quick tricks for dumb problems...

[studlyrs]

Hmmm....why so much blood?

Got a bunch of blood on your light colored clothes?

Throw them in the washer on cold with a whole bunch of ice cubes.

 

[airbuff101]

I found myself under the car on the roadside this summer to wire up the exhaust. Hands were black with grease/grime and I had to hit the highway with no time to stop anywhere.
Found some hand cream in the glovebox and slathered it on. Broke down the grease real well. Couple applications and wiped off w/ Mickey D's napkins that were in there too
Hands came out real clean.
Rob

 

[Printer Mike]

When working in an area you want to keep clean, a cardboard box makes a good debris catcher when drilling, sawing, etc. Sometimes masking tape helps hold the box in position and fills a gap.

 

[Racecarl]

I put some baby oil on my hands before starting a particularly grubby, greasy project. I sure made it easier to clean up afterward.

 

[Walterchang]

Hot glue your Christmas lights to under sides of rock vener, works for me.
I wanted to hang some webbing from my stucco ceiling I didn't want to drive into so I cut sections of glue stick and screw in the hook glue the back side to the wall.

To clean your hands when you have no available water use ice from a drink. It's not prefect but it will get the nasty off.

A slotted screw driver can be used sometimes to undo socket head bolts.

Rubbing alcohol or acetone works well to clean off the white rubber on sneakers use with scotch bright pad for better results.

A lighter also works as a bottle opener.

 

[mcdtommy23]

Hair spray to remove ink. Beats the hell out of Goo-Gone and all that other ****. It even works better than gas.

 

[fringeofinsanity]

Mix sugar with tub butter to make a hand cleaner for after painting, grouting, caulking, Gets your hands clean and doesn't dry out your skin like alot of hand cleaners do. Using this before doing a greasy job helps keep the oil and grease out and easy to clean up after,

 

[Red Green]

A lighter also works as a bottle opener

For all you guys wondering that would be a BIC style lighter not a Zippo

 

[KrisKustomPaint]

I've got a few shop tips mostly old farmer tricks:

Sheet metal screws, hole striped out? Don't want to or can't use a bigger screw? Here is what you do, take a cotter pin spread the legs out a bit shove one end through the hole so there is a leg on both sides of the sheet metal and reinstall the screw. If it is too lose still, use a bigger cotter pin or use two.

Best damn way to strip electrical wire: Use a lighter, yup a lighter. Just heat up the end of the insulator for a second or two, then grab the end and pull.

Make your lawn mower belts last longer: Slather the **** out of them with dish soap. No idea why it works but it does. Farmers have to deal with equipment that has 3-6 v-belts and its a real pain to take it all apart to replace one belt. It does seem to make the belts last considerably longer.

 

[glockman]

One more I forgot. Use J&J baby shampoo diluted 1 oz to 1 gallon of water. Spray on before applying stickers or window tint. Keeps the sticker movable for a bit.

 

[pgreen]

Sort of related tip I change oil filters on in board boat motors mostly Mercs and Volvos and they are upside down a super PIA deal. An old waterman showed me a great tip: wrap a gallon sized zip lock over the top and around the whole assembly after you have loosened it about 1/8 of a turn or less close the opening best you can spin it off and flip it in the bag almost no oil goes into the bilge and nothing on my hands to mess up the seats and carpets

I used to race a Mazda RX7. Same upside down filter. Even simpler way to do this, with less mess. Punch a hole in the filter while you are draining the oil. This lets all the oil in the filter drain out through the engine. It will only have a few dribbles left in the filter when you finally spin it off.

 

[97Tahoe]

+2 on the go jo powergold I never had regular go jo work nearly as good as powergold, Get a good hand brush like this..

and they clean up good as new.

 

[Dangerman77]

One of the most used liquids in my shop is Simple Green at about 50 50 with water. Use it clean almost everything, but especially for washing my hands. Simply spray on your hads rub together and dry. Get's almost all the grease and smells off your hands and most of the odors, including gas. Give it a try.

Oh man, if I had a nickle for everytime I've used that stuff to clean up, I'd be rich! That stuff's amazing

 

[s.a.steel]

Mayonnaise makes a great hand cleaner in a pinch. It'll take darn near anything off! Not sure about other condiments.

 

[kywildcat]

Mayonnaise makes a great hand cleaner in a pinch. It'll take darn near anything off! Not sure about other condiments.

Now I know why I like Salad dressing on my sandwich instead of Mayonnaise!!!

 

[WVBrady]

This has a little to about cleaning things up, and I guess news papper would work also, but I like the phone book idea better, it sure saves on papper towels,

Why do you have motor oil in the outhouse?

 

[turrican]

Why do you have motor oil in the outhouse?

Lightly coat the toilet seat with it and find out!

 

[LithuanianMan]

Here's a quick little tip to clean with used motor oil. It works great as a rust remover. Just take some on your finger and rub it on the rusted area you want to clean so it is shiny with oil but not dripping. Then take one of those wire brushes you put in your drill and brush away. Wipe off the oil with a rag and repeat a couple times until rust is removed. Great way to use some old motor oil and clean rust off things.

Don't know if it's the fact that the oil lubricates the brush or there is a rust-removing additive in the oil, but it works 20x better than just a wire brush alone.

 

[ambenz]

Using newspaper and glass cleaner is a good way to keep your windows streak free and lint free.

Paint your wheel wells on your car with truck bed liner to prevent rust and crossion.

Sawdust is the poor mans oil dry.

When planning your garage, add a few 1/2 pvc pipes underground from the house to the garage...telephone, TV cable, security system, and future wires, can be routed in them in the future...sure wish I did this!!

If a light bulb is broken in the socket, turn off the switch and use a potatoe to jam in the socket and unscrew.

 

[Lippyp]

Want to drill an odd hole in a wall and not get dust everywhere? Take one envelope and some masking tape, tape the flap of the envelope to the wall under the spot for the hole after creasing it vertically to open the envelope up a touch. Drill hole, dust falls into envelope, if the masking tpe is too sticky then stick it on your clothes first to remove some of the tackiness. If you want to do the same on a ceiling then push the drill up through the bottom of a small plastic pot like a yoghurt pot and drill away, all the crud falls into the pot and not into your eyes and hair.

 

[NJHandyGuy]

spray vinegar onto a peice of sponge and put it in gymbags tool boxes anywhere you get a musty smell the next morning it won't be there

also works really well if your feet stink and you wear work boot often