We Need More Tool Libraries

A couple of months ago, Magz showed me a video from an Australian YouTuber who was working on a project that required some woodworking tools. She and her husband didn’t have the necessary tools, so they went to a local tool library and borrowed what they needed. This was the first time I had heard of a tool library, and I was so thrilled and blown away that they exist. I quickly started researching tool libraries to learn more about them and where they exist, but it’s safe to say that we need more of them.

What’s a Tool Library?

A tool library is exactly what it sounds like: It’s a library, but instead of lending books, they lend tools. In some cases, they are connected to a community book library, so the library card allows a person to borrow books and tools. In other cases, like the one the Australian YouTuber showed, it’s a standalone library, so you pay an annual membership fee to borrow tools. But even when it costs money, it’s usually cheaper than the cost of a single new tool. A tool library in Buffalo, NY, has three membership levels – $30/year (can borrow 5 tools at a time; 1 user), $75/year (25 tools at a time; 1 user), and $150/year (50 tools at a time; 2 users). If you consider that even an affordable miter saw, like the 10-inch Metabo that I have, costs $140 on sale, a tool library membership is a no-brainer until you build out your tool collection.

Tool libraries tend to have a massive selection of tools to borrow. That includes hand tools and power tools, woodworking tools and gardening equipment, and automotive tools and painting supplies. You can find something as small as a mini hand clamp and individual router bits or as large as a jobsite table saw with a stand and air compressors. The possibilities are nearly endless.

When I first started researching tool libraries, I was surprised at how many of them exist in the United States. There’s a wonderful website called Tool Library Finder that lists 204 of them, with every state but Delaware, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada, and Alaska having at least one. Even Puerto Rico has one. Pennsylvania, where we live, has five of them; four of them are dedicated to woodworking, and the fifth is focused on gardening. So, if you live in America, there’s a good chance that you’re within driving distance of a tool library, and if you’re like me, you may not have known it existed. The bulk of them are located in concentrated centers of population and the Northeast, which has always been known for woodworking and craftsmanship, but there are also libraries in seemingly random places, like Carbondale, Illinois, or three in the Sioux Falls/Sioux City area.

Why Are Tool Libraries Important?

This post continues a trend of posts that I’ve published recently on tips for woodworking on a budget and how the internet has led people to believe that they need to have the very best equipment and tools to participate in a hobby. Tool libraries were one of my suggestions for woodworking on a budget. They are an incredible resource to a variety of people and for a plethora of reasons. People who are new homeowners and don’t have all the maintenance or lawncare equipment that they need, someone who doesn’t have the space to permanently store large tools, and a young person who doesn’t have the money to buy every tool are all examples of people who would benefit from a tool library. Tool libraries allow a person to borrow a tool they may only use once instead of having to buy and attempt to sell it after the fact. They also help a person to try different tool brands and features before buying one.

Finally, I think we’re living in a time where American politicians are so focused on money and profit that it’s easy to forget the importance of community and culture. On the surface, billionaires are controlling everything, and politicians promote policies that help these same billionaires. Yet, under the surface, community and culture are as rich as they’ve ever been, and I think tool libraries fit into this. Tool libraries exist to serve their communities. They’re often non-profits and operate to benefit local craftspeople, woodworkers, and gardeners. These libraries help people get started in a hobby that they’ve always wanted to participate in, aid in the maintenance of homes, and educate people on how to use tools, further developing a skill. I cannot see any negative to tool libraries, and the way they help to combat out-of-control capitalistic greed is exciting and a step in the right direction. I think we should all be focused on ways to improve our communities and their citizens. Supporting and promoting entities like tool libraries is a small way to carry out this mission.

Do you have a tool library close to you? If so, have you ever borrowed from it? And if you don’t have a tool library, there are ways to pursue creating one in your area. There are multiple Reddit threads that discuss establishing a tool library that is affiliated with a local book library. I think it starts with reaching out to your local book library and getting the conversation started. A library’s leadership team may not have known about tool libraries or that there is interest in having one in your community. And once that is known, that leadership team can share its invaluable experience of gathering funding and getting the project off the ground. We’re better humans when we live in community and support each other. Tool libraries are part of that.

October 28, 2026 0

Learning About Pennsylvania’s Wetlands

I think Pennsylvania is an underrated state when it comes to natural beauty. To an outsider, the state probably looks like Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, and nothing between them. I’ve even seen the area between the two cities as Pennsyltucky, which seems offensive to both states. Sure, the population centers of the state are the headliners when it comes to the economy and politics, but there’s a lot more going on outside their city limits.

I grew up in Central Pennsylvania, in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains’ Ridge-and-Valley System. This geography is defined by a series of long and narrow ridges (usually called mountains) that are often oriented diagonally from the southwest to the northeast with wide valleys separating them. The ridges typically have dense forests that are perfect for exploring, hiking, and hunting, while the valleys feature nutrient-rich soil that is ideal for farming and gardening. This system is located between the Appalachian Plateau to the west and the higher mountains to the east. If you’ve never seen the Ridge-and-Valley System, it’s quite unique, even if the tallest mountain in the system tops out just shy of 5,000 feet (Spruce Knob in West Virginia).

Woods make up a lot of Pennsylvania (it is called Penn’s Woods, after all), but it’s far from the commonwealth’s only geographical feature. East of the Ridge-and-Valley System is the Piedmont and Delaware River Valley. In Western Pennsylvania is the Appalachian Plateau, and the Glaciated Plateau precedes a drop in elevation as you approach Lake Erie. I have visited or lived in many of the state’s geographical regions, and we currently live on the border of the Glaciated Plateau and Appalachian Plateau, but there is one feature that I only learned about in the past eight years: wetlands.

