I've seen pictures of your work and it looks like it's really good workmanship. My advice is to save your money and buy the absolute best that you can. Put your $200 back in your pocket. The money that you spend on quality and performance will pay you back with time saved. Maybe take out a small business loan? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.general.ca/index_en.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.general.ca/index_en.html</a> A Canadian company that sells a 14" benchtop drill press for $300. You really don't need all the lasers and computerized shit, but the technology sure makes work easier. For instance, I'm in need of a new compound mitre saw. For $1300 bucks I could buy three comparable saws to this one. Unfortunately, with the features of this beast, you really can't compare. The time I spend dialing in my 12" Dewalt, I'd be done already with a Festool, For my money, you can't beat this kind of German engineering. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.festoolusa.com/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.festoolusa.com/default.aspx</a> I just found this site: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.toolcritic.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.toolcritic.com/</a> Seems to have alot of good information. All of the power tool companies get reviewed.
With regards to the debate about cheap power tools, I would like to respectfully interject. I'm what would probably be best described as a 'casual' DIY'er. Which to say is, I can do pretty much anything from putting up shelves to fitting an entire kitchen (and not sloppily-OCD may fuck my life over in some respects, but when it comes to doing a job properly, you best believe it will be millimeter perfect). Now, I don't run my tools 24/7, but they get good usage. And they're all 'cheap'. (I'm English, so I'll approximate their value in American dollars) Table saw- $100 Sliding Mitre saw-$130 Router(s)-$20 to $100 + And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've never had a problem with any of them. Sure, the table saw has bound up on the work a couple of times, but even the multi-thousand pound industrial ones will do that. Most machine problems are due to operator error. Don't stress your machinery, and it will do you proud. I've had my table saw for over 3 years now, and not once have I had kick back-why? Because I understand that it's a lethal razor sharp blade that spins at a million RPM, and inpatience will result in potential death. I'm not knocking the advice of the proffesionals in this thread. My knowledge comes from my dad, who is in his mid fifties and has been a carpenter for fourty odd years. The man can do anything. His mum still has a hostess trolly he built when he was twelve years old, and the thing is fucking solid. It's not a piece of art by any stretch, but you would never believe it was built by someone so young-let alone that it had survived so long without needing to be repaired (I can get pics if anyone cares) There is some cheap shit out there, no doubt, but not all of it is crap. My earliest memory of my dad building stuff for our house was him using a plug in drill, and a ratchet screwdiver-at the time that was state of the art. Again, it's all about how you treat your tools. No offence to the pro's, just offering an opinion.
I disagree with a few of the things I just read. You have to have gotten some numbers wrong, $130 for a brand new sliding mitre saw? 84 British pounds or thereabouts? I could understand used, but to go in a hardware/tool store and pick up a saw? Not anywhere I can find. My above post was more for a person that is planning on making some money from the tools he/she uses. I totally agree with taking care of your tools and not over-stressing them. And yes, you can get by with the Craftsman or Ryobi type tools. Why would you want to? My point was to buy the absolute best that you can. Whether it pertains to a television, computers or tools. Same idea, you really do get what you pay for, especially when it comes to power tools. Hand tools also, but I don't want to open that one up. I don't think you have to go crazy with spending. I can't even go to the tool store without dropping a couple of bills. (I also have to replace a tape measure every other month, it's my own fault.) What would the fence of a hundred dollar table saw look like? I picked up a Bessmeyer fence last year for $ 120, and it was on sale. I wish that I could get away with using cheaper tools, it's just been my experience that they break and are usually under-powered. Hand tools are what really kill me anyway. They tend to grow legs on most job sites. Anyone got any favorite tools or favorite companies that make tools? I'd go with Bridge city tools out of Portland, their stuff is incredible. Expensive as hell too. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.bridgecitytools.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bridgecitytools.com/</a>
It's all about preference for tools. With the cheaper ones, you need to absolutely make sure you're doing it right counting in the looser tolerances for operation. For example, in one house I was doing the baseboard trim. For it, I was using a lower-midrange miter saw. I at first took into consideration that the walls weren't perfectly square. However, I didn't take into consideration that the pressure I exerted on the saw caused it to drift. Compound this over 2 cuts, and you can see a gap between the boards. I saved the boards by recutting them for other portions of the house, and didn't waste too much extra because of it. For a casual Do It Yourselfer, I think cheap tools are fine if you spend the time to check everything you do. But for a business that needs to move quick, you need something exact.
