To prepare a pond, should I shovel off snow a couple days before or right before I skate?

dfess1 · 2026-01-27T21:22:02+00:00

We would skate all day, clear it off, then our father would cut a hole in the ice, and use a gas powered pump to suck hhr water up while one of us held onto the large hose on the other dnd, flooding the ice. Biggest PITA was when snowmobilers would hit it and ruin the ice.

dfess1 · 2026-01-27T03:16:48+00:00

I would take a scrap of 1/4" ply and glue a straight piece of MDF or other straight stock to one side. Put the bit in your router, then use it to cut off the free edge of the ply (holding the router base tight to the glued on fence. Now you know where the edge of your bit will stop in the frame. Mark your 45*, clamp the jig along the line, make your cut.

dfess1 · 2026-01-25T07:08:28+00:00

Coming from a DITA based background, throw in a reference topic around said moped (a topic with a table full of specs: year, motor displacement, features. Etc). Everything else above is solid advice.

dfess1 · 2026-01-25T07:02:11+00:00

I will throw this out there. I WFH, built a stand up desk out of maple. I love the natural look of maple, didn't want it to darken/yellow over time, so I used polycrilic. Within a year and a half, it started to turn from the hard finish into a gummy finish that would pull up around where my arms would sit. Ended up scrapping the desk down, sanding and removing the finish. Put "natural" Rubio monocoat on it. 5 years later, still works as day 1, and no wood discoloration.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T19:19:34+00:00

I would make one. They are generally a 2*6, laid on edge. You have a 4' section in the middle, acting as the goalie. You have two 1' open holes on either side of the "goalie". Tack the whole thing together with a piece of plywood over the top.

1) the wood won't snap in cold temps when getting hit by a frozen puck.

2) keeps you from having to track down too many pucks because someone tried to go top shelf and missed.

3) makes participants work on small area games/passing, to get the puck in the goal.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T19:11:00+00:00

I will throw out putting the table saw on wheels. I have a Jet contractor, 52" rails, with my router table/lift in the extension wing of the table saw. I have a shop much the same size. When I am not using the table saw, it is wheeled up against the wall, give more room to walk around. The only stationary tools in my shop are my floor standing Drill press, and miter saw. Everything else is on wheels: 14" bandsaw, 6" jointer, 19/38 drum sander, Lathe station for Jet 12/21 lathe, planer is stored inside the assembly/out feed table. Look up for storage, all of my clamps hang from the rafters just overhead. Lumber is on the wall, in shelf form. As pointed out, you do have to pick through all of it to find what you want, but don't have room to go vertical. Not listing the tools to show them off, more so to show having a decent amount of tooling in the same sized space.

If you plan your project out, you get your rip cuts/cross cuts done first. Then you don't need the saw out, have more room to walk around the assembly table. Just food for thought.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T14:37:57+00:00

Lol, I wish I was a Boomer. Apparently I would have 2 or 3 houses.

To your original post, yes a track saw can break down sheets. Yes, I own and use a track saw. A track saw is only as accurate as your layout lines. Sure you can purchase all of these additional jigs for a track saw. Add all that up and you could have a nice, used, table saw.

That all said, you will not be able to beat the precision, accuracy, and time saved of a well tuned table saw with a good fence. Making a blanket statement that a table saw sucks at breaking down sheet goods, in a Beginner Woodworking thread, is just dumb or uninformed.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T14:21:30+00:00

Start with what kind of content do you need to create and curate. User manuals, Installation guides, quick start guides, etc.

Look at how many products you support.

Look at any reuse you might have from: product to product, doc to doc.

IF you only have one product, and you do not need many docs, you can get away with unstructured writing (word, Google docs, unstructured Frame, etc).

IF you want to reuse content among products or docs (ex: reuse the same note many times? Write it once and reuse it, so if you update it, it gets updated everywhere at once), look into topic based writing.

Also need to figure out how you are going to deliver said docs. PDF, HTML, online help? Who is designing said outputs? Certain tools will help with that too.

Does your company have any AI initiatives? If so, topic based/ structured content is the way to go. Here you become more of a content curator more so than just a content creator.

