I would go for dodgy given shipped from China and no box and seller joined 2020.

A couple of the pics show rough spots on the forging under the finish, you just don’t get those even on the entry level stuff. Got stung for decent price but not crazy cheap 9-speed mech a month or so ago, nothing like the pics when it turned up.

Glad you could find a UK brick and mortar seller, much safer bet 👍

Bought the Bikeerg in Nov, you can connect the computer to Zwift and Sufferfest really easily. Like the build quality and they only make about 5 things so spares would be fine. My other half has actually done a lot of road cycling outside after getting into it over the winter, so my vote is for the bike.

Pros:
– Super fast to change set ups if you are all different sizes and no oily chains or swapping wheel/tyre shenanigans
– Pretty quiet compared to magnetic or fluid trainers
– Light, compact and easy to move around but still solid I.e. not a 60kg Peloton monster
– Can’t see you ever “topping out” in terms of resistance as it increases with cadence

Cons:
– My wife found it hard to remember the fan resistance settings for a given power/cadence, a taped on scale helped make it clearer
– Does not change resistance to the workout automatically, I’m fine with that but then repeated more workouts so could shift quickly
– Expensive, but should last an age with home use

@tjagain – Plus one on the laxatives if taking opioid based pain killers, that was something I had not considered when I did mine and was not fun. Also put me out on the couch feeling nauseous and very sleepy for about a week.

Naproxen worked OK, just follow the instructions so you don’t get stomach problems.

@bubs – Unless your dog is super well trained or you have a waist type belt to use, would not want any shock impacts from pulling or if bother happens with other dogs. Really super light upper body for 4-6 weeks, make sure your desk posture is good and no normal stuff like carrying big shopping bags or lifting kids etc. is out really.

Cordless vacuums 😂

After being a fully committed Henry user for the past six years, more WFH and adopting a pet cat meant we generated a lot more dust/fluff than I ever imagined.

A battery powered Shark has been great for wizzing round the house more often and cat blankets. Still use the Henry for a deep clean and it is better in nooks/crannies but nowhere near as convenient. You would be amazed how much the Shark get out of your carpets for the size of it.

@goldfish24 – You are right, it does need a bit of attention. Did make me giggle though as I only cut it yesterday after neglecting it in the rainy weather!

Coincidentally I actually bought a more robust rake online yesterday as my current one is a bit flimsy and not getting the old bits out properly. Will try that and some lawn feed, it’s only a small lawn and I use a push along manual mower.

My folks never did any of that with theirs and somehow managed to always have the most lush and verdant grass without really trying. Might be a bit cooler and shadier though, as it was Liverpool and not London.

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/cutting-tools/rakes/springbok-lawn-rakes/f/4869?query=Rake

Just a bit of an update, bottled fitting the metal roofing sheets myself and sold on locally at a loss to someone who could use them.

Got an actual roofer in to do it instead, he used torch on house grade roofing felt and cleared next doors gutters when he was over for a very good price all in. Glad I had reinforced the roof though and thankfully he must have weighed <50kg, he was not shy about clambering on it! 😂

@shooterman – No worries, hope some bits were interesting.

I didn’t take it as a knock at all, perfectly sensible question. I might come across as a bit of BJJ fanboy but have tried other styles that were a lot of fun as well and offered things it doesn’t.

This thread has made me want to get the Thai pads out next weekend if I can persuade my mate or other half to give it a go. Been too long 😅

Then it sounds like they were/are a nice bunch of people to train with 👍

@jam-bo I was gently told off by the sensei in a freshers Uni Ju Jitsu demo for actually trying to strangle him when he asked me to “strangle him properly”. He was bit surprised when I went for it and it took him a fair bit of effort to escape…

@shooterman – You probably don’t want to, but a lot of fights/attacks end up on the ground anyway. Unfortunately there also are different risks for women, which means they are more likely to be held or restrained and need to escape. Being able to throw people, counter or have better balance/situational awareness is a good thing. US military combatives program was created by the Gracie BJJ family.

Grappling is very useful for escaping being pinned on the ground, grabbed, clinched, making space/wall walking to get back to your feet safely (exhausting and far far harder than you would expect).

