Category: Projects

January 31, 2023 – When the Hot Water Doesn’t Flow

January 31, 2023 /

OK, so I underestimated the hassle factor on this. I thought I was going to get off cheap and easy with $30 in parts and an hour of time. First problem, I couldn’t find the breaker. After a bunch of running up and down the stairs, I found out that my breaker panel is actually mislabeled on which breaker actually runs to the water heater.

I figured it was probably a 30 amp breaker, because it was 10 gauge wire coming in to the water heater. The panel was labelled a 20 amp breaker. Now, some years ago, we had some arcing in the panel and we paid an electrician who removed the top level breakers and shoved everything down in the panel. At that time, almost nothing was labeled so I never bothered.

I only label breakers as I find them. Worse case scenario, I can turn everything off with the main on the panel. But, as much a I have dinked around the house, I have never had opportunity to look at every circuit.

After testing to verify the power was finally off, it was time to drain the tank. Hook the hose up and run it to the sump. Open the valve and nothing. Come to find out that the drain valve on the tank is plugged up with mineral build up. So, now I have new problems. How to get the water out of the tank without burning myself or dumping 50 gallons of water all over the floor.

By the time I figured out how to approach this problem, I ran out of time to do what I needed to do. Plus, I needed time to obtain the parts so I spent another $30 on brass tube fittings to build something that could blow air back into the system and clear the drain. That took a couple of hours, but it worked. Finally, after three different attempts, I was able to drain the water heater.

In 2020, when I spent my entire summer remodeling the apartment, I did some water heater work there. I have known since we moved into the house in 2005 that there were a few low risk items that needed to be addressed. One of which was no catchment pan under the water heater. So I bought one. How ever, I wasn’t able to drain the water then either. So, I left it for another time. This was going to be the time.

First, I wanted to get the elements out so I could see how bad the inside of the tank was. Feeling good that I conquered the draining, soon changed to I didn’t have a socket to remove the element. It required a 1 1/2″ socket. So, another trip to the store. I also needed PVC for the drain line, although that was really optional for the initial job. Another $30 for those parts.

I removed the top element an there wasn’t much to see. These tanks are glass lined, so they are pretty impervious on the inside. But when it came to the bottom element, it was heavily corroded and my new $6 element socket quickly met it’s match. It tried penetrating oil, heat and hammering none of them worked. I needed to find a real socket, not the stamped sheet metal one for the most leverage possible.

These are tractor sized dimensions, to the tractor store for tools. Now, add another $40. I also didn’t check my PVC glue before the last trip which was also dried out. I had to get that too. But, finally, I got the bottom element out. All in all, it looked better than I was expecting. That being said, there was definitely some buildup on the elements.

Once drained, I wanted to flush the tank. Ideally, to do that I would get the pan underneath the tank so I could flush without sending water all over the floor. Fortunately, my son is strong enough that he can bear hug the tank while I slid the pan underneath it. I was able to complete the PVC work but ran out of time to actually flush the tank.

End Your Programming Routine: It is nice to have hot water again. I guess the degradation is so slow that you don’t realize what it used to be like. Hot water is continuous throughout my shower and the dishes again. After doing this job, I am convinced that this is a one hour job with the right knowledge and tools. That being said, I overpaid with time and materials. I don’t regret doing it myself because now I know but it wasn’t as cheap or as easy as had planned.

January 26, 2023 – Make Your Gas Cans Not Suck

January 26, 2023 /

Cleaning out my in-laws property two years ago, they had a generator that they upgraded. Consequently, I ended up with it. Unlike in Atlas Shrugged you cant make electricity from the static electricity in the air, you need fuel. So like all good preppers, I started buying gas cans when they were on sale and I was waiting for the winter price drop to fill them.

Before I did, I wanted to make some modifications for better use. It is a sad testimonial when you have to spend another $5 on a $20 gas can just so that it will work properly. The cans sold since 2012 are all but unusable due to modifications made to prevent vapors from evaporating by lazy users. Now, instead of letting vapor escape, you just spill copious amounts of fuel all over the ground since the cans are so difficult to operate.