Pennsylvania Has Wetlands?

In 2018, we moved from Pennsylvania to Southeast Georgia for about five months. It was both a culture and environmental shock. It felt like a 180-degree flip from what we were used to in Pennsylvania. It was flat and incredibly hot. There were forests, but they were almost entirely new growth due to the prominence of the lumber industry in the area. But the biggest shock was the swamp. We lived near Statesboro, so it was far from the middle of nowhere, but within 40 minutes, you could be at a state park that was entirely cyprus swamp. I had never experienced a swamp before, so I was completely out of my element. Alligators, snapping turtles, and water moccasins were present. It was terrifying and so beautiful. If you’ve never visited a swamp, it’s unlike anything else.

But when we moved back from Georgia to Northwest Pennsylvania, I was pretty confident that I was leaving the swamp behind, but I was wrong. We quickly learned that Northwest Pennsylvania is full of wetlands similar to what we saw in Georgia, although their origins are different. While southern swamps developed from peat accumulation, the wetlands of Northwest PA developed when the glaciers of the most recent Ice Age receded. If you’ve ever driven north on I-79 between the I-80 interchange and Erie, you can see a distinct geographical difference once you reach Crawford County. The land levels out, and marshes replace some of the farmland. The interstate even crosses the Conneaut Marsh Complex, the largest such marsh in the state, and if you stop off at Meadville, you can walk through and around some of the wetlands. Doing so is a great opportunity to see numerous examples of plants and wildlife that only exist in a wetland environment, and if you like waterfowl, they’re the perfect place for you. It’s not uncommon to see herons feeding in some of the bodies of water.

Two years later, we moved a bit further south, although still in Western Pennsylvania, and we thought that we’d likely have to drive back to the Meadville area to see wetlands again. Instead, we learned that there is a wetland located within 10 miles of our house that’s part of a conservation center. We recently went there to walk around and learned about wetlands’ role in healing the environment after decades of harm.

The Importance of Wetlands

The type of wetlands closest to us are known as aerobic wetlands. They were built in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s to combat acid runoff from an underground coal mine that had been abandoned for over six decades. The wetlands are part of a passive water treatment facility that uses different materials to filter out heavy metals found in acid runoff and are detrimental to the environment and wildlife. Through the treatment media and plants naturally found in wetlands, this passive system has had an amazing impact on improving the land and waterways close to the coal mine. It’s resulted in cleaner water and a thriving ecosystem. In fact, if you walk around the stream that comes out of the wetlands, you’d never know that it began as polluted runoff water.

When scientists and members of the local universities were planning the passive water treatment system, they took inspiration from native wetlands that have proven their effectiveness at filtering out impurities. They’re vitally important to cleaning up the messes that humans have made. Plus, they’re home to a wide range of plants and animals that depend on wetlands to survive. Our local wetlands listed roughly 30 species that are part of that wetland’s ecosystem, including multiple types of waterfowl, frogs, and mammals. The Conneaut Marsh Complex near Meadville is home to approximately 10,000 waterfowl during migration each spring and fall, and several endangered bird species live within the complex. Every ecosystem is home to plant and animal species that depend on that unique area for its survival, and it’s incredibly important that we protect each of them.

In America, we’re living in a time when environmental protections are under threat. Thankfully, most of the protections have been upheld in court, but it’s alarming that someone would even consider reverting back to a time when we value progress over the environment. We need to do everything we can to let our representatives know how important nature is to us. The wetlands are a perfect example of this.

October 27, 2026 0

Thanksgiving in a Glass – A Review of Great Lakes’ Cran Orange Wheat

Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cran Orange Wheat, Beer, Beer Reviews

I’m going to start reviewing some of the interesting beers that we try. Or if it goes well and I enjoy writing them, I may review every new beer we try. Beer is fascinating because of the nuances that are developed by the brewmaster. Two breweries can brew the same type of beer but can have vastly different results. Breweries have varying inspirations that impact how they approach brewing beer. Take my favorite brewery, Dogfish Head, for example. Since their founding, they’ve been driven to brew culinary-inspired beers, and it often results in complex flavors that are common along the East Coast. Beers are fun to drink and fun to write about. This will be my way of remembering what a beer tastes like down the road.

First up on my series of beer reviews is one that I didn’t know existed until last weekend. It’s Great Lakes’ Cran Orange Wheat, the brewery’s September release, even though we didn’t find it until October. Before diving into the beer, a little bit about the brewery. Great Lakes is from Cleveland, Ohio, and was started by two brothers in 1988. Since then, they’ve expanded to sell beers in nearly one-third of the states. Their most famous beers are their Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Commodore Perry IPA, and Eliot Ness Amber Lager, which are their flagships and available year-round. They do an incredible job of taking inspiration from the region, with many of their beer names honoring Lake Erie and Northeast Ohio.

Cran Orange Wheat

And now we move to the beer itself. It’s a fruited wheat ale with a 5.5% ABV and 17 IBUs. We paid around $12 for a six pack of cans.

Visual

Cran Orange Wheat is a gorgeous reddish-orange color that reminds me of a Cara Cara orange. It has a medium head on it, which helps to release the aromatics, but more on that in a second.

I’m a sucker for beer can and bottle design/artwork. Regardless if it’s a well-designed graphic or just a striking color palette, the design is the first thing that draws you in when you’re exploring new beers. A well-designed product shows that the brewery dedicates time and attention to providing the consumer with an all-encompassing experience. Great Lakes really understands this, and their beers almost always include an eye-catching design, especially their flagship beers, which include some of the most recognizable labels you’ll find on a distributor’s shelf.

