fm2176
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Posts posted by fm2176
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Packout sales would be my guess. I don't own any Milwaukee nailers, but the DeWalt finish nailer came in a hard case, while the Ryobi pin and brad nailers didn't even come with a bag. Then again, I bought the DeWalt kit and the Ryobi bare tools.
I've noticed fewer and fewer tools coming in blow-molded cases. It'd be nice if they tossed in a brand-specific box like ToughSystem, Packout, or whatever Ryobi's toolbox system is called, even if they charged a little extra.
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21 hours ago, okpermanent said:
Just got done a Master Bath remodel. Gutted everything to the studs. There was 3 floors all built on each other that had to be broken out. Installed a new window. Built in a bench in the shower. Insulated everything. Re-did all the electric, added outlets, lighting. Had to repair some rotted wood. Install new electric baseboard heater. Moved plumbing from one side of existing shower to the other side. Tiled the entire bathroom. Full tile in shower and half wall outside of shower. Still waiting for frameless doors to come in. New toilet, vanities, sink. And I would say I lost roughly a week between the plumber doing his work and the drywall guys doing their work. My wonder is how long it normally would take to do this job completely. I did it by myself 75% of the time and the rest of the time I had a helper to do some things that didn't require any skill. It took me exactly 4 weeks. Bathroom is roughly 11' deep and about 6 foot wide with the first 3 feet of it only 3 foot wide (basically a little walkway into the room). Is that way too long or am I on pace. If that's way too long, what can I do scheduling wise to make the next one go faster.
Bathrooms are next on my list. I have two bathrooms: the master bath has a vanity in the bedroom itself, and the main bath has a long (84" or so) counter with one sink. Each has a separate tiny toilet/tub area. There is enough room to stand and if you move your legs you can even shut or open the door if on the toilet.
I don't mind the small spaces for the toilets and tubs; I'm thinking about getting showers installed, which should open them up a little, but I honestly don't need a whole lot of space there. I'll probably go with dual sinks for both bathrooms, tile flooring, and redo the walls.
Once I confirm my tax exemption is permanent, I plan to add a bathroom in what is now the garage. I have built-in double and single garages, so about 600 s.f. of living space can be added, which will increase the assessed value and would raise my property taxes if Ihave to pay them (not a big deal, but if my VA rating exempts me, I'm not offering more of my money to the government). That bathroom will probably be a bit larger than the two I have now.
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Well, I stopped by yesterday and grabbed the HP starter kit but couldn't find anything I really wanted (the pet stick vac would have been it, but they were sold out). I ended up with a couple of the regular One+ starter kits, grabbing the last Verse speaker 2-pack and a Whisper fan.
I have the Score speakers, if they still work. They've been on the back patio for months, covered but otherwise exposed to extremes. They're decent enough, but the Verse speakers have more volume and seem to have equal or better sound quality. Plus, they're substantially cheaper than the Score system was (I bought mine at 75% off, but originally, they were $200 for the hub and speaker kit and $100 for individual speakers).
We're going to a rock festival in fall, so I've decided to make it a Ryobi trip. I've got the DeWalt Power Station, Ridgid fans, and other luxuries, but will just bring about 20 Ryobi batteries to power the new Whisper fan and my numerous clamp fans, as well as the USB/AC power hub. I picked up a One+ car charger a while back and will bring that and my 6-battery charging station as well. Should be enough to keep phones charged and the tent cool for a few days.
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It's that time of the year again, and despite inflation and so on, Ryobi seems to have the usual Ryobi Days deal: 2-4Ah starter kit with choice of free tool. The charger is basic but functional. Years ago, they had a better charger included, but whether you are looking to get into the nearly 30-year-old One+ platform, need some fresh batteries, or want to add a tool or two to the collection, this is probably the best time.
I first took advantage of Ryobi Days in 2017 or so, when I needed to trim some trees on a property. That year they had the newly released 3Ah HP batteries combined with the 30-minute charger, and the pole saw ($79 at the time, $129 now) was included in the free tools. Since then, I've skipped only a year or two, usually shelling out the money to add a couple more batteries and another tool.
I'll probably be stopping by HD on Friday to see what I can get. Anyone else plan to add some Green to their tool assortment this year?
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That's great to hear. It will take some time, but eventually battery operated equipment will begin to supplant gas.
