Using items for other than its intended purpose.

[Packard]

I was watching a home restoration show on TV and it showed this hanging ring being used for hanging scarves in a peg hook.

It worked fine.  I do wonder if they knew the original purpose for this ring.

The company I used to work for manufactured those rings.  I kept a factory-fresh one in my closet to hang belts.  The ring itself is about 8” in diameter and was made from 0.148” diameter galvanized wire.

It is not easy to see in this photo, but there is a small formed hook at one end that allowed the ring to clasp shut.  The other end featured a hook similar to a garment hanger hook.

These were used by fur trappers to hang the gutted pelts of small trapped animals (think mink-sizes to fox-sized).

The one I used in my closet never saw any animal flesh.  The one used for scarves almost certainly had.

I wonder if they would still use it for scarves if they knew.

 

[Packard]

It turns out that my furriers’ ring was still in my closet.  The ring diamter is 6” and the wire is 0.148”.  The latching mechanism is easier to see here.  The animal pelts would have been eviscerated and the wire would have been fed through the slit that ran from the chin to the tail and out through the jaws. 

I was told that the standard was for 10 pelts per ring.  We sold the rings for $0.35 each in 1980s.  The ad that I plucked the image from shows them at $16.00 each.  Maybe I should EBay my ring. [big grin]
A perfect place for a scarf. [eek]

That is what 45 year old galvanized wire looks like (zinc oxide corrosion).

 

[woodbutcherbower]

I once caught my girlfriend scraping paint using one of my Kirschen chisels. The same day, I also caught her knocking a nail unto a wall using my rubber flooring mallet.

 

[Packard]

In the 1970s I was an independent sales representative for mechanical components.  One of the companies I represented made aircraft grade plastic fabrications. 

Their workmanship was so fine that the fused joints had no apparent seam.  The fusing became one homogenous piece of plastic.  The process was expensive.

I had a contract to produce 40 small instrument covers for a military contractor.  These were essentially a 1” x 3” x 4” box and they cost $40.00 each.  That would be $288.85 in current dollars. 

It was the perfect size box for paper clips, and that was what the receptionist was using one of them for. 

I said, “If I were you, I would very quietly throw that little plastic box away.  It is too scratched up to be used and it cost your boss $40.00.”

The receptionist went round-eyed, looked around and seeing no one watching, tossed the box in the trash.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I do that sort of thing all the time. I'm always on the lookout for "things" that are just randomly interesting. You know it will eventually be good for something.
My machinist training came in quite handy when I got into the cabinetmaking trade.
The thing that comes to mind first though is the 8" PSA geared-orbital sander. I learned to use one of them in the place they were intended to be used, a body shop. They are known as "mud hogs" by those guys. They are intended for the initial knock-down of bodyfiller, straightening large panels.

When I first started working with solid surface material at the cabinet shop, it seemed like the perfect thing, so I brought mine in from home. It worked just as well as expected, and a couple of the guys I was working with bought them too. They had never seen such a thing before.
This isn't exactly doing something totally different, as it is crossing trades with the same tool.

I once caught my girlfriend scraping paint using one of my Kirschen chisels. The same day, I also caught her knocking a nail unto a wall using my rubber flooring mallet.

Did you get the poor girl a started set of household tools? Hammer, screwdriver, paint scraper, etc.  [big grin]

You didn't exactly share how well you took this action  [blink]

 

[PaulMarcel]

I once caught my girlfriend scraping paint using one of my Kirschen chisels. The same day, I also caught her knocking a nail unto a wall using my rubber flooring mallet.

Did you get the poor girl a started set of household tools? Hammer, screwdriver, paint scraper, etc.  [big grin]

Ages ago before Blue Spruce was bought by Woodpeckers, I was chatting with Dave Jeske about how many paint cans may have been opened with his pretty chisels. So I asked him to make me a paint-can opener à-la Blue Spruce:

View attachment 1

He liked the result so much it was a one-time tool with a caption like "gift your wife a nice paint-can opener so she won't use yours". Seemed popular at the time

 

[Ron B]

I caught" my wife planting bulbs using a wood chisel to dig the holes.  Planting the bulbs was something she asked me to do, but I had not done it yet.  I had to just bite my tongue, then I hid the rest of my good chisels.

