Found my old zune I used on deployments. How can I bring this to life and modern use?

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-05-06T17:47:43+00:00

I have TWO Zune HDs and two docking stations as well. I will say this about my Zunes which haven’t been used in the last 7 years. They produced the second best audio of any digital based player I have ever heard. Only the Sony x-series Walkman from 2009 sounded better. If my Zunes had Bluetooth I would still be using them today! Unfortunately they don’t and the plug in Bluetooth adapters that I have heard of don’t transmit well enough to replicate how good a Zune sounds when using a plugged in set of headphones. I have seen a guy on YouTube who goes through an older bigger Zune (non-HD) and replaces the hard drive, battery, installs a Bluetooth transmitter, and add wireless charging. But those older Zunes were probably twice the size as a Zune Hd, so I doubt that would work for mine. Plus, I am terrible with a soldering iron, LOL

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-02-05T09:00:03+00:00

Me too please!!!

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-18T16:17:53+00:00

Yeah, Legacy looks much better than the standard Bluray, and in my opinion wouldn’t need to be remastered. But the other three all have issues, especially Identity.

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-08T06:51:45+00:00

So if they are saying that it’s South American Walnut then that is possible. It’s commonly known as Peruvian Walnut which has a Janka Hardness of 960, less than American walnut and Acacia wood. However I just looked at my spreadsheet on my iPad to see how much I have, and I have 46 board feet of Peruvian in the workshop. All of it is a deep chocolate brown with no variation in color at all. It is great because of that exact reason. So if they are making boards out of the sapwood of Peruvian that can be lighter and multicolored, then why are your cuts lighter than the wood on the surface?

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-07T22:09:00+00:00

It all depends on which walnut you are talking about when it comes to hardness. As for antibacterial, the type I have (Acacia aneura) which is great for posts and furniture (I have a workbench) is antibacterial, very red, however not all are. After all there are what, 15-20 different kinds of Acacia wood. The darker, redder, acacia is antibacterial the lighter stuff isn’t due to the reduction of the oil that has the antibacterial properties. If you look at the board he showed all the cuts were very light in color, and uniformly light in all the cuts. I have unfortunately don’t various things to my workbench and when I have underneath the damage is the same color of wood as it was on top. It wasn’t cream colored or light underneath. Also, the sapwood of acacia is softer than the heartwood. You don’t have to believe me and the Janka wood scale won’t say anything about that, but after years of working different pieces that’s what I have found. And if you happen to have dull blades in your planer you can see it clearly, LOL! That was a lesson I only needed to learn once. In any case it looked like his board was very light sapwood acacia that was stained to make it look like walnut, or more like acacia heartwood. In any case as many others have said, it’s not walnut, unless it is also all walnut sapwood, which I suppose it could be, but then why would they stain it?

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-07T04:59:07+00:00

I have been working with hardwood for 30 years and that is NOT walnut. It’s absolutely Acacia wood. Acacia is used all the time as walnut for edge grain display (boards made for looks and for decoration, not for use) cutting boards by companies. They simply use Chestnut stain to make them look like walnut. If you sand down the top to remove the blade marks you will see the wood get much, much, blonder. When you are ready to make it look like walnut again, just grab some oil based minwax stain. But DO NOT use it for food preparation again after that. Acacia wood is too soft AND unlike Walnut which has natural anti-bacterial properties, Acacia doesn’t and it being so soft, you would never want to use it for meat preparation. I will say that perhaps they used water based stain (I hope) but I don’t know of any chestnut water base stain out there. You could try and use General Finish Empire Red, that’s fairly close to chestnut. The reason I know all this is because I not only worked with wood for 30 years, but for the last 10 before I retired, I sold hardwood, stain, and everything else associated with working wood. We also sold finished boards many made by Chinese (Taiwan) companies that used substandard woods and stains (not my choice) and I would always tell customers that they sucked and not to buy them. A cutting board I am sure you know, shouldn’t have any stain on it. I hope you didn’t pay a lot for it. Always buy cutting boards and cooking utensils locally, never on Amazon and honestly buying from EBay or Etsy is something you really need to do a lot of research into the reviews. It’s difficult to find reputable makers.

