by Evan Dozier

2-6-2021 – Smoked Brisket

General Notes:

15lb Prime Brisket

What I did this time:

  1. Used only post oak as fuel
  2. Smoked @ 250F for ~ 12 hours until internal temp was 165F, finished in oven after wrapping
  3. Spritzed brisket throughout while on the smoker with half water half apple cider vinegar to slow the edges and flat down to prevent burning
  4. Wrapped at 165, cooked till 195, rested till 180

Notes:
– This was the best bark I’ve gotten to date

-Flat was not dry or burnt this time due to spritzing

What I’d do differently:

  • Use just salt and pepper. The chupacabra rub I used gave it too much of a twang after-taste
by Evan Dozier

Chrysler Aspen – Oil Change – 11/16/2019

Mileage: 124,903

Miles Since Last Oil Change: 5,060

Oil Used: Mobil 1 Full Synthetic High Mileage

Filter Used: Fram S2XL “Heavy Duty”

Installed Fumoto Valve, so no tools needed anymore

Time Spent: 45 minutes

Notes:

  • Had to use the ramps to slide under the air dam on the front bumper
  • To reset oil change reminder, turn key on (but don’t start) and press gas pedal 3 times quickly and then start car.
by Evan Dozier

Cast Iron Skillet Brown Sugar Pork Chops

Followed this recipe for the inspiration https://dinnerthendessert.com/oven-baked-pork-chops/

Cooked them in a cast iron skillet and modified the recipe slightly

Temp: 375 degrees

Time: ~1 hour (use remote thermometer, cook to 145)

I ended up using montreal steak seasoning, brown sugar and crushed pecans

What I would change next time:

-Pecans were pretty burnt almost to a peanut butter brittle. I’d either add them later on or just omit them entirely

by Evan Dozier

Painting Nursery Furniture

Started with an old broyhill dresser and nightstand we bought from a friend. it was painted off-white. We wanted to make it match our nursery theme, so we had the idea of painting it Navy, specifically Sherwin Williams Naval.
This is how it started out:

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I started by sanding it down smooth to remove brush strokes. I did this with 100-grit sand paper and moved quickly to 250 grit. I mostly used a palm orbital sander. I had a belt sander but it was way too agressive for this case:

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I tried a bonding primer on the nightstand, but it was super thick and ended up leaving a spackled finish that didn’t sand out. I decided to forgo the primer on the dresser.

I used Valspar Furniture Paint at the suggestion of the Lowes worker. It’s a latex based paint but “has oil-based properties”. it was pitched to me that it would be more durable than regular latex paint, it certainly was more expensive.

I always planned on spraying this with my HVLP spray gun from HF, and was a little perturbed to read that the furniture pain wasn’t “thinnable”. I thinned it anyways with water. Just about a 10% adder to make it thin enough to spray.  Adding the water drastically screwed up the drying properties of the paint. It was still very soft and scratchable 3 weeks after painting the final coat. I did 3 coats on the top and 1 coat on the sides and drawers. I sanded very lightly with 500-grit sand paper in between coats.

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Since it wasn’t hardening like I wanted, I decided to clear coat it. I went with a polycryllic0224191602a coating from minwax. In spite of recommendations not to spray it, I still sprayed it with that same HVLP gun. No thinning was required to get a good coat. NOTE! I had to wait until the temperature was above 70 degrees since every test piece I painted below that temperature cracked the clearcoat shortly after drying.

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The clearcoat was tricky. When they say don’t touch up, they really mean it. If I went back and sprayed over something wet, I ended up with a weird texture that looked terrible. I would sand with 250-grit and start over. I ended up with about 2 coats of poly on the sides and drawers and 4 coats on the tops.  Once I learned that you couldn’t go back and retouch spots while wet or even tacky, The final coat turned out great.  The poly finish hardened over about 2 days and so far has held up nicely, although the baby isn’t hear yet :).

Finished Product:

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