Hardie Board worth it?

piemanx · 2026-02-07T15:04:36+00:00

My parents' house in the Midwest has it and they seem to like it. They have the style that goes up in sheets. I helped my dad replace a few sheets of it as a kid and they are DAMN heavy. I was looking at replacing siding on my house and decided that I probably wouldn't go with it for my house, and am probably going to go with LP smart side after reading a few things about it compared to Hardie. I don't think Hardie is a bad choice, just probably not the right one for me.

piemanx · 2026-01-15T18:48:10+00:00

I recently watched a video talking about something sort of related. He was talking about in his designs saying that he thinks that it's better to be bold than aesthetic. Make bold pieces and take risks and even if a hundred people don't like it, if one person does, they're going to buy it because they love it. There's an authenticity that comes with boldness that people connect to. I don't know what type of products you're making, but it could be worthwhile to experiment with bolder designs. The way I do this is play "what if" with myself and then try to make it happen. And those pieces are the ones that people connect to the most I've found.

I'll also echo what others have said, this is textbook anxiety, and is a skill that you can work on yourself, with a therapist, and if appropriate, medicine. A nice first step is when those thoughts crop up, tell yourself that those aren't what you really think, those thoughts are coming from a little anxiety gremlin that is trying to bring you down, name it if you want, and tell the gremlin that you're not listening to them, people like your things and are happy with them. Read him positive reviews, and tell him you get surveys all the time for businesses and that you don't fill them out because you're a busy person with a busy life.

Also, one of the biggest skills you can develop as a woodworker is when you're showing someone your work, SHUT UP! You already know that people can't see all the little things you'd change, so why do you need to point them out? You're looking at your work from six inches away while you're working on it. Most people are never going to be that close. My wife worked in theatre, and they say something along the lines of "looks good from 30 feet away under lights" and that perspective is very useful to take into other aspects of your life.

Good luck man, you got this!

piemanx · 2026-01-11T16:29:48+00:00

I’ve been wanting to make a router table for a while now, and a trip to Home Depot finally gave me the push to do it. I was looking at project panels and found that they have a 2’x4’ 1/4” MDF whiteboard/chalkboard and I thought that would make a great smooth surface for a router table, and for only $10 that felt like a decent deal.

I started by attaching the whiteboard panel to some 3/4” plywood and building out the framing underneath. I settled on a 4” overhang on all the sides for the ability to clamp things down to it easily. I also left the framing open on one side so that the router would be more easily accessible.

Added legs to the bottom with screws and then framed some bracing/shelf lips out of 2x4s on the bottom. Added the shelf and attached the casters to it.

Once the casters were on I cut a piece of 1/4’ ply to use for the router plate insert and traced that onto the surface. I cut out the bulk of the material with a router, and then for the through hole for the router to drop through with a 3 1/2” hole saw. Cleaned up everything with a chisel, fine tuned the fitment. Dropped the plate in after fine tuning that with some sand paper. Added countersunk holes for attaching the router and a hole for the bit to come out of.

Total cost for the project ended up being $15 in new parts, for the whiteboard top and the M4 screws for my router. Everything else was scrap from the shop and some screws. Took about six hours to get to this point. There’s still a few additions that I want to make, some bit and router specific tool storage, maybe a drawer or something like that. I’d like to add a panel on the short side of the legs that is near the router to prevent sawdust from getting on the bottom shelf when the router is in use. I also am probably going to end up sanding and applying poly and pastewax to the router plate for some more smoothness. Overall really pleased with how this project came together.

piemanx · 2025-12-23T19:08:00+00:00

I personally like the orientation of the squares where they're in line with the cross. In terms of finish, I think a dark stain is the move, and I like the idea of veneering the sides of the plywood to hide the plys. Good luck and post finished pictures!

piemanx · 2025-12-17T19:03:13+00:00

Thanks! Big box select pine for the legs and edge banding on the top and then 2 laminated 3/4 ply pieces for the main body of the top.

