Handy Hints and Hacks

nivek

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Amplify Music With This Neat Trick

Broken speaker? No problem. Make a stand-in speaker by placing your phone inside a bowl or glass. The sound waves will bounce off the side, making it louder.

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nivek

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Pour Hot Water Over A Propane Tank To See How Full It Is

Not sure how much propane you have left in your tank? There’s a safe and easy way to check before you fire up the grill. Boil a cup of water then pour it over the side of the tank. Then, feel the tank. The point where it goes from hot (empty) to cool (filled with propane) is your propane level.

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nivek

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Give Metal An Antique Look

Since hydrogen peroxide fights bacteria as an oxidizing agent, it makes sense that it could be used to oxidize metal as well. This means you can use hydrogen peroxide on metals like brass and copper to quickly make them look rusted for a unique, antique look. To achieve something like what you see on the copper plate below, you can simply combine hydrogen peroxide, white vinegar and salt in a spray bottle and apply it, according to the blogger Mountain Modern Life, who used this trick to make some new horseshoes look ancient.

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Pour Hot Water Over A Propane Tank To See How Full It Is

Not sure how much propane you have left in your tank? There’s a safe and easy way to check before you fire up the grill. Boil a cup of water then pour it over the side of the tank. Then, feel the tank. The point where it goes from hot (empty) to cool (filled with propane) is your propane level.

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Tank has 'tare weight' stamped on it - how much it weighs empty. The one in the pic is 17lbs empty and holds 20lbs of propane, 37lbs full. I have an old scale in the garage for that.
 

nivek

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nivek

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Tank has 'tare weight' stamped on it - how much it weighs empty. The one in the pic is 17lbs empty and holds 20lbs of propane, 37lbs full. I have an old scale in the garage for that.

If you use the Blue Rhino propane tanks that the empties are traded in for full ones at the local shops they are not filled to 20lbs...Blue Rhino only fills them to 15lbs and calls them full...I have a few of their tanks but I go to a local propane guy who fills them for me cheaper than trading the empties at a Blue Rhino location and he fills them to 20lbs full...

...
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
If you use the Blue Rhino propane tanks that the empties are traded in for full ones at the local shops they are not filled to 20lbs...Blue Rhino only fills them to 15lbs and calls them full...I have a few of their tanks but I go to a local propane guy who fills them for me cheaper than trading the empties at a Blue Rhino location and he fills them to 20lbs full...

...

yeah, I go to a local place and it's 8 bucks to let the lunatic they keep out back fill the tank. plus, I get some tasty local BBQ sauce they occasionally sell off the counter.
 

nivek

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Handy tools and great ideas...

 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Some neat gadgets. But remember kids, at it's most basic profanity is a lubricant when using the wrong tool on something.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Not an earth shattering revelation and I may have posted this before, but ....

My hands are like 40 grit sandpaper and I get those extremely painful fingertip splits all winter. I slobber my hands up with all sorts of goo but they split anyway. Ouch.

I disinfect them, sometimes in a Dixie cup full of hydrogen peroxide or if I'm at work with the ubiquitous 75% alcohol wipes. Either way, when they dry I just put a dap of super glue, crazy glue, whatever you want to call it - directly on the split. Give it a minute for the glue to dry and it takes away the pain and allows the skin to heal. I can go right back to work with no issue at all. The dead stuff and glue just wears off in a day or two. Extremely effective if a bit weird.

Incidentally, I noticed that when I use the peroxide and don't let it dry enough the super glue foams up and looks almost exactly like that Gorilla Glue crap that I never have any luck with.
 

SOUL-DRIFTER

Life Long Researcher
Use Vaseline. That stuff keeps your skin moist and pliable, works on elbows and heels. and great on wounds before you cover them.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I've used petroleum jelly, specialized stinky creams intended for these splits, even used bag balm - which at one time was the universal answer to about everything in our family. Why, I don't know. Apparently milking cows makes a lasting impression. Used to slobber my hands up and even put on cotton gloves at night before bed with all sorts of goo. Plain old aloe and a tube of generic antibiotic seems to work best for me and when they inevitably split the glue works. You go to the ER with certain wounds and they'll glue you right up so I don't think this is too nuts.

Cow salve. Bag balm. Probably works on coronavirus but nobody thought to check :)

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nivek

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nivek

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