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They definitely require a different perspective, and strategic usage of battery-operated equipment can have benefits that gas will never get. Less heat and noise, no emissions, instant start, etc. My five-year-old EGO string trimmer is great. My neighbor has a professional-quality Echo gas trimmer he bought about 15 years ago. It's been maintained and has gone to the shop once or twice for repair, and wouldn't you know, just a couple of weeks ago it had to go back. I can't say how well the EGO will be doing in 10 years, but I put it away dirty and haven't done anything besides replace the trimmer line.
I have multiple batteries and chargers, for multiple brands and voltages. Bosch 18v; MetaboHPT 18v; DeWalt 8v, 12v, 20v, and Flexvolt; Milwaukee M12 and M18, Ryobi One+; and Ridgid 18v, along with the previously mentioned EGO equipment. If I would have gone electric for my ZTR I'd have probably coughed up the price for the EGO.
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I'm not aware of any, unfortunately, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable in woodworking can suggest a resource.
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1 hour ago, jamis said:
Had a good operational cost comparison yesterday. Neighbor behind me has a 42" Toro Timecutter 0turn and the neighbor next door has a Gravely 34" 0turn. All of our lawns are 10,000 sq.ft. and we all spend about a half hour mowing. The V-twin ICE engines in the Toro & Gravely burn a gallon of gas an hour when mowing. 87E10 here is $3.69/ga., so the neighbors spend a $1.85 to mow their lawns. $1.85 likely isn't a big expense to mow your lawn and folks likely don't look at what it costs to run a lawn mower. My RM480 costs $0.06 @ my electric rate to mow the same sized lawn. Add in the cost of maintenance for an ICE mower that the RM480 doesn't have, and it's easy to see why my RM480 saved enough in 54 months to pay for a new set of 100 ahr. batteries. Oh yeah, the Toro cost $3,400 new and the Gravely cost $7,995 new. I paid $2,499 for my RM480e new.
Good to hear. I considered the EGO ZTR but when my neighbor hooked me up with a deal on a Bad Boy with 14 hours on it, I couldn't help myself. I think that the battle between internal combustion (IC) and electric mowers will be going on for the indefinite future. While I like my battery powered OPE and power tools I know that what they lack in maintenance requirements is offset to an extent by their reliance on relatively slow charging and ever-depleting batteries. In other words, with gas I can expect to change the oil, spark plug, and filters annually, and need to keep a can of gas on hand. If I run out of gas, it's a quick trip to the station for more. With battery operated equipment/tools, maintenance is almost nil, but if my battery dies, I forgot to charge it, or if it's stolen or misplaced, I'm out of luck. Maybe a trip to Home Depot to spend hundreds on a replacement is possible, but odds are I'm not getting the job done soon.
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On 5/10/2023 at 7:46 AM, Eric - TIA said:
OH wow, that is a sweet looking gun.
Carried it in my overalls chest pocket yesterday, while doing yard work. My wife showed me a picture of a 4-5' long snake that was on the property a few days ago. I don't enjoy killing things and have a basic knowledge of poisonous snakes, but am no herpetologist, so the revolver was on me for its namesake, just in case I crossed paths with it and deemed it a threat.
A coworker gave me some .22 Long Rifle varmint shot since we have yet to be restocked. We did have some .38 Special and .45 ACP shotshells, so I picked up a box of the former. I'm not sure how well the shotshells will run in my Para Ordnance so I'll stick to revolver calibers.
The other Barkeep I picked up a while back is this one:
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Picked up a Nebo DaVinci 10000L today. What can I say, I like darkness, but there's no substitution for a bright light in some situations. This one has Turbo, High, Medium, Low, and Strobe settings, with the strobe having a fast/slow flashing pattern for maximum disorientation.
Before long I need to get a store brand generator or two (50% off with the employee discount) and ensure that my flashlights are charged or have spare batteries nearby and that the DeWalt Power Station is ready to go. Also, need to locate and top off the Ridgid and Ryobi batteries for the fans. Hurricane season will be here soon, and though I've lucked out so far, I want to ensure that we are as comfortable as possible should there be a prolonged power outage.
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I forgot all about Mayhew. I think that Home Depot used to carry their stuff in store but I haven't seen them in any store recently, though they are available on the HD site, including a couple of socket bit sets. According to their info page, Mayhew was founded in 1856 and is the oldest punch and chisel manufacturer here in the States.
