Non-Motorcycle, Life-Hacks Thread

[wildbears]

Doing a repair on buried corrugated drain pipe.

The ground around our home has a lot of clay such that a lot of force is required to dig the pipe out. I'm using a 5 lbs., mattox-pick to dig away the soil a distance from the pipe but use a power washer to cut away the soil next to the pipe.

It takes very little force with a shovel or pick to damage or cut into the pipe.

[802Mike]

Pressure washer will move some leaves too, just aim it over the top and let-er-rip !

[802Mike]

Makes a great snowmaker too if you hook it to hot water an a very cold day.

[802Mike]

Wet Vac to clear stopped up tub or lav drain.

[wildbears]

Genius!!!!

[wildbears]

How to split wood, keeping the pieces together with an old bicycle innertube....

[wildbears]

Put the innertube on first and then split away. I use a maul. The bundle can then be carried to the wood stack intact, laid down, and then released.

[802Mike]

Really, what wood splits that easily !!??

[wildbears]

That's a ~1 foot diameter section of soft maple that dropped about a year ago. We have Heatilator inserts and that size works well. I also use a wedge and small sledge hammer if stubborn or hit the maul with the hammer once stuck into the wood. Splitting is more difficult the closer you get to a fork in or the base of the tree

[wildbears]

Mini greenhouse...

[802Mike]

Plastic lettuce/salad containers too !

[wildbears]

Electric drills, as with any electric motor, have the most torque at the lowest rpms.

[wildbears]

Lawn Leaf Reduction Strategies

1. Tall lawn grass allows leaves to dry and wind to get under the leaves and blow them away (hopefully back into the woods). Short grass allows the leaves to stay wet and to compact and kill the grass if left too long.

2. Leaf dunes. A pile of leaves in a long row acts like a sand dune in that blowing leaves are dropped to the ground and pile up on the leeward side of the row. I put these along the edges of the woods next to the lawn and also under a stand of hemlock trees in the middle of the lawn.

[wildbears]

Pouring Gas Into A Lawnmower Tank

I always end up overfilling and spilling some. Yesterday I twisted the spout 45 degrees and then poured at the same angle.

somehow there was much more control.