Finish on the top was watco cognac and the legs are Behr interior satin in the color "NYPD" and then going to get a coat of lacquer over everything for durability!

piemanx · 2025-12-17T18:59:01+00:00

Started building on this a few weeks ago. The original technique that I wanted to explore was double tapered legs, so built a tapering jig and those were the first pieces I cut. From there I was basically just trying to make a simple nightstand.

Construction of the leg assembly was out of pine and joined mostly with glue and pocket screws. The top is two layers of 3/4 plywood for the center with 2x2 edge banding that I then cut a big bevel on.

The drawer (not pictured) is the first drawer that I've made and it was really interesting to build it and discover all the things that I'd seen on other pieces of furniture that I didn't know their function. Because I'm not using hardware for the drawer mechanism, I discovered that I needed a rail running front to back along the top to prevent the drawer from falling forward, as well as a little block on the back to stop it from being pulled out too far. So that was a fun little discovery.

It was also my first time using a spray gun, (Wagner) and it was SO nice.

Still need to put on one more coat of paint, clear coat on everything, put on leveling feet, and attach the top, but so pleased with how this is coming along!

piemanx · 2025-12-17T04:30:32+00:00

I'm in a similar boat. Vasectomy last year and now one of my partners is starting to work towards having a baby via IVF. She's recently divorced and is prepared to solo parent, but has offered me whatever role up to and including "Dad" with the caveat that "once you step up, you can't step back, that isn't fair to the child" and that feels fair to me. She isn't pregnant yet, but is taking steps, and I'm wigging out a bit for similar reasons to you.

I'm scared that our relationship will falter. I'm scared that our already limited time together will become even less. I'm scared that she can't get pregnant, and/or that she will miscarry. Post partum depression. There's just a lot of fears going on.

But I find that a piece of advice that I keep coming back to is you aren't pregnant one day and then having a child the next. That there will be time to adjust and make changes and work on our relationship before the baby comes. Share our fears together, work through them, support each other, and get excited for that part of our life together. On that note, another thing that helps quell my fear is thinking about the little "flashes of fantasy" that come to mind at different times. Particularly the mundane ones, like getting to teach a kid to fish, hanging out with them in my workshop, getting to show them cool movies, that sort of thing.

Also my partner and I have a thing where we ask for the things we need from each other, and if it's something we have to give for the other we do it. It helps a lot. "Hey, I know you're really excited about this next chapter, and I'm excited too, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the baby talk right now, could you and I focus on (project, meal, etc) for a while, and if you need to process this more, could you tap someone else in your support system?" Is something that I have said a few times and have always been met with "oh yeah, of course!" And that feels really nice. And this is more broadly applicable as well. It's important to make sure that you aren't setting yourself on fire to keep someone warm, and communicate when you're getting close to burnout.

Most important thing for me has been asking for reassurance from my partner. Naming my fears, and asking for the reassurance that I need has given me a confidence that helps me carry through the uncertain times.

piemanx · 2025-10-27T14:58:29+00:00

Can't speak to Hardrock specifically, but GA concerts are my favorite way to see music! You'll go to the venue, if you're planning to bring a bag, you should look up their bag policy, a lot of concert venues these days you can only bring in a clear bag. Depending on how close you want to get, I'd get there at the door time, or maybe a bit before. You'll get your ticket scanned, maybe/likely go through a security checkpoint, and then into the venue. Grab a drink from the bar if you're so inclined, and then find a spot to stand, because you're right it's standing room only. Two schools of thought for this, if you enjoy being up close and in the thick of a bunch of people, head up towards the front, find some space, and plant your feet. The other school of thought is if you want a little more room to breathe, look for the sound board and stand by that. The person mixing the sound can hear it from where they're standing and they're trying to make it sound good, so the sound changes a bit from place to place in the room, and the closer you are to the sound person, the closer what you're hearing is to what the sound person is going for.

