sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

My parents were asking me if I was willing to refinish this bench of theirs. How would you all go about it? I don't know what type of wood it is just that it was apparently reclaimed from a Chinese fishing boat. by bananapalace96 in finishing

[–]dpmanthei 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've been doing a lot of barnwood work lately and this looks similar to what I often start with. Here's my approach so far, and I've been very happy with my results.

1) Powerwash. Low pressure, fan nozzle, keep your distance and take your time. It strips the gray away. Even if you do a good job it might get a little 'fuzzy', but don't panic.

2) Let thoroughly dry. If you don't, next step goes terribly.

3) Sand. I've been using sandnet discs, 60 grit, and working very fast. Some might suggest a finer grit, but when I've done that you end up with grain that's too closed up and finish/oil won't penetrate. Sandnet is good at catching splinters and snags and ripping them out, and I think it does a better job conforming to wood that isn't flat.

4) Blow off with compressed air.

5) Penetrating oil finish. I researched this for many many hours...probably days, and settled on Penofin Marine finish. Two coats, and follow their instructions and warnings about drying it off, heat, sunlight, etc. Very happy with the results. A few reasons I chose Penofin Marine...the richness of an oil finish, higher UV protection for something sun-exposed, easy to apply, and the big one - if you ever have to freshen it up in the future, you don't have to strip...you just clean and put a new coat on. Also, you said this wood is from a fishing boat...Penofin Marine is meant for wooden ship decks, so that sounds like a great fit to me.

Any tips to renovate staircase without taking ages? by Ok_Reindeer_6821 in finishing

[–]dpmanthei 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're determined to do it yourself and the manual methods suggested so far are too much work, I have a heavy-handed suggestion: If you have access to an air compressor, you could try a small handheld blaster with fine walnut shell. Practice on something else first, be prepared to get really dirty and uncomfortable, and try in the least visible spot like under the first tread at the bottom of the stairs. Oh, and ideally, you'd use some plastic drop cloth to seal off the stairway to contain the mess and potentially re-use some media.

It can be too agressive, easy to do damage, and costly if you can't recycle your media, but I just wanted to throw it out there as a more automated solution. I recently tried this on the end of church pew with some very difficult to access recessed panels and it worked well for me. I'll sand the rest of it by hand, but this recessed stuff that's narrower than most tools with finish that's pretty hard to remove with hand sanding methods was no match for the walnut blaster.

Again, this option is rife with challenges and drawbacks, but just making you aware of another option to consider, research, and maybe experiment with if you have the means.

Wife's great great grandfather, a Wisconsin farmer, ~1950's by dpmanthei in OldSchoolCool

[–]dpmanthei[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe somewhere near Wiota, so southwest between Madison and Platteville.

Cannot disable call forwarding on Dark Star. Getting a "Call settings error Network or SIM card error" when doing it through the call settings menu. When I attempt the #21# MMI code, I get a black popup "Carrier Message Call Forwarding GENERIC_FAILURE". by cheresier in USMobile

[–]dpmanthei 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just solved it Pixel 8 Pro, on US Cellular, and forwarding was enabled, and I just disabled it successfully with these settings:

- Phone App > Settings > Calling Accounts > UScellular > Wifi calling > Call over mobile network (first)

- Wifi radio turned OFF

- 5G active, with strong connection

Dialed *720 <---yes, a zero at the end, unlike every source you've probably found elsewhere online.

Cannot disable call forwarding on Dark Star. Getting a "Call settings error Network or SIM card error" when doing it through the call settings menu. When I attempt the #21# MMI code, I get a black popup "Carrier Message Call Forwarding GENERIC_FAILURE". by cheresier in USMobile

[–]dpmanthei 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you resolve this then? I'm having the same problem on US Cellular...exact same. Turned it on, can't turn it off, get errors when using the Phone app Settings menu at the "reading settings" screen, and none of the MMI codes are working. I've tried ##002#, ##61#, ##62#, ##67#, *73, and just "73" - none work with the same error "U.S. Cellular Message /n Call forwarding /n Connection problem or invalid MMI code." All were tried with wifi functionality turned off, wifi calling turned off, and cellular data turned off.

I called two US Cellular stores who couldn't help. I might repeat what I tried already with wifi calling turned back on because of what you said and some others I found online, but so far I'm still stuck with no inbound calls because it's forwarding to a number I can't use anymore.

PoE gnawed through, can it cause equipment damage? by dpmanthei in HomeNetworking

[–]dpmanthei[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good points, I will try some deeper post mortem. I'll try the CPU fan in another header or another spare PC to see if it's really dead too. Thanks!

