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What's your favorite secret weapon?

topic posted Thu, March 16, 2006 - 2:47 PM by  Witchy
So Red Green says that duct tape is the handyman's secret weapon. And from his shows, you can sure believe it.

What's your secret weapon?

Mine is wooden toothpicks and Skin So Soft bath oil.

Wooden toothpicks and a little bit of glue are one of my favorites. Great for fixing things I goof up when drilling. I made bookshelves recently, and planned to use those little brass brackets to hold up the shelves. The last time I made shelves, the brackets I bought required 1/4" holes. I should have checked the store and bought the brackets before I drilled. Can't find 1/4" anymore. But wooden toothpicks came to the rescue. 3 toothpicks in the hole, pushed in the bracket and broke of the excess toothpick...you can't even tell.

They're also great for those wobbly little screw-in knobs that won't stay screwed in. Just put a toothpick or two in the hole with a drop of glue. Let it dry, then screw them back in.

Loose furniture joints can also be fixed with the flat kind of toothpicks...they slide easily into the spaces in the joint .

Skin So Soft is also great stuff! Aside from removing gooey gluey stuff, you can also use it to clean oil based paint off yourself and off brushes. It's a lot easier on the skin and brushes than paint thinners. It is a bit more expensive, but you don't need a lot to do the job.

WW
posted by:
Witchy
offline Witchy
Cleveland
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  • Unsu...
     

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Thu, March 16, 2006 - 6:02 PM
    CLEAR 100% silicone caulk
    jb weld
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    • mara
      mara
      offline 76

      Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

      Thu, March 16, 2006 - 6:47 PM
      Orange Guard... doubles as an amazing ant killer. Yep.
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      • RICK
        RICK
        offline 42

        Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

        Fri, March 17, 2006 - 2:40 PM
        i use 5 minute epoxy on EVERYTHING!
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        • Dan1...
          Dan10things
          online 43

          Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

          Fri, March 17, 2006 - 6:30 PM
          Peanut Butter - Good for eating, sticker/gummy stuff removal, distracts my dog for hours when she's hyper, lubricant in a worse case scenario

          Swiss Army Knife - Totally boring answer, but I have one on me at all times and use it daily for opening boxes, people's beers when there is no bottle opener around, and to take out screws when I'm working in my arcade games with a soldering iron in one hand, flashlight in my teeth, and bent into some wierd position where it will be a pain in the ass to grab a screwdriver from my took box, but I can just pull out my knife from my pocket.

          Super Glue - The quick fix and it works for closing a bad cut until you can get stiches

          Duct Tape - Already mentioned and everyone knows it, but damn if it hasn't saved camping trips, car windows that have been busted into, sinking rubber rafts, tying down tarps to stuff in the back of my truck, etc.

          Small Maglight Flashlight - Essential, I use mine 2-3 times a week. Have one in my truck, one on my fridge, one in my toolbox and one on my desk.
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  • M_Dream
    M_Dream
    offline 53

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Sat, March 18, 2006 - 12:31 PM
    What a great question! Borax, kills fleas, cleans everything, gets rid of odor, biodegradable - combined with the orange cleaner, its super! Throw in some baking soda --- and vinegar. No stain is safe.

    For gardening - dead leaves and invasive vines like ivys and wild grape -- they can be a pain but are great for trellises, pole beans - any plants in general that need to be propped up. They are easily woven together and made to be beautiful. Also great for decorating a party or dried for cabinet handles...

    And a 1" putty knife...and bottle nosed pliers.
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  • Karlana
    Karlana
    offline 40

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Sat, March 18, 2006 - 7:11 PM
    Newpaper as a ground barrier in my planting beds. I prep the soil, lay down the papers, cut holes where my plants go, plant, and then cover the paper with additional soil or mulch.

