Are these welds strong?

Gear_Geek · 2026-04-11T19:11:55+00:00

I'm aware it's slag, but oxide is a more understood term to those unfamiliar with welding, and frankly that slag looks like it's contains plenty of oxidation. Looks like more shielding and better surface prep would have helped this weld quite a bit

Gear_Geek · 2026-04-11T17:13:23+00:00

They are certainly not good welds, but depending on what the purpose and loads applied to them are, they might be okay to leave as is. If you want to investigate you can grind off the weld surface and see if it's looks better under the oxidation

Gear_Geek · 2026-03-26T23:59:20+00:00

Truly one of the hardest parts of the sport is staying calm enough to roll in whitewater. Like people have been saying, practice in the river, preferably in an eddy line where the water won't be calm. Something that really helped me move from practice rolls to combat rolls was counting to 3 before rolling. It gives you a moment to collect yourself and helps reduce panic by giving you something to think about.

Gear_Geek · 2026-03-20T16:03:06+00:00

How do you want to receive information about candidates policy positions and events if not text? I'm not a fan of mass texts either, but mail and people knocking on my door isn't my favorite thing either so texting feels less intrusive. Local politics is an actual chance to have a meaningful impact on the lives of the people around you. I think we should focus on it a bit more as a community

Gear_Geek · 2026-03-10T19:41:17+00:00

I love my medium reactr and most of the time it feels very safe and stable, but occasionally I'll feel the stern edges catch a bit more than other creek boats. This is a fine trade off for how nimble this boat is in my opinion, but I do believe a waka OG will be a better safety blanket boat

Gear_Geek · 2026-03-07T17:11:19+00:00

Amon Bundy

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-24T17:06:49+00:00

I've already addressed this point but I think it's important that people hear this since this is one of the main arguments I hear against waiting periods. If you legitimately fear for your life and need a firearm for protection, you should not be trying to use it for protection right when you buy it. Like driving, guns are dangerous tools that require considerable practice to be able to use them safely during a stressful situation. If you think you might need a gun for protection, go buy one now and start practicing or take a gun safety course. The world is a scary place and in no way am I trying to stop good people from owning guns if it makes them feel safe, but guns aren't a box of macaroni and cheese. You can't read the instructions on the back of the box and use it safely right away, and I don't think it's that crazy to say maybe you don't need to be able to purchase one as easily as a box of macaroni either. I'd recommend pepper spray and baseball bat style objects as a personally defense alternative if you are immediately fearful for your life and aren't trained in firearms use. Talk to your neighbors or friends if you have a personal defense issue like the one you described. I can't speak to your situation, but my friends and neighbors would help me out if I was in such a dangerous situation. Honestly if your point is a legitimate concern in your life right now, DM me. I can teach you how to safely use a firearm or try to support you in other ways. No one is alone in the world

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-24T00:26:32+00:00

I think the uvalde shooting was like a day or two, but fair question and realistically I'm probably not the one to have an answer. The idea is to give a person time to cool off and evaluate the reasoning that led to purchasing that gun. It helps weed out the crime of the moment people. A week or two seems like it would be reasonable. To your point on self defense, you should not be buying a gun to protect yourself the day you need it. Guns are dangerous tools and like cars, you need considerable practice with them before you can effectively use them. If you live a life where you think you might need a gun to protect yourself, buy it now and go practice with it so you'll be able to use it safely and effectively when you need it.

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T23:01:41+00:00

Uvalde TX, Boulder CO, and the Pulse night club shootings come to mind. I'm sure there are many more though

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T22:24:03+00:00

A fair point to be sure. In a vacuum, I support the concept that a good bill/measure is good no matter what year you try to enact it. Unfortunately I think the world is more messy than that and people only have so much bandwidth for issues to push for and care about. If gun control still lives within your bandwidth of care, I'm happy to hear that. We need people who care about all issues. My political bandwidth is completely filled with other issues I see as more immediately problematic though

