u/NoPackage6979

I make endgrain cutting boards, usually sanding from 80 up through 240/320, adding a mist of water after 180. All well and good. I use a Mirka 5" ROS and HEPA dust collection unit, and use Diablo Sand Demon discs. I think the glueups are fine, with no globs of Titebond to sand off, and everything fairly level. I use a drum sander (22/44) to level the boards (both sides), then start to work with the ROS.

Trouble is, for a 12x15" board, I will blow through 3 (at least(!)) 80 grit discs removing the drum sander striations, as well as clean up the roundovers, and usually 2 each of the higher grits. I toss them when the business side of the disc is smooth, compared to an unused disc of the same grit. Is this your experience? Is this normal, or are there better (and not exorbitantly-priced) discs out there with more staying power? Why do I use Diablo? They're at my local big box store.

I have been turning for a little over a year. I turn bowls, some from burls and others just from 3-4" thick blanks. If I get to 12-14" diameter, the wood has to be almost perfectly round and flat or the lathe dances around the floor. Most times, the lower rotation speeds (around 250 rpm) shakes the lathe a great deal, then when going to a slightly higher speed (400-600) the jumpiness is less but there is still serious shakiness.

I know at those diameters I need to really concentrate on a well-balanced blank, both in diameter and in thickness (burls are notorious here), but I wonder if the lathe itself is ...just not heavy enough? The 1524 design allows for two 2x4s as crossmembers, where I could build a shelf on which I could put 2-4 40 lb. bags of stone. Is that an acceptable approach?

My 2015 RDX occasionally has a bit of a time starting. I press the brakes, push the button, the starter motor engages the engine, the engine fires, but doesn't seem to catch on. It just fires with the engine run by the starter motor (it seems). This goes on for up to 5 seconds, then engages on its own.

Due to gas prices, I have (now and then) bought gas with 88-89 octane, not the 90+ premium stuff I normally use. Could the lower octane be the cause, not getting enough of a bang to self-start?

We've owned the house for over 20 years and decided to pull the vinyl and carpet from the main floor. Vinyl was in the foyer and carpet was in the two front-facing rooms, one on each side of the foyer. A reputable company came in and put 3/4" oak across the entire main floor. Three years later, I hear a bang from the front of the house and we now have a squeak in the floor immediately inside the front door and also the flooring in one of the front floors, and there only the area by the front of the room.

Since I've had 20 years with no squeaks anywhere, I think the oak flooring might have popped out from its nails to the 3/4" subfloor. The flooring runs parallel to the front face of the house and the squeaks are within 12-15 inches of the front face, and might be too close to get the pneumatic nailer in there.

How should I diagnose this?

We've owned the house for over 20 years and decided to pull the vinyl and carpet from the main floor. Vinyl was in the foyer and carpet was in the two front-facing rooms, one on each side of the foyer. A reputable company came in and put 3/4" oak across the entire main floor. Three years later, I hear a bang from the front of the house and we now have a squeak in the floor immediately inside the front door and also the flooring in one of the front floors, and there only the area by the front of the room.

Since I've had 20 years with no squeaks anywhere, I think the oak flooring might have popped out from its nails to the 3/4" subfloor. The flooring runs parallel to the front face of the house and the squeaks are within 12-15 inches of the front face, and might be too close to get the pneumatic nailer in there.

How should I diagnose this?

I have a 2-foot by 15-inch piece of live edge (both sides) beech, about 2-1/4 inch thick. It is kiln-dried. My plan is to bolt some black metal legs to it and put in on the covered front porch. The house faces east so there would be some morning light on the piece.

Is marine spar varnish the best finish for this? Is there something else out there that will better protect it from UV rays? I would like to not stain it so the natural color stands out.

Thanks for any advice this group might have.

I searched this subreddit for drying green wood soaking the piece in isopropyl alcohol (IA). Yup, as predicted, my head is swimming. As best I can tell, I can rough turn a bowl, put it in a 5-gal bucket, weight it down and cover with IA, put the lid on the bucket, and come back in a day or so. Retrieve the piece, let it drain/dry, and check for moisture %. I have questions.

