The site is live. If you’re reading this, it means the domain connected, the pages loaded, and I finally quit messing with it long enough to put it out in the world.
It’s also not finished. Not even close. Click around and you’ll find dead ends, tool pages that aren’t built yet, and more than a few “Coming Soon” signs. I went back and forth on whether to wait until it looked more complete, but I know how that usually goes. You keep waiting, keep tweaking, and next thing you know the thing still isn’t live.
I’ve been in sheet metal long enough to know nothing starts out perfect. You build it, you put it in front of people, and then you find out what still needs work. Waiting until it’s finished is usually just another way of not doing it.
So here it is.
What This Is
Knocking Tin is a site built around HVAC fabrication, especially the kind of stuff that gets learned in real shops and almost never makes it onto the internet in a useful way. There’s no shortage of HVAC content online, but a lot of it comes from people selling to the trade, not working in it.
I run a sheet metal shop. We build custom ductwork, transitions, fittings, offsets, and all the oddball stuff field guys run into when the job site doesn’t match the drawing. I’ve done it long enough that a lot of what I know isn’t something I sat down and studied. It’s the kind of thing you pick up by doing it over and over until it lives in your hands.
That’s really what this site is about. Taking that kind of shop knowledge and putting it into words that are actually useful. Useful to techs trying to order the right fitting. Useful to contractors trying to understand what they’re asking for. Useful to newer fabricators still learning how this work comes together.
What’s Been Built So Far
More than you’d think if you only looked at the homepage.
The site runs on Jekyll through GitHub Pages and it’s tied to its own domain. That’s a pretty good setup for what I want. No hosting bill, no bloated system to fight with, no messing around in a clunky CMS. I write a post, push the file, and the site updates.
There are already a couple real articles up. One is about Pittsburgh seams and when they actually make sense. The other is about how field techs can order transitions without wasting a fabricator’s time. Not filler. Not fluff. Just things I know people in this trade actually need.
There’s also a tools section in the works. Some of the tools already exist over at K & E Sheet Metal, which is the shop behind this site. Things like a slip and drive calculator, a duct sizing tool, and a transition request form with drawings that update as you fill it out. Getting those tied in here is part of the next round.
The email list still needs to be set up right. That’s coming.
Why Build This at All
The plain answer is I’ve been sitting on these domains for too long. Knockingtin.com. Customductwork.com. A few others. I bought them because I had plans for them, then work and life did what work and life do, and they just sat there.
At some point you either build the thing or you admit you’re just collecting names. I’d rather put it out there and see what happens than keep wondering if I should have done something with it.
There’s a business reason too, and I’m not pretending otherwise. K & E Sheet Metal does good work. The problem isn’t whether we can do the work. The problem is that the people who need custom fabricated ductwork don’t always know where to find us. This site gives me a way to put useful information in front of the right people. If somebody finds an article here, gets something out of it, and later needs a fitting made, now they know who to call.
Where It’s Going
The short list looks like this:
- Get the tool pages linked up and working
- Finish the email signup
- Build out the other domains that go alongside this one
- Keep writing
The bigger picture is simple. This site does the teaching. The other sites help people find us. The shop does the work. Somebody looks up a problem, lands here, finds something useful, decides we know what we’re talking about, and calls K & E when they need something made.
Nothing fancy. Just useful information tied to real work.
On Building in Public
I thought about holding this post until the site looked more finished. There’s always a reason to wait. Clean up a few pages. Add a few more posts. Get the tools working first. Make it look more complete.
I don’t think that helps much.
Putting something live while it’s still rough has its own value. It makes the project real. It gives you something to build on instead of something to think about. It also leaves a record of where you started, which matters more than people think. Once you’re buried in the middle of it, it’s easy to forget what got you moving in the first place.
And honestly, having something live and a little rough around the edges is better motivation than having something “almost ready” sitting in a folder.
The site is live. There’s still a lot to do. Time to get to work.
K & E Sheet Metal is the fabrication shop behind Knocking Tin. If you need custom ductwork, transitions, or fittings, that’s the place.