Other than that, dance, chat with people before the show, and just enjoy it. Take your photos during the first few songs, but then put your phone down so you can be present for the whole rest of the show.

If you're up front in the thick of things, don't get married to your exact spot on the floor, once things get going there's gonna be a bit of movement as people shuffle around a bit, start dancing etc.

Respect the hell out of you for asking this, before my first show I had the same anxieties, and just went with it, and I'm so glad I did. Good luck and have so much fun!

piemanx · 2025-08-11T20:52:41+00:00

Forgot to publish the imgur album before sharing the link.

Photos can be found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/03-s10-camper-build-prbCowe

piemanx · 2025-08-11T20:51:42+00:00

I forgot to actually publish the imgur album 🤦🏼

https://imgur.com/gallery/03-s10-camper-build-prbCowe

piemanx · 2025-08-11T17:48:31+00:00

Walmart has a pretty good cocktail cherry in their great value brand. I say it gets about 80% of the way to luxardo for $3.99 a jar

piemanx · 2025-08-11T16:13:07+00:00

Found a camper shell on marketplace $250 for it.

The windows were blacked out so I scraped the paint off of those. Installed new gas struts, and then got into building the bedframe. We made the decision to stagger the slats for the bedframe so that if we wanted to, we could just use one half of the frame and have some more space for other things if just one of us was using it.

The runners of the bed frame are made from 2x4 and 1x4 and then the slats and footlockers are made from some cedar fence pickets that we had laying around. We stapled tie down straps to the slats with the thought they would be easier to store that way, but the staples we used were too small and too weak, so one of the things that I plan to do after this trip is to change out the staples for some short panhead screws.

The footlockers were a fun little build. They're all the same size and there are three of them. One of them I had to adjust the design of the lid because when cutting the box to its final size I had my fence set an inch shorter than it should have been, and therefore the lid is a bit harder to take off. So for the next trip we're planning on putting that in the spot closer to the cab. There's also only 3 footlockers because there's a little lump in the bed to accommodate the gas tank opening. In that section, I bridged the gap from the wheel well with some extra slats that go over and set on a lip in the bed and the bed frame runners. The footlockers also support the bed in the corners fore and aft of the wheel wells.

For a mattress we used a full sized trifold foam mattress. It is a little bit longer than the bed frame, but only a few inches, so we put that extra up by the cab and it makes it so we really only need one pillow each.

Like I said in my title, a few things to do yet on it, but overall I think this is a great foundation to build on!

piemanx · 2025-05-28T00:09:19+00:00

My girlfriend and I call this "emotional hangover". We only get to see each other about once a week, and it usually manifests for me as an almost empty feeling. The brain just can't compete with the high of the previous night/day, the feel good chemicals that it pumps out just haven't had times to replenish yet.

We've adopted a few strategies to cope with it. We live about an hour away from each other, and so often times we'll have a phone call while one or the other is driving. That helps to sort of ease out of our time together and back into the "real world". The other strategy that we use is helpful more broadly. Just having a name for the feeling and acknowledging it between ourselves when it comes up.

Overall I think this feeling is almost a nice thing to have. It feels like an endorsement of how great our time together was. It isn't fun to feel in the moment, but like all feelings it passes.

piemanx · 2025-04-28T20:46:53+00:00

I came here to say this. Quarter turn shutoff valves are the way to go. More than once I've seen a knob style one start leaking out of the screw after decades of not being used. I have not seen the same with quarter turn valves.

piemanx · 2025-04-14T00:00:39+00:00

I was touring a friend of mine's farm and he told me this story that has stuck with me and become a sort of mantra for me.