They continue this trend with Cran Orange Wheat. The artwork that gives me Christmas-themed wallpaper vibes. The base layer of the design is maroon with oranges and cranberries placed on top of it. The beer’s name is written in a lovely script that stands out from the can while staying within the overall design theme. The design works for me and does a great job of setting the consumer up for a delightful drinking experience.

Scent

A deep inhale of the beer after it’s poured immediately transports you to Christmas time. It could be a pot of water with cranberries, oranges, and spices on the stove or a Christmas-themed candle, but it’s invigorating and full of natural scent notes. The cranberries are the first to hit your nose, and they’re followed by a bright citrus note from the oranges. Specifically, it reminds me of the fresh cranberry relish we make at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Taste

The initial flavor hit you get when you first take a sip of Cran Orange Wheat is a punch of cranberry. With it comes a slight bitterness and astringency that the cranberries bring. Alone, it would leave your mouth feeling dry. But immediately after that are the warming citrus notes of the orange, and it’s not an artificial orange flavor, either. It tastes like someone squeezed an orange into your glass. It results in a well-balanced, easy-to-drink beer that is tart but stops short of being a sour. This works perfectly for me because I love sours and the “pucker” effect they deliver.

Overall Review

I would describe Orange Cran Wheat with a simple phrase: Thanksgiving in a glass. Of course, I don’t mean turkey and mashed potatoes, but more so the scent and vibe of the holiday. I think this is what Great Lakes was going for too. Their page for the beer mentions pairing it with turkey and pecan pie, both common elements of an excellent holiday meal. As soon as I took my first sip of this beer, I found myself wanting more of it. It’s incredibly easy to drink, and you’ll find yourself going back for more. Perhaps the worst part of it is that it’s only released for one month. I give this beer a score of 8/10 and recommend seeking it out if you can buy Great Lakes beer in your area.

October 22, 2026 0

Being a Neighbor That Would Make Mr. Rogers Proud

This past weekend, I cut my hand while we were trying to take down our garden fence. It wasn’t a super bad cut, but it was bad enough that we thought stitches may have been needed. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. But while we were trying to figure out how bad it was and getting it covered to stop the bleeding, we realized that we no longer had any large bandages or butterfly closures. We ended up going to our next-door neighbors, a retired couple who have become our friends, to ask if they had any larger bandages. In spite of my blood, they immediately welcomed us into their house so that we were out of the cold. They put a large bandage on my cut and gave us extra bandages and a package of bleed stop. The bandage did enough to slow the bleeding and gave us enough time that we were able to go to Wal-Mart that night and buy even more first-aid supplies. And given how well the cut has healed in the days that have followed, I think they may have helped me avoid an emergency room visit and stitches.

In the two days after we reached out for help, each of them checked in on me to ask how the cut and my hand were, and I could feel the genuine care. I didn’t get the impression that they were asking as a courtesy but instead truly cared about Magz and me. And this wasn’t the first time we’ve had this type of an experience with these neighbors. They’ve let us borrow books, shared beers, and have always made us feel welcome in the neighborhood. We’ve always tried to reciprocate the kindness through snowblowing, sharing vegetables from our garden, giving beers to try, and baking cookies for them.

These neighborly actions extend beyond our next-door neighbors too. Last week, we had an issue with an Amazon delivery that went to the back porch of our neighbor across the street. We had no idea where the package was left, but two days later, it appeared on our front porch with a kind note from our neighbor, apologizing for the delay and opening it without realizing it was ours. I’m bringing these situations up because they filled us with incredible warmth and happiness.

Perhaps the craziest part of these examples is how caught off guard we were by them. We’ve lived here for more than two years, but anytime someone goes out of their way to display kindness, it still surprises us. That’s because it hasn’t been the norm for us. Where we previously lived, the house we rented was between two houses where the owners didn’t keep their dogs on leashes, so there was a lot of dog poop to deal with. Before that, one of our neighbors was hot and cold with their friendship. Before that, our flat was one in a series of one-story townhomes, and no one really interacted. Finally, our first apartment was on the top floor of a house, where the first floor consisted of two businesses. It was not very neighborly, to say the least.

I love the neighborhood we live in now. It reminds me of where my dad lives. Everyone knows everyone else in his development. People go for walks and talk to each other. Sometimes it’s a full conversation. Other times it’s a simple hello to someone on their porch. We have that here. People sit on their porches and talk. They’ll go out of their way to say hello and be friendly, while at the same time, they respect others’ privacy, which is the best of both worlds.

At one time, I think this was more common than it is now. I’m not someone who believes everything was better than it is now. That’s a doomsday and nihilistic approach to life, which doesn’t help. But at the same time, I can’t ignore the reality that there’s less community and communication now than there used to be. Working from home, social media, and the internet have all contributed to a society where face-to-face contact isn’t as important as it once was. It’s easy to go a week or more without leaving your house/property and saying hello to your neighbors. For a long time, I was happy with this. Not having to talk to anyone was a dream, but I’m not realizing how unhealthy that is.

It’s an incredible feeling to know that your neighbors are looking out and care for you. It’s worth it to nurture friendships with our neighbors so that we know what’s going on in their lives and can recognize when something is wrong. It’s my belief that we’re meant to live in community with one another, and doing so requires communication and openness. The experiences of the past week with our neighbors serve as reminders to be friendly. That doesn’t mean we have to be best friends with all of our neighbors, but there are many benefits to knowing their names and not being strangers.