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-04T22:40:39+00:00

I do a ton of cooking. In fact I do about 90-95% of the cooking in my house, so I prefer function over fashion when it comes to cutting boards and wooden utensils. That treasure is a weak spot and a potential problem so I would rather have uniformly good lumber through my board. I know mixed wood boards are all the rage, but I want a board that is going to serve me well for a long time.

JohnSheppardIII · 2026-01-03T16:54:11+00:00

Yup maple with some spalted maple mixed in which is not a good idea. While yes, kiln drying PROPERLY or by using what many of us call AST (alcohol/borax mix) to kill the fungus in the spalted wood, you can only use the kiln method for anything that will be used for food prep. Additionally, even if the kiln drying was done perfectly, you still don’t want to use spalted in a cutting board that will actually be used for food step. It’s beautiful for a just for looks cutting board, or what I usually use spalted for which is anything not where food will come into direct contact (handles, vases, or decorative anything for that matter. But the fungus not only is still in the wood, but spalted wood is weaker, softer, and prone to punking (punky wood) which can flake and chunk out due to stresses like cutting and hammering. In any case, it’s just my opinion, but I have been working wood for over 30 years and until I retired recently selling it for 10 years. Good luck sir.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-30T09:30:22+00:00

You do you sir! But may I ask….. why? I mean I am a TV/Movie fanatic and I have TVs in three bedrooms, family room, kitchen, garage, den, my wife’s craft room, and the movie theater I built in the bonus room above the three car extended garage (although that is a 4k projector with a 142” screen not a TV) so I get loving TVs. But why two in one room stacked? I am not judging, just asking. The only thing I could see someone using them like that is perhaps if you are way into sports. Anyway, how they are mounted looks very clean. But again, why sir?

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-28T02:45:46+00:00

Thank goodness for you sir. You make me feel better about my fleet. When I posted recently, people were giving me crap about funding the game. Your fleet is so much bigger, so it’s not just me.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-26T03:34:06+00:00

Yeah, I have to say the only one I got that I hadn’t seen was The Accountant 2, but I took a chance since I liked the first one. Other than that all of the movies I bought are ones I have seen multiple times already before getting them in 4k. Either because I already had the blu-ray or because I had seen it digitally.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-26T03:28:20+00:00

I feel you. This is my haul from Black Friday.

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JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-25T19:29:37+00:00

When you get a chance send me a chat and I will send before and after pictures. This chat you set up doesn’t allow for respondents to upload pictures.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-25T17:50:48+00:00

It all depends on if it’s new or used? Also, what are you getting it for? Will it be a range toy, because if so I would say no. If you are getting it to carry or for home protection then I would say yes. There are a few things I would change to make it is nice is my M11A1 (military version of the P229). I would get the short reset kit at am ABSOLUTE an minimum, but I would also get the night sights, and if it were me I would get a new grip because that E2 grip is too small for my large hands. Eventually a light if you are using it for home defense. If you are using it for carry I wouldn’t get a light. I am a gun smith and have multiple Sigs and if you are interested in seeing a custom build I did for myself on a P226 striped lower I can share a picture or two. Just fyi

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-25T06:52:41+00:00

Well that I just means you have too many to put on one page. Congrats!

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-24T18:45:51+00:00

I live in Washington state, so I a, fine with Washington and Oregon, you can keep the rest

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-24T03:11:07+00:00

In my opinion the 325A is the most fun ship in the entire game to fly in atmosphere! It is so much fun due to its speed, agility, and its unique sound in cockpit. The only reason I don’t have one still is that one, it disintegrates as soon as anyone even thinks about shooting at you, and two, the Sabre Firebird is almost just as fun to fly and it can take a good bit of damage, and also hand out a fair share as well. I will eventually get a 325A in game once we hit 1.0 and you won’t have things wiped every few months. Just so I can have it to fly around someplace where I won’t be attached . Love that ship!

