The Wombling Thread :-)

[Toddy]

We all do it; find something, come across something, look at something, and think, "That looks useful ! "

But; useful for what ?

I thought that thread of items for consideration might be interesting

A fourteen cm long x 1cm wide glass nailfile, that won't file anymore, for instance I don't even grow strong nails how the hang could I wear a nailfile done ?
Anyway, I now have this glass stick thing, and it's going to make a rather odd dibber for seeds, I think, unless someone comes up with a better idea

I also have thirty wee button compasses, that all have a tiny wee bubble in them (they were bought for an activity with kids that didn't happen, but they arrived from HK with bubbles)
I think the bubbles makes them unusable for any real necessity, but what am I going to do with thirty of them ??

I bought a batch of brass thimbles, I sew constantly , I have thimbles all over the place; real ones, not those cheena ornament dust catcher things. One of them is bashed.....how do I sort out a squished brass thimble? It's really hard to even bend it. Failing fixing it, what use is it ?

I have a box of brass eyelets, two part ones; about a 3/4inch centre opening, but no fixing tool. If someone comes up with a use for them, I'll dig them out and pass them along. They 'look' useful.

New acronym TLU

So, what have you got ?


cheers,
Toddy, who is still clearing her workroom

 

[Harvestman]

TLU. I like that.

I asked a question on here last year about teasel heads. TLU. Ended up just burning them.

Today I discovered that just burning them is fine, because they make a superb natural featherstick - added it to plain cotton wool after a spark had caught, and up it went, burning long enough to get a fire established first time. Considering it was raining, I was without shelter, and I had an audience who was most impressed, I call that a result.

 

[Harvestman]

Oh yes, and I keep collecting bits of wire. I never use them, but.... TLU.

 

[British Red]

Just found a use for an old shilling sized rare earth magnet and an el cheapo walking pole thats been at the back of the cupboard for years....does that count?

 

[Toddy]

The composite clutter of BcUK must be astonomical

I'll mind that about teasel heads though
They also make kind of cute wee hedgehog things that you can dot with essential oil to scent a room. Lethal damned things for unwary fingers however for some reason they sell well at craft shows
If you leave the stalk on it'll dry rock hard. Melt a pan of animal fat of somekind (dripping, lard, the fat off the Sunday roast), dip the teasel in it and then cover it in birdseed. Hang them in a bunch from the bird table or spear them into the ground and birds like chaffinches and the like can get to the seeds without the seeds ending up in the mud.

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

Just found a use for an old shilling sized rare earth magnet and an el cheapo walking pole thats been at the back of the cupboard for years....does that count?

You don't want a button compass for t'other end, do you ? I'll find one with the tiniest bubble.

M

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Just found a use for an old shilling sized rare earth magnet and an el cheapo walking pole thats been at the back of the cupboard for years....does that count?

That wouldn't be a cartridge collector would it?

 

[British Red]

That wouldn't be a cartridge collector would it?

Spot on sir! So thankfully Mary a compass shouldn't be needed. Brilliant for picking up hundreds of spent shotgun cartridges without backache!

 

[Zingmo]

Oh my. Where do I start? I have a garage and a shed that I can hardly get into because of TLU things. My work takes me to a lot of abandoned industrial places where stuff has been left behind. I also love having things which connect to memories.
One thing I have learned from wifey who is a teacher: If you have more than thirty of them then the school can make use of them!

Z

 

[Toddy]

thirty of them ......they might make cute buttons ?

I thought it was a wombling stick of somekind, but I thought for maybe picking up nails and screws.
Son1 was in Hong Kong not so long ago; he said that outside the hotel there were stall selling everything under the Sun. One man sold neodimium magnets. That's all he had on his stall, just masses and masses of neodimium magnets.
Make you wonder, just what effect all those magnets would have on things around them .....like bank cards and the like, or pacemakers

M

M

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

They are also useful when you have a woops in the workshop with a lot of panel pin's, 10lt paint tin full of them all over the floor...

 

[Zingmo]

BTW Toddy, I managed to use one of your muckle brass eyelets by using the round pein of a hammer. It wasn't very tidy but it was functional.

Z

 

[Shewie]

I bought 50 of those squeezy LED keyring lights a few years ago because I thought "Ooh, they look useful"

I'm still using the first two

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

thirty of them ......they might make cute buttons ?

I thought it was a wombling stick of somekind, but I thought for maybe picking up nails and screws.
Son1 was in Hong Kong not so long ago; he said that outside the hotel there were stall selling everything under the Sun. One man sold neodimium magnets. That's all he had on his stall, just masses and masses of neodimium magnets.
Make you wonder, just what effect all those magnets would have on things around them .....like bank cards and the like, or pacemakers

M

M

In China there is one town that has hundreds of shops, each one specialising in a single component. Want a bucket of switches? That's bob at 32, Want some PCB's knocked up that's Jim at 44 capacitors? Sure Tim sell's em by the bucket at 67.

 

[British Red]

Make you wonder, just what effect all those magnets would have on things around them .....like bank cards and the like, or pacemakers

M

M

They are scary strong...a full shotgun cartridge weight - what an ounce and a half? Jumps right off the ground to stick to them!

ASM....why do you have that number of panel pins????? I thought I was bad buying screws by the thousand

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

ASM....why do you have that number of panel pins????? I thought I was bad buying screws by the thousand

Simple answer, guy was selling them at Burscough car boot sale for a £5er and at the time I needed some pannel pin's seemed the obvious choice until the accident.

 

[British Red]

Wow - I would have bought his stock out!

 

[Toddy]

BTW Toddy, I managed to use one of your muckle brass eyelets by using the round pein of a hammer. It wasn't very tidy but it was functional.

Z

That's worth remembering I was going to use some for a tarp but in the end I used the green plastic self tapping eyelets that I bought in Millets closing sale. I'd have preferred the brass but just couldn't figure out how to put them in tidily.

Rich, Mad Dave and his missus make up loot bags for the Moot....if the compasses were sound I'd have sent them down.
But then, over time you might use a lot more of those wee lights.
M

 

[TurboGirl]

I've got used to hoots of derision every time I bend over with a sparkle in my eye after some interesting looking glimpse! That Looks Useful... another acronym to add to UFOs, which my work room is studded with... that'll be UnFinished Objects, then

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Wow - I would have bought his stock out!

He still shows up, when I go next I'll hit you up for a wish list.