P.S. My personal favorite is the sticker that is put on the can that says “Children under three should not be permitted to use this product”. I mean, can you imagine a four year old and a gas can? What if it was a non-smoking three year old? I am not even sure what they were actually insinuating.

Of course the cheapest modification you could do is drill a hole in the back of the gas can and cover the hole with tape (or even a cork). I warn you that just drilling the hole and not replacing the spout with a simple tube type, in a full can the gas will spill out the hole while you are trying to force the valve open to pour.

The modifications are easy to do. Once you do one, the rest are much quicker. One thing that I learned after I filmed the video is that if you drop the catchment filter inside the can, it is very difficult to remove. One other tip, if your can previously held gas, give it some time to evaporate or you will be dribbling gas all over the place and potentially on you trying to do this process.

End Your Programming Routine: I get it. The regulation to require gas can changes was an attempt to reduce greenhouse emissions. No matter where you stand on the issue, it is always laudable to try and do better. I don’t like evaporating gas either. But, this has to be one of the most in-effective changes ever made. I cant express how ridiculous it is to dump gas all over the ground because we are going to prevent it evaporating in the can.

January 25, 2023 – My New Sewing Machine

January 25, 2023 /

Maybe my time reading Self-Reliance magazine is starting to rub off on me as I have been thinking about getting a sewing machine. I was thinking that if I ran across one at Goodwill for $20 or so, I would get it. After sewing my kids Boy Scout patches on by hand for years, I am kind of tired of doing it.

My mom sews, so this is nothing new to me. Growing up, there was always a fully outfitted sewing room. Mostly, I asked mom to do this because she was much better than me, but I could do it in a pinch. In fact, as part of the sixth grade survey we had 18 weeks of Home Economics where we all sewed a basic drawstring bag. What I am trying to say is that it is not that far off that I could sew something.

Recently, we cleaned out my in-laws storage unit. It was either donate, trash or keep. I think that we ended up keeping too much and throwing out too much but it was what it was. I ran across this sewing machine and decided that this was going to be mine (if none of the heirs wanted it, which they didn’t). This means that I really need to my sofa table done so that I can put this sewing machine where my stereo is currently.

Now, I am not planning on doing anything really major but it sure is handy to have around when you have three or four patches to sew on. The truth is, my boys are of the age that I am ‘letting’ them do it. If they ask for help, then I will but I am no longer just taking initiative to sew on their patches. This is something that is really their responsibility with uniform compliance. I used to feel some degree of judgement but not anymore, they are plenty capable.

When I was in grade school, my mom would sew us one shirt. We got to pick the material and it was the shirt that we would wear for school pictures. Generally speaking, that shirt first went to the county fair before school started. So, we had to wait and visit it before we got to use it.

Going to the fabric store was really painful as a child. It seemed like we were there forever and there was definitely nothing a child was interested in, except maybe the scissors isle. There was one year, I picked a fabric for my shirt that had a silver thread running through it. I think my brother picked a fabric that had a gold thread running though it. We thought it was pretty cool.

I think that my last year, I was in fourth grade. My mom made a shirt where the Millennium Falcon was embroidered on the back. This would have been right before Return of the Jedi came out. It was the peak of Star Wars mania (for me at least). Unfortunately, it took too long to complete and so the shirt went to my brother because it didn’t fit me when it was completed. It did win a blue ribbon at the county fair.

There have been some times that I have been tempted to try and build a backpack or bag. For instance, I cant find an exact range bag with the features that I want. With both of my boys shooting trap, I just don’t have enough space for everything that we need on a weekly basis in my range bag. Wouldn’t be cool if I could just sew one up? This is probably way too ambitious but it is actually possible. This is how many technical gear companies have started, see a need and fill a need.

