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Hey guys, I posted about this project a while back....and it's coming on. Nutshell...replaced an old treated entry stair with a footer/welded steel tubular frame/precast concrete structure. It's all in and looking good. I finished up the steel posts and rails yesterday. The final step...

I looked, and I couldn't find anything like this. While Makita and Milwaukee both sell a "power supply" bare tool that clips on their batteries and turns them into power supplies, they are only designed to provide 5 volts at 2 USB ports on the unit...useful for recharging a phone or tablet...

So, we've got this Ariens ZTR mower....and I've gotten into a bit of a love/hate relationship with it. The wife was using it to get one more mowing in before putting it up for the year and she said she noticed oil on the barn floor next to it before starting so she added some. Well, I saw her...

Hey guys, 25 years ago I built a little back porch off our kitchen with 3 stairs down to the drive way. Just a 4 X 4 landing with three steps built out of treated lumber. To anchor it, I just dug 5 post holes and set treated 4X4's in a bags of sack-crete. OK. It was showing it's age and...

Hey guys, For 2 years, I've been trying to get a contractor to replace the treated wood stairs going into our home's kitchen door exterior door with concrete. 3 different contractors have come out and looked at it...said they'd do it....then ghosted me. The problem is it's pretty complicated...

Hey guys, I've made a few knives in the past. Some from kits, some from blades, and a few scratch built. They tend to not get used a lot, because sharpening is a PIA....and the cutting I do is mostly opening boxes, cutting packing tape, things like that where you'd just rather not mess up a...

Spotted this at the job site next door today. And...I guess I lied. Not unidentified...that appears to me an Amishman on a flying concrete finisher. I'm not in the concrete trade...so I just have to ask...is this normal? Phil

Hey guys, I've been working on a bit of a "social distancing project"...in that I seem to have a lot of time on my hands these days. Project involved tear down of my kid's WRX's 115,000 mile OEM engine that we replaced a year or so ago because of low compression in one cylinder. Well, I think...

Hey guys, I know, I know. I should bypass the ballast on my old security light in order to do an LED replacement...BUT The fixture is 35 feet off the ground. As I don't have a 40 foot ladder, the only way I have to access it is to use an extension ladder inside my barn, on the second floor...

Hey guys, Just finished this tree of life plasma project. Since I was hanging it in a poorly lit corner, I went ahead and bought a $17 stick on led strip from amazon...and boy does it make the project pop. Very short video here: Phil

Hey guys, I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IT9FD1E/?tag=atomicindus08-20 Automatic purge valves to put on my air compressor as I am absolutely terrible about remembering to purge it by hand. That one is the only one I could find that allows you to set a very long...

Santa scored me a used Hypertherm 30 this morning. Seems that after contemplating a Hobart unit, he decided to buy the name brand for about the same money...on the used market. First two projects I knocked out in a jiffy were a freehand bird pair designed to be stuck into a tree trunk and...

Stoked to find this for just $50 on Facebook Marketplace. It’s the ULine brand which retail for over $400 plus shipping. Planning on using it as a portable welding table.

So... I needed a short piece of 3 X 2 Hot Rolled Steel Tubing for a project I have going. No biggie, but to make it mate with an existing piece I really need the inside width to be about 1.85 which equals a 14 gauge wall thickness. I tried my local sources. Nothing. I tried further away...

Hey guys, I've had this old seiko kinetic watch for about 25 years. The watch is not a true "mechanical watch" as the winder mechanism actually runs a generator that charges a battery rather than the old type where it wound a main spring. But...the same issue remains...if you don't wear the...

This project was a test to see if 1/16 maple veneer would be translucent enough to make a good lampshade. I have to say the answer is “not really”...but I still ended up with a useful lamp. The bulb is a 17w LED, so the shade doesn’t get hot. I don’t think an incandescent bulb would work for...

I hadn’t really thought through how I was going to drill 15 inches through this hard maple lamp base piece and end up centered at both ends until I was well into my project. Ended up center punching both ends, drilling a 1/8 pilot hole 2” deep on each end to give the spade bit something to...

Hey guys, Are sump receptacles required to be GFIC protected? If so, doesn't this create a problem if the thing trips and the basement floods? I did a google search on this and came up with "yes" "no" "yes but don't do it"...and it left me confused. If there is a GFIC requirement, can you...

I just replaced my old press wood/you assemble it yourself, 2-draw garage file cabinet from the 1990's with this gem. 2 drawer all steel construction. Picked it up at my local recycling center store for $5. It was marked $10, but I talked her down. Then it took 4 1/2 cans of color and 1/2...

Hey guys, I was swapping out the aftermarket stereo in one of my old cars last night. Luckily I still had the old manual that had the wiring color codes for the old Sony and (surprisingly) the new JVC's color codes are exactly the same, so it was as simple as snipping off the connector on the...