DIY Git Shit Done 'Pro Tips' Thread

[AlpiNord]

Post 'em up or ask for help to work smarter, not harder on getting shit done by yourself.

As always, implement these tips at your own risk with caution and common sense. Use quality, well maintained tools.

[AlpiNord]

While looking for ideas on using my 2 1/4 ton jack to remove barbed wire fence posts, I stumbled on this gem. The pipe wrench was the 'missing link' for me to quickly provide the means to grip the post. The camera operator was the bonus.



I found I did not necessarily need to secure the pipe wrench for each post nor new positions. Loosely popping on an off the wrench provided a very quick and easy method to grab the posts while the jack's upward force locked it in place.




Position the jack so the post fins are not blocked by the jack as they come out of the ground.

[dunfree]

one that's obvious, simple, but seems hard for people: sharp tools get shit done faster & better. take care of your edged tools - chisels, planes, saws, knives. If you care for the blade, you'll spend less time sharpening

[gavinski91]

While looking for ideas on using my 2 1/4 ton jack to remove barbed wire fence posts, I stumbled on this gem. The pipe wrench was the 'missing link' for me to quickly provide the means to grip the post. The camera operator was the bonus.



I found I did not necessarily need to secure the pipe wrench for each post nor new positions. Loosely popping on an off the wrench provided a very quick and easy method to grab the posts while the jack's upward force locked it in place.

For smaller diameter pipe, or long rebar stakes (which I've had to deal with a bunch) a pair of vise grips and a rock bar as a lever works well too.

[Core Shot]

A farm jack is quicker

[AlpiNord]

Not if you don’t have one.


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[Spats]

Save the heavy rubber bands from broccoli clusters and put them in your tuning kit. Use them to hold back ski brakes while you're filing and waxing.

If you get blisters when you ski or hike, cover the area where you blister with a square of duct tape before you go skiing or hiking. Cut the tape with scissors, and cut the corners off the square so they don't scrunch up. (I keep a small roll and a scissors in my boot bag.) The duct tape is slick and your sock will slide right over it instead of rubbing a blister.

To avoid drilling your skis too deep, wrap electrical tape around your 5/32" bit at the proper depth. To see proper depth, screw a binding screw into your binding toepiece and heelpiece while they're still off the ski, and measure how far the screw sticks out.

[XXX-er]

Tape or drill collars will slip ime, drill thru a piece of wood and leave as much of the bit that you need sticking out, if the bit happens to slip the hole won't be deep enough but no damage

[SKIP IN7RO]

1. At least measure twice before cutting.
2. Calling in an expert after you have fucked shit up will always cost more.
3. Danny, I'm going to give you a little advice. There's a force in the universe that makes things happen; all you have to do is get in touch with it. Stop thinking...let things happen...and be...the ball.

[Mofro261]

A proper collared 4.1 ×9 is money well spent.

[CaliBrit]

If you have a f'ed up hex head get these, they're freaking awesome.

Replaced all my allen wrenches and hex bits.

https://www-us.wera.de/en/great-tools/hex-plus/

[Kailua_Boys]

Buy an oscillating multi tool. They're worth their weight in gold.

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[swissiphic]

Ran out of gas for my torch for doing p tex repairs. Figured i'd try using my soldering iron. Worked great. A few small scrapes and one large core shot. Turned out 'normal'.

Drilled a few rock skis for bindings free hand. Used resistance of hitting the base material as a prompt of when to stop drilling. Turned out 'normal'. Not for the faint of heart.

Also blasted through a base drilling bindings after getting sandbagged with getting handed the wrong bit. Filled hole with epoxy, drilled out a bit of the base, p texed that hole a bit wider in circumference, good to go.

Ski vice tacky rubber that skis rest on for basic waxing and repairs wore out after thousands of tunes/waxes. Had some Shoe GOO kicking around. Added a few layers, ground it flat with a few ridges for grip. Tacky enough not to notice difference compared to stock rubber.

To anchor skis while base side up on a flat part of ski vice as mentioned above, drill hole (or two) in bench beneath, feed voile ski strap through, loops through brake housing, snug 'er up. Works good.

Been having good success repairing top sheet delams with Shoe GOO.

Constructed a pretty cool 'temporary' ski rack for commercial shop use this season. Tacky rubber floor mats for ski tails to rest on so rockered tailed skis don't separate. Skis stand with weight on floor so not a weight bearing load on rack. Was easy to reach skis at back of rack after learning a specific yoga move. Ski rack holds about 30 pairs of 115mm+/- waist skis. Need yer room back? Ski rack folds up almost flush with wall.

Great utility for racking ski poles as well. Pair the poles and hang them upside down in the slots suspended by the baskets, tips up.

[Jonny Snow]

Wax the tops of your 190+ cm powder skis with actual ski wax. Rub on, cork in, rub on again, buff out with cloth. Keeps several pounds of sticky snow off giant skis, makes them much easier to handle in technical terrain. Also provides super fashionable matte finish on glossy top sheets.