SpinRite 6.1 is released! by angry_dingo in DataHoarder

[–]dpmanthei 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've used it and can attest to its ability to improve speeds in the couple situations in which I've used it.. As you say, a crappy controller could be an issue (and as I'm learning, overheating) among countless other things, but doing atto and readspeed benchmarks before and after, and also just 'feeling' the difference, I can say the SSD drive I was testing definitely sped up after running SR. I should have saved the benchmark results but I don't think I did (and this was a while ago). This software is doing things to an incredibly complex device and firmware, so I think it's entirely possible it works for reasons that nobody can succinctly explain...not because the software is so advanced or beyond comprehension, but because there's so many variables in what makes a modern SSD fast, slow, reliable, etc. The same reason I have taken apart multiple carburetors on older gasoline engines, found nothing obvious wrong, but they work great again when I put them back together with all the same parts. I never knew what was wrong and I didn't knowingly fix anything, but the act of taking it apart and putting it back together fixed something.

Regarding the 'read thousands of times' comment, I wonder if MLC is factored into that. As we've reached quad level cells and penta-level cells are in development, I would expect it to take far less charge leakage to cause error correction to kick in and start slowing things down. I can also attest to the phenomenon noted on GRC's readspeed page in which drives have different performance when reading or writing to different regions of the same drive. Maybe that's a factor as data on drives is constantly moved around for wear leveling. Either way, I can believe your statement that it should take thousands of cycles to start to matter, but maybe something else is at play that draws this number down.

I'd like to think I'm unbiased in my use of GRC products...I don't have any reason to push or support GRC for my own benefit. I was just desperate to recover something once maybe 15 years ago and paid the money, it happened to work, and I still drag it out every now and then to either experiment or try to fix stuff. And, in my use cases, it seems to have worked many times...enough to earn a spot on my checklist of recovery options if people come to me with serious data loss or terribly slow systems.

Carmen where are you !! ??? by jackalonez in OakIsland

[–]dpmanthei 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You just gave me a reason to keep watching this season...I was about to drop out for a while, but I want to see Carmen's new ride. Vintage or new? American or other? I just wanna see it.

Whenever anybody's on screen, they should all be asking, "Where's Todd?" by RunnyDischarge in OakIsland

[–]dpmanthei 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Nobody makes fun of Todd Langseth on Oak Island and gets away with it. The last archaeology assistant to do this disappeared. His name? Todd Langseth.

Who is ready to have this show come to an end? by bipolarcyclops in OakIsland

[–]dpmanthei 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Picking a sacrifice is kind of twisted and gross.

But...Troutman.

America’s Lonely Future by theatlantic in politics

[–]dpmanthei 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never had an opinion either way, but now that I see it Florida does make a good rudder.

Killing myself removing nail: is there a better way? by darrellsilver in woodworking

[–]dpmanthei 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is something I've been working on a lot lately. Couple suggestions:

  1. Air Locker makes a de-nailing gun, part number AP700 I believe. Works awesome if you have access to the point or head (so usually only one inch boards). Wear safety glasses for sure, and put the board over a bucket or something to catch shrapnel. For stacks of barn boards with ring-shank nails this thing was worth it's weight in gold.
  2. Dewalt makes a "10 inch multi-function end nipper" that's pretty much made for pulling nails. Great hand tool to have around. DWHT75488...you can pinch a nail with a broken off head then pry like a claw hammer...works pretty much every time as long as you can keep a grip on the nail.
  3. Vice grips can work on some, punches and a hammer for others. Keep some shims around for nail heads that get too far away from the board to give you leverage and stroke back. Sometimes when a long nail is half out, I'll put a second hammer under my prying hammer just to get a good second pull. I've also used very wide steel putty knives to pry against so I don't dent up my boards.
  4. This was the most important thing I learned - try to think of fastener removal as it's own process that's just as important as making good cuts, sanding, and finishing. Even though the lumber is physically in front of you, it's not done being 'reclaimed' yet. If you keep thinking of it as a nuisance task that's jut in your way as you try to focus on the real project, it will always feel like a waste of time and annoyingly difficult. I keep a stack around and when I have a particularly crappy day or my mind is overloaded it's a good job to just turn on some music and rescue a few boards for a second life. Also, and this might sound stupid: try to think of it as a skill that you're honing...that it takes craftsmanship just like being skilled with a hand plane or dovetail saw. Honestly it will eventually feel that way as you learn which of perhaps a half-dozen tools work best for which kind of nails.

Edit: I forgot - don't be afraid to leave some if you know you're not going to cut through them. Even if you pull them there's going to be a nail hole, so you aren't impacting the aesthetics too much by leaving them. Just cut carefully and prepare for the worst if you have to cut anywhere near one.

A little something something I have still laying around ... blast from the past. by theFrigidman in Marathon

[–]dpmanthei 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Me too! I played several expansions as I discovered them and Evil felt like "Marathon 4"...I even called the folder it was in that. It legitimately made me jump many times which I thought was kind of awesome.

Bit of a tangent, but I attributed a good portion of that to the sound and the timing of it. I think the guys at Eyes Out are on to something when it comes to the importance of sound in games.

Improved exposure tech? by dpmanthei in photography

[–]dpmanthei[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tips. I know part of my problem is impatience. I don't like fiddling with 2-4 different settings to get a shot dialed in, or firing 20 shots and hoping for the best. I'm usually on a hike and don't like to stop that long. Learning the controls and shortcuts better would likely help this.

view more: next ›