 

[Packard]

An old timer, when I was in my twenties, said he complained that his single edge razor blade that he put in his razor was dull after just one shave.

His wife replied, “Don’t be silly.  If it was sharp enough to cut some linoleum tiles, it certainly was sharp enough to shave with.” [eek]

 

[bobtskutter]

I use the washing machine to clean paint rollers.  Scrape off as much paint as possible then put then in the drum on a rinse cycle with a couple of scoops of detergent.  They come out like new.

Our dishwasher wasn't good enough to remove the baked on grease from the oven shelves, so I used the high pressure jet wash on the drive to clean the shelves.  They also came out like new, and there was a clean spot on the drive!

Bob

 

[Packard]

Many years ago, you used to be able to buy “Spaulding High Bounce” pink balls for stick ball.  Those disappeared in the 1970s.

The High Bounce balls were actually quality control rejects from the Spaulding tennis ball production line.  These balls were rejected for poor bonding at the seam prior to adding the fabric surface.  They were re-packaged as stickball balls.

When the tanning ball production was moved offshore, that source of balls was lost. 

An avid stick ball player in Brooklyn addressed that void.  He took an old clothes dryer that no longer generated any heat, and lined the interior with self-adhesive sand paper.  Then would then load the dryer with tennis balls and let them abrade themselves until nude of all the fabric covering. 

He would make periodic checks to see if “it-was-soup-yet”.  Apparently there was no risk in over-cooking these.

Clearly these were more expensive, but they lasted far longer as they were not made from reject balls. 

I saw this on TV about 40 years ago in one of those how-is-it-made documentaries.

I have used the small commercial tumbler where I used to work to polish some wood handles (I think I used crushed walnut shells for that.  They came out perfectly smooth.

In years gone bye, wood garment hangers were finished by tumbling in huge tumblers with really hard paraffin wax.  All the current wood hangers I see have a sprayed finish.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=74278]Packard[/member] do you happen to know the original source of the "Is it soup yet?" line?
My dad used to say that, jokingly asking if something was done or how it was going, but it never occurred to me that it wasn't original. I have never heard anyone else say it. He's not around to ask anymore.... [unsure]

 

[dicktill]

[member=74278]Packard[/member] do you happen to know the original source of the "Is it soup yet?" line?
My dad used to say that, jokingly asking if something was done or how it was going, but it never occurred to me that it wasn't original. I have never heard anyone else say it. He's not around to ask anymore.... [unsure]

IIRC it was a Campbell's soup ad. Mom's heating up the soup and little kid is asking if it's done yet.

 

[Packard]

It was from a soup ad on TV in the 1960s, but for a dried soup version that had to cook for a few minutes for the noodles to soften.  I will try to find the actual ad.  It wasn’t for Cambells  though.  Their product is just heat and serve.

I found references to the Lipton Cup-a-soup where they used that line, but I could not find the actual video.

As I recall, Campbell’s used “Mmm, mmm, good!” 

In any event it was from a soup commercial where a little kid was impatient for his soup and asked his mother, “Is it soup yet?”

I used it to indicate a process that took some time and needed intervention when the process was complete. It was just slightly more colorful than, “He checked frequently to see if the process was completed.

My guess is that I used pretty much as your father had all those years ago.

Addendum:  The Internet seems to place it in the 1970s.  I thought it was earlier.  I still can’t find the actual video though.

 

[cpw]

I use the washing machine to clean paint rollers.  Scrape off as much paint as possible then put then in the drum on a rinse cycle with a couple of scoops of detergent.  They come out like new.