I’m guessing that most of us grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS. Each episode began with his theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The first verse’s lyrics are:

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us forgot or ignored Mr. Rogers’ message. The internet has allowed people to hide behind comments without ever having to speak to the person they’re attacking. People are quick to share defining opinions without any consideration of long-term repercussions. The result is that we live in a society that is polarizing and full of hatred. At one time, we could look to our leaders as examples of how to work together, but that isn’t the case currently. And yet, there are still pockets of brightness and care. Neighborhoods like ours exist all across the world even if they are no longer the norm. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right way to live. We should all try to be more like Mr. Rogers, whose message was full of love and kindness. Perhaps if we all emulated him just a little, we could fight against all the hatred that we see in Washington and see leaders be elected who also emulate Mr. Rogers. I think it’s a goal worth pursuing. And so I leave you with this: Even though we may not live in physical proximity to each other, I’d love for you to be my neighbor. I encourage you to say “hello” or “Howdy, Neighbor,” as Wilson from Home Improvement would say to your own neighbor.

October 20, 2026 0

The Hibiscus That Persists

Last year, we bought a hibiscus plant at our local greenhouse, along with a few other ones. It was the first time we bought perennials, didn’t know what we were doing, and planted them along the side of our house. While I love looking at flowers, I’ve never been a big-time flower grower and typically don’t give them the attention they need to thrive.

After a successful first year, we didn’t do anything to prepare the hibiscus for winter beyond removing some of the dead flowers. We had a harsh, cold, and long winter. We had overnight lows below zero multiple times and received feet of snow, and even though I knew that the hibiscus we bought was suitable for our growing zone, I didn’t have high hopes of it surviving. And when winter ended and spring began, it looked like my concerns were valid. The plant no longer had any leaves, and the stems looked like straw.

Even by early June, there was still no sign of life, and we came close to pulling the hibiscus because there seemed to be little chance of it regrowing. But something began to change throughout June. New leaves started to grow, and the dreary brown was slowly replaced by vibrant greens. Flower buds started to form in July and were beginning to open and bloom in August, and they have yet to stop blooming. We’ve already had a light frost, but the plant continues to bloom and put on new buds. It’s the most amazing and crazy thing. I want to reiterate that we haven’t done anything to help it grow. We used fertilizer when we first planted it but have done nothing since. It’s even reached the point where we’ll probably need to prune it back to keep it under control. I can’t believe it.

It’s the perfect example of nature. We as humans have done so much to cause the earth harm, yet nature rebounds and retakes if we let it. There are abandoned buildings everywhere that are now covered in grass and plants and have trees growing out of them. Entire city blocks will look like woods within a few decades if no one prevents it, and it’s so beautiful. If you’re like me and are saddened by how humans treat the earth and its plants and animals, this is a wonderful site. And it’s a reminder that the damage we’ve done can be reversed.

October 16, 2026 0

Woodworking on a Budget

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for some time, as I’ve started to publish more woodworking content on the blog. The topic stems from my post about how the Internet is ruining hobbies by selling lies. Something that really frustrates me is someone who is potentially interested in a hobby like woodworking becoming discouraged because they think the cost of entry is too steep, often the result of how content creators and influencers present the hobby online. Thankfully, some areas have opened tool libraries that allow members to borrow tools for a low monthly or annual fee. It’s a blessing to have one of these nearby, and it seems that more are opening, but if you don’t, there are still ways to begin woodworking on a budget. Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way for getting into woodworking and expanding your tool collection.

Buy Used or Buy Cheap – Not Both

There are generally two directions to consider when trying to start woodworking on a budget: buying used tools or buying cheap tools. Both are great options, but you should never buy used cheap tools. What do I mean?

Buying used tools on Marketplace or Craigslist or at an auction or a yard sale can be a great way to buy quality tools that were expensive when new. These tools are often older and heavier but will last for decades if they were maintained and continue to be moving forward. It’s pretty easy to find Sears/Craftsman, Delta, and old Dewalt tools online. They’ll usually have metal frames and may not be the color you associate with the modern versions, but they work. Older saws and joiners will often be belt-driven instead of the blade(s) being directly connected to the motor. This makes them heavier but also easier to work on and maintain. I bought my joiner this way and also considered buying a band saw and drill press used before finding the ones I ultimately bought. When buying used, thoroughly investigate the tool as much as you can before buying.

In contrast, buying cheap is straightforward: buying new tools that are more affordable than Dewalt, Rigid, Sawstop, Festool, etc. Ryobi, Craftsman, Bauer, Hercules, and Skillsaw are well-known brands that can be bought in stores in the U.S. and are very affordable. I have a Ryobi drill press, band saw, jig saw, reciprocating saw, and drill, and all work as intended. All but the drill were bought at our local outlet store. I also have a right-angle drill, router, dovetail jig, and many hand tools from Harbor Freight, which sells Bauer and Hercules. I’ve never had an issue with a Harbor Freight tool. On Amazon, you can buy brands such as Wen and Vevor, which have solid reputations. I have a Wen biscuit jointer and would like to buy their scroll saw when I get one. All of the tools listed above were at least $100 cheaper than a similar version bought at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Prioritize How Much You Spend on Tools by Which You’ll Use the Most

I think the biggest issue new woodworkers run into is placing too much emphasis on tools that aren’t used often. In my woodshop, I use my table saw, miter saw, sanders, and band saw the most. They’re also the tools that I intentionally bought from brands with a reputation of reliability and durability. I have a Rigid table saw and belt sander, a Metabo miter saw and random orbital sander, and a Ryobi band saw. I already wrote about why I bought the band saw I did, and I’m confident in its reliability in spite of its price. A drill is another tool that often gets used in the woodshop, when repairing things, or around the house. I think it’s wise to invest in a drill and impact driver that will last. I have a set of Porter-Cable drills that have worked flawlessly for the past seven years. They weren’t the most expensive drills, but they also weren’t the cheapest.

