unadvertized secrert abilities

160 degree oven in your kitchen works great to increase the gloss and durability of rattle can paint.

 

Use scotch brite pads with normal dish soap to clean your greasy hands.
Even under the nail and eponychium area.

 

Roofing works eqully well if not better! Great stuff guys keep them coming!

 

Really really REALLY fine gravel (like the stuff on top of a gas tank thats been in a car for years) works great to quiet a belt thats chirping or got antifreeze on it. Would think talcum powder might work as well, just never tryied it.

 

Now that's wierd... This afternoon a friend of mine told me of that same trick. Actually I walked up on him as he was spraying a red mixture out of a squeeze bottle onto some casters. I asked him what it was and he said 50/50 mix of ATF & Acetone. He swears it's the best penetrating oil he's ever used.

 

Vaseline works great to hold check balls in place when assembling an auto transmission....and co-workers leave you alone when you pull a jar of it out of your toolbox!

 

^^^Used to use that one a LOT back in Hawai'i to help control rust as well!^^^

 

a dab of superglue if you cut yourself ..seals the cut instantly

 

Used motor oil (mixed with your choice of oil based stain, if you want a certian hue) works great for treating wooden fences/fence posts, etc and it kills the grass near the fence so you don't have to use a weed eater so you spend less time with lawn maintenance and more time in the shop

also, lacquer thinner kills bugs DEAD

 

you did mean post application..yes?

 

brasso polishes aluminum even though it say not to!

 

Gasoline applied to poison ivy rash dries it right out and kills the itch. Wait 1/2 hour before smoking! Muriatic acid takes rust off parts, soak them in it, neutralize with water and spray right away with WD-40 to keep from flash rusting.

 

zit cream will take 3 day old spaghetti sauce stains of your newly upholstered white vinyl seats. Thought the world would end that day then a budd said use something with benzyl peroxide. Worked in about 4 hours. The only thing that saved my room mates was the thought that blood may stain worse......

 

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Mix orange juice and sparkling water together. It doesn't work for removing paint but makes an excellent drink that tastes better than straight orange juice and has less calories. Nice result, better taste and less calories. Now if I can just find something to mix with a hot fudge sunday to make it taste better and have less calories.

Charlie Stephens

 

Go to a used appliance store and get an old self cleaning oven. put your parts in and turn on the self cleaning cycle. Itll bake off every bit of carbon/paint whatever on things like cylinder heads. Be careful what you put in there though. Things that are tempered (like valve springs) or thin stuff will be ruined.
NOTE: Don't use your wife's oven for this.
An old portable dishwasher makes a great "Jetwash" cabinet for non rusting parts. it really works good if you have access to hot water. dishwasher soap cleans stuff really well.
NOTE: Again, using your wife's dishwasher = bad idea.

 

Vintage glass headlight lenses (pre-sealed beam) and glass taillight lenses clean up really nice in the dishwasher with Cascade.

 

that one doesn't count.... OK... it DOES.. but WD stands for WATER DISPLACEMENT. that is actually what it is INTENDED TO DO.

 

A new roll of Duct tape makes a good cup holder....

 

Gojo hand cleaner removes grease on an engine...just rub it all over the engine, wait half an hour or so and pressure wash it off...found that out by accident when the glob that fell off my hands while cleaning my hands up wound up being the cleanest spot on the motor after using regular foam engine degreaser shit...I've also used trans fluid to refill a brake system after losing a brake line as a "get me home" fix...the upside was it polished the bores of my wheel cylinders pretty nicely...

 

If you get your new carpet wet, or any carpet for that matter, put a heavy coat of baking soda and remove after and hour or so. Just be warned that with very few colors, it will whiten.

Plus my personal favorite. Super glue as a band aid. No matter how big the cut, grab yourself some super glue.

 

And it took them 40 tries to get a formula that worked, hence WD40. At least thats what the NASA tour guide told us.

 

Paint remover (Aircraft Remover) works really, really, well as a parts cleaner.

I like it for cleaning up an engine before disassembly for starters, then again with a wire brush before painting.

IMO, this stuff is the best thing for folks who can't or won't get the parts hot tanked.

 

I'm doing some running board trim. The OEM washers are "cups" so the threaded bosses in the castings will pull down tight to the rubber/sheetmetal. As usual the last folks that worked on the car didn't think to save em all. I used 5/8 cup style freeze plugs and punched a hole in em with a Whitney punch. Problem solved. Don't ask me how I thought of it...

 

Cat litter is great for abosrbing oil/fluid spills at the shop.

 

Biological Washing powder in warm water will soak off gunge on alloy rocker covers and manifolds, BBQ grills and oven racks, leave for a few hours a quick rub with a scotchbrite pad and rinse, Washing powder and water will also clean the gunge from the inside and outside of plastic fluid reservoirs, screen washer bottles etc.

If any of you guys go camping a paste made of washing powder and water smeared on the outside of billy cans etc will prevent the tar in woodsmoke baking on the outside making clean up easier, even after a week or two, (old boy scout trick) just keep the coating as dry as possible when washing out the pots.

Hand soap (bar) smeared wet on aluminium will turn black at the correct tempreature for annealing.

Parrafin candle wax with heat as a lubricant / penetrant for siezed threads, also a good lubricant for woodworking tools and prevents pinning with aluminium swarf.

Chalkboard chalk rubbed on hand files prevents pinning with softer metals.

Bar keepers friend for cleaning brass and alloy ( this contains oxalic acid as found in rhubarb as the active ingredient, this is also the active ingredient in "wood bleach")

 

I keep a 5 gal. bucket or two of saw dust from the table saw handy for oil spills in the shop. Put it on, let it set, sweep it up and put in the shop stove. That first fire in the fall is easy to start.

 

Just a note, oil dry was developed after numerous problems with saw dust being used to absorb oil.

Another note, if no one has discovered this, plain cheap cat litter is cheaper than oil dry. Same stuff, just in a different package, in a different location. At least in the local farm supply store. Cat litter comes in a larger bag at about 10% cheaper. I buy the big bags for my business, if I ever get audited the IRS is going to ask to see the big ass cat I have in my shop.

 

actually this one doesn't count either! superglue was originally designed to close wounds. interesting stuff!

 

Clean really dirty oily hands using liquid dish soap (Fairy Liquid over here) and sugar - no water. The sugar doesn't dissolve in the soap and acts as an abrasive. Wash it off with warm water once all the cack is scrapped off.

Strawberry jam over a scratch on a hire car, followed by a drive down a dusty road, covers up the damage and avoids hassle when returning it - this worked great in Rome last month and saved us 100's of Euros.