Polished up our simple folding IKEA dish drying rack

| March 17, 2021

At one time, I thought I was better at time management, but clearly after spending over an hour disassembling, de-rusting and polishing a folding IKEA stainless steel rack, I am not. In retrospect, buying a new one would have been a better way to use my time … but I found out they don’t carry […]

Extra work that makes little sense – salt and pepper shakers

| June 28, 2017

Did you ever find yourself spending way too much time on something where it makes no logical sense? Well this is the case for a set of my wife Brenda‘s salt and pepper shakers … of which she has many. Her grandmother had a collection that was split between her grandchildren and daughter-in-law (Brenda’s mom), […]

Free grill needing a little TLC. Good thing I can haul and weld!

| November 15, 2016

My good friend and old college buddy lives in an apartment which as been visited by the fire department — they tagged his door regarding the grill on his patio. Bad for him, good for me. All I had to do was go pick it up … glad I put the hitch on the BMW […]

The 2010 BMW X5 35d is finally ready to be my daily driver

| July 11, 2016

Spent a few hours under our 2010 BMW X5 35d this weekend to finish up the rust treatment and before reinstalling the shields and skidplate. The procedure was the same as I used on the old Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel, Skyco’s Oxypho, except the BMW only has a little light rust on the frame. I’m really […]

How to get out of a common-cold, runny nose induced funk

| May 17, 2016

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Dad Howard would be pleased – reviving his old lawn trailer

| July 26, 2015

One of the projects coming together this past weekend was the disassembly, wire-brushing the rust (a lot), and painting of my late father-in-law’s old red Jackson lawn trailer. As mentioned previously, it was about 40 years old, well used, and had quite a bit of rust. Nevertheless, it was well made with quality steel – […]

Corrosion and planning updates to anchor and chain

| June 16, 2015

The photo above is not mine (thankfully) but from a sailing aquaintance anchoring in SE Asia. He has been noticing fairly rapid chain corrosion in only 3 years and in particular on his anchor shackle. It spends a significant amount of time under the saltwater and we suspect that the shackle of inferior grade — […]

Rust is starting to take a toll on the 1998 Toyota Rav4

| March 24, 2015

While doing a little garage work this past weekend (removed snowblower from the John Deere) I crawled under Brenda’s dented and bruised 270,000 mile 1998 Toyota Rav 4 (Links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). Besides repairing an exhaust hanger and heat shield, I spotted a leak in the power steering and inspected a […]

Archive: Finished up the rocker panels on the Mercedes 300D

| May 11, 2014

It has been slow progress, but since my wife “sort of” gave me Mother’s Day off (Happy Mother’s Day to moms, BTW), I took advantage of some time to finally finish up and put the trim back on the repaired body rust and the newly Miracle painted rocker panels (yes, that is Miracle Paint I […]

Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel rust repair continues

| August 27, 2013

Rust repairs continue along the rocker panels and jack points on the Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. The passenger side (photo left) wasn’t too bad so I opted to take care of that first. It is now under primer and ready for final sanding and eventually the black “chip resistant” paint. No that I’m on side […]

Finally started fixing the Mercedes 300D rusty jack points

| August 17, 2013

With Brenda out of town and few distractions, I started working on the rusty jack points and rocker areas on the 1982 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel. I cut out a bit more than expected and re-treated the area with Ospho. More later.

Inside rust on the Mercedes 300D including the battery tray

| July 13, 2013

I’m getting creative while addressing a few more rust spots while still keeping the dollar investment to acceptable levels in my 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. In most areas I’m a proponent of grinding and replacing metal with metal (TIG welding new material) … but I noticed some rust  on the inside of the doors […]

There is a masked man in the garage!

| July 3, 2013

Having July 4th fall on a Thursday this week is creating chaos with my travel schedule. Each appointment scheduling call I’ve made is finding everyone taking a few days off … I should have done the same? Anyway, spending time in town gave me a chance to dust off my TIG welding skills or lack […]

Sharing tips for loosening Rusty Nuts

| April 2, 2013

  Here’s a tip posted by Lee Jennings titled “Rusty Nuts.” Excellent tips although mine is a repost of a repost. I ran across this a while ago in a post from the (Twin City DX Association) The info could prove useful the next time you run across an “impossible to loosen” nut on a […]

Sailboat repairs and How-To questions

| May 13, 2012

In keeping with my sailboat repairs theme, I removed one of the Spinlock line clamps thinking I might be able to order parts and repair at home. Unfortunately getting the bolts out and permanent bonding materials to let go was another issue. I did finally get the cam lock off. I’m also reworking some of […]

Who designs KitchenAid appliances – engineers or accountants?

| February 25, 2012

While cleaning out our KitchenAid refrigerator and freezer on Saturday, I wondered “what were the design engineers thinking” when they used corrosive fittings? For all the years companies have been designing and building ice makers which operate in moisture prone environments, one would think someone might have suggested spending a few more pennies on stainless […]

Chrome tailpipe trend is getting ugly

| April 6, 2009

(click for larger image) I’ve never been all that attracted to the ‘add-on’ chrome tailpipe trend which has become the norm in recent years, but now that many of these cars have a few years of age they are becoming downright ugly. While spending a few days driving this past week I notice a relatively […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog