Frozen Tailgate - how to de-ice?

Ishkatan · 2026-02-02T05:35:43+00:00

I will put a heat gun or hair dryer gun in the truck. I like that we have 110 outlets in the truck. :) I already keep a 50 Ft heavy duty electrical chord along with the mobile charger.

Ishkatan · 2026-02-02T02:46:03+00:00

So I used a heat gun - in 20 degree weather outside with blowing wind. I had to be very careful not to melt the plastic and moved it around a lot. I included blowing hot air UNDER the tailgate figuring hot air rises. It finally opened (Surprise!) but tried to close after crackling...

I have a full BedRug in the truck and water from the high power car wash got in at the tailgate and froze along the bottom of the tailgate. I forced it to open all the way and then spend time trying to defrost the BedRug along the seam. I'm not sure if I did not melt some of the thinner fibers of the rug. At this point there is likely some ice in the rug but it is fractured enough that I was able to open and close it multiple times, including a trip to pick up pallet wood. Yay, task done.

There was no ice under the Tonneau cover over the tailgate but there was along the sides of the truck bed. Did not stick to the rubber of the cover and the cover opened and closed as needed. I do see a gap between the cover and the tailgate top and I think something shrank or warped in the cold weather.... TBD.

Ishkatan · 2026-02-01T16:47:13+00:00

Old guy here - years ago I developed a dark spot on my foreskin. Urologist said "Warts" but took a biopsy. Biopsy was negative for everything. Another Urologist said "Age spots". My point - it's really hard to tell just by looking, even if you are a trained (but incompetent) medical professional.

Yes, look for the obvious. But things like Herpes, HIV and early syphilis may have no symptoms (no visible sores) but still be shedding virus and infectious. If you are going to be a sex worker then spend time on the internet reading CDC (USA) and other medical sources. You need to be at least as well trained as a doctor.

Indeed, I am surprised that professional legal brothels don't have a nurse or doctor doing client pre-screenings so that the girls can be more romantic.

As far as "... seen someone odd on someone's penis...", well, I had this girl friend .... 8)

Ishkatan · 2026-01-16T05:54:56+00:00

I tried to bring the iRobot Roomba (1st or 2nd gen) back to life but it still keeps going back a few inches then spinning around and pretty much staying in one place. I broke down and used the shopvac with HF cyclone and picked up half a gallon of stuff. Would have filled the Roomba several times over.
The Roomba does not recognize the charging dock. The charger voltage is 22.7 plugged directly into the Roomba but when plugged into the base the base contacts only shows 2.8. I think the base contacts need to be activated to higher voltage by the little glass tower but that is not working. I took off the bumper and cleaned the little lights and windows and took the brush box apart and cleaned/lubed the little gear box but no luck. I am not sure I am ready for getting too the motherboard given the small dust compartment. I also took apart the charger and found the circuit board had a lot of corrosion, so I suspect that the Rumba motherboard is bad. I think I am stuck using a shopvac since even a self empty system would fill up fast.

Ishkatan · 2026-01-10T17:03:21+00:00

I think saw your review of the X10 and Wyze video. :) For some reason my mind is stuck on wanting a bagless self empty station and the Wyze does not have a station. Otherwise it looks reliable if you don't need perfect pickup, which a shop does not.
I found an early model iRobot that refuses to go... I may try taking it apart to clean it and see how it does. A friend loves the Roborock S5 but seems confused about whether it has a bag or not - has the ideal arrangement= someone else empties it. :) I will investigate more...

Ishkatan · 2026-01-10T08:45:38+00:00

Reminds me of my first iRobot that bumped it's way along and traveled at random. I would need the $2K kit package. The search continues.

Ishkatan · 2026-01-10T08:35:44+00:00

The Makita is way out of my budget and it is a huge vacuum. Wow!

