It's funny how many problems come from using the wrong setting by default. My old blender had a "liquefy" button that turned everything to soup until I figured out out. We get used to the wrong tools because we don't question the labels.

Remember my friend's lumpy cold water disaster?

Actually, I think a little flex in the rails can be a good thing. It lets the whole system settle under its own weight and find a natural flat plane on your bench. Trying to lock it down perfectly rigid over that distance is where you get into trouble with binding. I just used standard L brackets every 16 inches and let it float a bit.

Just walk out next time, I mean that's a waste of your day.

Honestly, that line about "they'll never replace a good brush" is dead on. I read a safety bulletin from a fire department last year that said the same thing. They called those logs a "helper" at best for light soot, not a fix for real glazed creosote. Tbh, I only tell people to use them if I've just cleaned the chimney myself and they want to keep it tidy between my visits. For any actual buildup, it's just giving a false sense of security.