HOT FACE TOWELS
At some Chinese restaurants they give you a hot towel to wipe your face after the meal. This is a nice, refreshing, thing that you can do at home if you have a microwave oven.
Using soft towelling face flannels make them damp with scented water, wringing out the excess. Fold them in quarter, maximum, and put into individual plastic food bags, folding the opening under. Place in one layer in the microwave. “Practice” first by zapping for 15 seconds at a time until not quite too hot to handle. Leave for a minute or so for the heat to even out before using.
THINNING VARNISH ETC.
When using some varnishes on new wood or bitumastic paint on porous surfaces it is usually necessary to thin out the first coat with white spirit. Not always easy and not the sort of job you want to use the kitchen measuring jug for!
If you use a jam jar, which must have parallel sides, for the mixing it’s fairly easy, just put some masking tape up the side and mark inches or centimetres (or whatever). Pour white spirit to the first mark, then varnish/paint to the required amount. Repeat if necessary until the desired amount has been reached.
No jam jar, only a baked bean tin? Use a stick with evenly spaced marks on it as a “ruler” . Pour the thinners in to the first mark then varnish to suit. Then use your ruler as a stirrer!
POSITIONING HOLES IN A HANGING TUB
Need to drill holes around the top of a “tub” of some sort to make, say, a hanging basket? Three points for hanging are normal. To find these points wrap some string around the “tub” at the level you want the holes so that the ends overlap. Use a fine tipped pen to make marks across both strings at the same point, and mark the level on the “tub” (stick masking tape on first if necessary).
Measure the distance between the marks, divide by three, make new marks on the string – wrap the string round again and mark the “tub” in the appropriate places. Don’t be too fussy about what measurements you use, sometimes inches divide easier than centimetres. This idea can, of course, be used to divide a circle by any number of points.
SOFT WOODWORK?
Woodwork round your window getting a bit soft because the paint has flaked and damp has got in? Perhaps you don’t want to fit new windows just yet, just need to stretch the life of the existing wood a couple of years or so. This job does need some warm dry weather, or some means of thoroughly drying the wood out (a space heater on low placed some way from the window for a day may achieve this, but not too close, you may crack the glass, if your hand is comfortable on the glass it should be about right).
Strip the paint back all over the affected area. Thin down varnish half and half with white spirits. Paint this mixture over the wood, if it is dry it should soak in straight away. Repeat this process every ten minutes or so for about ten times (or stop if the wood does not want to absorb any more). Leave it for a couple of days and check the surface of the wood, if it is hard then rub over and paint. If it is still soft use a mixture of four fifths varnish to one fifth white spirit in at least two coats letting the first dry before applying the second, this should seal the wood.
DON’T PAINT THE PLANTS!
Painting your garden fence and bushes or large plants near the fence getting in the
way? Try wrapping them in old sheets or curtains etc. Wrap the sheet round the
bush, roll the two ends together to tighten and secure with clothes pegs, “bulldog”
paper clips or similar. For smaller or more delicate plants use a sheet and canes
to make something like a beach wind-
ROCK SOLID HONEY?
Not a problem in warm weather, but in the winter does your “set” honey do so with a vengeance, making it nearly impossible to spread? Take the metal cap off the jar and zap it for a few seconds in the microwave, that will thin it nicely. Frozen butter, jam for glazing cakes etc. can be treated in the same way, give the zaps in short doses until the required “thinness” has been reached.
SOAKING CLOTHES ETC.
When you are soaking large or thick objects (as I was with a sheepskin rug) in an attempt to get them clean do they often slowly rise up so that part of them is above the water? Place bin liner or other largish plastic bag (watch carriers, they usually have safety holes in them) on top of the object, then partially fill this with water and tie off the top. The weight of this filled bag will hold the object down without trapping air underneath. No suitable bag? Use a large soup bowl/plate, Pyrex dish or a bucket etc. full of water instead.
SEPARATING JAMMED VACUUM HOSE AND TOOLS (AND DRINKING GLASSES, BOTTLE STOPPERS . . .)
Ever had the problem where the tool for your vacuum cleaner has become jammed onto the hose end? If you have a hair drier use this to gently warm up the outer part of the join, usually the tool itself. Wrap a damp cloth around the other part, but just clear of the join. Two people are best, one to pull, with a slight twisting action, the two parts apart, the other to wave the hair drier back and forth over and all round the tool part. Cloths soaked in hand hot water can be used to wrap around the tool if a hair dryer is not available. Once apart clean any dust or grit off the inner and outer joining surfaces, “burnish” scratches out by rubbing hard with the handle of a stainless steel table knife or similar.
Even had one drinking glass jam inside another? Cool the inner glass by almost filling it with cold water, even with some ice cubes in it, and warm the outer glass by standing it in a bowl of warm water that is just below the top of the glass. After a short time the cold water causes the inner glass to contract and the warm water expands the outer – just check by holding the outer and pulling the inner.
Glass stoppers jammed in scent bottles or decanters can be separated with care. Cool the stopper in iced water for several minutes by holding the bottle/decanter upside down with just the “ball” of the stopper immersed, but be aware that this alone may cause separation. Then, with the container upright warm its neck by wrapping cloth soaked in warm water around it. If one keeps a gentle “wiggling” pull on the stopper it should come out eventually.
OLIVE OIL AND GARLIC -
Do you love olive oil and garlic, but find the shop bought flavoured oils a bit
insipid? Three-
You can use this “garlicked” oil in dressings and sauces or for general cooking, adding in the last few couple of minutes of cooking to preserve the maximum garlic flavour, or as a dressing on its own.