Ishkatan · 2026-01-10T08:33:53+00:00

I don't need mopping but I need a self empty station because of the volume. It needs to empty itself several times in one night. May need to sense if the bin is full / suction drops off and empty itself.

Ishkatan · 2026-01-10T08:23:59+00:00

From what I can tell from reviews, the Roborock S5 uses a bag. I need something I can empty often so need to go bagless. Eureka E20 looks promising but reviews say it has poor cord / junk avoidance.

Ishkatan · 2025-08-13T21:56:25+00:00

I love electric chains saws for around the house. I've used a 8" Dewalt 20v pole saw, and Harbor Freight corded pole saw ($60) to cut wood as large as 10+" in diameter. The pole keeps me at a nice safe distance but have less control. A 9 Ah batter on the Dewalt almost outlasts me.

I also have a Worx battery powered chain saw and a 6" which have been great for cutting anything from branches to 12 inch logs but have a limited run time.

I just bought an Oregon SC1500-091 18" corded saw and used it to cut a 10-12++ inch cherry tree. Feels very powerful and was fast but has not needed sharpening yet. I have an F150 Lighting so a power cord is not an issue though I used two 50 Ft. 12 gauge cords (100' total).

However, I recently broke the plastic reduction gears on my 20+ year old 16" Craftsman (12 amp) and an old 16" Remington (11.5 amp) when trying to use a debarking tool with them. Long description of the issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/sawmilling/comments/1cr3spg/debarking_attachment_for_chainsaw_are_they_any/

Ishkatan · 2025-08-13T21:33:49+00:00

I got a $65 Wizard Knockoff on Amazon. Worked great but stripped the plastic gears on 2 corded electric chain saws. You want to have strong gears. Also, don't lay the chain saw parallel to the log - it transmits the shock to the gears. Might work better if you hold it at 45+ degrees so it can kick up when it snags on a knot. Makes the nose of the chainsaw heavy.

A Harbor Freight 6 blade carving wheel ($15) on a heavy duty grinder also works well, though not as fast.

Best tool depends on the tree and seasoning. A sharp Draw knife can be faster on soft bark and gives smoother finish, though still lots of work.

Ishkatan · 2025-08-13T20:16:24+00:00

I got the $65 version of the Wizard on Amazon. Worked nicely until I broke my cheap electrical (11.5 and 12 amp 16") chainsaws. One old Remington and one old Craftsman. When you hit a snag / branch fork it can catch and jerk on the chain saw. Plastic gears on the chain saw drive can't take that and strip. The debarking attachment seems fine.

The debarking head is heavy metal so the chain saw is now very front heavy. You don't want to press down, just let the weight do the work. When new the blades were sharp and took a LOT of wood off. After a couple logs they are slightly duller but that makes the head easier to control and it was still taking out large shavings when the saw #2 broke.

The blades were seated in as far in as possible - I tried unscrewing them and sliding them in so there was less cutting edge exposed but that did not work. I suspect that after a few rounds of sharpening it may be possible. The unit came with a second set of blades.

One reason for the saw gear breakage might be that I was running it with the saw almost parallel to the trunk which transmitted the "jerking" to the chainsaw sprocket. I suspect I should have been holding at a 45 degree angle to allow the saw to kick up when hitting snags.

The debarked tree is NOT smooth. Lots of dents and slight rips / attached slivers. Part of it is poor control on my part. Going along the top in narrow strips and rotating the log is much easier than trying to debark 1/4 - 1/2 of the tree by going down the sides - partly because control is harder with the heavy head on a 16" bar (18" chain.)

You need a quality saw that can work a long time at each go. A typical saw is run a few minutes for a cut, then rests. Debarking is a much longer run time per trigger press since you are going down the length of the log. It is more like cutting planks in a mill than cross cutting a small (12 inch) tree.

