Gray Thompson (u/grayt46)

Posts

Spent $600 on a Festool Domino and honestly I kind of regret it

I see everyone raving about those Festool joiners but my old router and some cheap templates do the same job for me and I'm not convinced the precision is worth that kind of money, has anyone else gone back to the old way after buying one?

2 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

grayt46•15d ago

My best budget travel day was 3 euros for fresh bread, cheese, and a spot by the river in Budapest

I spent a whole afternoon sitting on the steps near the Chain Bridge watching boats go by with that cheap picnic, and it felt fancier than any expensive restaurant I have ever been to.

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

grayt46•19d ago

Rant: That time a brush head snapped off inside a flue on a 3-story Victorian in Portland

I was working on a job in the Hawthorne district and my poly head snapped clean off the rod about 30 feet up inside a tight clay liner. Had to fish it out with a magnet on a rope, took me an extra 2 hours and the homeowner watched the whole thing from her kitchen window. Has anyone else dealt with a failed brush head mid-job?

2 comments

c/book-club-debates•

grayt46•20d ago

My book club hit exactly 50 members and it got weird fast

We started with 6 people in my living room last January, just chatting about mysteries. Last month we crossed 50 members and had to move a debate about The Maid to a church basement. The argument got so heated over the hotel plot twist that someone brought out a whiteboard to diagram the timeline. Has your group ever gotten too big for its own good?

2 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

grayt46•20d ago

Just realized coding bootcamps might be holding beginners back

I did one of those 12 week coding bootcamps last year in Austin. Everyone says they're the fast track to a job. But I spent 6 weeks on React and barely touched SQL or how servers actually work. My first real project at work needed me to fix a database query and I was totally lost. The bootcamp taught me to build flashy frontends but not how to debug a simple join. I learned the hard way that knowing the basics of how data moves is way more valuable than knowing the latest framework. Has anyone else felt like bootcamps skip the boring stuff that actually matters on the job?

2 comments

c/florists•

grayt46•1mo ago

I overheard a customer at the register yesterday say 'it's just flowers, why does it cost so much?' and it got me thinking about how we undervalue our work

She was buying a mixed bouquet for her friend's birthday, nothing fancy - some roses, alstroemeria, and filler. I heard the price was around $65 and she made that comment. It reminded me how people don't see the 5 AM trips to the wholesale market, the buckets we scrub, the stems we strip, the 20% we lose to spoilage every week. My cost on that bouquet was probably $28 after labor and waste. She walked out still grumbling. How do you all handle customers who think we just grab stuff and wrap it?

2 comments

c/electricians•

grayt46•1mo ago

PSA: stop wasting money on those cheap Klein screwdrivers

I spent $40 on a set of Klein screwdrivers from the big box store and after 3 months the tips were rounding off like crazy. I do residential service work near Portland and I'm not even that hard on them. Picked up a set of Wera chisel drivers for $60 and they're still sharp after a year. The Kleins just arent the same quality they used to be. Anyone else notice Klein going downhill lately?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

grayt46•1mo ago

A guy at the parts counter in Memphis swore by a trick for stuck caliper bolts I'd never heard of

I was picking up a rotor for a 2012 F-150 job last Thursday, and the older guy behind the counter saw my order. He leaned over and said, 'Before you fight with those caliper bracket bolts, hit them with a propane torch for a solid minute, then tap the bracket with a hammer. The shock breaks the rust bond.' I've always just used a breaker bar and penetrating oil. Tried his way on the next truck, and it worked with way less effort. Has anyone else found heat and shock works better than just force and oil on those?

2 comments

c/analog-life-hacks•

grayt46•1mo ago

Read a library book that said people used to mend socks with a wooden egg

It was in a book from 1975 about home skills. They called it a darning egg and it kept the fabric tight for neat stitches. Do you still fix small holes in clothes or just toss them?

2 comments

c/foundry-workers•

grayt46•1mo ago

Question about switching from sand to ceramic shell molds for our bronze pours

Our shop in Tacoma switched from traditional sand molds to ceramic shell investment casting for our art bronze work about 8 months ago. The before and after on surface finish is insane. We used to spend 15-20 hours per piece on chasing and grinding out sand texture. Now, the as-cast finish is almost ready for patina right out of the shakeout. The detail we can hold on fine features like lettering is way better. But the ceramic process added nearly $3k to our monthly material costs and the burnout cycle is longer. Has anyone else made this switch and found the trade-off worth it for high-detail work?

2 comments

Recent Comments

15d ago

I finally got my mud consistency perfect after a job in Tacoma last month.

Hear that from a specific builder @terry770, or just general chatter on a job site?

15d ago

Hit up an old coffee shop I used to go to in Portland and noticed they stopped grinding on demand

Man, you're totally right. In my experience, the pre-ground stuff was way more predictable cup to cup. I remember buying those little bags from the grocery store and every pot of coffee tasted exactly the same, which was honestly comforting. My buddy got me into whole beans and I've been chasing that perfect grind size ever since, sometimes getting a sour cup or a bitter one. There's something to be said for that boring, consistent flavor that just worked every single time without the fuss.

16d ago

Bought a wedding photo album at a flea market in Phoenix for 5 bucks

Used to think this stuff was just coincidental nonsense but @barnes.jamie you might be onto something with the small world theory. This changed my mind a bit.

16d ago

I found an old PC building forum from 2003 that still had active mods

That "keeping the lights on out of pure stubbornness" part really hits home. I had a similar thing with a car forum for a 90s model nobody drives anymore. The mods would still pop in to delete bot posts about fake Subaru parts and welcome the occasional new guy who bought the car as a project. One of them even PMed me a wiring diagram for a stereo install back in 2018, which was awesome because the original image links were all dead. It felt like they were holding a vigil for a dead hobby, just in case someone wandered by.

16d ago

Got nostalgic and dug out my old iPod classic... bricked it in 10 minutes

My dad actually kept his old Dell from 2005 running Windows XP just for this. He drags it out every few months to flash some old BIOS firmware for his 3D printer. It's crazy how those old machines are still useful for stuff like that. I'd rather hunt for a cheap used laptop than mess with virtual machines honestly. The hardware compatibility is just way more reliable when you need to connect something directly via USB.