Get a folding aluminum painting bench/platform, use for booting up at the car in comfort.

"Kicker Skins" are very compact and can easily be carried in a pocket, they can be used to directly traverse or slightly uphill through untracked snow, without AT gear, which might allow you to extract yourself from a overly downhill sidecountry situation.

[MakersTeleMark]

Wear a condom, one that you brought, not in your wallet.

In the spring, wax your skins.

[mattig]

Had a floppy, leaning, garden shed that some douche charged previous owner a couple g's to build, only to throw non-pressure-treated skids right on bare dirt. They weren't rotting yet, but the roof of the shed was a solid 8 inches away from the house.

Dropped some thick conduit in concrete, put a big old washer on top and then dropped in the threaded post bases with included nut. Maybe spent 40 bucks and now the base is adjustable--not that it probably matters since the holes are 18 inches deep, but if it happens to budge over the years, I'm covered...

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[oftpiste]

+1 for adjustable pier blocks.

[AlpiNord]

A simple and adjustable storage system for boards, pipe, skis, toys, etc, using conduit pipe. Add shelves, hang stuff, use different pipe lengths. Note the Romex ‘rails’ to keep boards, pipe and other short pieces visible and accessible without them falling off.




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Slidewright.com

[zeroforhire]

Use leukotape in place of moleskin or duct tape.

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[JongDoe]

And for non-handy gapers like myself, check youtube.

[old goat]

one that's obvious, simple, but seems hard for people: sharp tools get shit done faster & better. take care of your edged tools - chisels, planes, saws, knives. If you care for the blade, you'll spend less time sharpening

Don't let your knives bang against each other or other hard materials, especially by throwing them in the dish drainer. If you use a knife block put the knives in sharp side up so the back of the blade is the part that rubs on the wood on the way in and out, not the edge. (It is always important to note which part of the blade rubs on which part of the hole, for many activities, although I don't claim that to be a pro tip.)

The best knife sharpener is the one that's easy to get to and use so you use it a lot. I use to sharpen my knives with the same stones I use for my woodworking tools but they were out in the garage so the knives didn't get sharpened often enough. Now I keep a fine diamond stone right by the sink so the knives get sharpened every couple of days.

Use a plastic (not rubber) eraser to clean diamond stones. (Works for your ski stones as well.) Available at any office supply. (I never actually tried a rubber eraser so it might work but my source said plastic.)

[summit]

Don't let your knives bang against each other or other hard materials, especially by throwing them in the dish drainer. If you use a knife block put the knives in sharp side up so the back of the blade is the part that rubs on the wood on the way in and out, not the edge. (It is always important to note which part of the blade rubs on which part of the hole, for many activities, although I don't claim that to be a pro tip.)

The best knife sharpener is the one that's easy to get to and use so you use it a lot. I use to sharpen my knives with the same stones I use for my woodworking tools but they were out in the garage so the knives didn't get sharpened often enough. Now I keep a fine diamond stone right by the sink so the knives get sharpened every couple of days.

Use a plastic (not rubber) eraser to clean diamond stones. (Works for your ski stones as well.) Available at any office supply. (I never actually tried a rubber eraser so it might work but my source said plastic.)

Things a surgeon-skier-chef would say

[mattig]

New opportunity presented itself yesterday when I went to replace a squishy piece of window trim. This installation is less than 10 years old per neighbor. Cut out a few inches past what's rotten, grafted in new studs, runner, replaced missing sheathing rebuilt the sill pan with TiteSeal, reinstalled window temporarily for overnight security.

Today, pulling most of the siding, reflashing the window, and reinstalling. I got some Owens Corning deck defense (similar properties to tyvek wrap) from the roofers that are here and that'll allow me some time to decide if I want to redo the siding or try to reuse what's here.

Just a bandaid job to get down the road. This whole wall and several feet of subfloor would need to be rebuilt to do it right.

Lesson learned on window water intrusion vigilance. Previous owner had these put in less than 10 years ago.

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[old goat]

Things a surgeon-skier-chef would say

As a surgeon all are sharps are disposable--scalpels of course, but also scissors. That is, if a scissors is no good I break them before I hand them off the field; otherwise they show up back on the set, since no one seems to sharpen them.
A chef friend of mine (ex Chez Panisse, started Zulu Cafe) used to have me sharpen her knives. I claim to be a mediocre cook but an excellent sharpener.

[dunfree]

Use a plastic (not rubber) eraser to clean diamond stones. (Works for your ski stones as well.) Available at any office supply. (I never actually tried a rubber eraser so it might work but my source said plastic.)

On the eraser front, the little japanese rust erasers http://www.korin.com/Rust-Eraser-Sabitoru_3 - amazon and others sell them, they are cheap, are pretty cool for cleaning up things that got slightly too rusty.