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It sure did feel nice to sharpen drill bits for 2 hours tonight. That’s one of those jobs that you say you’re going to do “one day” and you get to it 2 years later.

In the meantime, yesterday I ripped the old tailgate handle off the bench by the fire pit to use it on the new one. It is nice knowing the hands that have touched it over the years. Also, the reproduction one that I got is terrible. The second I opened the package I knew there were problems. The bends were off, the rivets were loose and flopping around. It is junk. I read up online and discovered that there are serious fitment issues with these. Gates won’t open using them, they hit the panel, etc. I didn’t even bother trying it as the consensus was to find an original. Removing it was a pain as the pan head bolts were rusted solid. I had to drill them out. Mine was slightly bent from years of use and abuse, so I drilled out my rivets, disassembled it, straightened the bends a bit, welded a pivot bolt in place on the back latch, ground it down to maintain clearance, drilled rivet holes to match new bolts, blasted it, and now it awaits primer/paint and reassembly. I will need to use some bolts and stover nuts in place of rivets, but no one will know. It was a surprise that this little task took me two hours.

My sister asked me about hours tonight and I told her the count so far. She couldn’t believe it and then I told her I think I’m 1/2 done!

Whilst blasting the handle and its pieces, my shop vac started to squeal. I use it to remove dust from the blast cabinet via a “dust Cyclone dust remover” which works decently. I haven’t serviced the vacuum since I bought it so a complete tear down, cleaning, and lube job was needed. She is sucking “quietly” now, well as quietly as a shop vac can be.

Hours :534