Thread: Don't throw it out

The screw top plactic bottles that golburn vallley fruit come in are great for larger bolts & stuff.

Its almost wort having ladies arround just for the surplus that is usefull in the workshop.

There's the best polishing cloth that there is........




well worn cotton underwear from a fat lady:eek:



all types of stocking are good for paint strainers.


The untimate compliment form a workshop type man....... thats a lovely dress dear ..... it will make a great paint strainer when it worn out.

Lipstick no longer a suitable colour.. good for marking lock strikes.

The squeeze bottles that hair dye comes in make great glu bottles.

and so on.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

.....Lipstick no longer a suitable colour.. good for marking lock strikes..........

And here I was thinking all along that there was no room in my toolbox(es) for lipstick Do you know how many times I wondered what I could use to mark matching surfaces like this????

Now, where's that old lipstick, I think I may still have a tube left ......

Cheers
Wendy

Old pneumatic tubes cut into strips make great clamps for irregular shaped objects. Also glue little squares of them onto the faces of other clamps.

Broken long tool handles, such as shovels, picks, mattocks, etc. can be shortened (and returned if you have a lathe) to make new short tool handles: hammers, chisels, turning tools. Esp. when they're old hickory. Perfect!

Have an old dot matrix printer lying around? Strip it down and remove the steel shafts. Handy for use as drifts and modifying into other tools. I've made a few chatter tools and replacable tip turning tools, using these as the shaft bodies.

And those replacable tips are made from damaged jointer/thicknesser blades, while the chatter tool uses old jigsaw blades with the teeth ground off.

If you know anyone in the I.T. field, see if they can get their hands on plastic covers which backup tapes come in (usually DLT covers - they will know what you are talking about). They stack nicely, and are a good size for holding screws/bolts/lots of small bits (110x110x30). They are also usually transparent enough that you can see what is inside them.

As a side use, my partner also uses them to hold rubber stamps she uses for scrapbooking.

Graha.

Wooden chopsticks from the noodle shops are great stirrers as well as serving a multitude of other purposes.
I have an old vertical blind track which I use to hang objects that have been been painted or whatever to dry, make big hooks out of fencing wire and feed through the little loops in the track.
One day it will be fixed to the wall on a hinge so it can be swung out of the way when not in use.

Old non-disposable Nappies make great rags

Old butter knives are great as putty applicators, and if you need a tricky shape to get just the right angle for a corner or curve, they can be ground down to suit. I have heard of spoons being used this way too.

1 litre milk cartons (plastic) are great for nuts, bolts, screws etc when cut to a set length. They also make excellent mixing containers.

Originally Posted by Graha

If you know anyone in the I.T. field, see if they can get their hands on plastic covers which backup tapes come in (usually DLT covers - they will know what you are talking about). They stack nicely, and are a good size for holding screws/bolts/lots of small bits (110x110x30). They are also usually transparent enough that you can see what is inside them.

As a side use, my partner also uses them to hold rubber stamps she uses for scrapbooking.

Graha.

I work in IT and put a mate onto this tip yesterday funnily enough. They are VERY handy!

I'm surprised this one hasn't been posted, but maybe some have not used screw-top jars as under-bench suspension storage.
Screw the top under a bench, fill the jar with whatever, then suspend.

Originally Posted by masoth

I'm surprised this one hasn't been posted, but maybe some have not used screw-top jars as under-bench suspension storage.
Screw the top under a bench, fill the jar with whatever, then suspend.

Trouble is the lids rust and get tight , if you drop one you need a magnet to pick the metal up before the glass, and they can vibrate loose,


Rgds

But......... but........... but, the lids are plastic now. I think.

......... and, I just noticed Ashore is (was) an engineer. Why would you have a vibrator in the shed????