I apologise, I did get that particular number wrong (stupid beer). The mitre saw was £130, not dollars. Well, truth be told it only cost me £3-I used to work for B&Q (Englands equivalent to your Home Depot I guess), and it was returned because the base was broken. My dad got his engineer friend to fix it (for free) and now it's better than it would have been originally. I picked up so many tools at that job-they used to cut the power cords off of the display models, and when it came time to change the display board they'd just bin them. I'd buy the tools for a couple of pounds and the old man would just wire them back up. Amongst what I 'salvaged' were a router, two skill saws, a biscuit jointer, bench press and some sanders and cordless drills. I loved that job. I absolutely agree with you Carpenter-for every day use these things would be fucking useless-they'd burn out in a week or so. I'm just saying that using them respectfully and knowing what you're doing can get you a lot of use out of something cheap. They don't hold up to the more expensive brands in the long term, but in the short term they can certainly hold their own. As to your question "what would the fence on a hundred dollar table saw look like", well in my case, it would look broken. My dad over tightened the handle and snapped the locking mechanism, so now it's held on via G clamp. That's a minor niggle to me though-I knew when I got it that it wasn't top of the range, but I balance the short comings against the fact that £50 worth of machinery has saved me countless money and effort in labour. If money wasn't an issue, I'd buy the absolute best every time-hell, I'd recreate the New Yankee Workshop in my back yard.
See, I would do this, but I'm still 100% self-funded and as a student I like running my business debt-free. I do recognize the merits of really nice equipment but for the work I do, I don't need an amazing drill. I still finish all of my work by hand. Thanks to all for the advice... I've got a number of sources for tooling and have actually set up a connection to a full-blown woodworking shop that would let me use their facility during after hours (awesome). This is just... amazing: *You owe it to yourself to check out some of the other 5-axis and other ridiculous mill videos on Youtube.
$859.00 Bridge city tools makes the coolest hand tools on the planet, in my humble opinion. If I had the money, I'd buy all of their tools. Using them? Could I take a eight hundred dollar plane and run it against some wood? Highly doubtful. Anyone have any links or pictures of cool stuff, tools, programs, etc? I know this isn't a boobie thread, but maybe we could all see some cool shit anyway.
I'm sorry there is absolutely no justification for an $800 hand planer. I understand high quality tools cost the big bucks, but that just reeks of the hundred dollar "audiophile grade wall outlet" bullshit. Sure, some schmuck will buy it because he has more money than brains, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who legitimately bought and uses one of those guys.
FYI, that plane is a commemorative tool from them, made out of stainless. It's a low-volume, artistic (but still totally functional), incredibly high-quality tool.
I'm repairing a hole I punched into my drywall and I need some advice on how to match my wall's texture. It's a swirl texture, and I can't find any good info on how to re-create that texture on the new dry wall to match the existing wall. Almost forgot. It's a small fist sized hole, so will I need to screw a piece of wood backing into the wall to support the new drywall? I was just going to put a lot of mud inside and around the edges to hold the new piece of drywall in place, as I didn't think it would require any backing, but again I can always use the advice. I also got drunk and kicked my front door in and split the jamb. I think I've got this one covered, but if anyone has any advice I'll take it. When installing the new jamb, why exactly would I need to put wood shims behind the new jamb? Not behind the striker plates, but I guess it has something to do with creating a consistent gap between the door and the frame/jamb? I'm not really sure, so unless I can find a good reason I'll probably just avoid messing with the shims at all, but I'd like to know if that'd be a big mistake.
