chopsticks, toothpicks & skewers - uses

[dannyr]

anyone else use these as handy and v cheap dowels, plugs & hole fillers

knowledge about woods (eg bamboo, whitewood) to share?

I always keep a range of these for odd jobs (eg just filled a couple of ancient wormholes w superglued toothpicks - hammer in, pare off)

 

[Orraloon]

The bamboo skewers with the flat paddle handles are good as glue spreaders and also for mixing epoxy glue. While on the subject small paper plates are good to mix epoxy glue and a few other things around the workshop.
Regards
John

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I buy wooden lollipop sticks 1000 at a time every twenty years or so.

 

[alf48]

The bamboo skewers with the flat paddle handles are good as glue spreaders and also for mixing epoxy glue. While on the subject small paper plates are good to mix epoxy glue and a few other things around the workshop.
Regards
John

 

[alf48]

I use Pringle lids and Bisto gravy carton plastic lids for CA glue and mixing epoxy, let them harden, twist the lids, comes off clean.... . Regards Alf

 

[Sideways]

I use just chopsticks to eat with
Metal are harder to use but last longer.

My handy hint though is that microwaveable plastic readymeal trays are really quite durable and worth washing out and saving. On machine teardowns it's handy to be able to drop a related bunch of nuts, bolts and small parts into a tray and keep them together. Makes it easier to figure out how to put things back together.

 

[Terrytpot]

…On machine teardowns it's handy to be able to drop a related bunch of nuts, bolts and small parts into a tray and keep them together. Makes it easier to figure out how to put things back together.

We keep all the tubs our Chinese take away stuff comes in so they’re always my first port of call for that with the added bonus of having a lid too.

 

[Cabinetman]

Best way to undo knots in chains- jewellery is to use two toothpicks, really works.
The cut off tops of gallon water bottles and similar make good funnels.

 

[Sideways]

The cut off tops of gallon water bottles and similar make good funnels.

The same goes for bottled water with a really good tapered neck - like litre bottles of San Pellegrino and Badoit.
Those make great high flow funnels for e.g. topping up the car windscreen washer bottle.

Common tig welding rods - copper coated mild steel wire - are easily cut with a pair of pliers and bent into S shaped hanging hooks for spray painting parts. They'll take quite a weight.

 

[point5clue]

Like the OP I use cocktail sticks as mini dowels - I keep a tiny drill bit in the box of cocktail sticks.

 

[Orraloon]

I use Pringle lids and Bisto gravy carton plastic lids for CA glue and mixing epoxy, let them harden, twist the lids, comes off clean.... . Regards Alf

Recycling recycled lids. A bit greener than my paper plates then.

 

[cowtown_eric]

take a 1/4" dowel and sharpen it in a pencilsharpener, dip it in stain for tiny precise touch ups

Eric in the colonies

 

[TRITON]

I buy wooden lollipop sticks 1000 at a time every twenty years or so.

Cant you just buy plywood like normal people ?