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It's the GJ way. When life gives you lemons, go buy a 50-ton hydraulic press and make lemonade.

A couple weeks ago I dragged home a backup basement fridge that I found for free. It was dirty but in working order, though someone had obviously set it down hard at some point as the back wheels were bashed up into the housing. Last night I finally got around to tipping it over, removing the...

After an initial misdiagnosis and a reorder of parts, I finally repaired the range in our kitchen. One burner of our glass top range quit and my first tests made it look like the issue was with the switch. New switch from Amazon arrives and I go to change it only to find that the issue now...

At work they make us recertify on chainsaws every couple years. One instructor had a particularly gruesome story on the subject. A guy he was working with had his face screen down but no safety glasses. Just walking through the bush he ran into a branch that punched right through the screen...

I did a similar thing just the other day, except mine was a #2 Robertson bit and the target was the middle of my left index fingernail. Punched a little #2 sized flap straight down into the nail bed. This one's going to be interesting as it grows out!

A year or two ago the neighbour gave us a kids "Tigger" fishing rod for my daughter to play with. She loved it but eventually the thumb button (not sure of the correct terminology) on the probably 20 year old rod went a bit wonky. She upgraded to a "Frozen" rod and I promised the "Tigger" one...

I figure the bare minimum you can budget for any job is 5 minutes. Anything less than that is wishful thinking. At the same time, the bare minimum that any job actually takes is 30 minutes. By the time you find the tools, get the supplies, and go back for the tools and supplies you actually...

Finally finished up this project. We wanted to upgrade our on-deck herb garden from some little window boxes I had slapped together a few years ago. I happened to have some salvaged deck boards in the pile so I fired them through the planer and put together this little ditty. The box is about 2'...

Maybe try an electronics contact cleaner. They tend to be mostly alcohol and plastic friendly. They sell them in the automotive section, though if you have an electronics store close by you could also try flux remover. As I understand it carb cleaner is mostly acetone, which as people have...

The other day I took a crack at firing up a generator I got for a wicked deal about a year and a half ago. It had a broken pull cord but was otherwise supposed to work. Well Good Friday was a windy sunny day so I decided to give it a go. At first I found there was lots of cord so I just put...

I'm betting he's the guy calling out orders. Up on the beam so he can see the spotters out the door, inside the shed so the guys at the back can hear him. We live in a society that fetishizes rugged individuality so this kind of community cooperation seems strange and foreign. It didn't used...

The other day my 6yo daughter helped me with some electrical work. We wired a cordless battery adapter to the ride on John Deer Gator power wheels style toy I picked up for free last summer. My 18V cordless batteries give it a bit more pop than the salvaged 12 V gel cells I've been dragging...

Growing up in Saskatchewan means I'm plenty familiar with mosquitos. Now I live in Ontario where they invented black flies. Ugg.

I'm surprised nobody has offered a truly GJ solution yet. I spent a summer working for a building moving outfit based north of Saskatoon. A couple times we picked up an entire house, slid it over off the foundation, and left it on blocks. Then the contractors came in, ripped out the old...

When we moved into our house we added an island to the kitchen and replaced the ugly laminate counters at the same time to match. We stuck with laminate anyway, but in a much nicer pattern. The price was right, the look and durability are good, and we were going to wait until our destructive...

New, find a place that does restaurant or commercial kitchen supply. Used, find a restaurant or commercial kitchen that's gone out of business.

Rigged up a siphon watering system for the Christmas tree. Our trees seem to get bigger every year since we found a local tree farm that sells them for a song and I'm not a big fan of having to lie on my back to water it. After checking online and seeing options from $50 to waaaaay more I...

Slapped up a 24" magnetic tool bar by my lathe. Right now it's just mounted to the underside of a desktop that's leaning against the wall waiting to be installed on the lathe stand when I refurb it (someday...). Good thing I grabbed two tool bars the other day, this one is full already!

Glued up a handful of plywood scraps to make consumable faceplates for the lathe and started work on a (really) long overdue project to mount a sundial in the yard.

I got a similar deal. Turns out you can buy replacement keys on eBay for a couple bucks!