Saw a guy at the county fair forge using a regular shop hammer on his anvil's horn

He was trying to shape a curve and hitting the thin tip of the horn directly. I've seen this three times this year alone. That horn is hardened steel, not a forming tool, and hitting it with a steel hammer can chip it or even crack the anvil body. I learned this the hard way when I put a small fracture in my old Peter Wright anvil about five years ago. What's the best way you've found to teach new folks about proper anvil use?

A client in Boise told me my post holes looked like a toddler dug them

I was putting up a cedar fence for him last fall, using my old two-man auger with the bent handle. He came out, watched for a minute, and just said 'Those holes are all over the place, depth is a guess. You're making more work for yourself.' He was right. I was fighting to get posts plumb because the holes were so rough. I went and bought a new gas-powered auger with a laser guide the next week. It was about $900, but now my holes are clean and consistent, 36 inches deep every time. Setting posts is twice as fast now. Has anyone else had a piece of gear that seemed fine until a client pointed out a flaw?

That time our local shop's big sale turned into a total mess

Last Saturday, Comic Cave in Springfield had their 40% off back issue sale, but they only had one person working the register. The line went out the door and around the corner, and I heard at least three people give up and leave after waiting over an hour. It just felt like a huge missed chance to bring in new fans or make regulars happy. Has your go-to store ever dropped the ball on a big event like that?

Tried two different wood splits for a pork shoulder last weekend and the results were night and day

I smoked a 9 pound shoulder on my offset, and for the first 5 hours I used kiln-dried oak splits I bought at the hardware store. The fire was easy but the smoke flavor was kind of sharp and one-note. I switched to some well-seasoned hickory splits I got from a local tree guy for the last 7 hours, and the difference was huge. The smoke was way cleaner and sweeter, and the bark had a much richer color. It made me realize how much the wood prep matters, not just the type. Has anyone else had a similar experience switching woods mid-cook?

Question about tile layout. I've been using a 50% offset pattern for years, but a contractor friend in Charlotte just told me that's wrong for large format tiles. He says it causes lippage and you should never go over 33%.

Vent: My blog post about a blocked protest in Minsk got taken down for the third time this month.

I finally got a mirror site up using a simple tool my friend in Warsaw told me about, so the story is back online for now, but how do you guys keep your stuff from getting wiped?