1. Is there any use in trying to remove the displaced water from the alcohol bath in the bucket? Or do you just keep topping off the liquid level to ensure it covers the piece to be dried?

2. This may be too anal retentive, but there seems to not be any effective way to let the IA-soaked piece drain back into the bucket. The IA bucket should always have a lid on it to keep it from evaporating, so absent a DIY screen in the bucket above the liquid line and below the lid line, this would seem to be working at cross purposes.

3. Do you put the newly-dried piece into a paper bag to let the IA evaporate from the piece? For those who have tried, what is your experience with how long to leave it in the bag? Is it just the occasional remove-and-weigh approach?

4. Is this even worth the effort? It seems to turn drying from months into days and have minimal (?) risk to cracking.

Thanks for any comments you have.

I haven't done a clean burn on my BGE for some years and the inside is somewhat coated in creosote/ash/crap. I love my Rutland gasket, so will a cleansing burn ruin my Rutland?

I'm diabetic but love me some bacon! Any sugar-free (SF) recipes out there for curing? I'm tempted to use a SF jerky marinade recipe as a template, modifying for the Prague powder aspect.

Thoughts?

I just spent 30 minutes (-ish) trying to provide Etsy with my driver's license pix and my selfie. After a number of tries, the DL went through. The selfie (move closer, turn left, turn right) was attempted a number of times (5-6?) at which point Etsy decided that was not sufficient. It denied my application for a shop. Of course, there is no way to communicate with Etsy on this.

Any ways to keep trying?

I have a backyard patio made from 2-1/2"-thick pavers on a 6" bed of crushed stone. I am looking at a pergola that has no covered ceiling, just the crossbeams, so there is unobstructed airflow throughout.

The pergola is planned to be 16x16 ft. I have seen little commentary on this, other than commenters who say footers are necessary. But the threads in which they made those comments were for pergolas that had covered ceilings, either aluminum or wood. As the title asks, do I need concrete footers for the 6x6 supports? Part of my brain says "no" since there is no covering for any wind (short of a tornado) to grab onto.

Do I need a storefront to repeated sell on Etsy? Should I? I am not clear on the benefits (and I did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night).

Just wondering if it is worth the disclosures, financial and personal.

I put a Shellix helical cutter upgrade on my 735, and all went according to plan...at first. A month or two into the upgrade, the 735's drive belt started coming off its wheels by a couple of ridges, enough to burn the belt against the machine. It's as if the wheels on drive and on the upgrade were out of alignment.

Anyone have experience with this problem? How do I avoid/prevent this?

I have a large BGE, an Inkbird temp controller, and KickAsh can. My plan is to fill a coffee can (with the bottom cut out, of course) with smaller sized hardwood charcoal, light it in the KickAsh, and attach the Inkbird to the BGE. The upper rEGGulator will be fully open until the Inkbird registers about 120; I am aiming for 165. When it gets to about 155, I will close the rEGGulator, since I have a little air leak around the seal so I am not starving the flame for oxygen. I will then keep checking the Inkbird, aiming to stay within 10 degrees of 165 by opening, if necessary, the rEGGulator a tad, a bit, a smidge.

Will this process work to make jerky? I am not including anything about the meat or the marinade I am using to keep this focused on procedure. Meat will be sliced 1/8-3/16" thick.

I have a high-end Eastman jazz guitar I want to sell. I put i t on Ebay, many watchers but no bids. Where is a good place to sell a quality jazz box? I am willing to wait to get a fair price for it, so no Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist is on the horizon. Where do you look when you're itching to buy or sell one?

I found the right width of a live-edge canarywood slab and had enough to make these two boards. I have not seen this style of endgrain cutting board on this subreddit, so ...... what do you think?

https://preview.redd.it/btci64z71fzg1.jpg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44df847f22172f0d555ddfdc0830d92c003abdb0

Two pieces edge-glued

https://preview.redd.it/ge9g0edhgfyg1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fca99a14267cf00541783f43f6b4accec5f470ce