PSA: My $200 anime figure pre-order showed up with a broken sword

Ordered a limited edition character from a new series. Paid upfront six months ago. Box arrived today, looked perfect from the outside. Opened it up and the weapon accessory was snapped clean in two. Customer service says replacements are sold out. Anyone know a good place to get custom resin parts fixed?

Finally got my first solo cedar fence install done last week, the homeowner just texted me a picture of their dog sitting behind it looking super happy lol

I was cutting laminate planks with the wrong saw blade for years

I was working on a big job in Austin last month and kept getting chipped edges on my cuts. Another installer on site asked if I was using a fine tooth blade, which I wasn't. I switched to an 80-tooth blade and the cuts were clean as can be. Anyone have a favorite blade brand for this kind of work?

A ranger in the Tetons told me my planned route was a 'crowd magnet' and suggested a better way

I was set on hiking the Paintbrush Canyon to Cascade Canyon loop next month, thinking it was the classic must-do. At the Jenny Lake visitor center, I showed a ranger my map and he just shook his head. He said, 'You're following the herd. After 10 AM, that trail is a conga line.' He took a pen and drew a line on my paper map, suggesting I start at String Lake, go up Paintbrush, but then cut over the less-traveled Hurricane Pass instead of staying low. He said the view of the Grand from there is better and I'd maybe see three people all afternoon. I changed my whole plan right then. It adds about two miles and some extra climb, but avoiding that packed trail sounds worth it. Has anyone else taken that Hurricane Pass alternate and was it really that quiet?

I finally saw the difference between a rushed and a proper clear coat cure time

Had a Honda Civic hood that got a full respray. The first time, we rushed the clear after 30 minutes in a 70-degree booth and it ended up with solvent pop. Redid it with a full 45-minute flash, and the finish is glass. Are you guys strict on your cure times, or do you push it when the shop is busy?

After 15 years of crawling through attics, I finally realized the best way to keep fiberglass out of your clothes is to wear a cheap Tyvek suit backwards.

The zipper in front always snags on something, but with it on your back, you just slide right through those tight spaces without getting hung up.

I was looking through my old school notes from 2008 and found a wild fact about waxing

Back in my esthetics program, my instructor told us that sugar waxing was only about 5% of the market. I just read a report from a big industry group that said it's jumped to nearly 25% in the last five years. I found it while trying to update my service menu and it really made me pause. Did anyone else think sugaring was just a niche thing that's now way more popular?

PSA: A batch of fake Nichicon caps just cost me a whole day and a customer

Honestly, last Tuesday I had to redo a power supply repair three times because the new 470uF 25V caps I bought from a new supplier kept failing under load. Ngl, the markings looked perfect but the ESR was way off, and the shop owner in Phoenix who sold them to me swore they were legit. Has anyone else seen these specific fakes popping up lately, maybe with a certain date code?

PSA: I wasted $300 on a 'beginner friendly' forge kit from a big online store

Honestly, I bought one of those shiny new forge kits about two years ago because the ad said it was perfect for starters. It was basically a cheap firebrick box with a weak burner that couldn't get past a low orange heat. I spent a whole month trying to forge simple hooks and couldn't get a good weld to save my life. I ended up having to buy a proper, heavier burner and line the thing with ceramic blanket anyway, which cost almost as much as the kit. Looking back, I should have just built my own from the start or listened to the guys at the local shop. Anyone else get burned by a kit that was more trouble than it was worth?