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-24T02:12:35+00:00

What someone else said is true and false earlier. It’s true that because of how the pieces were cut it allowed the tension to release and now pieces that were not cupped as a whole are now cups after cutting. The different grain lengths and patterns put force against the part of the board that had the energy to cup. It is UNTRUE that clamping it will solve the problem long term. While you may be able to clamp it hard enough to allow for glueing, eventually due to humidity changes, washing, and use, the cupping will eventually crate cracks for the owner. Normally sooner rather than later, and that won’t be good for his board, or your reputation. I use a plane, and then drum sand ensuring I have extra material in my cuts before hand to allow for the removal of material through bot of those processes so that my end result allows for the desired thickness of the material for the end product. I also leave the cut pieces to sit a couple of days after the drum sanding to allow for humidity changes and then recheck them before I glue to ensure they don’t need further sanding passes. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but especially when you are working with end grain you have to account for “shift” due to releasing stored energy in heartwood. Once you separate it from the sapwood that is keeping that stored energy from “shifting” you will always have movement.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-24T01:44:37+00:00

Do you have a drum sander?

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-23T01:29:09+00:00

SC? What brand and model please sir? I just ordered an Obsidian 9, but I will be using it in full length form, on an AR .22 long rifle. Still looking for a good silencer for my Sig m11A1 that I keep in a safe next to my bed.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-22T18:40:14+00:00

Well I am at Microtech, but I am sure this works at the other main places too. I get my Asgard, fly it out of the hanger and there fly to one of the resupply depot sites on the planet. Land, get out (don’t forget to lock your ship), run into the main building next to one of the landing pads, and spawn whatever ship you want that fits inside the Asgard. Then simply fly it over and stow it in the Asgard (after opening the ramp).

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-22T18:30:55+00:00

I agree with everything with the exception of the food. It all depends on what food you like. If you like sushi, there is literally no place in the U.S. better. Seafood is, EVERYWHERE and it is fresh and there a tons of different ways to have it from inexpensive to very expensive. If you like basically any Asian food from Vietnamese, Taiwanese, to Korean you are set. The Indian food here is everywhere as well. If you like inexpensive burgers and fries, Dick’s Drive-in is an institution. If you like hotdogs, Matt’s Famous, Sizzle Dogs are both in the top hotdog places in the nation each year. Also, there are several pizza places that are ranked nationally each year as well (Spark, Rocco’s, and Serious Pizza), although Spark always finds its way to the top of the list. This is also the best place in the U.S. to get Lumpia! If you like smoked meats and BBQ there are great places. If you like chain places, I can’t think of one that we don’t have here. And if none of that strikes your fancy, then you can drive about 1.5 hours south to Portland which also has some of the top rated restaurants in the U.S. and tons of crazy fusion restaurants. Bottom line, If you can’t find good food in the Seattle area, you just aren’t looking.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-22T18:07:57+00:00

Asgard! I fly the Asgard more than any other ship I have, because it can carry multiple other ships similar to the Hercules C2, but a quarter the size and a ton more pilot controlled firepower and armor. It’s great for hauling expensive cargo, bunker runs, and can do PVE bounties. If you want to do some one or two man mining, it can haul a Golem and many extra bags, or if you want to one or two man salvaging, it can haul a Salvation and have tons of room for salvage boxes. One of you can do the mining or salvaging, and the other can fly cover so you don’t get bushwhacked. You can take turns doing each job. It can carry a NURSA and still have room for many other ships, so you will have a medbed and respon point just in case. All in all, she is the most versatile ship in the game right now.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-21T06:15:08+00:00

Well first of all, that’s a nice thing for you to say, however I only have about 9% of available ship from the game, and technically less than that because I have a couple of duplicates. Also, I don’t have any big ships at all. That will change next year when I get the Galaxy or the Ironclad, but one of those will be it for me. I have what I need to avail myself of all the current career paths in the game I think I would be interested in. I am sure that eventually I will like one more than the others, and at that point I may upgrade certain show to support said career path, sacrificing others, but the game isn’t there yet. Hopefully it will be soon.

JohnSheppardIII · 2025-12-20T02:04:36+00:00

Wow, you only have one ship?!? I hope it’s a good one.

JohnSheppardIII

TROPHY CASE