myself. I had another gallon there. I was afraid of losing my 'wet edge' if I took another hour to stir it up and get it ready. What you say makes sense, I might have been better off taking the hour and finishing coat 1. But there's no going back in...

Amen to that. I was struggling to keep a wet edge, move my poly around without spilling it, and keep my fresh air hose out of the finish. By the time it was obvious that I would run out I felt like I was juggling chainsaws and wasn't thinking 100% clearly. I'm thinking I will take some 220...

Thanks, all. This floor was installed in 1954, 2 years before I was born. With the sanding it got to the point where I just declared the remaining imperfections to be character. Maybe that's what I need to do with the finish. And yeah, it will be lightly sanded between coats and the 2nd &...

Ok, this has a very tenuous connection to the garage but nothing is happening out there until I finish this! I hope it's an acceptable topic here. I've gotten more good advice here with less fighting than I get in most forums. I decided to refinish some oak floors. The sanding turned into...

Amazon will throw in a cylinder for $23. https://www.amazon.com/Simplex-Combination-Cylindrical-Mechanical-Equivalents/dp/B00EA9HP3W

Mine are beat up but they still hold whatever I want to cut or drill. The blue one was bolted to a workbench in the basement of my father's house since the 50s. It has had a hard life. It's in my house now and I expect that it will still be working when I'm dead and gone. I think the...

Just my two cents, which may be on the high end of its value... I've done exactly 1 retaining wall and I felt like I was lost during most of it. I used block from Reading Rock and I did everything they told me to, including the geogrid, which I suspect helps a great deal to resist the pressure...

I said I would write an update when I was done... Nothing to it. Well, not if you limit yourself to off the shelf parts from the big box store and questionable quality. :) If memory serves, it's ok to mix dissimilar metals with brass but this whole mess is expendable. I brought it off to the...