u/EmynMuilTrailGuide

I've been making cutting boards for a short while now. My oldest one is six months old, given to a family member. All walnut, from 1.5" square sticks. So far, I haven't had any negative reports regarding that one or the half dozen other boards I've made, including two in my own kitchen.

My wife has asked me to donate an end-grain board for my daughter's school's yearly gala, which is a large part of how the school obtains funding for their operating budget. I'd feel bad enough if I gave one as a gift and it went bad. I'd feel worse selling one for profit. But, giving one for auction to a non-profit school that serves an underserved community, where people purposefully overpay for gala auction items, and it starts splitting, warping or cracking? I'd feel terrible.

As one way to combat the fear of this happening, I thought I would not only include a bottle of mineral oil, and care instructions, but contact information with a promise to fix or replace the board if it began to experience problems. Of course, that also opens me up to potentially fixing or replacing a board they didn't care for properly.

So, I feel a bit stuck here. How might you handle this? How long is a reasonable amount of time to get an honest sense of how well I'm making boards? Is the sustained health of that 6 month old, smallish 14x8x1.75 board enough proof? Would you include contact information?

I generally get 3 or 4 lbs a month, usually a half-half mix of light roast (which the rest of the world calls medium-dark) and then decaf (which only comes dark). They'll mix it for me, right in the bag. Those guys are great, always accommodating. Best roasters in the City, IMO. (In the world, according to them 😂 )

Just curious... What do you usually get?

(And yeah, this is a bit of a plug. Not because I'm affiliated with them in any way. I'm just a customer. They don't even know my name. But, I'd hate to see this ~90 year old mom-n-pop SF tradition disappear.)

https://preview.redd.it/gk5esg84d1bh1.png?width=3364&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4b25443f197800f0c011a3f400bb1848d6ef57d

I have a bunch of #3s, maple and walnut, for making an end-grain cutting board. I cut my stock into #3s rather than gluing sticks together because the board’s design will be a haphazard placement walnut and maple of squares.

Since I have no more stock, I want to glue those #1s together, in the configuration shown by #2, to make more #3s.

I will then have some #3s that are naturally contiguous pieces of wood and some #3s that are engineered from #1s.

In the finished board, both kinds of #3 blocks will stand on end grain and will be glued to their neighboring blocks along side-grain surfaces.

My question is: because end-grain cutting boards are already quite subject to wood movement, would mixing the engineered #3s among the naturally contiguous #3s create a greater risk of splitting or joint failure?

All these posts about the OP getting some collectable coin as a tip at work, who does this? I mean who gives a Morgan dollar, a 300 year old German coin, a US Mint set, or an early 20th century US $5 gold piece as a freakin' diner tip? These are all things I've literally seen on this sub, claimed to come into an OP's possession by way of a tip.

Not to mention all the rare coins found in parking lots, gutters and grandma's kankles. Not a box or book of collected coins, just one random coin, magically deposited in a random spot, not even in front of an LCS.

But the real question is, why does anyone take these posts seriously? If you think we should, convince me that I'm just a suspicious old man yelling at tips.

Somehow, this 1920 Lincoln cent was struck on an Argentinian 10 centavo planchet. I've love to know how that got in the bin!

https://coins.ha.com/itm/errors/1920-1c-lincoln-cent-struck-on-an-argentina-10-centavo-planchet-28g-damaged-ngc-details-fine/a/1231-9588.s?type=NGC1231

https://preview.redd.it/mj9fsl5wn28h1.png?width=421&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c7919890e039681b79c67172fe4c3c94eaf5af7

I've owned various Olympus M43 bodies over the last 14 years. I'm very familiar the menus, SCP and what each entry is for. But, I never became proficient with the physical buttons, dials, custom modes and other things that can make the camera apparently much easier to use. I mean, I know the menus because I'm constantly in them. This means I miss quite a few perfect moments. Or, in the rush to get that perfect shot, I screw up menu settings.

Do you have a favorite tutorial, say on YouTube, that got you to take full advantage of the outside of your cameras?

Currently, I have only one body: a E-M5.3.

[EDIT] P.S. Couple of comments basically recommend "Just learn how to change aperture, speed and ISO dials quickly". I guess I wasn't clear initially -- that stuff's already in muscle memory. After a decade and a half, I better be able to do that in my sleep, or what I am doing with a camera like this? But I'm looking at the 7 additional buttons and a swivel switch I never use, and thinking I'm wasting at least a couple hundred dollars worth of capability.

Pinned, perhaps?

1. You are not going to get rich or base your retirement on coin collecting.
2. If you're not sure, more than likely it's not an error.
3. 9 times out of 10, the coins grandma left you are worthless
4. Paper money aren't coins.
   1. Follow up: no intelligent collector gives a crap about serial numbers.
5. And the the most important of all: You cannot destroy coins in the name of collecting coins. Stacking is not coin collecting. (See #1)

I had an EM-5.1 since they were released. In late 2024 the Shutter of Death took my beloved M43 body from me. So, in late 2025, I bought a used EM-5.3 from Japan. It's been great. My kit has the 12-40mm and 40-150mm f/2.8 PROs, 15mm f/1.7 (DJI) and 45mm f/1.8. I'm thoroughly content. Or, I was.

It's not like I didn't know about the PEN-F... but it just suddenly caught my eye. I'm not a person who buys things just to get them. Shit, it took me a year of suffering without photography to finally replace my original EM-5. But that beautiful rangefinder body and the viewfinder, and still has that fully articulating screen. I can be like (Garfield's) Spiderman with his Yashica rangefinder. I must confess, I want other people to see it and appreciate it. Hah, this is so unlike me. But it's just so cool. Oh, those buttons and dials. I keep imagining I'll feel like I'm back in Italy, strolling around Milan or Rome whenever I use it. I know, crazy, right?

OK, back down to earth. After all, no matter how much drooling I'm doing, I won't buy it if it can't function well enough. So, those of you who have a PEN-F and an EM or OM, is there a significantly different physical experience? Is it harder to handle? Does a lack of any grip take a toll (I use a bolt-on with Arca rail on the bottom for my E-M5)? Do you find you're wishing it had the tech of your other body? Or is it so awesome in its own way that none of the matters? And if so, what are its own ways? And I imagine it will pair very well with those petite 15mm and 45mm primes for equally amazing photos...? Tell me all about it.

• Carrier and Country: AT&T and USA
• Device Make and Model: Samsung Galaxy Flip 6
• Google Messages App Version:  messsages.android_20260414_00_RC03.phone_samsung_dynamic

Recently, every time I tried to use messages on the web (most recent Chrome on a Mac) it started requiring me to re-pair. Then, I realized the "remember" slider was off. Once I turned it on, the web app stop requiring me to repair, it's staying paired, but even though it's otherwise working as expected now, it still keeps asking me to re-pair. I ignore the notice, and it works fine. But, it's annoying to see it pop up on my web app and have my phone beeping for an notice asking if I want to re-pair.

I've already tried force-stopping Messages on my phone and clearing cache.

Any other ideas?

I've been drinking this regular kukicha for months now, which I really like. Then I found this karigane (kukicha from gyokuro). It is a decidedly better cup of tea. It's almost creamy. But the karigane xis over 3x as expensive!

Anyhow, I thought I'd share. If anyone is so inclined, I'd liked to hear your comparison too.