Thesidingguy

Often times when I’m bending metal in the shop I’ll play “curling” by myself. It makes me laugh and smile and it challenges me. I visited Aron Jones a couple of weeks ago and we were chatting in his shop and ended up having a few rounds of curling on his brake. Let’s just say he’s good!

This is a 2-way cutter by Innovatools. When they first came out with it a few years ago, I couldn’t stand by the product because the cutting wheels were flipped around so it didn’t give a good clean cut edge without using 2 hands for support. I gave them feedback and they went through the process of redesigning it. I also suggested they add recess for the thumb so it could be easily grabbed with one hand. They listened to my feedback and redesigned it again to its final iteration for the past few years. Now I can truly say it has changed the whole brake industry and has saved me hours of work. Gone are the days of:
1. Taking the cutting tool off the brake every single time because you can’t bend with the tool on the brake
2. Taking the cutting tool back to the right side because you can only cut one way
3. Needing a spot to put the cutting tool while not in use

If you want to try any Innovatools Inc ‘s products, there’s a link in my bio for a discount code. Worldwide shipping on everything including their brakes.

This is something fun I put together showcasing the Truewerk T2 Werkpant. The T2 pants was my very first pair of “technical” workwear I ever owned 6 yrs ago. They are so comfortable that I have a “work” set for work and a “home” set for everything else that I keep clean. I actually just recently gave my very first pair of T2’s to my brother-in-law because I ordered them slightly the wrong size, but I still wore them for 6 yrs before passing them along. My brother-in-law has since ordered many pairs as he works in the trades as well. He used to swear by Carhartt’s. If you haven’t tried technical workwear before, it will definitely make work better. I wish these existed 20 something years ago when I started. For your info:
T1’s are for hot weather
T2’s are for general all around weather
T3’s are insulated for cold weather

My wife and I have used a corded hedge trimmer for the entire time we’ve had bushes that needed trimming (at least 15 yrs). Electrical cords are kind of a pain as you always have to kind the cord. I’ve cut an electrical cord with a lawn mower in my teenage years before and also a cord on a circular saw earlier in my career. We finally decided to upgrade. Trimming this willow at my rental house was long overdue as it was blocking the pathway. It took only a few minutes and was SO nice not having to drag a cord around.

Have you gone cordless with most of your home and garden tools? I’ve got to a battery snowblower, battery lawn mower and battery edge trimmer over the past number of years. What else are you looking to go cordless with?

I own one of these Dewalt Grabo’s already. It’s nice to see accessories being released to broaden its uses. I also saw another attachment for lifting lumber and curved surfaces like a hot water tank. Such a simple device intended to make like easier for anyone. This certainly would have been handy years ago when I was building my pond. We rigged up many different ways to move rock while killing our backs when building our pond and also helping a friend build a pond.

Writing a will doesn’t have to cost anything. Often times you can get enough information from government websites or even from AI. If you’re young, it is much simpler, as you get older and have a spouse, children and more assets, it gets a bit more complicated so you may need a lawyer. It’s something that many people don’t think about until it’s too late. It will not affect you (the one who dies), but it will affect all your loved ones who have to deal with your death and your assets.

I hope this video is the thing that helps you to take action - get a will or revisit your existing will. It’s the wise thing to do. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.

I’ve built a few decks in my life over 15 years ago. They are still standing, but times have changed. This is the first deck that I’ve used tape on. Tape wasn’t even a building practice back then. Times change and we should keep up with the times if it’s for the better. I think tape should prolong the structure of the deck for many more years as it’s designed to shed water off the top so that water doesn’t sit on the lumber? I used Zip System’s all purpose tape. Do you use tape on your deck builds or are you still old school?

I think the extra 15 mins of time/labour and the small cost is worth it!

I wish I used hearing protection from the beginning of my career. I can still hear ok, but my ear “age” is older than my actual age. I didn’t start regularly wearing hearing protection until about a decade ago. I still forget to from time to time. Using hearing protection you actually like and is seamless makes a HUGE difference to whether I wear them or not. I’ve been wearing Isotunes for about 6 or 7 years now. I like the over the ear ones in the winter and in-ear ones for the warmer weather. I wear a toque in the winter so I don’t like the hat pressing into the earbuds. I listen to podcasts while I work. The earbuds allow me to take calls, hear messages and protect my ears all at the same time. I encourage you to start protecting your ears no matter what age you’re at. Are you wearing hearing protection?

I’ve had this waterfall running for 15 yrs. It’s always bugged me that the middle section of the falls curled back onto the rock, making it look less “majestic”. I finally decided to do something about it. It only took 10 mins with tools I already had and it worked like a charm. I used a Diablo segmented masonry disc - it cut the rock like butter!

I spend a lot of time in my backyard during the summer - watching the fish and waterfalls gives me great joy - now I’ll enjoy it even more.

In hindsight, I completely forgot to grab my mask. I need to remember for next time. Maybe one of you has a pond and waterfalls you need to tweak for better aesthetics? Anyway, thanks for watching and I hope this post encourages you to think outside the box.

Do you have an emergency fund? When I had first moved out, I knew that my parents had my back in case of any emergencies - I never had to take them up on it. Now we have a few ways to access emergency cash. If you have a home and a mortgage, a home equity line of credit usually does the trick. What else have you used for emergencies? Do you have a set amount that you have access to in case you need it? Comment down below.

Thanks for watching. If there are other topics you’d like to discuss on Finance Fridays, let me know down below as well.

I’ve posted climbing stuff in my stories for a couple of years now. The reason I do and archive them is for local climbers to see how I solve some of the boulder problems. I often look at other climber’s videos if I can’t figure it out, so it’s super helpful to me. They always make it look easy. People don’t realize how much time and FAILURE it takes me to figure it out. I often fail at complex problem over multiple sessions and then the problem is taken down.

Life, business, health, relationships- it’s all the same - YOU GET OUT OF IT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT. Success doesn’t come easily. I hope this video is an encouragement and a reminder to put in the work to get what you want out of life. Are you willing to do what it takes?