Any possibility of finding a coop shop in your area? My TechShop has a fairly complete woodshop. And before I had my own shop, I also used to use some county Vo-Tech facilities that were opened to people as a result of Adult Ed kind of programs.

I’d say define “general woodworking.” If you want to build cabinets out of sheet goods, I’d say start with a table saw or a really accurate track saw. There isn’t anything that you can do with a SCMS that you can’t do on a table saw, but the reverse isn’t true. If your definition of “general woodworking” is framing up…

I have both an SCMS for wood and a TCT saw for cutting metal. One thing about the carbide blades for metal is that they have to be spun at a much lower speed than the carbide blades for wood. Even if that wasn’t the case, I like to keep my woodworking as far away from my metalworking as possible—aside from the fact…

A miter can be cut by rotating the fence or tilting the blade. I’m going to say what you are calling a miter saw is actually a compound miter saw—where you can do either. Hell, even my cheapass TCT saw (and the abrasive cut-off saws I’ve used) for cutting metal will cut miters, even though they won’t do compound…

Seems like a silly debate. Probably one of those regional things. I would understand if someone used “miter saw” or “chop saw” or even “SCMS” (which seems to be the term of choice on a woodworking forum I frequent). Personally, I use “Kapex.”

When you make corresponding angled cuts in two boards—say two 45* cuts for a right angle—it is referred to as a “mitered” joint. Used often in making frames and putting up crown mouldings.

The pickling process tends to make things soft—compare a dill spear with a similar spear of cucumber. That said, vacuum sealers don’t crush things typically unless they have virtually no structure at all—like watermelon insides.

Don’t think that works—it isn’t the taste of the lactic acid you are after, it is the process of fermentation, and that just takes time. Then again, once you pack the stuff into your crock, it isn’t like you have to do much. Just let it sit there.

Yes, as long as you have one of the chambers/tube evacuators so it doesn’t just suck the liquid out. Takes a couple minutes max. (Oddly, you can also do this the other way around, I believe. Put your brine in a iSi whipper with the veg to be pickled, hit it with a CO2 cylinder, then depressurize it.)

Nah. I’ve got a chamber vacuum sealer (minipack MVS-20) and while I can do infused pickles in it, you quickly learn that infused pickles aren’t the same thing as real pickles, at least not when you are eating a full sized pickle. Do yourself a favor, get a large crock, and learn about lactic acid fermentation...

I still think the way the article is phrased that the overall tenor is “free clouds your judgment and makes you take junk, so free is bad.” Again, if the message is “think about what you get for free,” that isn’t much of a thesis, is it? There is a bias towards minimalism on this site—perhaps driven by writers all…

I’m going with the Black Diamond Icon:

I’m going with the Black Diamond Icon:

The message I see here is free = junk. I don’t see a lot of qualification the way you seem too. Besides, if you read it the way you want, it seems kind of like pointless advice—”free stuff might be useless’?

Sure, if you are a minimalist. But I don’t understand the attraction myself. And the implicit statement that “if it is free it isn’t worth anything” is a bad message. There are many things I have acquired over the years that would not have purchased—televisions, stereo components, household electronics—that people…

I’m not a huge multitool guy, but here’s another DIY option (from Adam Savage) that could be done with a smaller tool arsenal...

Being able to weld is hands down of the most awesome skills to have. While I have oxyacetylene and a MIG in my garage, my local TechShop has spot, MIG & TIG. So there’s some options out there.

Still here. I’m trying to keep my blood pressure lower by having more rational conversations, however. I don’t think my view on this has changed much—too much of this debate seems to proceed from a sense of entitlement by millenials that they are owed broadband service at fantastic speeds at low cost. But the way we…

Having recently participated in a community yard, I spent some time thinking about whether I’d do it again and decided I probably would. Time spent was a waste, didn’t earn enough to make it worthwhile. But what it did was create a forcing event to weed through your stuff. And the idea that you get some money for…

It seemed odd to me that he’s arguing that a notebook is useful in the event your battery is dead. But later he says he transcribes all that stuff into digital form anyway, so the contact data is still lost if your phone is out of juice. Seemed like a manufactured justification—if this works for him, so be it. But I…

Fast food tastes like shit anyway, so aiming for the least bad for you item on the menu doesn’t seem like “obsessing over every morsel you put in your mouth.” I am perfectly willing to stuff fat-ridden empty calories in my pie-hole, it’s just that I’d rather do it with some good BBQ or a ribeye and not a series of Big…