Household recycling

[Harvestman]

We all know about making things like hobo stoves, and the myriad uses that bottles and cans can be put to. I was wondering what else people re-use for bushcrafty purposes?

The ignition has gone on our gas cooker, so we use matches to light it. Dead matches go into a bowl, which when full is transferred to my kindling store. Works beautifully.
Likewise, wine bottle corks make great fuel briquettes for a Bushbuddy stove. They don't burn for very long, but they are great for getting some heat in when establishing a fire.
Resealable bags from packaging are tremendously useful, of course, but also the cardboard from cereal boxes makes good kindling if you pass it through a domestic shredder first.
Old clothes are recycled into bags (SWMBO is handy with a needle and thread), metal sweet tins are great for carrying small amounts of tinder, and I'm currently recycling a load of dead cacti as fire fuel and tinder too!
This year's discovery is that hazelnut shells burn rather well, and smell good too.

So what are your tips?

 

[shaggystu]

persil keep giving me really handy little drawstring bags with my wash powder tablet thingies, apparently you can knap the bottoms of old glass bottles just like flint, empty plastic bottles/cans,jam jars all make great candle lanterns

stuart

 

[warthog1981]

Harvestman have you tried changing the battery on your igniter ?
your igniter should run off a AA battery normally located right at the bottom of the oven (may be else where )I have to open out oven door to see the little plastic battery compartment

cheers Russ

 

[Harvestman]

Russ,

You know, I might just try that. Me and technology (sophisticated stuff like batteries and so forth) just don't get on. I'm not a bushcrafter, I'm a luddite.

(SWMBO would spell that I_D_I_O_T )

 

[warthog1981]

No worries ours never worked for years until one day I was messing around with the oven trying to bake a blade and noticed the battery compartment

No worries Russ

 

[Teepee]

The catering size marmite tubs make fantastic mugs-ive drunk gallons of coffee out of them now and not tipped the mug over once, and the lids are perfectly watertight.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Theres not much that I don't scrutinise before it gets thrown....
waxed paper bread wrappings are brilliant kindling,
All manner of pots, tubs & bottles are used as storage for something
Food cans & jars get transformed into stoves and lanterns as already mentioned

There's bound to other things as well - but I've been doing it for so long that I just don't think about it in that way.

Ogri the trog

 

[ged]

One of my favourites is the wax outer layer from various cheeses.

Probably the thing I recycle most is the wife's contact lens solution bottles, I store fuels, soap, washing up liquid etc. in them, and they get used in the workshop for coolant and small fire extinguishers. The very size of the sack of wine bottle corks that I've collected is a little worrying...

 

[Muddypaws]

I find the polystyrene foam tray under supermarket pizza quite useful in my workshop. Firstly sections of it can be laminated together and carved with a sharp craft knife, ideal for mocking up knife blade and handle profiles, before committing to more expensive materials. Also I use it as a ready supply of soft jaw material for my bench vice, a small piece of masking tape can hold it in place.

 

[PaulSanderson]

on the subject of household recycling...does anyone have any clues what I could do with the plethora of empty tuna cans and those Heinze Fridge packs i seem to manage to collect?? There must be loads of uses for them but im struggling!!

 

[Toddy]

The empty tuna tins are a good size to make corrugated card and scrap wax stoves These give loads of light outdoors too and if you add essential oils they make good Summer BBQ night anti bug lights.

I use a lot of the trays veggies like mushrooms come in for planting seedlings. Jars for jam, bottles for syrups, cat food trays for the card/wax stoves, cut the bottoms off milk jugs and those neat wee rectangles can be lined with a polybag and filled with meals, fruits and soups for the freezer. No wasted space since the rectangles stack like bricks. My Oil of Olay tubs are the perfect size to take cotton make up remover discs that I have layered with vaseline, or fomes, or charcloth Robust, lightweight and watertight

cheers,
Toddy

 

[lucan]

on the subject of household recycling...does anyone have any clues what I could do with the plethora of empty tuna cans and those Heinze Fridge packs i seem to manage to collect?? There must be loads of uses for them but im struggling!!

Old tuna cans make good little meths stoves.

There's plenty of vids on you tube showing you how

 

[PaulSanderson]

cheers chaps...i'll give the card/wax burner thing a whirl (already have a meths burner for me trangia kit...could be a good spare though) :O)

 

[Bushcraftsman]

the wooden forks you get from chippys and the wooden sticks you get to mix coffee with all make great kindling add them to your bowl of matches...