OSCILLATING POWER TOOL FROM HARBOR FREIGHT

In June I made a trip down to the new Harbor Freight store in Auburn, Maine.  

I have bought other tools from Harbor Freight through the mail, and find them good enough for my amateur DIY (do it yourself.)   Granted, you get what you pay for and Harbor Freight tools are cheap; but they come with a ninety-day guarantee and they replace defective tools with no question.  I have had their table saw for fifteen years.  

I had downloaded a sales chit for an oscillating tool: a normally $39 tool on sale for $24.  

I felt guilty buying the tool wondering how much I would actually use it; but I needed to install cedar siding after having done some sill work and thought the tool might be useful in that instance.  

As it turns out, I have used the hell out of this tool since I have had it: cutting tricky pieces of siding to fit, installing a dead bolt lock and cutting pipe while doing some plumbing work (I HATE PLUMBING!)

This video is of a Makita oscillating power tool that cost about $150 – the Harbor freight tool serves my needs and is affordable.   

The problem is that I inadvertently bought the tool that is battery operated.   No problem with the battery but when I wanted to use the tool yesterday the charger wouldn’t work.   A new charger cost $12 with $7 shipping and I can buy another oscillating tool for only five dollars more (plus shipping.)     I am going to buy another one, but this time, one with a power cord.  I find battery operated tools a pain in the ass.   The battery always needs charging when I need to use the tool.

the Ol’Buzzard

MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE. CRAP!

Non-mechanics that worked on their own cars (back when you could work on your own car) were known as ‘shade tree mechanics.’ 

    

Today, people that do their own maintenance are called DYI’s. 

I prefer to call it: fix it yourself because you can’t afford to hire someone to do the job – and if someone else does it, it probably won’t be to my satisfaction.

So I do my own carpentry work, electrical wiring, appliance installation, general maintenance and I HATE PLUMBING.  

I think out my projects, then I will tell my wife I can do the job in an hour and she just shakes her head and walks away.   Six hours later, frustrated, my stomach full of hydrochloric acid and emotionally stressed, I complete the project. 

Today it was installing accordion window shades, you know the heavy cloth/paper shades that fold up like an accordion.  

An easy DYI project – one hour at the most. 

The hardware went up no problem, but getting the shades to snap into the bracket was a herculean task.  The spring on the brackets was stiffer than the shocks on my motorcycle.  I fought with the shades and the brackets for at least an hour, before finally modifying the brackets in order to seat the shade.   It doesn’t help that my hands were shaking shortly after mounting the first shade – something that seems to have popped up over the last couple of years.    Ain’t aging great?

I have done a lot of carpentry work, wiring etc. over the years at every place we have lived, and usually my end product is acceptable; though my flaws are always visible to me.  

 Usually, if I am putting something together from a kit, I end up with extra parts – the same with tearing something down to rebuild.   I measure twice and cut once - then end up modifying the piece when it doesn’t fit.      I am also plagued by gremlins.  Half of my time is spent looking for the tool I just laid down.   I am sure there is some invisible entity that works against me.  

But I can’t help myself; I believe that if you want something done right you do it yourself, or supervise it closely.   A few years ago I hired a carpenter I know to put a metal roof on our house.   He told me he world work for twenty dollars an hour – thirty if I helped. 

I can’t count the times I have hired someone to do work, usually plumbers, and then ended up redoing it to my satisfaction.

So what’s my next project?    Hell I don’t know.

I just bought a 1998 motor home on a whim, and I am hoping it does not turn into a part time job and a money pit.    But that is a story for another day.

the Ol’Buzzard

THERE IS ALWAYS A NEED FOR A SAW HORSE.

We recently had a new carpet put down in our cabin.   Because of the increased thickness of the new carpet I had to pull three doors and take ½ inch of the bottoms.

 

Years ago when we moved here I built a set of saw horses and over the years have used them many times.

  

You can purchase saw horses but these are much more substantial and are made from scrap 2x4’s and a piece of plywood and can be disassembled, transported and stored easily

If you do DIY carpentry projects you will find these saw horses invaluable.

fully assembled 

End pieces slip into the slots on the cross members 

70 degree angle

cross member dissembled

completely disassembled 

hope it is useful

the Ol'Buzzard

ZEN OF APATHY

A passenger aircraft shot down in the Ukraine.

There is nothing I can do about it.

800 dead in the 18 day conflict between Israel and Hamas.

There is nothing I can do about it.

Fighting continues in Iraq and Pakistan.

There is nothing I can do about it.

Fighting in Syria, atrocities in Africa.

There is nothing I can do about it.

Russia, Cuba, China;

I am powerless.

A dysfunctional U.S. Congress

Prisoners inhumanely put to death in Oklahoma, Ohio and Arizona.

Obama Care is being challenged in court.

Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia…

I vote but my vote is canceled by the Tea Party.

Beyond  my control.

In my mid-seventies, my days are limited, the grim reaper rides bitch on my bike.

It is what it is.

Today I am going to prepare the west side of my house for painting.    I painted the front (south side) first of the week.   I have one more cord of wood to order and stack for winter fuel; and I plan to replace the front storm door before winter sets in.   I haven’t meditated in a long time.   I need to take a few minutes this morning for Zen time.  It is suppose to be a beautiful day today – sunny with temps in the low seventies. 

Change what you can and accept what you can’t change: live in the moment: appreciate this day.

The Ol’Buzzard