Emery Carr (u/emerycarr)

Posts

My first coal forge fire looked like a disaster, then it clicked in about 10 minutes

I lit up a pile of bituminous coal in my new forge last Saturday and got nothing but a smoky black cloud for five solid minutes, figured I'd wrecked the whole thing. Then I gave it a gentle blast of air from the hand crank and the whole bed turned into a roaring, clean flame that melted a steel bar in no time. Has anyone else had that moment where you think you failed but a tiny tweak saves the day?

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

emerycarr•8d ago

Overheard a guy at the REI return counter say tents are too heavy nowadays

I was at REI last Saturday returning a busted sleeping pad, and this older guy in front of me was swapping out a big 4-person tent. He told the clerk that modern tents are way heavier than the old canvas ones his dad used back in the 70s. That got me thinking about how I've been buying lighter gear every year but maybe ignoring how tough those old tents actually were. Has anyone else noticed the trade off between weight and durability getting worse over time?

3 comments

c/air-fryer-recipes•

emerycarr•10d ago

My air fryer chicken came out dry 12 times until I read the manual

I kept seeing everyone rave about air fryer chicken breast recipes on here, so I tried maybe a dozen different ones from this sub. Every single time it came out like shoe leather on the outside. Then I actually sat down and read the manual for my Cosori Pro II and found a chart that said optimal temp for chicken is 360F not 400F. Found that stat buried on page 23 of a PDF I ignored for 6 months. Has anyone else had better luck dropping the temp and adding 2-3 minutes?

2 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

emerycarr•10d ago

Swapped injectors on a 6.0 Ford this morning and it actually ran right the first time

Been chasing a misfire for two weeks on a 2005 F-350. Finally broke down and checked the FICM voltage, found it was dropping low under load, so I swapped it out before doing the injectors. Has anyone else had a bad FICM mimic a stuck injector?

2 comments

c/ask-a-local-nh-person•

emerycarr•10d ago

Blew a tire on Route 16 last month and learned my spare was flat too

I was heading up to Conway to look at a rental property and hit a pothole near Ossipee around 4 PM. Pulled over to swap the spare and it had maybe 8 PSI in it, totally useless. Had to call a buddy from a gas station to come grab me a can of Fix-a-Flat and an air compressor from Walmart since nothing was open nearby. Cost me 2 hours and $15 but I got rolling again. Anyone else ever check their spare and find it's just as dead as the flat?

2 comments

c/deals-and-steals•

emerycarr•11d ago

Just wasted $80 on a meal kit subscription that was supposed to save money

Signed up for that VeggieBox deal thinking it'd cut my grocery bill by half. First box was $20 off so seemed awesome. But then they auto-charged me $80 for week two and I got like 3 peppers and a bag of carrots. The fine print said you can't skip weeks either unless you cancel by Thursday. Has anyone else gotten trapped by these promo subscriptions?

3 comments

c/obscure-gear-finds•

emerycarr•13d ago

Found a 1950s pipe threader at a garage sale for $5, guy said it was junk

He told me the dies were shot, but I spent 20 minutes sharpening them with a file and now it cuts clean threads. Anyone ever rehab old threading tools like this?

2 comments

c/used-gear-talk•

emerycarr•14d ago

That one comment about my drill bits finally made me stop buying the cheap sets.

I used to just grab those 20-bit kits for $9.99 until a guy at the scrap yard pointed out my bits were chipping drywall screws and said 'you're fighting your tools, not using them' - has anyone else had a random stranger's opinion actually save them money or time?

3 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

emerycarr•1mo ago

Got phished via a fake Docusign link at a coffee shop - do you report that to the FBI or just your IT?

Last Tuesday I was at Blue Bottle on 3rd St in SF grabbing a latte and checking email on their guest wifi. Clicked what looked like a normal Docusign request from our vendor, but the domain was off by one letter. Entered my creds before I caught it. Locked everything down inside 4 minutes but man that was close. Some folks say always report to IC3, others say it just clogs the system. What do you guys do for this kind of thing? The fake page was pretty convincing too.

3 comments

c/climate-action•

emerycarr•1mo ago

Bought a 'reusable' water filter for my home and it failed after 3 weeks

Ngl, I thought I was being smart by getting a reusable water filter from a local shop in Austin to cut down on plastic waste. It cost me $45 and started spewing black carbon bits into my drinking water after just 3 weeks. I went back to the shop and they said it's a known issue with that brand, no refund either. Has anyone else had this happen with their filter systems?

2 comments