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On 5/10/2023 at 7:46 AM, Eric - TIA said:
OH wow, that is a sweet looking gun.
It looks good but I'd say is probably best suited for its namesake: snakes. A coworker had some extra pest control shot shells, so he gave me a box. I'll check the shelves and back stock later to see if we got more in.
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On 5/4/2023 at 9:12 AM, Eric - TIA said:
Wow, that is nice looking, looks classic.
The Heritage .22 rimfire revolvers (I think that's all they make, to include a rifle version, it seems) are nice budget guns and have a big following. You can accessorize them quite a bit, and they come with special offers for leather and nylon holsters as well as magnum cylinders. The only real competition I can think is the Ruger Wrangler, which retails for about $60 more depending on model. For scaled down "cowboy gun" lookalikes, the Heritage and the Ruger are both fun little plinkers and have some practical use. As stated above, I plan to use one or both of my Barkeeps for snake and varmint deterrence. The 6-1/2" barreled Rough Rider will be used mostly for shooting cans of Bud Light.🙂
If I had to complain about the Barkeep, it'd be that it's too short for an integrated ejector, so they come with a dowel instead. No problem really, though, as the cylinders are interchangeable. If I wanted to carry either of my Barkeeps I could keep a couple spare .22 LR cylinders and a .22 Magnum one. Swapping cylinders is probably the fastest way to reload anyway.
We have one model as cheap as $109 for the .22 LR and $129 for the two-cylinder version. Around Black Friday they had a $30 off promo, so they were $79 and $99 respectively. Needless to say, we had some customers buying a half dozen or more back then.
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I picked up the Heritage Barkeep with 2.75" barrel a while back. It's a nifty little single action .22 that can take Long Rifle or Winchester Magnum Rimfire cylinders. Being on a bit of a .22 kick, I picked up my Rossi Rio Bravo lever action and a Barkeep Burnt Snake earlier. The latter will be tucked away somewhere near at hand in case of, you guessed it, a poisonous snake in the yard. Unfortunately, we ran out of rat shot, but I'll check the ammo backstock daily until we get more.
My rough estimate is that my rimfire collection (almost exclusively .22 Long Rifle) is probably up to about 20 or so guns. On the flip side, I might have about twelve 9mms and only I know what else. 😉
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The video mentions the groceries and other items. The more I hear about the chain, the more I think that our local family-owned home improvement chain, Stine, is not too dissimilar. Granted, Stine has only 11 locations, all in Louisiana, but they too sell some things that just can't be found at the two big chains. Well, except for groceries...
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Figured I'd share this, as I've been known to visit a home improvement store or two but due to geographical location have never visited Menards.
Whenever the family and I plan a vacation to the Midwest, they'll be doing their thing. I'll be looking up the nearest Menards... 😄
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GUN TIME! Okay, maybe not. I haven't added anything recently due to an upcoming family vacation and the need for gun safes. Fortunately, my job provides a 50% discount, so a $3200 Liberty-made safe and eventually one or two smaller $800 safes (should be about $2400 total) will be securing the guns while I figure out what to do with my current gun storage.
Once the gun storage and security is updated I'll be looking at some tool organization and storage. It's always something...
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This thread reminds me...I need to start researching refrigerators and decide what sort of ice maker I want. I tried selling the wife on a standalone ice maker, but she shot that idea down. For better or worse I keep the freezer packed, so ice trays are out of the question.
Another thing I need to get, to get everyone to drink a little more water, is a water cooler. I had one but gave it to my son when I moved last year, and I miss having it. The heating element burned out, likely when I ran it out of water, but the refrigerated water was nice. On a hot day, or when I'm thirsty, nothing beats ice cold water or unsweetened iced tea.
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Wow, Porter Cable is still a thing? Jokes aside, this looks nice, and it's great that it's compatible with DeWalt cases.
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Someone had to do it... 😁
Anyway, hope everyone has a great day, whether you're going to religious services, consider today an excuse to spoil your kids, or consider it another day! I'm at work (allegedly) having watched my kids enjoy their baskets of Japanese and Turkish candies and other goodies.
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14 hours ago, RT29 said:
Streamlight Stinger LED, has been the best flashlight I ever owned. I spent up to get a quality flashlight years ago when I started a side hustle doing Home Inspections, and it is definitely a great light. I bought so many cheap flashlights thinking it gives off light.... that's good enough. Boy was I wrong.