End Your Programming Routine: As a alluded to in the first sentence, Self-Reliance magazine has three or so projects that are pretty simple, like sewing a reusable bag out of feed sacks. You know, like the kind you can buy at the grocery store. This is not really about making dresses but a tool that can really be useful. Throughout my adult life there have been many times I threw something away because it was too difficult to mend or repair appropriately. This is a step at correcting that

January 10, 2023 – Fly Tied, #1

January 10, 2023 /

As with my philosophy, first build discipline and then proficiency. Well you could say that this is what I did. I wanted to tie a fly that used all of the materials I had on hand (I did have to buy hooks however). I saw no reason to buy more materials when I had plenty on hand. I also wanted to make something that was large. It is easier to do dexterity work when you are not at micro-scale.

I have alluded to this before but it used to be that fly fishing and fly tying was a very traditional endeavor. I have some pattern books, but I just wanted to make something. And what is more flashy then a streamer? These are the peacocks of the fly world. So, I found a picture of something that I liked the looks of and made up the rest.

Step one is to wrap the hook in thread as a base layer. Then I put down a layer of gold tinsel. My intent is to have a butt end with some exposed gold.

With my base layer down, I added black chenille. That simulates the body of an insect. I probably made a mistake using marabou (feather) as hackle, that simulates wings. Marabou is typically used as dubbing (or adding mass to a body, not as hackle. But remember, I was using what I had on hand.

After building up the head and adding head cement to hold it all together. I had tied my first fly in thirty years. Now, it wasn’t super tidy or good looking. I was thinking of naming it something in-appropriate, but didn’t. Maybe you can suggest something funny or unique? I have no illusions that this is the one to knock them dead. But this is the one that got me back into the game.

I learned a few things in this trial process. The first thing I learned was that my vice sucks. It essentially free spins with almost no pressure. I sure don’t remember that from the past. It is going to be a while before I actually do anything about replacing the vice. For one, I can’t justify doing something for a ‘someday I might want a better one’. Second, I have other projects/expenses lined up before this becomes a priority.

The second thing that I learned was that I have enough tools to make simple flies. I do plan to purchase more thread bobbins and hackle pliers to have some spares on hand and thinking that I might make more complicated flies eventually. But for now, what I have will work for what I am doing. I will never give up on two is one and one is none in case something gets lost or broken but this should be fine for what I am doing now.

I don’t think the hook I used was proper. The pattern I emulated called for a #3 to #5 hook. This is actually a #2 but it seems short to me. This hook was billed as a bait hook but I think the shank is too short. There are specific or common fly hooks and this was not one of them. So, I think my output would be neater an cleaner if I actually used a better hook. But again, this got me going and I could buy it locally.

End Your Programming Routine: I really wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. I think that I have lost some skill and technique as well as knowledge after all these years but proof of concept is complete. I am trying to figure out exactly how I want to handle all of this but this is a good start. I am really trying to keep my toolbox fallacy at bay and this is the way that I started.

January 4, 2023 – Take Your Saw Blades To the Dentist

January 4, 2023 /

You know, I suppose that I am lucky. I go to the dentist twice a year. One time I was talking to my dentist and he said that some people have teeth so bad that they have to come in once a month for cleaning. Whatever the chemistry or the diet or the personal habits are, there is enough build-up necessary to have a cleaning session.

A lot of times, your saw blades have the same problem. The quality of the cut is not necessarily the sharpness of the blade, but the build-up of the sap/pitch/crud on the teeth. Not only does that build-up effect the quality of the cut but it also effects the quality of the blade. Meaning, the harder the metal has to work the more heat build-up there is and the more likely dullness and or damage will occur.

Just like the dentist, I brush my teeth, then I scrape them using something like an X-acto knife and then I brush them again. My picture above is after brushing them once. First, I spray on some simple green. I have the blade in a very cheap automotive fluids pan to contain everything and let them soak for 15 minutes. Then I use a bronze bristle brush like you would find in the gun cleaning section of the store.

