Free Lathe

There’s tons of old tools sitting in people’s basements & garages. Tools that granddad or dad used to use, but that the current generation doesn’t have time or space for. Once people learn that you enjoy restoring and using old tools, they start being offered to you, as most people would rather see their tools being used than collecting dust & turning to rust.

Look what I dragged in.

A buddy of mine is retiring and moving into a condo. Last week at a party he asked me if I wanted his grandfather’s lathe.

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It’s Grillin’ Time

Just a couple quick thoughts that jumped into my head while grilling up some steaks tonight.

Some of you have outdoor kitchens with countertops & covered storage. Not me. I’m old school – charcoal and a Weber kettle is perfect for me.

Say hello to my little friend
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Adding Brakes to the Utility Trailer – Electrical (Day 3)

In which your narrator is flummoxed by a bit of electronics.

So, I’m a firm believer in “Trust but Verify”, so I wanted to be sure that I knew which wires in the trailer wire were carrying which signals to the junction box*. Because I can’t be both in the drivers seat of the Honda and sitting at the trailer tongue with a multimeter, I enlisted the help of the youngest offspring.

He loved sitting in the drivers seat, stepping on pedals, flipping levers and things were going pretty well.

I was able to confirm my ground, hot, turn signals & marker lights. That left two terminals unaccounted for and no trigger voltage for the trailer brakes. No matter how hard he stepped on the pedal or pressed the override button, I wasn’t getting voltage on either post, but I was starting to get pretty hot under the collar.

Time to pull the dashboard apart again and make sure that everything was working correctly. There’s only four wires between the controller and the Honda, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sort.

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Dreaming of an eight foot bed

The Ridgeline has a 63” bed.

84” with the gate down.

But common building materials are 96” long.

Both my F-150 and Excursion, and even my wife’s minivan can carry 8 foot long materials with the rear closed up.

Today, walking out of Home Depot, the reason for the short bed was painfully obvious.

Answer after the jump…..

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