As the mixture “matures”, adding more oil and garlic to the pot and re-
MAKING A SQUARE SQUARE, OR A RECTANGULAR RECTANGLE.
Building a gate or door frame, or something else that needs to be an exact square or rectangle? How do you check to see if all the corners are right angles? Easy, measure the diagonals, if they are equal all the angles will be ninety degrees.
LAMINATING TIPS.
1. If you need to laminate a poster for pinning up outside the “seal” is broken
when you push the pins through the plastic-
If you leave enough space in the corners to of the paper then cut them off, about 2cm, 3/4inch, along each side BEFORE laminating there is a clear “fixing” area in the corners that will not allow water to get to the paper.
2. Laminating something smaller than the pouch and need neat, even borders? The smallest safe border is about 3mm or 1/8inch. If you have a transparent plastic ruler you may find that the lines marking the mms or inch fractions are about that long. If you place the ruler on the lamination so that the inside ends of the lines are on the edge of the PAPER the edge of the rule is now about the right distance away. Use a craft knife to cut, or a sharp pointed tool to score a line and then cut with scissors. If you have a proper trimmer draw a line 3mm, or 1/8inch, in from the cutting edge and align the PAPER edge to that.
A GRIPPING TIP
You have probably spotted the proliferation of plastic clips and clamps of various sizes and types in discount shops, market stalls, DIY shops etc., often only a pound for four of the smaller ones. Great for holding those two bits of wood together when gluing them and other DIY tasks.
But they seem to be one of those items that once acquired one never knew how one got on without them.
The middling size spring loaded ones make super high strength “clothes pegs” for
holding wet mats and other heavy items on the drying line. They will hold an “anti-
Use them to secure a dustsheet wrapped round bushes etc. when painting the garden fence. How about clipping the blankets etc. to the furniture with them when making an indoor “den” for the kids to play in?
Keeping a selection of different sized ones in that “useful things” draw in the kitchen may offer solutions to all kinds of problems.
REMOVING TILES IN ONE PIECE (MOSTLY)
Most DIY books suggest that you use a bolster type cold chisel for removing tiles, or just smashing them with the hammer This is OK if the tiles are to be scrapped, but if you want to preserve as many as possible, or, more especially, remove recently put up tiles that’s not a lot of good!
Try using a small, say 4”, pointing trowel (an old one or a cheap one will do). Place the point of the trowel at the joint between wall and tile and hit the “heel” of the trowel. I found that a “soft” hammer, hide faced or wood, was best. Repeatedly placing and driving in the trowel behind the tile will (hopefully) break the adhesion without breaking the tile. Do not be tempted to use the trowel as a lever until it is obvious there is a gap appearing. Oh, the adhesive often breaks suddenly, keep a thumb on the tile to stop it slipping down and breaking that way.
Sometimes the adhesive can be removed from the tiles, or at least softened, by boiling in water.
PRESERVING SAUCES AND JAMS USING THE MICROWAVE
Want to makes some sort of preserve and vacuum seal it in a jar? If it is a jam or a sauce with a reasonable water content pour it into the glass or ceramic (not metal) container whilst still hot (warm glass jars with water first). Bring it back to the boil in the microwave and, using an oven glove or dry tea towel to grip, very quickly put the lid back on. As the liquid cools it will cause a partial vacuum in the container and this will help preserve the contents. Make sure you sterilise the container and lid first.
You can, of course, cook the sauce etc. in the microwave, in the storage jar
itself, then use what you want and preserve the rest -
ELECTRIC KITCHEN “BLOW LAMP”
Do you use a gas blow lamp for peeling tomatoes, red peppers etc. and caramelising the surface of dishes? I use an electric paint stripper gun. It’s a one hand thing, pick it up and press the trigger and the heat is there almost instantly. It’s a lot safer than a gas job as well, drop it and it stops!
SOLDERING PIPES. ETC. WITH A PAINT STRIPPING GUN
Try the electric paint stripper gun for this job as well, it gets plenty hot enough. It can be used for lots of soldering jobs, if only as a secondary source of heat for large objects.
Because there is no flame there is less oxidising and flux burning to get in the way of good, clean soldering jobs.
PROTECTING THE SURFACES WHEN SOLDERING PLUMBING.
If there is a danger of burning the surface behind the job get hold of a largish can, or a couple of smaller ones. Cut the ends off and, (careful here, wear working gloves) use a pair of metal working shears or heavy scissors to cut along the length. Open the can up until the gap is wide enough to give access for the source of heat (gas or electric) and place this between the pipe and the surface. The can will deflect the heat a little. WARNING, the heat may come back at you if you get the angle wrong. Any other suitable piece of metal can be used.
EASY SPICE GRINDING..
Using a mortar and pestle can be hard work if you have a lots of spices to grind. I use a hand powered coffee bean mill you can get “grades” from “cracked” pepper corns to quite fine powders. If you want a very fine powder then finish off in the mortar.
GETTING A NUT ON THE SCREW IN AN AWKWARD PLACE.
You can get your finger in and you try to balance the nut on the end of your finger and get it on the end of the screw. After it has fallen off for the tenth time you are ready to dump the whatever it is you are trying to fix.
Use a small square of double sided sticky tape, some “tacky” type of adhesive etc. to stick the nut to the end of your finger .It works, even when you have to “point” the finger away from the horizontal.
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