This kind of went full cycle in early MMA where strikers effectively said “well I don’t need to grapple, I will just stop them from taking me down”. Cliff Notes, this approach did not go very well for them…

Have a Google on Straight Blast Gym (SBG) and Dog Brothers systems, some interesting stuff and all based on having live sparring.

Most convincing answer I’ve seen to trying to survive a knife attack is the Russian tie/waki gatame grappling based STAB system from the late Karl Tanswell (BJJ blackbelt, professional coach and human pincushion from his bouncing days).

@northwind – Or it might give you a false sense of security that it would work the way you expect? Bike analogy expecting only using a static manual training machine to let you flow first time on a pump track when you “really need to”? Lots of Ju Jitsu, Karate (not full contact like kyokushin), Systema and other martial arts face the same criticisms.

Training using progressive resistance is key and getting the feel for how to use them and what it feels like when applied to you.

I spent years training, doing big target stuff like arm bars, rear naked choke or reliably being able to land a jab that does something as a short guy was very hard. They have much larger margins for error than things like eye pokes, throat punches and groin strikes. Wrist locks don’t work that well for exactly the same reasons.

If you are able to, try out a BJJ or Muay Thai class if you can. You might be pleasantly surprised 😉

I have done a lot of martial arts and contact sports in the past.

Contact sport’s like Judo/BJJ/Muay Thai/kickboxing/BJJ/wrestling are great for improving your fitness and training at progressive levels of resistance. Learn to handle the adrenaline dump and get a view for what you can and can’t do against a fully resisting opponent.

It’s a lot of fun and may help later on if you end up in a situation you can’t escape. Humbling how much skill it takes to overcome a 15kg weight difference.

Grappling based sport’s are fab for kids, you need to work with and look after other people to succeed.

Don’t do any striking art that promotes round kicks with the top of the foot and all the tiny delicate bones there. Use your shins instead like a normal person! 😂

Not doing extensive bag or pad work and relying on forms/kata is like learning to swim on dry land. Anything which is small joint or pain compliance based is too hard to pull off live. Almost all “reality based self defence systems” are neither based in reality or will teach you to defend yourself… 😉

@timbog160 – I can see why you wanted a better pillar drill! Your garage is bigger than my house 😂 Very impressive stuff in terms of keeping it running.

@bridges – I wouldn’t worry, you would be surprised at how much some of the Clarke’s can handle! Do wish I had a concrete floored garage for a proper one. 😉

I bought a CDP102B for ~£100 from Machine Mart, it’s been great. One tip to help with accuracy is to use a scissor jack to gently brace the table as that is where most of the flex is. No room for a proper heavy duty one in my shed, but fine for wood working and light duty steel. Not aerospace grade but OK for DIY use 10 times a year.

Managed a lot of 40mm diameter straight holes through 54mm birch plywood with a Forstner bit when I made these last year.

I got a wet and dry vac with power take off from a recommendation on here, it’s been great but the bags a expensive if you are using it as a vacuum.

Second choice was one of the super compact trade Numatic ones, pretty much indestructible and with a brush head good on carpets as well. Only about £100, accessory clips and a simpler cable wrap rather than a cable drum with a handle.

https://www.axminstertools.com/numatic-psp-180-11-vacuum-cleaner-508317

Leaving my brand new nice cut/puncture resistant work gloves in the house when getting some wood delivered as I was rushing. Thought, naaa that will be fine.

Cue me trying to juggle too much and my hand slipping. Then ending up having to pull out a 20mm long toothpick thickness splinter that buried itself fully into my hand web going between my knuckles…

I will be wearing gloves in the future as it brought a tear to my eye pulling it out 😢

@bsims – That saw is really meant for delicate little cuts on large panels of materials. Think people making fancy pierced decorative pieces in sub 1/4” pieces of hardwood before routers or lasers.

It’s a lot longer to let you reach further, but has a load of flex.