When to to this is usually visually apparent. You can see the build-up on the saw blade. Now, I am as lazy as anyone else. I don’t like doing this and it takes away from my productive shop time. So, I make the decision on a task by task basis. If I am cutting construction lumber, then I don’t really care so much about cut quality, but on my woodworking projects, I do care about the finish cuts.

All that being said, I would also be more diligent depending on the quality of the blade. The one pictured is a $40 blade today ($30 at the time I bought it). I suppose that this is nothing to sneeze at but there are much more expensive blades. It is a decent quality blade and cut, but in the end these are consumables.

And with all of that, I am not manic about it. I spend thirty minutes doing the major cleaning and maintenance and then I move on. It doesn’t look like it came out of the box but it works much better than before I cleaned it.

Before I scare anyone off, the frequency of cleaning has a lot to do with what you are cutting. I tend to cut mostly fir, hemlock, cedar and spruce. These are high resin woods where the buildup happens immediately. Working with the American hardwoods like oak, maple, walnut and others the pitch buildup will be significantly less. My air dried fir has hidden pitch pockets that are still liquid so it doesn’t take long to coat everything in pitch (including my fingers).

Up until this point I have been referring to circular saw blades. Band saw blades are effected even more from buildup. When I am re-sawing boards, it is nearly impossible to get a straight cut when the blade is not clean. I do the same process, I just leave the blade on the saw when I do it.

There is probably a lot more to say on the topic of saw blades in general but I wanted to focus on cleaning them today. There are specific products for this job on the market, but Simple Green (or generic substitute) works just fine for me. That being said, I have never tried them so they may work better than what I am doing. There are other products that are meant prevent the problem in the first place. Think of it like Pam for your tools. I worry about that stuff effecting the finish that I eventually put on the wood.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are struggling with quality cuts, take a look at your blade. You might be amazed at what a difference a cleaning will make on the final outcome. You also might need a more appropriate blade for your task, so try cleaning first, then replace if results are not desirable.

December 21, 2022 – Stealing Time

December 21, 2022 /

Thou Shall Not Steal.

Unless you are taking wasted time and converting it into productivity. I have talked about this before but one hour a day adds up to seven hours a week. All of a sudden, you went from doing nothing in a week to almost one full workday’s worth of productivity. The key is setting goals and making your time productive.

What I mean by that is that if you can break your work up into bitesize chunks, then you can batch similar operations into short bursts. As an example, it takes time to setup the table saw. What you definitely don’t want to do is spend your one hour setting up a particular cut and then changing it as soon as you are complete (unless you are only cutting one of a particular setup). You may spend one hour setting up and then the next hour cutting everything.

I find if you start thinking this way, they your work becomes much more efficient. The added advantage of batching is that you have times between your work where you mind starts playing ‘job Tetris’. What can I do in an hour? What do I want to do to setup for the next session? How many of this operation do I have to do? Am I setup to get make the best use of my time?

A change that I have done to make my life easier is getting my tools on mobile bases. I don’t have the luxury of everything having a dedicated station so I have to move things around. This allows me to setup and clean-up without as much of the excuse of moving things around as a barrier. This has been a problem in the past because I say to myself, ‘I don’t want to start this because I will have to move everything to get the machine setup. I am want to do X and I only have the time to do Y which means it will be in the way until I can get back to it. Who knows when that will be, so some other time.’

Often times I have found that if I start to get project momentum, I start to cheat on my dedicated time and add 15 minutes more. Fifteen becomes thirty sometimes and before you know it, things are done. I would say rarely does one hour become forty-five minutes or less. That only happens when you don’t really have time and you try to push it.

I have started to steal time in the morning. My biological clock is trending toward early to bed and early to rise. On the weekend, if I get up at 5AM I may have three or four hours before anyone even wakes up. This is the perfect stolen time.