My recommendation is to take time and make a list of the tools you think you’ll use the most, and it may be different for everyone. Once that list is prepared, find the most cost-effective option that still provides the durability, performance, and reliability you want. If that means buying a Sawstop table saw or a Dewalt sander, you should do what makes sense for you. In some cases, the price difference between a more expensive brand, like Bosch, and a Harbor Freight tool is only $10 or $20, so it could make sense to buy the Bosch even if it’s a tool you won’t use a lot. It’s just a matter of what’s available at a given time.

Don’t Be Afraid of Odd Amazon Brands, But Avoid Knock-Offs

Amazon is full of brands that you’ll never find anywhere else. The majority are made in China and often have names that can be humorous to native English speakers. A lot of people will write these off as cheap garbage, but don’t be so quick to overlook them. I love watching Project Farm’s reviews on YouTube, and something I’ve learned is that these Chinese brands are capable of producing a product that goes toe-to-toe with the name brands but at a reduced cost. In some of his tests, the cheap brands even outperform the name brands. Because a lot of tool brands share countries of origin, it’s fair to assume that many are made in the same factory, providing cheaper brands with access to the same technologies, molds, and toolings as the expensive brands.

At one point, Harbor Freight tools were considered cheap garbage, but now their reliability and performance compete with Dewalt, Milwaukee, and Makita. It’s worth taking the time to read/watch reviews and see if the Amazon brand will fit your needs. You may surprise yourself by finding a gem.

However, beware of blatant knock-offs that claim to be Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, etc. but with a price that seems too good. They’re often poor quality and can even be dangerous. Brands that imitate a name brand’s appearance by using the appropriate color are often okay, though.

Pick a Color for Battery-Powered Tools

For the majority of the above information, I’m talking about larger power tools and not drills or other battery-powered hand tools. But when it comes to battery-powered tools, I think it’s wise to pick a brand that best serves your needs and stick with their battery system. Power tool brands have unique colors: Dewalt is yellow, Makita is blue, Milwaukee is red, and Rigid is orange. Harbor Freight has blended this a bit because their Hercules line is similar to Makita, while their Bauer line is close to Milwaukee’s red. But you can still identify most tool brands by their color. Each brand has its own battery system that works with most if not all of their tools. Joining a brand that has a dozen or more tools that can use the same battery opens up a lot of opportunities.

This is a mistake that I made. I have Porter-Cable drills and a Bauer right-angle drill and chainsaw. I’m now at a place where I don’t know what brand to buy when I need to replace my drills. Porter-Cable still makes great drills but produces few other tools anymore. I’ll likely end up buying Bauer to take advantage of already having their battery and charger, but had I thought about this years ago, I could have gotten in front of this decision.

Know You Can Upgrade Later

The underlying thread of staying within your means when buying woodworking tools is that you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade down the road. You can buy a bunch of tools, learn which ones you use the most and what aspects you like or dislike with each tool, and then decide what direction to go in the future. Maybe the cheaper version you bought becomes your favorite. Perhaps you’ll want something with more power or better dust collection. Either way, you have the freedom to make that decision later when you buy an affordable option now. Contrast that with buying the expensive version first and realizing you don’t like it. At that point, you either have to sell it for a loss or deal with it.

I have plans to upgrade most of my tools in the future. I’d like a cabinet-style table saw that doesn’t fold down. I’d also like a more powerful wet/dry vacuum that works with more of my tools. Finally, I’d like a slider miter saw to cut wider boards. But my current versions continue to perform well and serve my needs, allowing me to buy additional tools to try out. I prefer having more tools than fewer more expensive tools. The ability to try different tools and see how useful they can be in the shop offers invaluable experience and learning opportunities.

It’s Important to Woodwork

The most important part of woodworking is actually working with wood. If it’s a hobby you think you could be passionate about, the best way to learn if you like it is to get your hands dirty and start building things. Getting started can be the most difficult part, but I urge you to buy the tools you can afford and give yourself a chance to love it. I don’t think you’ll regret it. And if you are a woodworker, I’d love to hear what tools you have and how you’ve found cost-effective ways to woodwork. Finally, if you need specific tool recommendations, let me know. I’d be happy to help.

October 14, 2026 1

Growing Peppers in Containers Is the Way to Go

I love eating peppers but in general have hated growing them. They have fairly specific weather and temperature requirements, seem to be picky about soil quality, and hate weeds. And when you’re still early into the process of converting your yard into a garden, growing peppers in the ground can be a real struggle.

In 2022, when we had an all-container garden, we grew jalapenos and bell peppers in five-gallon buckets. The jalapenos grew very well, and we had enough to can Cowboy Candy with them. Meanwhile, the bell peppers were less successful, but we still harvested a few of them. Last year, when we had our first in-ground garden at our house, we started and transplanted bell peppers and Scotch Bonnet peppers. The seeds started well but began to struggle not long after being transplanted into the garden, and ultimately, we may have harvested a single bell pepper and no Scotch Bonnets. I chalked it up to inconsistent temperatures, poor soil, and weeds.

For this year’s garden, I wanted to try growing peppers in the ground again, thinking that we had addressed some of the issues. That didn’t happen. We started seeds for bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, and gochugaru peppers. They did well after being started, but we once again ran into issues when they were transplanted. Another year of inconsistent temperatures and struggles with weeds led to the plants never reaching full height. In some cases, they died off fully. One habanero and one bell pepper plant grew enough to produce fruit, with the habaneros even producing enough to pick three of them, but it was still largely a failure. And this is where I’ll bring up growing peppers in containers.

Success With Container Growing Peppers

The pepper plants we grew in the five-gallon buckets were successful but imperfect. Due to the solid plastic of a bucket, drainage is always a problem with that style of container growing. This led to issues of overwatering if we went through a period of excess rainfall. And when we weren’t consistently getting rain, it was difficult to judge if the soil and roots had enough moisture without going overboard and causing root rot.

