All,
I don’t believe that this deserves much discourse, but my wife and I spent lunch today with my 91 year old father, and we got on the topic of DIY and home repair. Some years ago I wrote a DIY advice column for our local newspaper, and my dad now claims that everything I wrote came from my experiences with him, when, in fact, his Air Force duties kept him away from me until I left the house by age. I learned home and car repair on my own. Anyway, he claims to have cured (probably temporarily) many problems over the years with toothpicks. A toaster that wouldn’t drop properly when bread was put in (probably the old Sunbeam I remember) was cured with a toothpick stuck into its mechanism to tighten it up. Toothpicks…well son of a gun.
Barmil
Replies
back before duct tape....
I confess I have tightened more than one stripped screw hole with toothpicks and glue.
In one of my fastener cases there are flat toothpicks, round toothpicks, the big flat party toothpicks, and for the really big problems - bamboo skewers.
They are in the same compartment as the "Ruby Red" lipstick - tells all when it comes to doors that will not latch and deadbolts which will not lock.
Jim
Don't fergit yer coffee stirrers, tongue depressors, and popsicle sticks!AitchKay
and popsicle sticks
Didja know a piece of popsicle stick is exactly the right thickness can be used to convert an SKS to full auto if stuck in just the right spot?
Information you really need to know??
"Didja know a piece of popsicle stick is exactly the right thickness can be used to convert an SKS to full auto if stuck in just the right spot?"Thanks, but I think I'll pass.AitchKay
Wood matches too.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
Got any of these?View Image
we have the same kit...
and the lipstick also doubles as neversieze ...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
>>..the lipstick also doubles as neversieze ...<<
Never knew that. But it does sort of fit the same profile.....
when I worked in the charter boat business our saying was, "if you have a fingerfull of NeverSieze - you can paint a whole boat!"
"Ruby Red" does a great job marking.
But it will permanently stain latex paint in a heartbeat.
I always have the lipstick with me, never seem have any tissues to wipe it off before it spreads. This has resulted in some very humorous situations.
Go to new customer's house to fix a lock problem - I whip out my lipstick and ask for powder room location (to snitch some TP) --- has raised some eyebrows.....ya' know yer in trouble if they smile.
JimNever underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
another to keep handy is the cardboard from the back of a writting tablet..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
That's good stuff!
DW's shoe box cardboard also.
Did you know that "White-Out" is available in a Rapidograph-type pen package? Excellent camo for cardboard edge - matches 90% of the jambs I work on!
I recommend two coats - 1st seals, 2nd builds color.
Staples or Office Depot.
Jim
How come yer not woikin'? You still recuperating? My excuse is, I am waiting for the frost to melt off of my roof - need to remove and replace my chimney mortar cap - discovered the problem Sunday while cleaning the leaves out of the gutters - rained all day yesterday.Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
use a varity of paint pens for that...
most any color to be had and the brass/gold colored ones can really save the day....
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http://www.kellysearch.com/us-company-350154997.html
now I know you didn't touch yur DW's shoe boxes... yur still here to talk about it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Thanks for the links.
>>now I know you didn't touch yur DW's shoe boxes... yur still here to talk about it...<<
...... her shoe boxes - frequently she takes them out, puts shoes on racks in MB walk-in closet and tosses the box in the recycle. I intercept at the recycle bin. Kind of like sitting in a blind waiting for the ducks to move.
If a box is still in the closet, or God forbid, still in a bag - I stay away (box "refuges" - no hunting permitted).
Jim
Sunlight coming in the window, radio says 45* - chimney cap calls. Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
no problem...
okay ... yur clear on the box issue... understand it to be that way just about every where...
minus 6 and clouds building...
be lazy today calls...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
for the stain on latex paint it with wod glue...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Does the glue lift the stain or just cover it up?
TiteBond Trim and Moulding? Elmer's White Carpenter's?
JimNever underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
I remember seeing a model battleship about 8 feet long with a lot of detail made of toothpicks in an English museum.
Edited 12/1/2009 3:59 am ET by fingersandtoes
Hey, I cured an ingrown toenail by prying it up, inserting about 1/4" of toothpick parallel with the edge, and fixing it in place with Super Glue.
An extra drop or so every few days, and it was all better in about a month.
AitchKay
That had to hurt! My dad and mom "fixed" my ingrown infected toenail almost the same way.
My dad was a vetenarian and mom was his assistant.
She sat on me while he did the deed.
We never went to the doctor.
"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
grab it with tweezers and turn it out...
clip the offending segment off...
now it will be at least a week before my foot quits aching..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
The toe nail tooth pick - this is one I have to remember, as I'm very lax in trimming my toe nails, and an ingrown is a high probability for me. I usually only trim them when my toes are compressed against the front of the shoe and start hurting. Sorry, but I don't think I'm in a minority in this regard.
Not at all. Our sheets always wear out on my side of the bed at foot level.
Box of toothpicks is required stock in my door-hangers box. Try moving a strike plate a quarter inch without toothpicks to plug the old screw holes.
BTW I had one of those damned Sunbeam 'automatic' toasters. Flippin' thing never worked right from the day I bought it--the most expensive one in the store, too. I finally bought a real toaster (commercial Toastmaster) and gave that bloody Sunbeam away with a warning that it had never worked right and would probably never work right. Bud who took it swore he knew a handyman who could fix anything. Bet him a beer he couldn't fix that toaster.
Two months later, he calls me and says, you win: The guy spent three days tearing it apart down to the last washer and putting it all back together again, babbling all the time about how great it was gonna work when he got done.
Nope....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
three days of some guys life toasted. guees it finally worked?
three days of some guys life toasted. guees it finally worked?
Never. Still either burned it or didn't toast it enuff.
I like to think he sold it to some Hollywood studio for the special effects department on the movie 'Toaster Wars'. Ka-BOOM!
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Sunbeam 'automatic' toasters
We got one of those for a wedding present in 1965. Lasted until last year - still worked, but NiCr was getting slightly oxidized thus V^2/R was dropping and took too long to toast.
We got one of those for a wedding present in 1965. Lasted until last year - still worked
You must be the only couple in the world whose marriage wasn't destroyed by that toaster. My 2nd ex-DW used to cuss that thing regular and of course it was my fault.
Third wife got pissed off when I finally ran outta patience with it spent $125 on a used Toastmaster from a restaurant equipment store. She never did buy the explanation that it was a commercial toaster, the last one we'd ever need to buy in our lives, and that new they cost $750 so it was a bargain.
Still have the Toastmaster; ex wife is long gone. All things considered the toaster was by far the better bargain....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Toothpicks will never replace baling wire.
(-:
Baling wire disappeared around here several years ago. Now, hay comes with polypropylene "string" - in various colors. - lol
Keep this between me and you, BARMIL, but I can get toothpicks for FREE at the checkout counter of Cracker Barrel.
Toothpicks work well for filling wood screw holes that are stripped out.
If you put some wood glue on them before you put them in they will stay better.
You can gang them up for larger holes.
Will Rogers