Maybe a pad saw would let you get to the hard to reach bits?

https://www.ffx.co.uk/product/Get/Faithfull-Faips-5023969211565-Padsaw-Handle-Complete-With-Blade?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlr6pmv-q8AIVjpntCh3_jwcgEAQYASABEgIDmvD_BwE#

If you have a bench then make a v cut out from scrap ply and clamp your work onto that. A coping saw will set you back about £10 and is slow enough to not easily cut your fingers off. A couple of quick release clamps are cheap as well.

Always a more satisfying job if you get to make some tooling, patterns or supports to reuse in the future.

@jezzep – Good question on the felt, I had hoped the metal roofing would be a “do it once option” and be tougher so not needing replacement in another 4-5 years.

Guttering round the side was because the barge boards don’t project as much as I would like, so it means the drips are caught and means the exposed end of the shed gets less wet from the rain. Might be slightly overkill but I had some spare guttering anyway.

@stwhannah – Nice project for a Sunday! 👍

The main benefits of the corrugated bitumen are that you can cut it with a handsaw so no messing about with tin snips/hefty jigsaw/metal nibbler to cut to size. Condensation underneath less of an issue so you don’t need a membrane underneath it.

The fixing depth for the corrugated bitumen is pretty deep though, I think you would need extra timber inside or battens on the top since each sheet needs a lot more fixings (one in each peak across the bottom/top and intermediate fixings).

@thenorthwind – You are probably right about them being overly cautious, I think when it’s used for full sized buildings the condensation risk must be pretty high especially for centrally heated ones that might not be sealed properly.

Thanks for all the suggestions for the corrugated bitumen sheeting, the heavier duty Awnapol looks to be a nice option as a backup. I would need the battens laid out for that anyway given the number/depth of the fixings it requires.

@fruitbat – No condensation/damp problems that you noticed, the manufacturer was pretty keen on having a decent air gap and not laying directly on the roof?

The slot in filters do look really neat, I’ve got plastic combs which look to achieve the same thing.

Currently 50:50 on trying it out, but will look to see if I can use less wood supports to make it a bit lighter.

@paton – Cool video, I hadn’t realised it was so tough.

Didn’t pass the the other half approval test unfortunately when I showed her, she would prefer more traditional regular felt or something that looks looks tiled.

@jimw @jam-bo – Thanks, I would have gone for the corrugated stuff or rubber if we didn’t have a cat, not convinced it would hold up to her launching 5kgs of herself onto it multiple times a day or claws.

The metal sheets I’ve got are 0.9mm thick, so plenty stiff enough with just two rows of fixings.

@northwind – Spoke to the manufacturer, they need a vertical batten to allow a slight sag in the vapour barrier for condensation to go and the horizontal gives the depth of fixing needed as there are no purlins under the roof.

http://www.britmet.co.uk/downloads/installers_guide.pdf

@stevextc – Maybe switch to a decaf (Swiss water not solvent) or half-caf blend like black cat coffee do?

https://www.blackcatcoffee.co.uk/collections/decaf

Normally the caffeine levels are the triggers for a lot of coffee GI stuff.

The 80 degrees is too cool as others have said unless you are going supermarket pre-ground or 80s style Italian blends.

With immersion brews and modern fruity light roasts beans you can’t really get it too hot so just off boiling water is fine 99% of the time since it cools. You can easily leave a cafetière for 8+ minutes to settle out and still be lovely if you don’t press down all the way to mash up the fines.

Espresso is different, the machine keeps supplying hot water and the pressure at ~9bar make it far easier to burn or extract the bad tasting bits since the coffee is so fine even with a 30s to 60s shot time.

Agree on the separate screwdriver, the cheap ish Bahco t-handle one has been a life saver in terms of getting extra torque in things without using an impact driver.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bahco-hex-t-handle-stubby-ratchet-screwdriver/993jf

I’ve got the same set as kayak, not expensive and held up to harder use than I have expected. Would buy it again without thinking if I lost the old one.

Never start a land war in Asia.

@midlifecrashes – Good call on the trekking style upright cycling with no weight on your hands, that was hugely beneficial for me to keep doing “something” that was low impact (no running) but still helped keep me deep breathing and my general fitness OK.

@geordynige – I had recurrent rib related injuries (costochondritis and costochondral separations) from wrestling/BJJ.

