Oaken Gearbox

This is something that is really easy to do, but many people aren't aware of, including, apparently, the previous owner of my house. Simply lower the blinds all the way, pop off the little plastic covers on the bottom, and cut the strings off. It's a little scary,  but just make sure they aren't too short and you'll be fine. I also took this opportunity to take out the broken slats from my blinds and replace them with extras from the bottom that I cut off. Retie the strings at the bottom of your blinds, making sure the pull cords are even. Cut off the extra string, and burn it with a match if you're worried about fraying. That's it. Clip the plastic plugs back in and you're ready to go.

About a year ago I caved in and sold the '94 Ford Ranger I'd bought from my dad in high school. After a short-lived and ill-fated stint with a battered Jeep Cherokee, I picked up a Subaru WRX hatchback with a backseat and twice the horsepower of my old Ford. I love the power and handling of my new 'rex, but it couldn't quite compare to the utility of the Ranger until I added a set of Yakima cross bars. Trips to the lumber yard (or the lake with my homemade kayak) are now possible again, but I'm not a fan of the constant howling the new bars added to my new ride. It was so bad I considered dropping the 75 bucks REI asks for a fairing to redirect the wind silently up and over. But then I remembered a tip from an old friend and former co-worker (thanks, Jason). To get rid of wind noise from a Yakima (or Thule) roof rack for cheap: Wrap surveyor's twine around both bars in a spiral pattern.  That's it. Surprisingly enough, that is enough to b...

The first question you may be asking is what exactly is an "unlocked" smartphone? The second is probably "Why should I care?" The answer to the second question is that you could save hundreds of dollars per year on your phone bill by using an unlocked phone on a smaller carrier. The first question is a bit more complicated. If you're like most Americans with a smartphone, you probably have an Apple or Android device that you got for free (or less than $200) when you signed a two year contract with one of the "Big Three" American network providers. These providers subsidize an expensive phone for you, and in return you are obligated to pay their (costly) monthly talk and data fees. An unlocked phone is one that is not tied to any carrier and thus can be activated for a much cheaper monthly fee , or pay-per-minute prices. Note that this is different from "jailbreaking" (iPhone) or "rooting" (Android). That process is used to...

Edge joining two boards can be one of the more intimidating techniques in woodworking. If the edges on each board aren't completely smooth and flat, your panel will have a big, ugly crack in it. In this post I will describe how to get a perfect joint every time using only hand tools. If like me, you have an inexpensive table saw, or just work with boards with the 'factory' edge on them, they probably don't have a clean enough edge to just glue them together and call it good. With some very simple tools though, you can accomplish the same thing that a $400 jointer can. Tools For the Job: - A Jack Plane. This is really a nifty tool. I just bought the cheap one from Home Depot. It works okay,  although the blade needed to be sharpened right out of the box. - A Dowelling Jig. This isn't strictly necessary, but will let you make a much stronger joint. I bought the self-centering one from  Rockler . It's a little bit pricey, but when I bought it, it was...

I started these paddles last summer, but finally got around to varnishing them this week. I started with 3/4" planed poplar boards from Home Depot. I may try making a set of white ash paddles in the future, but I decided on poplar for my first set since it is inexpensive, readily available, and easy to work with. Next I sliced one board into long strips 1 1/8" wide, leaving one 3/4" thick and planing the other to 1/2". I then glued the two together so I ended up with a board 1 1/8" square. This would become the shaft of the paddle. The other I cut into a strip 2 1/2" inches wide for the paddle blades. I then used Gorilla Glue to glue the pieces together in the general shape of a canoe paddle.  A coping saw did a good job at further refining my wooden 'blank,' and a 1/2" radius bit on a router made the shaft nearly round.  I cut the curve into the profile of the handle using a coffee can to draw and arc and the coping saw to d...

Valve released their "Big Picture" Steam interface from beta several weeks ago and I am very impressed. Frankly, it puts to shame the dashboards on both the xbox360 and PS3 that have had years of development. I started playing PC games when my dad bought our first Mac with a CD-ROM and I checked out Myst from the library. Despite using the original Xbox for a few years, I've always preferred the versatility of a PC. That  being said I now spend hours a day in front of computer screen at work and plopping down on the couch in front of my 42" HDTV sounds a lot more relaxing than taking on the zombie horde with my mouse and keyboard. Although Gabe Newell & Valve are now in the process of developing their own Steam Box console, I didn't want to wait that long. So with a little Googling and the help of the websites listed at the bottom, I came up with a way to run Steam Big Picture as a shell under its own user account. This post gives instructions on how to ...