Man I feel your pain on this one. Fighting tearout for 3 years with a block plane sounds about right, those things love to chew up end grain no matter how sharp you keep them. And of course nobody tells you about the cheap fix until you watch someone else do it right in front of you. That stings a little, not gonna lie. At least now you know and that rasp is gonna save you hours on trim days going forward.

We've been with Monitor Pest Control for about a year now. They're local and family-owned, so no corporate upsell. They come out quarterly, spray inside and out, and if I see ants in between they come back for free. Highly recommend them over the big chains.

Those cables are scary to work on. Had a similar scare last year. Your method with the magnifier sounds smart.