Cool surprise Christmas gifts

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pioneer98
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by pioneer98 »

My wife got me this tool set:

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A few months ago I mentioned offhandedly to her that I could use a new set. I had this other one forever, and it was not that great to start with, and I had lost certain pieces over the years. I was very surprised. She picked a good one, too.

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haltz
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by haltz »

Arthur Dent wrote:
haltz wrote:Anyway, I ended up with a planer. My neighbors are going to love me about as much as Dreamer's love him.

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A bench top one like pictured? How effective are those?
I don't have much experience with anything but a hand plane, but my understanding is they're quite effective for hobby use and quite a bit of bang for your buck. They can cause a decent amount of snipe but there are some ways to limit that or eliminate it (bed length, sacrificial boards etc). The lunchbox planers can't hog material or handle size or non-stop use like bigger floor models, but you can pick one up for less than $500 that plugs into a normal outlet in your garage and doesn't take up a ton of space. I'm going to pair it with a small drill press on a flip top stand with wheels. I need to be able to easily park at least one car in our two-car garage.

It looks like a 5 HP, 20 inch, 230/460v Powermatic floor model runs you $4,300 on Amazon.

I also just found a used Jet jointer in good condition about five minutes from me and snagged it for a great price. Looks like this one.
[SHOW]
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I'm old now. I didn't really see it coming but it has happened.
AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:
haltz wrote:I've had delicious sous vide cheesecake as well.
Cooked in a jar?
Yep.

Freed Roger
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by Freed Roger »

haltz wrote: I'm old now. I didn't really see it coming but it has happened.
insert my snl "middle aged man" superhero/Mike Myers gif here.

Diddy
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by Diddy »

haltz wrote:I snagged some of that for my boss last year. This year he had to settle for Rowan's Creek.

Anyway, I ended up with a planer. My neighbors are going to love me about as much as Dreamer's love him.

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I have one like the pictured one. I’m super meh about it. It’s ok but not everything I’d hoped it would be. I’ve soured on Dewalt quite a bit recently.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

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InvincibleCakeEater wrote:Sister got me an immersion circulator (sous vide). Just did some NY strips, and holy [expletive], it's great. Amazingly foolproof.

I'm not sure whether to thank you or curse you.....but I just bought one :D

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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

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Just looked up what these are. Definitely interested. But some of the claims of perfect temperature cooking seem a little bombastic.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by cardinalkarp »

cardinalkarp wrote:
InvincibleCakeEater wrote:Sister got me an immersion circulator (sous vide). Just did some NY strips, and holy [expletive], it's great. Amazingly foolproof.

I'm not sure whether to thank you or curse you.....but I just bought one :D
After reading further reviews I cancelled my order, I just don't see the point in having to cook steaks or roasts for 10x the amount of time of conventional methods

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lukethedrifter
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by lukethedrifter »

cardinalkarp wrote:
cardinalkarp wrote:
InvincibleCakeEater wrote:Sister got me an immersion circulator (sous vide). Just did some NY strips, and holy [expletive], it's great. Amazingly foolproof.

I'm not sure whether to thank you or curse you.....but I just bought one :D
After reading further reviews I cancelled my order, I just don't see the point in having to cook steaks or roasts for 10x the amount of time of conventional methods

My wife’s son- a foodie sort who’s in the legal weed biz- got her a sous vide thingy last year for Christmas. Still hasn’t used it yet.

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Swirls
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by Swirls »

I already had a sous vide cooker (a Codlo), and my FIL got us another one for Xmas, a Joule (both are probably found on Amazon).

I got the Codlo off Kickstarter back in 2013 and love it. My favorite thing to make is actually Eggs Benedict. Easiest poached eggs ever. I also bought the Searzall off Kickstarter back in like 2013 or 2014 whenever it was going.

My surprise gift was a new Stihl chainsaw. I'd been really needing one on the new homestead - my old tiny one just wasn't big enough anymore. It was an 18v Li-Ion Black &Decker chainsaw, which works great for small stuff 2-3" in diameter or smaller since you can use it one-handed. But I've got fully grown trees 2' thick and larger that need to be cut down.

Our culinary highlight this year was an air fryer. Pretty excited to give it a whirl.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Cool surprise Christmas gifts

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

My thoughts and I think thoughts of a lot of people that have them are they are awesome when used but not used frequently. One big drawback is the amount of time it can take. But imo that’s time we’ll spent.

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