    Makes me so kinds of happy not to have to weed so often.
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    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Mon, March 20, 2006 - 1:41 PM
    the internet....if i dont have the how to...its somewhere out there just waiting for me to find it or have someone show it to me.
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    • Dan1...
      Dan10things
      online 43

      Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

      Mon, March 20, 2006 - 2:22 PM
      " the internet"

      Actually, I totally agree. Being able to find stuff like PDF's online of operation's manuals and schematics for old electronics and appliances rules my world, along with forums like this for DIYers that have been there and done it before me that can offer the type of advice you just won't get from a book. When I work on my arcade games, I run back and forth between my game and soldering iron and my PC, pouring over schematics, repair guides, and asking questions in online forums and getting sometimes almost instant advice and answers.
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  • Erik
    Erik
    offline 50

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Mon, March 20, 2006 - 3:08 PM
    Sheetrock screws and a cordless drill. I've got them in about 4 lengths and 2 finishes. I find myself wondering if that is a "secret weapon" or just a "weapon of choice",
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    • Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

      Fri, March 7, 2008 - 11:50 AM
      i use to use the sheetrock screws but moved up to the green deck screws they sell at home depot. they've got a hybrid phillips/square slot that requires the bit that comes in the box but they are coated against the elements and i very very rarely have one break.
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      • Dan
        Dan
        online 16

        Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

        Fri, March 7, 2008 - 4:20 PM
        That's a Torx head, ( not an insult :-)
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          Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

          Sun, March 9, 2008 - 8:22 AM
          <That's a Torx head>

          Torx are the ones that look like a 8 pointed star, common on headlight adjustment screws and other automotive applications. He means the square head decking screws, which rule.

          <peanut butter........in a pinch as a lubricant>

          Dude, thats way kinky. Licking it off of selected external body parts sounds cool, other than that i'd worry about rashes.
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          • Aaron
            Aaron
            offline 93

            Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

            Thu, March 13, 2008 - 7:01 AM
            Actually, it's a six pointed star. The non-trademarked name is "hexalobal,"as there are six lobes...
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            • Lily
              Lily
              offline 86

              Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

              Thu, March 13, 2008 - 11:56 AM
              my all-time most-valuable trick: sticky-backed Velcro tape. That stuff is fierce. One house I rented, when I really had no tools at all, was basically held together with this. Including sliding glass door and windows, which otherwise had a habit of falling off the house.

              Lots of great ideas here. Additional use for Vaseline - if you rub it into your forearms and up past the elbows before you paint, all those inevitable splatters that land past your gloves when you raise your arms will be easy to wash off. This is specially true for primer - which can set like cement on you in no time flat.
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  • jaime
    jaime
    offline 1

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Sat, March 25, 2006 - 2:48 PM
    1 Epoxy - to build up plastic parts (like your own plastic molding machine)

    2 old Bike Inner Tubes - rubber feet, grippy surfaces for clamping, making giant rubber bands

    and the old classic

    3 Coat Hanger Wire - for nearly anything: brackets, protective bumpers, handles, reinforcements, etc. Particularly useful in conjunction with epoxy for anchoring your wire apparatus.
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  • Dano
    Dano
    online 75

    Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

    Tue, March 28, 2006 - 10:37 AM
    I'm a fan of romex, copper electrical wire... great for hanging things, binding things, fishing things out of other things, makes a good probe or poker, I hear it even carries Electrons rather efficiently AND It comes pre packaged in triple or quadruple strengths. Hell Once I had to cut some rope in the boonies and all I had was some heavy guage copper wire and a hammer. Remembering my neolithic technology, I cold hammered the wire until it was flat and had a crude but reasonably sharp edge that would saw through the rope .

    Romex, Duct tape and Epoxy, The triple threat...

    Now wouldn't it be fun to take this list of secret weapons... create a standardize kit (kinda like the old pinewood derby kits) then have a competition to see what DIYers could build out of it!? Like a cross between Monster Garage and Iron Chef.
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    • Be-in
      Be-in
      offline 33

      Re: What's your favorite secret weapon?

      Wed, March 29, 2006 - 8:42 PM
      Dude, I love that idea. Turn a bunch of DIYers loose on a decaying house with nothing but a handful of "secret weapons" and see who can make the biggest gains on the place.

      Competition begins at my house this weekend. All of you show up with your secret weapons, and we'll see which of you makes the most progress on the place by Sunday night.
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