Before I had this revelation, I didn’t waste this time. It was time that I spent working on the blog and even doing some extra posting. But there are only so many hours in the day and I already spend a lot of time each week on this endeavor, so I want to use this time in the shop. I have created time in the shop that I didn’t have.

If there is one downside, it is that the shop door faces the bedroom window. That means that a lot of machine noise tends to easily carry toward my sleeping wife. Some operations particularly joining long boards, it is much easier to do with the door open. After confirming that this is an issue, I now try to guard against making a bunch of machine noise before six or seven. With that, I can turn the heater on and do quieter things or not start until a more reasonable time.

Maybe not a downside, but when I first open my eyes and kind of check the clock, I often see that it is time I can get up and I am motivated to get the day going. This sometimes takes a toll on getting a little extra sleep because my mind starts working.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t have time is a common excuse for me. Sometimes it is true while most of the time it is not. I need to get to point where I am saying ‘How can I’ rather than ‘I can’t because’. You all know that I am not one to sit and watch TV or the phone. I can barely sit through one movie with my wife. That being said, we can all do better with the time that we have so look for that time you can steal.

December 20, 2022 – Fly Tying Basics

December 20, 2022 /

I am not tying flies yet. Let’s see if I can shake the cobwebs off enough to get started. On my 18th birthday, I got a class where my dad and I went to a fly tying class for a term. That was a few weeks shy of thirty years ago, I think that was close to the last time I did this. The good news is that this is no longer a dark art. With YouTube and websites, the information should be readily available. I still have my old manuals too.

I suppose the good news is that this is not expensive to get into. Some of the introduction kits are around $50 and have everything that you need to start and move on from there. Even the supplies are pretty inexpensive. But a word of warning, as with all fishing tackle, some things are hot at particular location and/or time. It really is best to tie for the situation and not just amass a huge pie of potentially useless flies (unless you just like doing it).

What I am showing in the picture above is the result of two kits plus some additions. Without much ado, here are the required items.

  • Vise
  • thread
  • fish hooks
  • scissors or X-acto knife
  • materials appropriate to the pattern.

These are the strongly helpful items

  • bobbin
  • hackle pliers
  • head cement

That is it. It is really not that difficult to get started as long as your dexterity is reasonable, you have an adequate workspace with light and space. Some people use a repurposed desk, I am using a dedicated bench, I have tied plenty of flies at the kitchen table and even a card table in front of the TV.

There is more to know with materials, but I think that I will save that for another day. With that, you cannot really separate flies and fishing because that is the whole point. So, I am going to cover some terms that you will come across.

  • Wet Fly – This a a whole class of flies that are meant to spend time under the water.
    • Nymph – this is a type of wet fly that simulates a larva
    • Emerger – This type of fly is when the larva is changing into an adult
    • Streamer – This is a flashy wet fly used in steelhead fishing
  • Dry Fly – This is a whole class of flies that are meant to float on the water. This would be the classic fly.
  • Popper – these are flies that make noise. They are wet flies but make a sound when you are stripping them back in. Bass plugs do this as well.

The world of fly fishing can be confusing because they use some of the same equipment as conventional angling, but call them different names. For instance conventional fishing would call this item a ‘bobber’ while in fly fishing, it is called an ‘indicator’. I think that this is part of why fly fishing appears pretentious along with the catch and release ethic among other things.

A dry fly traditionally used natural materials like hair and feathers. It seems like the whole movement has loosened up quite a bit with flies called ‘dirty flies’. They might have suggestive names or they may be made of any kind of material. This is things like craft materials or rubber legs and things significantly departing from hair and feathers. I guess what I am trying to say is that what used to be very rigid rules about what to wear, what to use and how to do it seem like it is slowly changing.

I have always liked streamers. These flamboyant flies are imitating baitfish. This is where I am going to start because it uses a big hook. This will give me opportunity to practice technique at the same time I have some room to work.

