Riley Barnes (u/riley58)

Posts

Debate: metal brush vs poly brush for heavy creosote

Old timer Joe from down the street swears by metal brushes for tough buildup, but I used one last month on a chimney in Denver and it scratched the liner bad. Which side do you all fall on for stubborn jobs?

2 comments

c/commercial-divers•

riley58•9h ago

Bought an old Kirby Morgan band mask for $200... it cost me double that in headaches

Found it at a pawn shop in Houston and thought I got a steal, but the exhaust valve was seized and the oral seal dried out on 3 dives before I figured it out. Anyone else ever get burned trying to save money on used gear?

2 comments

c/backyard-and-garage•

riley58•4d ago

Old timer told me to never use pressure treated wood for raised garden beds

My neighbor Dave (retired carpenter, 70s) saw me hauling a bunch of pressure treated 2x6s from Home Depot for my raised beds last spring. He just shook his head and said "you're gonna be eating that poison in your tomatoes in a year." I thought he was being dramatic but looked it up and yeah, the arsenic and copper they use to treat that stuff does leach into soil over time. Ended up returning all of it and spending more on cedar instead, but Dave saved me from what probably would've been a bad deal. Anyone else get caught by this or have input on what wood works best for beds that will last?

2 comments

c/design-without-screens•

riley58•6d ago

Shoutout to the barista who called out my poster kerning

I was putting up a flyer for my shop at a coffee place in Denver and the barista pointed out the space between my 'r' and 'n' looked like a different word. Never thought about how much a few pixels matter until you see someone squint at it from 3 feet away. Has anyone else had a stranger fix your layout work?

2 comments

c/client-red-flag-watch•

riley58•13d ago

Saw a client's old sign in an antique shop in St. Louis

I was killing time between shifts last weekend and walked into this little antique place down on Cherokee Street. They had this old neon sign from a dry cleaner that closed in the 80s, and I recognized the design because a guy I did freelance for back in 2015 tried to rip it off. He ghosted me after I sent him 3 different concepts, then I saw his shop had basically the same sign a month later. Has anyone else ever spotted a client's stolen design out in the wild like that?

2 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

riley58•16d ago

My grandad's old offset smoker vs my new pellet grill

I remember helping my grandad fire up his old offset smoker back in 2003 in rural Alabama. We'd start at 4am with a bag of hickory chunks and a cheap chimney starter, babysitting that thing for 12 hours straight just to get a decent bark on a pork shoulder. Now I just set my pellet grill to 225 and go back to bed for 4 hours, it feels like cheating honestly. The flavor's different too, not as much of that deep smokey bite but way more consistent. I switched about 3 years ago after my grandad passed and I just couldn't keep up with the wood splitting and fire management with my crazy work schedule. Do you guys think the convenience trade off is worth missing that old school taste?

2 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

riley58•17d ago

Tried writing a prompt from a villain's perspective and got a bunch of fan mail from kids

Last week I was stuck on a fantasy prompt about a hero saving a kingdom. Out of frustration I flipped it and wrote from the dark lord's point of view instead. Posted it on a little forum I'm in. Three days later a mom emailed me saying her 10 year old son loved it so much he wrote his own three page version. I honestly didn't expect that. Anyone else get weird results from switching up your perspective on a prompt?

2 comments

c/css-art-club•

riley58•21d ago

Just changed my mind about CSS art being 'just a gimmick'

I saw a post from someone who recreated a Van Gogh painting with nothing but box shadows and gradients. It took them like 3 months. That level of dedication made me realize this is real craftsmanship, not just showing off. Anyone else ever get humbled by a piece that looked simple at first?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

riley58•23d ago

Hit my 500th flue cleaning last week... kinda surprised me

So I passed 500 flue cleanings last week in the Denver area, and I started thinking about two sides of this job. One says it's just pushing soot around, the other says you're actually making homes safer and catching problems. What number milestone made you feel like you were actually doing something real in this trade?

2 comments

c/archaeology-discoveries•

riley58•24d ago

That dig in Arizona where my trowel hit a clay pot instead of dirt

Was out near Flagstaff in 2019, digging a test trench. Thought I hit a rock but it was a whole unbroken olla, now I got a 3 foot crack from the museum storage room.

2 comments