In May of this year, I decided to restart some gochugaru seeds inside. I could see from the beginning that the initial batch of gochugarus wasn’t doing well and wanted to have success with them. With the new batch, I focused on starting them in containers that were larger than they needed, ensured they had the right amount of water without overwatering them, and kept the grow light at the right height the entire time. By the time they were ready to be moved outside in late June, they were more than 12 inches tall and weren’t root-bound or leggy.

At the time of transplanting, we had a batch of potatoes die, so we took that grow bag, refreshed the soil, and planted the four gochugaru peppers in the bag. They immediately took off. Because it was July, the temperature was perfect for growing peppers, and we were able to ensure they had appropriate watering. Before long, the plants reached two feet in height, had dozens of blossoms, and were growing small fruit.

The bag was a great container for growing peppers compared to the bucket. The fabric material of the bag allowed for adequate drainage and airflow, ensuring that the roots stayed healthy. The soil also remained free of weeds and grass, and pests didn’t seem to be an issue either. So, did we successfully grow gochugaru peppers? Yes and no.

The peppers grew amazingly well, with dozens of fruit on the plants, including some that were three and four inches long. However, time wasn’t our friend. We begin to have overnight lows in the upper 40s as early as mid-September, and by early October, we’ve usually had our first frost. Those temperatures are not conducive to growing peppers, and since I didn’t transplant them until late July, there wasn’t enough time to ripen on the plants.

This past Sunday the overnight low was forecast to be 36, which is far too close to a frost for my liking when it comes to keeping plants alive. We made the decision to pick the full-size peppers early even though they hadn’t ripened. We did this because we want a shot at ripening them inside if possible. Apparently, this is a pretty common occurrence for growers of this type of peppers, and I learned that people will often wrap their unripe peppers in a towel or paper bag, placing a banana or apple with the peppers. As the apple or banana ripens, it releases ethylene, which will help the peppers ripen too. We’re still early in the process and don’t know if it’s going to work yet, but we’re feeling confident that we’ll be able to use these peppers, which we were so excited to grow.

Regardless of the success we have ripening them inside, we’re confident in our ability to grow peppers in bags now. We’re always excited to grow peppers but have become discouraged seeing them fail each year. Successfully taking the peppers from seed to harvest is a big boost moving forward, and we’re going to continue growing them in bags, at least for the time-being. Have you ever grown peppers in containers or bags? If so, did you have success?

October 8, 2026 0

What’s the Best Brewery?

What’s the best brewery? It’s a question that I’m sure has thousands of answers. Location and access to beers, a person’s style preferences, and pricepoint can all lead to different answers. Plus, there’s the question of what it means to be the best brewery.

Is the best brewery the one that produces the best single beer or the one that produces the most high-quality beers? Because there is certainly a difference. I want to take a shot at answering this question.

My Beer Preferences

I turned 21 during one of the peak craft beer time periods: the 2010s. I was in college from 2010 to 2014, when the number of craft breweries and the amount of craft beer drank exploded. Some numbers to back it up, all from the Brewers Association:

Number of barrels produced:

2010	2014
Regional Breweries – 8,034,796 Microbreweries – 1,141,118 Brewpubs – 727,427	Regional Breweries – 17,412,333 Microbreweries – 3,161,365 Brewpubs – 1,167,164

Number of breweries:

2010	2014
1,813	4,014

Number of craft breweries:

2010	2014
Brewpubs – 1,057 Microbreweries – 620 Regional Breweries – 81	Brewpubs – 1,717 Microbreweries – 2,116 Regional Breweries – 135

Some quick definitions to help with the above numbers:

Microbrewery – Produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year and sells at least 75% of its beer off-site.
Brewpub – Restaurant/brewery that sells at least 25% of its beer on-site and operates a significant food service.
Regional Brewery – Annual beer production between 15,000 and 6,000,000 barrels.

These stats help convey the environment that existed when I started drinking beer. Whereas most college students typically drink low-cost domestics in kegs or cases, my friends and I usually went to a great local bar that had a massive list of craft beers. Granted, this decision was probably aided by the fact that our college was a dry campus, so buying cases or kegs of beer would have been pointless. And sure, I would still split a pitcher of Yuengling if we went to another bar, but my preference quickly became craft beers that were full of flavor and complexity.

Another aspect of the time period was the rise of India Pale Ales (IPAs). Although IPAs have been around for more than 150 years, they didn’t start to really take off in the United States until the latter half of the 20th century, and by the 2010s, American IPAs were everywhere. Essentially, every craft brewery was producing at least one IPA, with some of the most popular ones being Russian River’s Pliney the Elder, Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, and Dogfish Head’s 60-Minute and 90-Minute IPAs.

In fact, I was such a fan of Dogfish Head and its founder, Sam Calagione, that my first beer was a 60-Minute IPA. It’s a weird first beer to purchase, but I was so enamored with Dogfish’s approach to brewing that I wanted to participate in it. I loved it, and it kicked off my love of craft beer and trying as many different beers as possible.

The bar I first mentioned used to allow its patrons to keep beer lists, which I participated in. I think the list had 100 or so craft beers on it, and you would keep track of what beers you drank. I don’t remember if you got something for completing the list, but I do remember some of the beers on the list. Some notables included Magic Hat #9, Wells Banana Bread, Founders Breakfast Stout, and Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch. There were so many beers on that list that I still think about (RIP #9).

I have a pretty broad and eclectic beer taste as a result of trying all these beers. I love fruit beers like Ellicotville’s Blueberry Wheat, high-ABV IPAs like 90-Minute, dark imperial stouts like Sierra Nevada’s Narwhal, pumpkin beers, and Belgian and German imports. Like I said, it’s all over the place. These preferences will certainly influence my decisions as I attempt to find the best brewery.