End Your Programming Routine: Next stop, actually tying flies. Of course as I said at the beginning, these first couple are just to get my head right. I am not going to worry about them actually being fishable. That means the right fly for the fish and environment. I think for 2023, I am going to set a goal of catching a fish on a fly that I have tied. I should say try to catch a fish on a fly that I tied.

December 6, 2022 – It Is Good To Have Stuff

December 6, 2022 /

Have you heard that you can be owned by your stuff? As a preparedness minded person, I definitely have more stuff than I need because I have duplicates of a lot of tools and an inventory of supplies and consumables. That being said, I am also frugal when it comes to many things.

So for instance both of my vehicles have been paid off for five years. I am not looking forward to another car payment. Just looking, it seems like we will have significant payments for a reasonably new car ($800/mo). I am delaying as long as possible. But, my Lincoln Navigator is showing some problems. There is some sort of electric draw that is killing the battery overnight.

As a good preparedness person, I have a battery jumper, jumper cables, battery chargers etc. My first go to is the jumper. It requires the least amount of effort to start the car. But, my jumper is anemic. I think I looked up and it only has 300 cold cranking amps. My car battery is 700 cold cranking amps, so a true dead battery isn’t touched by the jump pack. Having dawdled around with this for a number of situations, I really need to get a bigger jump pack.

When I went to go plug this unit back in to keep the battery charged, the cord arced. Upon closer inspection, the molded plug was severed nearly in half. On closer inspection, both sides had visible wire when the cord was bend ninety degrees to the attached end.. This wasn’t sabotage, but cheap materials. I think in the cold shop, the plastic insulation on the outside of the wire cracked to the point that the wires were exposed. In the photo below, if you look carefully you can see the exposed wires on the male end of the plug.

Now what? Good luck finding a replacement cord for a no-name jump pack that is 8-10 years old. I know, I will repair it if I can. Fortunately, I found the right male/female replacement ends for a total of $7. Incidentally, while browsing for an upgraded jump pack, I found a replacement cord for $10. The advantage to my strategy (repair) is that I know these parts will fit because I have already tested them.

This is not a hard process but there are a couple of tricks. The hardest part is figuring out how to disassemble the replacement plugs. But the first thing is to keep the polarity of the plug on the right (or same) side. Some cords have a stripe down one of the wires, this one has a rib. Said another way, in this cable one wire is ribbed the other is smooth.

It doesn’t matter which side you pick but stay consistent, especially if you are only replacing one plug. The neutral on a two wire setup is the bigger of the two prongs (or holes). The neutral on the male end should end up as the neutral on the female end of the plug.

There is a saying in electrical ‘Black on Brass’. Black is the typical color of the hot wire. White is the typical color of the neutral. If there is a choice of materials, the hot wire should land on the brass connector. I don’t know this as a fact but I think that brass probably has better heat resistance and therefore resists a screw backing out better than aluminum or steel.

With these particular replacements, they came with two different colored connectors. So, I chose the ribbed wire as the neutral and connected each end to the silver side. The other side were connected to the brass terminals. That is it, the cord is repaired.

End Your Programming Routine: Since this unit has proven nearly useless as a jumper (on my vehicles), it doesn’t mean it can’t be useful. For instance, it makes a hell of a phone/tablet/computer charger. So, I am in the market for a more appropriately sized jumper but now that this is going again I am going to keep it around as two are one.

November 29, 2022 – Learning New Things From Self Reliance Magazine

November 29, 2022 /

I have written about my interest in the Self-Reliance/Backwoods Home publishing universe. Currently, I am buying them as add-on’s when I go buy pet food at the local farm store. I very well may end up subscribing but I am still evaluating the situation because no one wants a magazine subscription where you know all the content. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I was when I read the Fall issue of Self-Reliance magazine I found some things that I didn’t know or wanted to pursue.

The second article was about how to save seeds from tomatoes. I literally have tomato setting on my desk that I am going to attempt to do this. If you remember from the spring, I had one plant that survived under the lights of my starting. I have planned all along trying to propagate this plant because maybe it has the secret sauce to withstand my abuse.

