Still remember the plane captain coming on the intercom when landing in Singapore... “if you are in possession of illegal drugs or do not have prescriptions for all pills you are carrying that are stronger than aspirin, we recommend that you do not exit the airplane.” If I’m recalling correctly, Singapore also has a…

Pressure cooker is the way that they recommend making stock in Modernist Cuisine as well (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/din…).

The users of most professional cabinet shops (and prosumer woodshops) differentiate between “dust collection,” which is done for health reasons and involves filtering very fine particles you can’t really see, and “chip collection,” which is done to keep things tidy by collecting sawdust and chips. While most dust…

The cartridge filters aren’t all that expensive—probably the same as a pack of 10 of the paper ones. They are much more durable, more comfortable (in my view) and provide a better seal around your face. This is what I’m thinking about:

Notwithstanding my other comment regarding the efficacy of this system as a dust collection system to mitigate health concerns, I actually like the basic idea for a small shop purely from the perspective of keeping things tidy and relatively clean. That said, there is a major improvement I’d suggest if you decide to…

Ignore my other comment. I just watched the whole thing—yeah, that outlet needs a cover. I also don’t like his wiring on the plug because the insulation on the Romex is cut past the strain relief on the plug itself. He really should have used multistrand wire for something attached to a plug anyway—romex goes in walls…

I’ve never bothered. You can’t ground plastic anyway—it isn’t conductive, so even if you run a wire to ground, you haven’t grounded it. The best you can do is run a wire through it, but I don’t believe that makes any sense either. Here’s some more reading for you:

Cyclones excel at separating things that are higher density. I would worry that chaff, being pretty light and floaty, wouldn’t get separated out. Since things are so localized with a popcorn popper and the chaff isn’t particularly fine, why not just use a normal vacuum? I also don’t think a vacuum will address the…

You’re talking about the power strip? Why would you need to cover it? I’ve got a bunch of exposed outlets in my shop, and so does virtually every woodshop I’ve ever seen...

I have one of those. I run it after I leave my shop. It is not intended to be a replacement for a DC system or a respirator...

I think what you aren’t quite understanding is that it isn’t a matter of the filter on the back end of the vacuum—it is the fact that with a 2.5” inlet, you can’t move enough air through the system to do the filtering. You need to move a lot of air to make sure you are picking up the small particles, which get thrown…

I think the point that I was making is that calling this a budget dust collection system is disingenuous—this does not actually provide any real help with the issue that “pro” dust collection systems are designed for. I’m fine with saying a home built box joint jig is like a budget Leigh DR4 because it might get you a…

Personal insults? How old are you?

This article is somewhat misleading—dust collection is very misunderstood. As in initial matter, I’d direct you to Bill Pentz’s dust collection page, where he has amassed an incredible amount of information about creating a safe shop environment with respect to dust (http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cy…).

I agree wholeheartedly. I hate the LH articles that proceed from the premise that minimalism (in its design sense of uncluttered aesthetics) is an inherently laudable goal. I keep a lot of stuff that others might consider junk and I have no immediate purpose for a lot of it (e.g., there’s probably a half ton of steel…

The question I had is how well it works—if I try to use any blender (immersion or stationary) on something really thick, it seems like it just creates a cavity where the blade is spinning and doesn’t suck the rest of the material through the blade. That’s why I was wondering if you make really loose mashed potatoes...

And I’m going to say you probably just got lucky. What I wrote is that it is unlikely to prevent the split from expanding “if that is what the wood wants to do.” Not all splits will continue to lengthen—the internal stresses may have been relieved.

I actually like peeling them by hand, nothing fancy. It leaves your fingers slightly sticky—a strange stickiness that adheres to the papery coating of garlic but not the clove itself. So if you sequence your cooking so prepping garlic comes right after peeling tomatillos, you’re golden. Like god intended them to go…

I can’t understand how people can hurt themselves with an immersion blender. I would think that if one’s IQ is greater than the average houseplant, they would understand that you shouldn’t touch the spinning blade. Other than that... what can go wrong?

Mashed potatoes? That seems strange... You like them really liquidy? Otherwise I think the blade would just cavitate. (Spoken as someone who makes mashed potatoes with a ricer and a silicone spoontula).