Takes much longer than you think to get better even if it is caused by a specific incident/activity.

NSAIDs can help short term, but I found they did delay my healing process and caused it to take longer to resolve than I would have liked. Much longer than 3 weeks.

Long term looking at improving my thoracic and shoulder mobility has helped massively (stick mobility, dynamic stretching and Turkish get ups). Key is to stop activities which aggravate it long enough for you to heal, then build up again with enough prehab to keep you going long term.

@djambo – That is a very good job of it, got the colour matching really nice as well.

Surprisingly tricky matching stain colours or finishes as the age and type of wood can make it harder.

@scuttler – There was a jokey/serious thread where someone on UKC graded the chimney climb E11 5b he did in another film. It’s this one here at 5:30, even with a head for heights I wouldn’t try it if you paid me! 😂

For non-climbing geeks E11 – terrifyingly scary adjective grade (properly brown trousers elite level) plus not a chance of protecting a fall with a relatively easy technical grade (still hard though) as he cuts his feet loose midway whilst hanging on loose boards…

@drnosh – Thanks, the Imps are red not the nice blue you normally think of with the record vices.

This looks to be close though.

https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/BS381C-537-Signal-Red.html

Not mine but similar in terms of paint condition.

https://smallworkshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_2287.jpg

I bought a tatty condition but mechanically sound Record Imp table vice a while back.

Really only needs a lick of paint, but the question is what kind. Any paint recommendations or the right colour red, assuming a brush on enamel paint would be easiest?

@chevychase – I’ve rented, with good and bad landlords, now have a house with a mortgage with my wife.

I think you are being a bit blinkered with the “no single friend or family” expectation to cover it and just accept the liability like it’s nothing. Peoples circumstances change unexpectedly, health, relationships and employment, that is all part of real life.

I’m going to be 40 in a few years and have a job. I would 100% look somewhere else if a prospective landlord wanted a guarantor as standard practice. My parents are nearly 70, friends have their own families and commitments already.

I think most other people who are no longer students or in financial difficulties would do the same thing tbh…

At the start of lockdown 1.0 I had to tack a couple of Ethernet cables upstairs for me and my wife to use. Our Virgin Media hub just didn’t have the range or got blocked by our brick internal walls.

Tried a few power line or range extenders, either massive lag on Teams or laughable speeds.

Last week I set up a TP-Link Deco M9 plus mesh network, it has made a huge difference. Actually faster than the wired connections. Not cheap but has made a massive difference.

I was veggie as a kid when my mum was massively worried about mad cow disease, stuck through to me being a rebellious teenager and deciding to eat meat again in terms of boundary pushing.

Ate meat intermittently but really ramped it up when getting buff for my wedding six ish years back (not in the same shape now! 😅).

A few things pushed it over for me, the first being moving to Barking and 1 in 2 packets of supermarket chicken being rank/bogging as soon as you opened them. The final bit was getting food poisoning from bad chicken and then a month later my wife asking me to stop as I wasn’t a cruel person.

That was a couple of years back, still mostly veggie but do eat some fish. Feel better for it really, both in terms of health and from an animal welfare perspective.

@footflaps – That looks amazing but they cost £1,000 new! 😂 He could get someone in to do it for that…

@molgrips – I recently made a couple of raised beds from 200mmx100mm treated pine sleepers. Only 8 cuts so used a new handsaw and a clamped batten as didn’t need to be perfect.

If you have 30 to do then I think an electric circular saw would be the way to go and make a rough jig out of scrap ply or use a clamped roofing square.

Personally I would go for a smaller circular saw with a soft start, I’ve got the older version of this Makita.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-hs6601-1050w-165mm-electric-circular-saw-240v/639fx

What fixings are you using, if it’s oak then stainless is normally recommended due to the acid in the wood, which means predrilling? To protect the fastener as they can’t stand up to the stuff regular ones do.

@tjagain – Which makes perfect sense if you have the experience like you do, know it’s a modern consumer unit with a spare slot and have the time to do it.

The “if you need to ask” approach is a good one in this case I reckon 👍