TIL the hard way about welding rod storage on a barge job last month

Left a box of 7018 rods out overnight on a river barge near Paducah, and by morning they were soaked through. Had to toss the whole box - $80 down the drain. Anybody got a reliable dry rod oven they swear by for wet river work?

Torn between clipper brands last month, went with Wahl instead of Oster

I had to pick between a Wahl Magic Clip and an Oster Fast Feed for my mobile kit. Went with the Wahl after a buddy in Austin swore by them for fading. So far, so good, the blade cuts super smooth on thin hair. Anyone else have a preference between those two?

Had a digger hit my line last Thursday and it was a mess

I was about halfway through setting posts for a 200 foot run of split rail up in the hills near Boise when I hear this grinding noise from the rental mini excavator I was using. Turns out I hit an old irrigation pipe that wasn't on any of the utility maps I checked. Water started shooting up like a geyser and I had to shut everything down fast. Spent the next two hours digging out the broken section by hand and patching it with a coupling and some PVC cement I had in my truck. The homeowner came out and just stood there watching with his arms crossed the whole time. Has anyone else had to deal with hidden pipes or lines that weren't marked?

Bought a fancy anvil off Craigslist for $400 turned out it was a cast iron boat anchor someone painted

Bought a $40 silicone air fryer liner and it ruined 3 batches of wings

I kept seeing those silicone liners on Amazon with great reviews. Got one, put it in my air fryer basket, and tried to make buffalo wings. The first batch came out soggy on the bottom. Second batch same thing. Third batch I actually checked the temp and realized the liner was blocking all the airflow underneath. The wings were just sitting in their own grease. Threw the liner in the trash and went back to just using the bare basket. Has anyone actually gotten those things to work right?

Debate: Air lift bag went sideways on me in Puget Sound

I was working on a pier repair job near Seattle last month. My lift bag snagged on a piece of rebar at 40 feet and started tilting bad, really throwing off my buoyancy. I had to dump air quick and swim clear before it pinned me against the piling. Did I handle it right by aborting the lift, or should I have tried to free it with a knife while it was still under tension? What would you guys do in that spot?

Old timer at the campsite told me to boil creek water for 10 minutes, not 5

Last weekend I was camping up near the Trinity Alps and ran out of clean water. A guy in the next site saw me filling my pot and said you gotta boil it for a full 10 minutes, not the 5 I always heard. I figured he was just being overly cautious since I've done 5 minutes for years without getting sick. Well I did the full 10 and the water tasted way different, less like dirt and minerals. Now I'm wondering if that extra time actually kills more stuff or just changes the flavor. Has anyone else been told a different boil time and noticed a real difference?

Can we talk about whether zines should be free or not?

I was at a zine swap last Saturday in Portland and this older guy running a table told me he never charges for his zines. He said charging money turns a zine into a product instead of a conversation. Ngl, I've always charged $3-5 for mine to cover printing costs. But hearing him say that made me wonder if I'm missing the whole point of DIY culture. What do you all think, does selling zines kill the spirit or is it just necessary to keep making them?

Was at the grocery store and saw a guy who looked EXACTLY like Keanu Reeves except he was bagging produce

I stared so long I dropped a jar of pickles and now I can't stop wondering if other people have spotted a celebrity twin in a totally random place like a DMV or a laundromat?

Question about that 1/2 inch drywall screw trick for hanging cabinets

I read on a contractor's blog that using 1/2 inch drywall screws instead of 2 inch ones for hanging upper cabinets actually holds better because they don't hit studs and strip out. Tried it last weekend on my own kitchen remodel and those little screws are holding 50 pound cabinets no problem. Has anyone else used this method or am I gonna wake up to cabinets on the floor?