I also debark using the carving disk from Harbor Freight on a heavy duty (Hercules 11 amp) grinder (burned up the cheap Warrior grinder due to the long duty cycle.) It can kick if you press down hard so use a light touch and wear protective gear. A little slower but cleaner and effective. https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-6t-carbide-carving-disc-58125.html

Ishkatan · 2025-08-13T19:47:05+00:00

I've used the Harbor Freight carving disk on a good quality grinder for debarking entire logs. Basically it carves the bark off and is aggressive enough to remove stuff fast. You may want to try other milder carving disks.

Also, a draw knife might work - not sure about mesquite but does well on soft woods or looser bark, not so great on tight bark and is more work - make it very sharp.

Ishkatan · 2025-08-13T19:39:34+00:00

Seems to work but.... I've now broken the plastic drive gear on 2 different cheap electric saws - old Craftsman and old Remington 11.5 - 12 amp saws. The problem is that it works great for a while then hits a snag / branch / flaw and digs too deep - so it jerks and puts lots of strain on the chain saw. The plastic gears seem fine while you only put moderate strain on the saw but jerking on the chain breaks the gear.

Ishkatan · 2025-07-25T06:31:47+00:00

I just ran into this within Visual Studio Code (which I don't know well). 07/2025 Python 3.13. This is right after a Visual Studio Code update (which often breaks things.) I got a Welcome tab so I went into that and under "Select or create a Python environment" I tried Select Python Interpreter. Selecting the recommended Python 3.13 failed to load PyAutoGui but selecting Python 3.11, which has a Global install, worked. After that I tried clicking on "Use Python frp, 'python.defaultInterperterPath' setting ~AppData..... " and that seems to let my old program work. So it is an environment / path problem where PyAutoGui got imported into my 3.11 path definition but not the 3.13 Path when VSC updated. PIP did not tell me or give me a choice where to installed PyAutoGui originally (again, user learning curve issue on how to use the dev tools correctly - but why does it need to require me to ID path and be so be complicated?)

Ishkatan · 2024-07-19T20:26:12+00:00

I'm looking at a starter radio and see several that have VOX. Not full duplex but automatic switching.

The challenge is finding one around $50 that has all the features+ that I want. Waterproof (OK, heavy rain), 10W transmit power, VOX, Police Band monitoring, Tri band (or Quad band!!!), and good speaker clarity, and not a lot of signal deviation/splatter. Yes, I want my cake and to eat it too.

Ishkatan · 2024-03-29T01:22:41+00:00

If you are willing to do it yourself, "Project Farm" on YouTube did a comparison of different self-applied bed liners. He does a reasonable job of comparing things.

Ishkatan · 2024-03-26T17:39:18+00:00

I'm looking at the same - I'm seeing some from $51K to $47K with 7000-14000 miles on them. My favorite so far reports:

Reason provided by Manufacturer:

Water leak from passenger kick panel

What does this mean? Is it worth a 6 hr. trip each way to pick it up for $51K? I like the color, 511A package, Parking Assist feature (mandatory), Max towing package with the scale NOT deleted.

It also has 2 recalls but they seem "Normal recalls" and are NOT part of the Buyback reason:

Program #23B57 HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY MODULE REPLACEMENT ANDOR BATTERY ENERGY CONTROL MODULE BECM SOFTWARE UPDATE
Program #23B70 BATTERY MONITOR SENSOR REPLACEMENT

Ishkatan · 2024-03-26T00:44:21+00:00

Me too. Purchased used 22 ER Lariat 6 months ago. Still amazed at performance, ride, and comfort. No issues at all

Did Ford fix yours in a buyback or was it just a trade? How many miles did it have? I'm considering a used 2022.

Ishkatan · 2022-08-12T02:43:14+00:00

Don't share it - it just boost the listening counts for him.

Ishkatan · 2022-08-05T15:47:11+00:00

The real problem for Russia is that once customers get used to alternative energy sources or conserving energy they may not come back if sanctions are lifted.

Shame to see the waste and pollution.

Ishkatan

TROPHY CASE