You had some fun, eh? The Drywall Problem If it was my house, this is how I would fix it. Oh, by the way, you're sure it's drywall and not plaster, right? You're talking about a swirl pattern makes it seem like it might be hand-done plaster. If it is drywall: 1. Get a small saw and cut the hole square. 2. Screw in a piece of wood behind it. 3. Get a spare piece of drywall the same thickness as your existing drywall, cut it to a square that will just fit inside the hole, and screw it in place. 4. Get some drywall compound and go around the edges. Thin coats are better than thick ones. Let it dry, sand it, then repeat. As to matching the pattern, I would take a piece of the drywall I had cut away into a Home Depot or some other reno/paint store and ask their advice. Since we can't see it, it's tough to say how to apply a finish. Door Jamb Problem These can be a bastard to fix, since most doors come pre-hung. Essentially, if you were hanging a pre-hung door, you'd set the door upright in the hole, affix it to one side and use the shims to ensure that the frame was level, plumb and square all the way around. After that, you'd hang the door and all you'd have to do is make sure that it sat evenly in the jamb. Now you've wrecked that. You'll have to fashion some kind of jamb out of new material and use shims to make sure that the door is still sitting level and swinging properly. If you fucked up the striker and lockset, this - like I said - can be a bugger to fix well. The new piece of wood you use will have to have the hardware fitted into it. If you're gluing together the old stuff it'll never be the same - you'll always be able to kick in that door easily.
Dcc001 pretty much knocked it outta the park again. I'll add that that the shims lend a good deal of stability to the door frame. Without shims the frame might twist or curl. Shims also hold the jamb in the rough opening. Might be time to think about hiring someone to hang a door. They can be a real bitch sometimes. Also, you might hit up a lumber yard and ask if they have remnants of drywall. Or a construction site.
Good points. As to hiring someone - if you do that, I'd go all the way and just replace the whole thing. New prehung doors aren't cheap, but I'd wager they'll be awfully close to the same price as having a carpenter come in and try to make the old one whole again. My biggest concern is that if you fix the old door it will simply never be the same. Even if it shuts properly, you'd likely be able to kick it in by simply leaning on it. If you don't care about security, or you're moving, go nuts. Otherwise you might have to shell out a few hundred bucks.
I've installed a ceiling light in the nursery. When I installed it, I had to twist the fixture into the ceiling box which caused the wiring to twist along with it. I'm far from an electrician, but is it a fire hazard to twist insulated wires together? It seems to be the only way to install the fixture is to twist the wires a few times, but I wanted to make sure. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
Nope, I think you'd find it difficult to twist wires enough to damage the insulation on them. You'd just have to be careful that terminations won't budge when the wires are twisted. Usually you can twist the fixture a few times in the opposite direction prior to screwing it on, that way you'll just be undoing that twist when you screw it together.
Yea, it's definitely drywall. I'm putting the second coat of mud on tonight, and I've got a tiny scrub brush that should do a fine job repeating the texture pattern. I've got the door all fixed up as well. I had to replace the entire jamb, and the gap at the top of the door is slightly bigger than it is the rest of the way down. Chiseling out a new space for the locks was a fucking pain in the ass. Oh well. When I eventually sell the place I may have a professional come replace everything, but for now it serves it's purpose as far as security is concerned. Thanks for the help.
