Search results

I must have bad string trimmer technique because I've worn through two bump heads in as many years. Apparently hitting the bump head on hard surfaces is a no-no. Rather than buy a new head I decided to shore up the old one by gluing in a solid aluminum plug. Actually the plug is made from...

I got the kiddos JD Gator ride-on up on the lift (saw horses) to diagnose why it's blowing the main fuse instantly. One motor was seized up pretty good, so I pulled the pair and ordered a new set (about $40 on Amazon). I put these motors in two years ago when I picked the Gator up for free...

I probably shouldn't post this in such august company but here we are! A neighbour overheard that I was looking for something to occasionally bang other things against and dropped off about a 30" section of rail. Payment for me taking some off was to leave him with a more manageable length for...

I managed to knock out a few little projects yesterday. First I ran a 3/4" NPT tap into the right angle fitting that comes out of my rototiller's exhaust port. All that was left of the old muffler was rusted into the threads. This spring I managed to peel the metal out of the first few turns...

My aunt and uncle live on a country side road named for the family that used to own all the land around that area. When I mentioned where they lived to a friend from the area, he said "oh, on divorce road?" Apparently their house (and the others on the road) were all built by various members...

My old 8" Beaver (with the concentric adjustment knobs) came to me for free missing the front rail for the fence. I hacked up a cheap 36" F-clamp to make the rail, and threw on a half price 8 1/4" blade and I was in business. I also had to swap the motor sheave since it was the wrong size and...

My in-laws did the refinishing kit a few years back and it looks nice and is holding up reasonably well. Definitely a cheap solution to change the colour. When we bought our house we added an island and replaced the countertops to match, getting rid of the early 00's purplish monstrosity that...

No, the pulley on the treadmill motor is a parallel groove style. I was going to add the jackshaft so that I could keep the step pulley from the current motor on the jackshaft and not have to putz about trying to fit a new pulley to the treadmill motor. Then I would aim to size the grooved...

I have a treadmill motor and control board piled on a bench in my too crowded shop waiting for the day when I finally follow through on my idea to shoe horn it into my wood lathe along with a jackshaft. Right now my problem (along with not having enough room in front of the lathe to actually...

Not in my shop, or even on my property. The other day I went over to a friends place to take a look at her clothes washer. She has some health challenges and I'm her go-to handyman. I told her I didn't know much about washers, but I could take a crack at it. It was a stacked unit, dryer on...

Ooh, I've got a story too! A few years back we were rebuilding our site waaaaaay up in the highest arctic. We started work in June when the snow drifts were still 8' high, but thanks to 24 hour sunlight as soon as we cleared the snow down to bare tundra things started melting, and fast! We...

I see you're using the friction cut method. I, too, have tried that from time to time. Like Kay said, get yourself a modern carbide blade and you'll be laughing.

If you have to gun your saw to keep it running then you need a tune up! My little Echo will just idle happily away as I walk to the tree (with the bar pointed behind me and the chain brake on). On my many work mandated chainsaw training courses we've discussed electric vs. gas plenty of times...

I've only had opportunity to discharge my fire extinguisher once in a live fire (heh heh) situation. I was out working in the yard the first spring of the pandemic when I heard shouting. Neighbour from two doors down on my side was running to a house across the street shouting. A second later...

Another evening in the shop, another bit of firewood turned into a silly snowman. Pretty sure this is poplar with a bit of spalting. I may have to start actually measuring where to put the eyes and nose, I keep getting them just a little off line. On the other hand it does give them a more...

In the house we put the tree up this week and I got the siphon started. No more belly-crawling under the tree to water it like a chump!

Cranked out a few more chickens for practice. These two went to the "Christmas room" at my daughter's elementary school. The community donates low dollar value stuff and the kids can "buy" it for Christmas presents to give their families. I also finished off a snowman that I made last year...

I finished off a couple of baby rattles last night. The centre laminate is apple from a friend's property and the outer scales are cottonwood (or some similar poplar relative) from my yard. The first one had a cool bark inclusion in the apple and the second got some extra bling after bad catch...

I finally got out to the shop for a bit last night for the first time in what felt like months. A bit of turning practice to generate a Christmas gift and a chance to test out my new tub of friction polish. It's a revolution (pun intended) for my turning since the piece can come off the lathe...

I know this sounds silly, but check how you're loading the nails. If you stick the tip of the nail strip all the way to the front of the magazine (for lack of a better word) sometimes they won't feed up, depending on the length of the nail. Pull the nail strip back so the head drops into one...