The fourth article was about building rain barrels. This is another thing that I want to do in the late winter or early spring next year. The reason that I want to do this is to have a water source near my greenhouse. I am hoping that by making things more convenient, it will empower these endeavors to be more productive.

About 2/3’s of the way through, there was an article about using scraps. What they were advocating were making jelly from peach or pear peels. The article also claimed that tomato paste could be made from the skins of tomatoes (after juicing or saucing). There is something called watermelon pickles where you pickle the white part of the watermelon. I had no idea, and I thought that I knew all the frugal tips.

Finally, there is an article on learning how to arc weld. I literally have my dad’s welder in my shop. It is the same model as the article and it is something that I have wanted to learn. We borrowed it work on my son’s projects and kind of muddled through it. But still, talk about being on the same page.

There were some other interesting and useful things in this issue but not to the same scale of symbiosis. So, if you recall from my last review, I was less enamored with Self-Reliance than I was with Backwoods Home. For some reason, the Fall issue of Backwoods Home never made it to the news stands. I have the Winter one that I am waiting to read in a break from Atlas Shrugged. But, this reinforced my thoughts that subscribing in a bundle is the right way to go.

End Your Programming Routine: I am really glad that I gave this title a second chance. I don’t think the information is as comprehensive as I would like, but I get it. You are probably not going to want to read a ten page article on saving tomato seeds. The basic technique is conveyed in one page. I am OK with it having a little gray area because that is how we learn. We take what we know and think about what we don’t to come up with a method that works for us.

November 16, 2022 – Disorganization is Driving Me Nuts

November 16, 2022 /

A number of years ago, I cobbled a shelf together out of scrap material. The purpose was to organize all of the picnic materials (mostly used with the barbeque). Hence, I hung it above the barbeque in the garage. My first version worked, but it ended up sagging a lot. About three years ago I took it down and re-enforced the sagging shelf.

Something happened while we were in Barcelona. Because when I opened the garage when we got back, I saw the shelf was partially detached from the wall and over half of the items were on the floor. I hastily stacked everything on the floor and subsequently tripped over them and cursed their existence all summer long.

The failure of the old shelf appears that the back, which was nailed into the plywood shelves had separated. Hence, the shelf sort of fell apart. Now, I don’t think it just fell apart on it’s own. but regardless I would say that it wasn’t constructed properly. Any sort of shelf backing, the purpose is really to prevent racking, not necessarily hanging. I am a little surprised that it failed despite realizing the actual weaknesses.

Now that the fall is here and so is the rain, it is time to start shop projects and inside projects. It is also time to stop getting angry every time I try to maneuver in the garage (which is several times a day). I was going to build the shelf that never failed. About a day later, I decided that I was going to get this done as cheaply and quickly as possible.

I was at the local box store and I saw shelf brackets for $4 a piece. I bought four of them thinking I would hang one shelf and try them out. The worst case scenario is that I would save them for some other project later if I thought they were too wimpy. With the World Series on in the background, I set about disassembling the former shelf. I took measurements and pulled nails.

In about two hours, I had the first shelf up and loaded it up with paper plates, Solo cups, aluminum pans etc. I had determined that this was going to be far more cost and time effective to use these brackets rather than buy lumber and build my forever shelves. Over all, I bought 8 brackets (x $4) or $32 plus about four hours total of labor.

The point here is that it kind of offends my sensibilities to use the shelf brackets rather than build something. But, from a standpoint of time savings and even cost, this is no comparison to what I should do. The work is done and the stuff is off the floor after months.

End You Programming Routine: A friend of mine used this term ‘minimal viable product’. What it means is the minimal amount of effort exerted to do the job is the most efficient. This doesn’t necessarily mean do a temporary job, but it also means don’t overthink it. Variables always change in the future and the paradigms of today are not necessarily valid tomorrow. So, trying to futureproof something is often futile.