ShopNGarage

I purchased a roll of Scotch brand packaging tape to ship some packages during the Christmas holidays. It is two months later and the roll of tape has completely lost its stickiness. The tape was stored indoors, did not get wet, and was not subject to any temperature or humidity extremes. The Scotch brand was fairly expensive and I’m not too happy about it. From reviews on amazon.com, it looks like a lot of people are having problems with this tape. I switched to Duck brand.

In the movies, people hide behind vehicles during shootouts. I’ve always wondered if they provided much protection. I took a picture of this pickup at the wreck yard. The passenger side was riddled with bullet holes.

I only saw one exit hole on the driver’s side.

I love gingerbread.

The first step involved metal fabrication. I sacrificed a useless valentine heart shaped cookie cutter. I re-formed the heart into a combination wrench shape.

In a sauce pan, bring 1 cup shortening and 1 cup molasses to a boil.

In a mixer bowl , dissolve 2 teaspoons of baking soda in 1/2 cup hot water. I used my wife’s KitchenAid mixer with a paddle attachment (made in the USA). Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 egg and add it to the soda and water mixture.

Add 3 cups flour to the mixer. Next add 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon salt.

Remove the boiling mixture of shortening and molasses from the stove top and pour it into the mixer. Finally, add 3 more cups of flour. Set the dough aside and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out 1/4″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the cookies and place them on a greased cookie sheet. A spatula can help to move the cookies without breaking them. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. After removing from the oven, place the cookies on a cooling rack.

A government dozen delicious gingerbread cookies, ready to eat with a hot chocolate or a glass of cold milk.

I’ve purchased an item or two from Grizzly Industrial in the past, but never took a close look at everything they had to offer. A few weeks ago, I received their thick 2012 catalog in the mail. I looked through the catalog and found they have a huge selection of tools for both wood and metal working. I also discovered that replacement parts are easily researched and ordered from their website. Grizzly parts, in many cases, are interchangeable with other brands of machines manufactured in Asia.

In a previous article, I wrote about replacing the switch on my Harbor Freight drill press…

I found a reasonably priced safety paddle switch available from Grizzly…

Grizzly Safety Paddle Switch

This switch fits the original Harbor Freight faceplate. It is also much easier to hit and quickly shut off the drill press if something goes wrong.

Happy Holidays from ShopNGarage.