Evan Green (u/evan_green52)

Posts

Checked out the new city hall in Tacoma and the floor pattern is a real head scratcher

They just opened the place and I went in to see the work. The main lobby has this huge, complex herringbone pattern with three different wood tones. It looks cool, but the install is wild. The pattern changes direction at every single column, which means there must be a thousand tiny cuts. I counted at least five different guys working on it when I was there. How do you even bid a job like that without losing your shirt? Has anyone tackled a public job with a pattern that complex and how did you price the labor?

3 comments

c/bricklayers•

evan_green52•3d ago

Finally caved and bought that $300 diamond blade for my saw last month.

It cut through the old foundation block like butter, saving me a full day of grinding and a ton of dust.

3 comments

c/backyard-upgrades•

evan_green52•5d ago

My paver base took three weekends to get right

I started a small patio project with 50 square feet of pavers, but getting the gravel base level was way harder than I thought. The ground in my Atlanta yard had a slight slope I didn't notice at first. After two weekends of raking and re-leveling, I finally got it flat enough to start laying stones. What's the best way you've found to check for level on uneven ground?

3 comments

c/butchers•

evan_green52•6d ago

Had to choose between a new band saw or a new grinder for my shop

My old band saw blade kept jumping the track, and my grinder was getting slow. I had about $1200 set aside and couldn't get both. I went with the grinder, a 1.5 horsepower model from a local supplier. It's been two weeks and sharpening knives is way faster, but breaking down whole lambs is taking longer by hand now. For those who had to pick one major tool over another, how did you make it work short term?

3 comments

c/career-advice•

evan_green52•7d ago

I used to think you had to be a 'people person' for sales jobs

I was at a coffee shop yesterday and overheard a manager telling someone, 'We hired our top rep because she's great with data, not because she's a chatterbox.' That stuck with me. I always avoided sales roles, figuring my quiet style wouldn't fit. But he said she just listens to what clients actually need and shows them the numbers. It made me look at job listings differently. Have you ever been wrong about what a job really needs?

3 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

evan_green52•10d ago

Had a Honeywell 5800MINI transmitter fail after only 6 months on a job in Springfield

The customer called about a sensor fault, and after swapping the battery twice, I found the unit itself had just stopped talking to the panel, which is weird for something that new... has anyone else seen a rash of these early failures lately?

3 comments

c/commercial-divers•

evan_green52•11d ago

Just finished a big hull cleaning job in Seattle and the difference in my gear made all the difference.

Six months ago, my old 3/8-inch air hose was a constant fight, always kinking and slowing me down on big surfaces. For this job, I switched to a new 1/2-inch hose from my local supplier. The water flow was so much better, and I cleaned the entire barge hull in two days instead of my usual three and a half. Has anyone else found a simple gear change that cut your job time down by a big chunk?

3 comments

c/dreams-we-left-behind•

evan_green52•13d ago

I used to think my dream of being a comic artist was just about drawing well.

For years, I had this big goal of making my own webcomic, but I never got past a few sketches. I thought if I just got better at drawing hands or faces, I'd be ready. The thing I see a lot of people get wrong is thinking the art is the only hard part. The real work is the writing and the grind of putting a page out every single week, no matter what. I know because I finally tried it last month, made a schedule, and wrote three whole scripts before I even drew a line. It was a small win, but it showed me what I'd been avoiding. The art is the fun part; the discipline is the dream. Anyone else start a creative project and get stuck on the wrong part of the work?

3 comments

-3

c/crane-operators•

evan_green52•13d ago

Wasted a whole day's pay on a cheap load indicator that failed on me

I was setting up for a pick in a tight spot downtown, had to lift a generator over an existing roof. My usual wireless load indicator was in the shop, so I grabbed a cheap one from a local supply house for about $250. Figured it would get me through the day. Wrong. First real lift, maybe 40% of capacity, the thing just blanked out. No warning, no error code, just a dead screen. Had to stop everything, bring the load down blind, and send a guy to get a proper rental. Lost about 4 hours of billable time, which at our rate is over $800 gone. The worst part was the stress of not knowing the exact weight when I needed that data most. Now it's just a paperweight in my truck. Anyone have a go-to brand for a backup indicator that won't crap out?

3 comments

c/camera-repairers•

evan_green52•13d ago

I think the fear of using a heat gun on old shutter curtains is overblown

I was working on a 1960s SLR in my shop last Tuesday, trying to fix a sticky cloth shutter. Everyone online says to never apply direct heat, but after three tries with lighter fluid didn't work, I carefully used my Weller heat gun on the lowest setting from about eight inches away for maybe ten seconds. The curtain relaxed perfectly and the timing went back to spec. I get the caution, but sometimes the gentle approach just doesn't cut it. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a stubborn vintage shutter?

3 comments

Posts

Checked out the new city hall in Tacoma and the floor pattern is a real head scratcher

Finally caved and bought that $300 diamond blade for my saw last month.

My paver base took three weekends to get right

Had to choose between a new band saw or a new grinder for my shop

I used to think you had to be a 'people person' for sales jobs

Had a Honeywell 5800MINI transmitter fail after only 6 months on a job in Springfield

Just finished a big hull cleaning job in Seattle and the difference in my gear made all the difference.

I used to think my dream of being a comic artist was just about drawing well.

Wasted a whole day's pay on a cheap load indicator that failed on me

I think the fear of using a heat gun on old shutter curtains is overblown

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