What Do I Mean by ‘Best Brewery?’

Back to the question I reference at the beginning: what does it mean to be the best brewery? I’m going to take a page from Top Gear’s playbook when they attempted to find the carmaker that has produced the greatest number of excellent cars. So for me in this context, it means the brewery that has produced (and hopefully still produces) the greatest number of excellent beers. A brewery can produce the best beer in the world, but if the rest of the beers it brews are mediocre, I think it lowers the overall quality of the brewery. Similarly, a brewery can produce a single excellent beer and nothing else. To me, that still doesn’t compare to a brewery that produces a dozen elite beers even if no single one is the very best.

So, I am looking for a brewery that has a very high average instead of sharp peaks and valleys. Although I don’t know all of the breweries I’m going to consider, I can safely say that some of the ones I will consider include Dogfish Head, Ellicotville Brewing Company, Erie Brewing Company, New Belgium, Southern Tier, Troegs, and Sierra Nevada. My goal is to try as many beers from as many different breweries as I can, so this is certainly going to be a long-term project. I think as we buy beer at our local distributors, I’ll look for ones from the above breweries to ensure I get a solid understanding of their portfolios. If you have any breweries or brews that you think I have to try, please let me know in the comments. I will try my best to find it. One limitation I know I’ll run into is location and how far breweries ship their beers. For example, I’ve never tried Pliny the Elder because Russian River isn’t sold anywhere within 100 miles of our town. I also never tried it when I had a chance in the past. Beyond that, though, I’ll look for just about anything.

October 6, 2026 0

Building a Mini Easel for a Phone Stand

I’m sure most have experienced the frustration of trying to watch something on a phone and either struggling to find something to prop it against or having that item not work, causing your phone to fall over. Magz and I often watch things on our phones during the day and used to experience the annoyance described above. Back in 2022 or 2023, Magz was using her sewing machine a lot, and it would cause the table she would use to bounce, toppling her phone. She knew she wanted something stable enough to withstand the sewing machine’s bounce but compact enough to be easily stowed away when not in use.

My solution? A mini easel, which fit all her needs. With a triangular base, an easel is sturdy even when the surface it’s on is jostled or the easel is bumped into. Easels are also compact. The pivot point at the top allows it to be folded flat and put away.

I spent time studying large easels that hold canvases to figure out the general design. I then took measurements of her phone and scaled everything down from the large easel to ensure that the scale remains intact. Here’s what I came up with.

It was really easy to make. I used scrap wood I had, ripped everything down to a half-inch wide, and then cut everything to length. The two front legs are the same length, and the back one is a half-inch shorter. The horizontal brace is about an inch longer than her phone is. I also added two spacers between the legs to help with opening and closing. Finally, I bought a section of threaded quarter-inch stainless steel rod and two wing nuts. The wing nuts are nice because you can loosen and tighten them to hold the easel in place. I’m really proud of this design, and it’s worked perfectly for Magz’s needs. The biggest issue is that I never built a second one for myself. I can’t remember if I didn’t think I’d use one or if there was another reason, but I didn’t make another.

Building a Second (Different) Easel

After three or four years of having my phone fall or be in the way of my monitor, I decided to finally build myself a phone easel. Even though I didn’t remember all the details of building Magz’s easel, it was easy to take the measurements off hers and build mine the same way. I once again used scrap wood and cut everything to the same length and width. However, a problem arose when I started to assemble everything: I didn’t have anymore wing nuts for the threaded rod that holds everything together. I also didn’t want to go to the local hardware store to buy them, so I quickly pivoted and came up with an alternative.

This spring, I took two Ikea chairs apart and built gardening trellises with them. On those chairs, the arms are attached to the main frame with bolts that are threaded for about an inch and twist into a female version, and everything is tightened with allen wrenches. They were a bit longer than I needed, and because the threads didn’t run the full length of the bolt, I couldn’t cut them down. Instead, I cut additional spacers for the easel. That fixed one issue. The other issue was that the bolt was thicker than the rod, so I had to use a larger drill bit. Plus, because the female end was wider still, I used an even larger bit but only drilled into the right leg a length equal to the female end. In the end, everything went together and works well. Here’s the final product:

I’m not as happy with this one. Having to think on my feet to address the lack of wing nuts changed the aesthetics of the easel in a way that I’m not that happy with. Even though it looks artistic, it doesn’t have the refined look of Magz’s easel. I do think that the extra spacers on the outside of the legs are pretty cool because it was wood that I joined together, but I may still change it in the future. Ultimately, though, it works and does its job, so I can’t be too frustrated with it.

I really enjoy working on these small woodworking projects. They’re quick and generally have a lot of room for error. This is also a project I’d probably consider making as presents or selling in the future if that happens. If you’re a woodworker and are interested in more details about these and how I made them, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

October 3, 2026 0

The Internet Is Ruining Hobbies

I write a lot about hobbies on the blog. So far, I’ve written posts about gardening, woodworking, and bowling, but I also enjoy playing guitar, model making, card making, cross-stitching, reading, and video games. Plus, I recently bought a pair of binoculars for bird and sky watching. I really like hobbies because they’re a great way of passing the time while keeping your hands busy and learning a new skill. I think my love of hobbies comes naturally.

My dad and grandparents all participated in their hobbies when I was growing up and showed how important they can be to a balanced life. Hobbies were a form of relaxation for them as well as a way to keep the mind engaged. Hobbies were never supposed to be something that cost a lot of money, and it was okay to do things as frugally as needed to make it work.