Very true, this is why I don't understand why some people are fine with their do-it-all smart phone when it comes to lights. Light quality and color are important, as are focus and brightness. My new Streamlight is great for distance lighting on high, but is overwhelming if I'm looking under my hood.
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Nice. I have no need for commercial equipment, and my EGO lawnmower is now relegated to cutting a small fenced in area of the back yard. The string trimmer is still my go-to (my DeWalt 20v Max trimmer decided to spit out its string, so I tossed it in the garage and grabbed the EGO to handle the ditch and around the house) and the blower is still great when I need it. The hedge trimmer, well, I have no hedges now...
If I had the need and found it suitable for my uses, I wouldn't hesitate to invest more money in EGO, especially the commercial stuff. Thanks for sharing this!
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So, I bought a Streamlight ProTac HL 5-X today. It was admittedly an impulse buy, as I clocked out on break and happened to check out the flashlight case. When I saw the 3500 lumens claim I figured "why not?" Flashlights are one of those tools that we sometimes take for granted, and over the years I've owned many different types. The Mag-Lite was king some 20-odd years ago, and I had everything from Mini-Mags to the six-D cell light I'd use for my unarmed security guard job. Despite being quality lights, though, the Mag-Lite design was showing its age even back then. The incandescent bulb and standard batteries were susceptible to damage, leading to damaged or destroyed lights after a few months of riding in a vehicle or sitting in a closet. I started buying SureFire lights in the early 2000s, and a 20-something year old SureFire M951 weaponlight is still mounted to my AR15. As I've started buying handguns with rails, I've begun adding lights to those. Some of my handgun lights are also laser sights, and most, if not all, have a strobe setting designed to disorient an assailant. I don't yet have night vision (well, somewhere I have a 25-year-old GEN1 device bought from Kmart) but do have infrared lights and filters for the M951.
Of course, head lamps are nice to have, though I have a habit of misplacing them. I have Milwaukee, DeWalt, and other brands but probably couldn't locate a single one at the moment. Speaking of those tool brands, I'm sure that many of us have a handheld work light compatible with our cordless battery platform of choice. Lights like the basic DeWalt DCL040 are still very useful, and I own the DCL043 spotlight along with a few other more specialty lights. The 12v Max DCL510 is a favorite, and I used to keep them stuck to the fridge and to the entry doors of my house. As odd as it may seem, I've even used the Milwaukee M12 Rocket lights as large flashlights of sorts. Going into the crawlspace at my former residence, I'd use them for both light and to keep my hands out of the muck. Sometimes I find myself using a cordless drill or impact driver as a flashlight, and the LEDs on most of those definitely come in handy when working in dark places.
Growing up, the Everready D cell light was ubiquitous, and a six-volt lantern was the go-to for more serious lighting needs. Now, those are almost laughable compared to what can be had. Of course, we also nearly all keep a flashlight on our person at all times these days in the way of a smart phone. They aren't perfect, but in my mind, they've taken the place of the key chain LED light, with similar brightness and lighting quality.
Anyway, what's your "go-to" light? Do you keep multiple lights handy; in roadside emergency kits, 72-hour bags, or as part of your everyday carry? Do you view the often-bundled work light as an added value to a new cordless tool kit, or as just another cheap accessory that gets tossed behind the workbench? Is your cell phone the only light you own and/or need? In my opinion the flashlight is one of those simple tools that can get extremely specialized and complex. Any is better than none, but sometimes you wish you had that one light that would make the job or task at hand that much easier.
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I agree, this doesn't really do anything that existing cases won't. Here in the States, Bosch was selling their modular accessory cases at Lowe's. You could buy pre-filled cases or an empty case and add various bit sets already in their holders. I'm unsure of whether or not Lowe's still stocks them.
I have (mostly DeWalt, with a few Milwaukee, Bosch, and Makita) cases seemingly everywhere, with some basically brand new and others containing a handful of mismatched and well-used bits.
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Menards: Why They're Successful
in Pub Talk
Posted
I think it's just a coincidence. Stine is a nice place to stop by when I'm in the area. Their closest store is maybe ten miles from me, so much closer than the Lowe's in Baton Rouge, and a little farther than the Home Depot in my town.