Found a weird trick for cleaning up forge scale

Last week I was working on a set of fireplace tools in my shop in Tacoma. I got a lot of thick forge scale on the poker and my wire wheel wasn't cutting it. On a whim, I dipped the hot piece in a bucket of old pickle water I was about to toss out... the scale just flaked right off. It saved me maybe an hour of grinding time. Has anyone else tried something like that with their leftover pickle solution?

Warning: I was at the public library in Tacoma and saw a huge line for the 'Ask Anything' desk that was just for basic internet searches.

I thought I could fix a warped text block in an afternoon. It took three days.

Found a nice 19th century poetry collection with a bad forward lean. Figured I'd just re-back it with some fresh glue and a light press. Wrong. The old animal glue was a nightmare to remove without damaging the signatures, and the warp had set for decades. Spent a full day just softening and cleaning the spine, another day getting it flat under weight, and a third for the actual repair. Has anyone found a good method for dealing with old, stubborn glue on thin paper?

Got told my headband glue was too thick and it's been bugging me for a week

I was showing a book I'd bound at the Portland book arts fair last month, and a more experienced binder told me my headbands looked 'puffy' because I was using too much PVA. She said to thin it with a bit of water and use a tiny brush. I tried it on my next project, a copy of 'The Hobbit', and the difference was huge, way cleaner. Do you guys think a thin glue is always better for headbands, or is there a case for using it thicker?

Just set up a pegboard for all my aviation sockets.

I mean, idk, but seeing them all laid out cuts down on search time. Maybe it's just me, but it's way better than digging through a toolbox.

Getting a jump in custom iron wall art orders... what's driving this trend?

Swore off public polls for big decisions, but a simple forum query saved my vacation.

I skipped advice for personal plans. Put a travel query up and got great replies. Now I'm all in on asking, you too?

A spontaneous detour to a dark sky reserve was totally worth it

I was on a road trip through Arizona and decided to stop at a known dark sky park. With my basic DSLR, I aimed at the constellation Cygnus. After some trial and error, I managed to get a clear shot of the North America Nebula. Isn't it crazy how a simple setup can work under dark skies?