Hello Adam and welcome to the forum.
Engineer - too cool. I have never been gifted or inclined in that direction and admire those who are to include a friend of mine.
I think you are taking the right approach - cautious - after what happened. NTK gave you some good product advice: IH, IFM and Ammo. You may also want to consider Instant Gentleman. Read the threads in my signature block to get a feel for the differences and how to make them work for you.