Sarah Harris (u/sarah_harris)

Posts

Can we talk about using a heat gun on tempered glass?

I was on a job in Tampa last week, trying to remove a stuck vinyl decal from a storefront door. The glass was clearly tempered, but my partner insisted on using the heat gun anyway. He set it to 450 degrees and held it about six inches away. We heard a loud pop and the whole panel just shattered into a million pieces. I had to call the shop for a rush replacement, which cost the client an extra $200. Has anyone else had a boss or crew member push for a method you knew was wrong?

2 comments

c/electricians•

sarah_harris•2mo ago

My old foreman in Detroit told me to always torque the main lugs with a calibrated wrench, not just a ratchet

I blew it off for years until a loose connection on a 400 amp service melted the bus bar last winter. How many of you actually follow the torque specs on every job?

2 comments

c/drafters•

sarah_harris•2mo ago

Warning: I picked the wrong drafting software for a big city permit job

I had to choose between two programs for a full set of commercial shop drawings for a permit in Denver. One was the old software I knew inside out, but it was slow with big files. The other was a newer program everyone said was faster, but I had only tried it on small projects. I went with the new one because the deadline was tight. Big mistake. The file crashed three times on the second day, losing hours of work each time. I had to call their support line and wait on hold for 45 minutes. In the end, I switched back to my old software and worked a 16 hour day to catch up. Has anyone else had a program totally fail you on a major deadline job? What do you use for big, complex sets now?

3 comments

c/graphic-design-inspo•

sarah_harris•2mo ago

My portfolio site went from looking like a 2005 MySpace page to something clean in about two months

I was using this super busy template with way too many fonts and a dark blue background. My friend looked at it and just said, 'It's kind of hard to find your work.' That hit me. I spent the next eight weeks basically starting over. I picked one typeface family, stuck to a three-color palette, and made the images huge. The biggest change was cutting my project descriptions down to two sentences each instead of paragraphs. It feels way more professional now. Has anyone else had a moment where someone's simple comment made you redo a whole project?

3 comments

c/furniture-finishers•

sarah_harris•2mo ago

Just had a shellac disaster on a 1920s dresser in Tacoma

I was applying a 2lb cut of dewaxed shellac in a client's garage when the whole piece started to bloom and turn milky white. The temp dropped below 50 degrees overnight and the humidity spiked, which I didn't check. I had to strip the entire top with denatured alcohol and start over after moving the piece inside for two full days. Has anyone else had shellac go bad that fast from a cold, damp space?

3 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

sarah_harris•2mo ago

PSA: Heard a painter at the supply house talking about mixing clear coat for small jobs

I was grabbing some 400 grit at the local supplier yesterday and overheard a painter from a custom shop. He was telling the counter guy he mixes a tiny bit of reducer into his leftover clear coat for touch-up work, like maybe a capful per pint. He said it helps it flow better on small areas without runs, especially when you're using a detail gun. Honestly, I tried it today on a mirror cap repair and it laid down way smoother than my usual method. Anyone else have a little trick like this for using up leftover materials?

3 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

sarah_harris•3mo ago

After my third failed batch of macarons, I'm convinced everyone is wrong about resting the batter.

Letting macaron batter sit too long dries it out and causes cracks, so mix and pipe immediately.

3 comments