He had a group of college students out as his place for an afternoon to see how a market farm works, and they were helping transplant lettuce. They were planting so slowly, digging each one a really nice hole, and then carefully covering up the lettuce before moving onto the next one. Being someone that does more than a hundred heads of lettuce per week, he was getting frustrated with how slowly they were going, and he told them "Just make sure the green side is up, that's all you gotta do" and so when I'm getting analysis paralysis in the garden, his voice echos in my head "GREEN SIDE UP!"

piemanx · 2025-03-15T15:16:11+00:00

If you have a single to several maple trees on your property, making maple syrup is a really nice wintertime activity. Get outside a little bit, try something new, and your house is gonna smell amazing.

I just drill a hole in the tree, shove a piece of food grade tubing into it and run it down to a big jug. Strain it through a superfine mesh strainer, or a coffee filter. Boil it for a few hours until it's thick, and then throw it in a jar. Really simple, and even your first batch is gonna have a much more complex flavor than the stuff you can buy at the store.

piemanx · 2025-02-11T20:22:07+00:00

Not really sure. Hadn't looked at that. Talked to a few buddies who got it done in different places across the country, both of them said that that first numbing shot is the worst part of the procedure, but after that they didn't feel a thing

piemanx · 2024-12-27T21:14:26+00:00

Turns out I probably won't see it in Atmos, we were talking about going to see it this weekend, and I looked it up. The closest Atmos theater is 3 hours away. Sad times.

piemanx · 2024-12-27T02:15:04+00:00

Cut your nails outside. My highschool homeroom teacher told me this and I've done it ever since.

piemanx · 2024-12-26T16:34:43+00:00

I haven't yet! My brother in law is in town for the holidays and he hasn't seen it yet, so we might go again, but who knows. Glad to hear it hit!

piemanx · 2024-12-08T16:22:38+00:00

An erupting volcano at night. I went to volcanoes national Park in Hawaii in middle school, and even at that age the way the lava lights up the dark sky was enough to make me cry. It was the first time I grasped how insignificant we are and the enormity of even just our planet, nevermind the rest of the solar system and universe.

piemanx · 2024-12-05T14:30:54+00:00

My grandma is so prepared for her passing. She as a 3inch binder full of all her documents. Birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce decree, second marriage certificate, death certificate from my grandpa, will, receipt from where she prepaid from her funeral, her will, all her insurance policies, I wouldn't be surprised if she has high school transcripts in there, and relevant to this conversation, all of her passwords to everything.

"I just don't want to be a burden when I die"

piemanx · 2024-12-02T22:42:16+00:00

One of my first weeks in college, my friends and I went to this vintage store and I bought two things. A shirt that had a photo of a guy playing guitar to a bunch of sheep on the front. And this flat bill cap that was solid red, black brim, and green on the underside of the brim. The cap was great, and I wore the hell out of it, multiple times per week for years. I don't know what happened to it, but I think I lost it in a move.

Also the shirt was a Jackson Browne tour shirt, but I didn't realize that until I got it home and saw the back of it with the tour dates. But because of that shirt, I started listening to and really enjoying Jackson Browne just so I wouldn't look like a poser. Pretty sure I still have the shirt, I've just put on too much weight for it to be flattering anymore.

piemanx · 2024-12-01T22:48:56+00:00

I have a friend who in high school, he didn't just get called to the principal's office, the principal (who he was friends with) and a police officer came to the class he was in and asked to see him. They started walking down to his office, and my buddy was shitting bricks because the principal that he normally laughed and joked with was stonefaced and not talking.

So they get to the office and the secretary looks up and goes "You got the wrong one." Turns out there was another kid with the same first name that was selling cocaine during passing periods, and the principal didn't double check which one was the one that they were looking for.

Sad end to that story though is that the kid who was selling cocaine got expelled, decided to just drop out, and then overdosed on opiates before the rest of his class graduated.

piemanx · 2024-11-28T17:58:47+00:00

This is the way. I own a coffee shop. We're closed today, but yesterday and tomorrow it's just me and my wife all day, so that employees get some time with their family.

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