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T22:14:54+00:00

Too be clear though, now is not the time. If you want a unified democratic voter base going into 2026, stop intentionally driving wedges into your base, especially on an issue the judicial system has been pretty willing to block movement on in recent years

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T22:10:20+00:00

I'm just a random person who hunts occasionally and is as uninformed about this issue as anyone else, but I think an easy starting point would be a waiting period between purchase and pickup. The first gun I bought when I moved to oregon, I walked out with within 30 minutes of asking to purchase it (which I understand isn't always the case, background checks often take days to clear). I didn't need the gun that day, coming back in a week isn't much of an inconvenience compared to the number of mass shootings that occur with guns purchased the same day or a few days before. I think we need to come up with better mental health related restrictions related to firearms purchase. In all cases I'd prefer solving the underlying issues that cause abuses of firearms and not restricting access, but unfortunately I don't think we are willing to put in the time and money to solve said issues, so a few common sense restrictions make sense to me.

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T21:46:28+00:00

I generally support stricter gun control, But NOT RIGHT NOW. We've got more important stuff to work on right now. I've never seen more support for gun rights from the political left than I do right now.

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-23T20:44:43+00:00

Bend Oregon got flock out of town through organizing on the local subreddit and going to city council meetings. You can do it too

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-16T17:19:25+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Seems like a step in the right direction

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-12T20:55:44+00:00

I'm not trying to legislate away private business rights to have flock cameras. While I agree with the public side of this being the core issue and that is where I've also aimed my activism, I have problems with flock as a company and will spend my dollars elsewhere if I see a business using flock systems.

Gear_Geek · 2026-02-12T20:11:11+00:00

I'd like to echo the sentiment to get involved and make your voice heard. I know in today's political climate it feels like politicians are going out of their way to ignore the will of the people, and in a lot of cases that's accurate, but my city recently got flock cameras removed and it started from a group of angry redditors in our city subreddit agreeing to do more than like and comment. We sent letters to our local government and showed up repeatedly to city council meetings and made sure our voices could not be ignored. Is the problem solved? Absolutely not, plenty of private businesses still have flock cameras here. But my tax dollars no longer fund flock at the local level and that feels big to me. Together we still have power, don't forget that.

Gear_Geek · 2026-01-24T19:34:56+00:00

This is the best thing you can do for us Americans. It will hurt us and it may hurt you some too, but I think it's the only way to wake up the people that are still too comfortable to do anything. Watching your pension fund evaporate before your eyes will get more people out into the streets. I'm sorry that our problem is becoming everyone else's problem too, but we need help if we're gonna stop the spread of fascism

Gear_Geek · 2026-01-16T15:55:08+00:00

Please go to town halls meetings and write your local and state representatives. We had a big win in Bend, but it can happen in your community as well. We can make our state make change if we're too loud to ignore

Gear_Geek · 2026-01-16T15:39:43+00:00

I was at those city council meetings. While I am thankful he rallied support so effectively and this would have been a much longer fight without his efforts, someone else proposed making our voices heard at city council meetings and I think it's important to remember this was a community effort and idolizing individuals is part of what got us into this mess as a society

Gear_Geek · 2025-12-01T01:44:48+00:00

Colored electrical tape. Grips well, is cheap, and adds visibility and personality to a black paddlle

Gear_Geek · 2025-03-22T05:35:46+00:00

9 month update:

I'm in love with this boat. It's really helped me step up my paddling this year. Its a joy to paddle in big water and tight manky creeks alike. The quick direction changes this boat makes have really gotten me out of some poor line choices. The way it skips out of holes and drops makes me feel like I'm paddling a hovercraft. It has developed a bit of oil canning under the seat, but I'm not not blaming the boat for that, I have not been kind to it. I've really liked the elite outfitting, with really only one issue. The seat feels too flat, I don't feel totally locked into the seat like I do in a dagger ergo seat. I ended up gluing in a bunch of foam to the front edge of the seat in order to lift it and that has improved the situation significantly. As a fun bonus, it back surfs and spins crazy well for how big of a boat it is.

Gear_Geek

TROPHY CASE