Recently, I’ve started to notice a shift in how people approach hobbies. Perhaps it’s not how the majority of people approach them, but it is what is conveyed on social media, YouTube, and forums, including Reddit. This shift has been both frustrating and saddening, and it’s what I’m writing about in this post.

Internet Is Making Hobbies Elitist

Before diving in, I don’t mean that the hobbies themselves are elitist or for people we consider to be elite. There have always been some hobbies that are associated with the wealthy and upper class: fox hunting, motorsports, sailing, polo, etc. Those haven’t changed. It still takes a lot of money, time, and connections to gain entry into these clubs and hobbies.

The ones I’m thinking about are those that have always been approachable by the vast majority of people. The ones that don’t need to cost a lot of money to start in, and your investment can increase the more interested you become. The hobbies I listed above largely fall into this category. These are the hobbies that I feel are under attack. It still doesn’t need to cost a lot of money to get started in some of these hobbies, but the narratives around them, and therefore the barrier to access them, have changed. It’s not necessarily a financial element, either. In some cases, it’s actually cheaper to get started in hobbies than it used to be. Yet, if you buy into the narrative, you come out of it feeling that hobbies aren’t for everyone. It’s my belief that the internet has played a key role in establishing this barrier, and nowhere is it more evident than on social media and YouTube.

Social Media & YouTube’s Role

If you have watched YouTube or used social media for any amount of time, you’ve seen the explosive growth of influencer culture. People are selling and promoting every item, activity, and lifestyle that you can imagine. Creating content on YouTube and social media has become a full-time job for some people, with much of that income stemming from brand ambassadorships. Companies will pay these creators to test (not in an objective manner) and promote these products, and oftentimes, these products typically aren’t that cheap. From there, successful marketing takes place: viewers and consumers feel that they need to buy the product that their favorite creator is peddling even if a more cost-effective option would better serve their needs.

The second aspect of YouTube and social media that I hate is the presentation of perfection. Both platforms are designed to share a skewed version of life that doesn’t show the struggles and failures. My favorite YouTube channels are the authentic ones that either include the struggles and failures they encounter or who acknowledge that the channel is only sharing a curated version of reality. I’ve encountered a lot of woodworking YouTube channels that only share the perfected final product and cut any of the mistakes that naturally occur when working on a project. I can’t tell you how many times during a woodworking project that I have to redo a cut or alter a design because the original one was going to fail. An internet creator choosing to leave these elements out of the final video or post creates a false expectation for the viewer that if they don’t achieve the same level of perfection, they’re a failure. In reality, woodworking and any other hobby are difficult, especially at the beginning. There will be failures as you learn and grow, but the failures refine and hone you into someone who is better at that hobby. But when we see creators that skip over the growth portion of a hobby and only show the success, it creates false expectations and disappointment.

These same creators are also usually the ones who only use the most expensive tools. A lot of woodworking YouTubers have shops full of SawStop and Festool tools, which are incredibly expensive. For example, the collapsible SawStop table saw is $1,700, and the cordless Festool table saw is $1,500. Meanwhile, my Ridgid collapsible table saw is $549, and I paid less for it when I bought it. My table saw isn’t perfect, and I’d eventually like to upgrade it, but it makes all the same cuts that the more expensive models do. My dad and grandfather built some amazing furniture on affordable tools and never needed the highest-price versions. It used to be a widely accepted belief that you would start a hobby with entry-level or used equipment, but a lot of people have abandoned that idea. The combination of creators only showing a perfect finished product that they built with top-of-the-line equipment yields a mentality that tells you that you must have that equipment to achieve those results. And even though we may be able to rationalize that it’s not true, when we’re struggling with something, it’s easy to convince ourselves that our tools and equipment are the culprits. If we don’t have the budget to buy the equipment that the creators use, it is easy to reach the point of abandoning a hobby we once were passionate about.

This brings me to my final point about social media and YouTube: obsession with luxury goods. As a society, we seem to be obsessed with luxury goods. People love to walk around with a brand label on their clothing or bag and will pay obscene amounts of money for a name regardless of the quality. I’ve been guilty of this in the past when I became driven to buy clothing at Polo by Ralph Lauren. I bought a pair of jeans that I had high expectations of, and while they’re comfortable and have lasted more than two years, the denim is thin, and I don’t think the quality is better than some Wranglers I own. Magz has shown me these incredible videos that analyze other creators sharing their shopping “hauls” at luxury stores. They’ll spend thousands of dollars on one trip as though it were $10. As I mentioned in the paragraph above, woodworking isn’t exempt from this. People only want to be seen using the most expensive tools even though it rarely has any impact on how good of a woodworker the person is.

I used woodworking as the main hobby in this section, but I think it rings true with other hobbies. Guitar players only want to be seen playing a premium model, usually a Gibson or Fender. Gamers need the newest and most powerful systems. Regardless of the subject, social media and YouTube only present the best and often most expensive versions of things, and unfortunately, it has an impact.

Take Back Your Hobby

If there’s a hobby you used to enjoy but have stopped because you don’t feel like you belong anymore, please put those thoughts out of your mind. The internet can be an awesome tool, but it can also be a horrible place. Online creators usually publish content with some sort of an agenda in mind and are rarely unbiased. They’re paid by brands to promote products, not to perform objective testing. And it’s always worth keeping in mind that what you see on the internet, especially visual media, is often the edited version that is curated to tell the intended story. It’s usually unpopular to tell truthful stories that highlight struggles, so the creators omit those parts. Likewise, showing themselves using the most expensive or perceived “best” products connotes wealth even if it’s artificial. You don’t need those same expensive tools to achieve wonderful results. You only need enough to accomplish your goal and to get interested in the hobby. Take it back, and don’t let the internet steal your fun and joy.

September 25, 2026 2