Troy Smith (u/troysmith)

Posts

Shoutout to the guy at the hardware store who saved my glue-up

I was putting together a simple pine bookshelf in my garage last week, and the whole thing was about to go sideways, literally. I had all the pieces clamped up with Titebond III, but the joints kept slipping no matter how much I tightened the clamps. I was ready to scrap the project when I ran to the local Ace for more glue. The older guy in the lumber section saw my face and asked what was up. I told him, and he just said, 'You using any wax paper under those clamps? The wood's sticking to your clamp blocks and pulling everything out of line.' I had no idea. I went home, cut some parchment paper from the kitchen to use as a barrier, and the next glue-up went perfectly straight. It was such a simple fix for a problem that was driving me nuts. Has anyone else had a basic shop tip like that completely save a project?

3 comments

c/crane-operators•

troysmith•1mo ago

A cable sheave started making a grinding noise on the Manitowoc 2250 last Friday.

We were on a tight schedule for the new hospital wing in Tacoma. I heard the noise during a lift and stopped right away. Some guys said to grease it and keep going, but I think we should have shut down to check the bearings. What's your rule for a new noise on a big lift?

3 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

troysmith•1mo ago

My bullet journal fell apart during a crazy Tuesday

Last Tuesday, my entire schedule blew up with three last-minute client calls and a supplier ghosting me. I was flipping pages so fast to reschedule things that the binding on my journal gave out, pages just falling on the floor. It was a $15 notebook from the craft store, not built for that kind of panic. Now I'm stuck between just taping it back together or finally investing in a sturdier, more expensive book. Has anyone else had a journal physically fail on them during a bad week?

3 comments

c/barbers•

troysmith•1mo ago

Showerthought: I gave a free haircut to a regular and it backfired

Heard a guy at the shop say a free cut builds loyalty, so I offered one to a client who's been coming in for a year. He started asking for free trims every two weeks and got upset when I said no. Anyone else have a 'nice guy' move blow up like that?

3 comments

c/commercial-divers•

troysmith•1mo ago

Reading an old salvage manual and the decompression times shocked me

I was looking through a 1970s diving manual from a library in Seattle and saw the table for a 200 foot dive. The required decompression stop was over two hours, which is way longer than I thought for that depth. Has anyone else come across old dive procedures that seem crazy by today's standards?

3 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

troysmith•1mo ago

Update: My cheap water filter cost me a whole day on the John Muir Trail

I bought a $15 filter from a discount site before my trip, thinking it was a good deal... it clogged solid after the first liter of silty creek water. Spent the next six hours hiking back to the last camp with a spring, then had to wait for morning to get moving again. Has anyone else had a filter fail that bad, and what do you actually trust for murky water?

3 comments

c/drywall-installers•

troysmith•1mo ago

Shoutout to the old plaster ceiling I had to demo before hanging board in a 1920s bungalow

What should've been a 2-hour demo turned into a 3-day nightmare of removing 3 layers of lath and horsehair plaster that was fused to the joists with what felt like concrete.

3 comments

c/commute-confessions•

troysmith•1mo ago

A bus driver in Chicago told me something that made my whole week

I was on the 151 route yesterday morning, and the driver saw me looking at my phone. He said, 'You know, I've been driving this route for 12 years, and I can tell you the exact tree where the leaves start to turn yellow first every fall.' He pointed to a spot near Lincoln Park. It made me look up and actually see the city instead of just scrolling through it. What's the coolest thing someone has told you on your ride to work?

3 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

troysmith•1mo ago

I was watching a pitmaster in Austin talk about his fire management and he said 'you're not cooking meat, you're cooking air'.

That made me finally get why my brisket was drying out, because I was opening the smoker every 30 minutes to check the temp instead of trusting the process.

3 comments

c/backyard-birdwatching•

troysmith•1mo ago

Had to choose between a heated bird bath and a bigger seed hopper for my Ohio yard

My budget was tight, just $80, and winter was coming. I went with the heated bath because the creek froze over. It worked, I saw a dozen cardinals using it last Tuesday. But now I'm refilling the seed every other day. Did I pick wrong?

3 comments