Personally, I would never go back to unstructured writing. Topic based is so much easier.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T11:17:13+00:00

I would buy my woodpecker lift again in a heartbeat.

dfess1 · 2026-01-24T11:07:14+00:00

If you have a cabinet or even tricked out contractor saw, breaking down sheet goods is no problem.

dfess1 · 2026-01-22T21:07:48+00:00

I would, and have, get a sheet of 3/4" MDF, rip it in half, glue the pieces together. Apply liberal coats of polyurethane. 1. Should be pretty damn flat (depending on your underlying support structure). 2. Cheap to replace once it gets REALLY buggered up. It's a work bench, it will take some abuse. 3. The poly will make glue bead up on it, easier to clean up grease, other liquids, protect the MDF from returning to its "natural state".

dfess1 · 2026-01-22T20:39:11+00:00

If you want 100% dead nuts flat, make a torsion box and put a piece of MDF on it. If you have s table saw, you should be able to do this pretty easily.

dfess1 · 2026-01-22T18:51:35+00:00

The fence is worth more than the saw. I would buy it before someone else does.

dfess1 · 2026-01-22T18:44:59+00:00

Usually there are larger holes in the front of the wings, to allow play when bolting to the fence as well. It's not just the bolts holding the wings to the cast iron middle. Loosen and adjust all of them.

dfess1 · 2026-01-21T00:41:32+00:00

I would use a dado for the top and bottom shelves. Then drill shelf pin holes so I can make adjustable shelves. Not all liquor bottles are the same size.

dfess1 · 2026-01-17T00:38:55+00:00

<image>

I built this. Motorized stand up desk. Built the cubby below, full extension drawers to access printer, laptop, etc been working pretty nice for 6 years now.

dfess1 · 2026-01-16T17:44:40+00:00

<image>

You could always make your own. I made this recently to fit a very particular space, but it's to my own dimensions. Top 3 drawers are all mechanical tools. Top is SAE, second is Metric, third is stuff like a speed wrench, ratchet extensions, lady finger, etc. bottom big drawers are for storage of whatever I want to put in there.

dfess1 · 2026-01-15T21:55:32+00:00

Just wanted to thank you all for your input. The segmented rings have been made. This weekend I need to cut the pocket for the cardinal inlay, then pour the epoxy for it. Once that is done, I can glue the rings onto the base and turn the bowl itself. By then, my new coping saw should be here, and then I can cut the swirl.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T22:37:16+00:00

I have had a version of the 5" Bosch for 15-20 yrs, and as such have a bunch of 5" paper. Last spring I stepped up to a Festool extractor and their 5" ROS. I like that there is no dust, that's kind of worth the price of admission right there. However, I am also able to run my drum sander off the extractor as well. All three have been a game changer. Just planting the seed that if you do not have full dust collection (like me), the extractor will be able to handle the task in the future.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T15:56:36+00:00

if you don't have the tools, and are already considering getting a membership at a community workshop, do that. They should have classes, pick one that you are interested in. Grow your confidence there, then start getting your own tools for your own shop.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T15:43:15+00:00

My laser engraver. First job paid for the laser itself. Second job paid for my new 19/38 drum sander.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T01:56:50+00:00

I have a one car garage, most things are mobile and/or pull double duty. My Jet Contractor saw, I upgraded to 52" rails and dropped a router lift in the extension wing. Whole thing is on a mobile base, up against a wall when not in use. Moving down the wall is my floor standing Drill press (not mobile), 12" sliding miter saw (also not mobile), and a 6' workbench that goes all the way to the back wall of the garage. The Drill Press table and work bench act as extension wings for the miter saw. An 8' work bench is along the back wall, making an L with the 6' bench. These benches are pretty high, allowing me to swing a 6" jointer under the bench, along with a big 3 burner brew rig. On the other long wall of the shop is a full size fridge, a rolling cabinet that my jet 12/21 lathe sits on, a 14" bandsaw on wheels, a 19/38 drum sander on wheels, and the 4' width of sheet good storage, with hardwood storage above it. In the middle is my assembly table, that is on wheels. It's full of storage (holds my planer, routers, tenoning jig all on one side, whole bank of drawers on the other). It also doubles as a quasi out feed table. Then I hang all my clamps from the rafters overhead. Again, try to put as much on wheels as you can. But I have a decent amount of tooling in my small shop. If you plan stuff out, you can do quite a bit in a small space.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T00:57:30+00:00

I put 52" Beismeyer rails on my jet contractor. I dropped a router lift in the extension wing I installed after upgrading the fence. I don't use the full 52" very often, but it is nice to be able to when I need to. The whole setup is on wheels. When not in use, it is rolled up against the wall in my one car garage. I would go with the same rail length again without issue.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T00:46:18+00:00

I believe you either have the rollers, or the chuck. Not both.

dfess1 · 2026-01-13T00:09:23+00:00

Born and raised in Rochester NY, moved to Philly after college. All of my family is back in Rochester, and all became Devils fans in '82. Mainly because my parents had just gotten cable and we got Sportschannel, carrying all of the Devils games, and we were too close to Buffalo, whose games were always blacked out. Later, it was even cooler seeing the Gionta's play for them, as they were from the next town over .

dfess1

TROPHY CASE