I don't know if this is something that should be in this thread,,, or in the Advice thread... But I'll try here first. I've been doing some side-work with my brother in law for the last year or so, in which we've done three remodels, and a ton of other shit, but I've had the good fortune of doing about 3 tile jobs, and many re-grouts. And I fucking loved every minute of it. On the first job I tore up the old floor tile in an Arby's, and laid all new tile. The second job was re-tiling an old codgers bathroom which was cake and ice cream. (because everything was pretty square and level) The last job (which I just got done with last week, and have attached the pics below) was a basement remodel which we tiled a kitchen, hallway, and bathroom. (which was fun, but was a pain in the ass because it was a basement floor that wasn't level, and there were multiple humps in the walls) The bathroom turned out pretty fucking awesome. (if I do say so myself) It has a tiled floor, tiled walls with a chair rail around it, fully tiled shower from pan to ceiling, and a pretty cool design enlayed on the wall. I had a ton of fun, and obviously immensely enjoyed it. My partner/brother in law, doesn't like doing tile work. He likes doing Contractor shit, and while I don't mind sitting around all day waiting for people to show up to do their jobs, I'm seriously thinking about doing a lot more tile jobs on my own, with the possibility of doing it longer term. But I got some questions: 1. It seems like tile work is pretty/somewhat lucrative, and I don't understand why there aren't more Tile guys out there? You can't throw a fucking rock without hitting a drywall guy, or a carpet guy, or a fucking painter, but you rarely see a fucking tile guy.... And the profit margins are way higher to do tile than a lot of other things like painting, sheetrocking, or carpeting... I don't understand why? Wouldn't more people go where the money is? Tiling doesn't seem to be that hard to do. 2. Is there anyone out there that does Tile, and if so, what are the roadblocks or "shit you have to deal with?" (From my inexperienced viewpoint, the overhead is very, very small. A couple tile saws, a truck to haul tile with, and some remedial tools and your good to go...... The question is: What am I missing?) 3. If I wanted to do this, how does one get business? Right now, we're getting all of our jobs from referrals, repeat custies, and through a site called Service Magic. My best guess is to do the same thing and use a Service Magic, or put an ad on Angie's list, but the Tile jobs aren't pouring in. Would it better to leave some business cards at Tile distributors, or reach out to local contractor's asking them to try me out... Is there better way? https://sites.google.com/site/jasonwallacesite/showcase<<<< Pictures of the full remodel, and some other links to remodels that we've done.
In my experience, I've seen a lot of tile businesses ruined by a couple things: If you make little mistakes on carpet, or drywall, or painting, it's easy to fix and/or hard for the customer to notice. With tile, little mistakes in prepping or installation cause much bigger, more obvious problems. Tile guys get a lot more complaints about their work than other installers in my experience, and fixing those problems is expensive, especially if the problem is in the underlayment or prep and causes you to have to rip out large areas of tile. If you get to the point where the business is taking off and you want to hire on additional installers, it seems like they all eventually end up cutting corners, rushing jobs, and causing problems. They almost always wind up costing more than they bring in. They also cost more to employ than other installers, because the skill level and attention to detail needed for tiling is higher than painting/carpet/linoleum/drywall. At least, that's what I've seen around here. A lot of the good tile guys around here do it part time, because their primary jobs are even higher paying (They're smart guys).
I was laying laminate hardwoods down and the guy at Home Depot told me to leave 2 inches for the shoe moulding. After installing the floating laminate, I did some research and found out I was supposed to leave a fraction of that. Good thing after laying the first few rows, I reduced it to an inch as I found the gap to be too large. Anyone have suggestions for closing that 2 inch gap? I suppose I could cut some pieces to fit in there, but everything I've read has told me not to do it. Is there actual shoe moulding that covers a two inch gap?
Tell that idiot at HD to learn his fucking job better. He could have cost you some serious shit in another situation. Then knock him down, kick sand in his face and take his lunch money. Then, scoop up his girlfriend and tongue-kiss her. She's yours now, anyways. Seriously, How big is the room? Can you push the attached floor closer to one side? You may have to look for large quarter-round to attach to the front of the moulding to help close your gap. Quarter-Round is commonplace when putting in laminate or hardwood floors to cover the expansion gap, which only need to be ONE QUARTER TO HALF INCH. Go to a place that sells installation equipment for floors but is NOT a big box store. They usually have lots of mouldings and options to choose from. This will be a mom & pop style store. Every good sized city has them. They also always have experienced installers working in them, who can trouble-shoot for you better.