Not in the theme of the thread, in it is for the intended purpose, but: I didn't know until a couple years ago that the N-in-1 painters tools have a round section that perfectly fits over a roller cover to scrape/squeeze the paint out while washing it.  It really does make a load of difference in how easy it is to clean them.

 

[thudchkr]

It was from a soup ad on TV in the 1960s, but for a dried soup version that had to cook for a few minutes for the noodles to soften.  I will try to find the actual ad.  It wasn’t for Cambells  though.  Their product is just heat and serve.

I found references to the Lipton Cup-a-soup where they used that line, but I could not find the actual video.

As I recall, Campbell’s used “Mmm, mmm, good!” 

In any event it was from a soup commercial where a little kid was impatient for his soup and asked his mother, “Is it soup yet?”

I used it to indicate a process that took some time and needed intervention when the process was complete. It was just slightly more colorful than, “He checked frequently to see if the process was completed.

My guess is that I used pretty much as your father had all those years ago.

Addendum:  The Internet seems to place it in the 1970s.  I thought it was earlier.  I still can’t find the actual video though.

I was thinking it was for Lipton soup, and the Internet appears to confirm that.  My mother used to make it with additional elbow-roni added and it was one of my favorites 

 

[Packard]

Pilots of small aircraft often carry a “portable urinal”, which is a long neck bottle made from plastic with (I would hope) a cap that was watertight.

That same product was used slightly off label by hunters sitting high in trees waiting for deer to walk by.  Apparently the hunters could end up waiting several hours for their prey.  If they urinated to the ground, the scent would drive the deer away.

So they would use the pilots’ portable urinal.

I saw a listing for the portable urinal for that alternative use in a hunting catalog.

The thing that got my attention was the notation that it was “dishwasher-safe”.

 

[Tinker]

When I was boy,(39 years ago) i took up fishing. I got tired of digging for worms in the hot weather. I lived on my uncles farm so I noticed the hay had heads on every piece of grass. I fashioned the heads (Timothy) with the stems trailing off the heads looking like grasshoppers. I tied them on my leader, I cast the fly into the stream and let the current take the "grasshopper" along. I occasionally gave the line a twitch. I don't remember catching any trout with that rouse, but I couldn't afford flies. It took all my pay, ten cents week, to just buy hooks.
Tinker

 

[Packard]

The most iconic alternate use of equipment I know of is for eyeglass repair.  The little screw falls out of the hinge and the small safety pin takes its place.

A useful alternate use for a carbide knife sharpener, is for making glass edges safe to handle.

Take a couple of quick swipes on all the edges of a freshly cut sheet of glass and you can safely handle it without worrying about getting cut.

If you handle glass all the time, you become “edge-aware”, but if you only do it occasionally, this can save you a trip to the emergency room. 

When I had my picture framing business and was handling 8 to 10 pieces of glass each day, I did not resort to that.

But nowadays when I can go months between each piece of glass, I like to eliminate any chance of getting cut.

 

[rst]

As a commercial glazier I use the diamond pads sold on Amazon in various grits made for tile and glass.  They are very reasonable in price.  I do not let customers pick up plain cut glass as the chance of cuts is high on people not familiar with handling glass.

 

[RussellS]

I use the washing machine to clean paint rollers.  Scrape off as much paint as possible then put then in the drum on a rinse cycle with a couple of scoops of detergent.  They come out like new.

Somewhere, I don't know where, but I heard you should NOT reuse paint rollers.  Just use a new one for every coat.  Reason is reusing and cleaning them changes the nap, fluffiness, of the roller.  So the paint does not lay as correctly on subsequent coats.  I usually try to follow this advice.  Not always, but mostly.  Paint rollers are $3 each.  Paint is $30-40 per gallon today.  Spend a dollar to save a penny.

Regarding getting excess, leftover, wet, paint out of rollers when done.  I use my 1 inch putty knife.  Always keep it in my tool belt so I always know where its at.  1 inch putty knife is useful for a myriad of things.  Does a darn near perfect job of scraping the paint out of a roller.