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Here's a collection of fifty how-to tricks that can be understood from a photo or two.To see even more of them, check out Handy Tricks 8: Island Handy...
Tom and Millie MacKenzie, my Kenyan hosts on Lamu Island would arrange individual bananas on their kitchen shelves. I asked why and they said it was t...
Spotted at Emeryville Marina, California. The maker cut the jerrycan just below the top, beat some shape into the upper lip so it slides over the lo...
Lorraine Palmer got an amazing deal on a big persian carpet because it smelled bad. So she washed it with her gas-powered high pressure washer from co...
When Corwin Hardham goes windsurfing, he brings his cellphone along. He zips it under his wetsuit between his shoulderblades in a waterproof bag. He u...
Wetsuit zippers have problems with jamming and corroding. Rub yours with beeswax to make it work better and last longer.
Crutch handles make great file handles. Just pound the file tang in there and start filing.To make it fit extra well heat the tang up with a blowtorch...
When the sandpaper gets clogged I sand a chunk of old tire with it, and then it cuts well again. The rubber works like a big eraser to scrub the sawdu...
Office Chairs start out looking pretty boring, and after you've spilled enough contrasting foods and liquids on them they get pretty nasty looking. Th...
Ant problems? Honey jar covered with ants? Ants can't swim. Put the honey jar in a dish with water in it. Problem solved. To keep ants or other insect...
Our kitchen used to have an ant problem. Then some ants found the freezer. There must have something in there that smelled really good to ants. The a...
Just a regular tennis ball with a hole in it so it can be stuck on the end of a broom handle. The maintenance people on the airport walk around rubbin...
A regular hairdryer works well for most bumperstickers. For some pinstripes you need more heat, and a formal "hot air gun" is better. If the bumpers...
Put a paper towel hanging over the edge of the sink to wick spilled water back in. Put something over the faucet to redirect the water toward the midd...
Someone named "malicious ignoramus" continues to remove the improvements from the sink, and I keep putting on new ones. This one looks particularly ni...
Need some storage space? Need a staircase? This piece of furniture solves both problems at once. photographed in the Shitamachi Museum, Ueno, Tokyo,...
At Pastime Hardware in Albany California, they have a giant ruler on the floor, made by pounding in nails to form the numbers and lines. They use it ...
This is a boatbuilder's trick. If you lubricate a screw with soap, it goes in a lot easier and holds just as well. You're much less likely to break th...
It's dark, it's cold, and it's raining. People scurry from door to door like big wet rats. This bright young man from Mexico realized that his world ...
Here's Dr. Nina Aldrich-Wolfe with everything hung out to dry after a day sailing in my leaky boat.We're at Pa Muul, in the Yucatan. Behind her left s...
A few cuts in a big chunk of bamboo, and you've got a handy utensil holder that'll last for years. The node wall between each bamboo segment is the fl...
Scavenged couch cushions make a fine modular futon. They're perfect for sleeping in a lab after a late night of hacking. They store easily on a high s...
A kiteboard makes a great shelf- the bigger the better. This one is the top shelf on a rolling baker rack. I drilled holes in a pair of cross sticks ...
Pronounced "Froshki", it's an ancient Japanese trick to use a big square of cloth as a backpack or bag. They come in all sizes from hanky size up to g...
Here's a slick item of instant furniture designed by Diego Saavedra of the MIT Electronic Research Society. It's nice and solid and doesn't have any t...
Cut two rectangular chunks of plywood, drill some holes, and tie them together like this. The chunks of pipe insulation pad the top for this use as b...
Here's Josh Kuempel with his pallet sawhorses. He's a big guy and he needed big sawhorses. A few minutes later he had them. Go Josh!
Inspired by some Norse clamps I saw in a museum exhibit somewhere, This particular clamp is made from 2x4 scrap lumber. If you need to clamp really ...
I've spent my adult life working in shared workshops. No one ever puts tools back where they came from. If tools are kept in drawers, get ready to l...
The chunks of old tire are carved to shape with a knife and riveted in place with nails. The ends of the nails are bent over and pounded flat.Seen in ...
Back in the dim pre-history of the mid nineties. My friend Rhett Creighton said he wanted a bow. I lashed a pair of cross-country skis together with ...
Here's a monitor I modified so I could hang it over my desk. That way I got to use the area under it (my "desktop") as an actual work surface. Not muc...
Here it is, the best way to store bicycles in a shared space. They hang by hooking their seats over a horizontal pipe so they hang just overhead. If ...
Want to sail a boat that doesn't have a centerboard trunk? Make one or a pair of these out of plywood and clamp them over the gunwales. These have a s...
I water jet cut some shelf brackets from ash, then realized there were still live beetles in the wood. I had fantasies that the insects would chew thr...
Steve and Nikki at Hidden Villa Ranch, California are trying out a skull cleaning method they heard of. Just hang it from a tree branch. The insects ...
Some people (me) always close their eyes just as the picture is being taken. The "redeye reduction" light from some cameras guarantees my eyes will b...
Alex Hornstein and Alison Murphy fix a flat on a small motorcycle. It's a Honda TLR200 200cc trials bike. It has innertubes and doesn't have rim lock...
Let's say you just got a great deal on a vehicle because it's got flat tires.You could have gotten an even better deal on a car with no wheels at all,...
Okay, this is a BIG trick. Want your boat to be bigger? Just saw your dinghy in half and fiberglass it to the sides of your existing boat! spotted ...
What's that extra lever in front of the gearshift? That's the emergency disconnect! You use it to pry the main circuit breaker out. The lever is a me...
They're meant to be flushed down the toilet, and they do the job.
Couch getting ratty? Cover it with duct tape! sighted in Alameda, CA
Here's a chair made from a utility company "sawhorse" and a pair of sawhorses stacked up. The sawhorses were made from a different type of traffic bar...
I don't know who made this, but it's really handy and gets a lot of use. Someone who worked in our shop needed it I guess and just made it one night. ...
I needed a bent rib for a boat I was fixing. So I needed a steam box. I set one up in a few minutes and it worked well. I set a big plastic sewer pipe...
My cousin-in-law Anthony Fenner builds amazing fires at our family reunions. After a bit of a fire is established he puts a hollow log vertically on ...
In Kenya people boil their water and then filter it before drinking it. The ones who can afford to and care about their health do, anyway. The detai...
This Dumptruck has mudflaps hung from chain. That way when the box gets dumped, the mudflaps don't get folded over and broken. They didn't use regul...
Problem: Water intake can get plugged by sand or floating leaves. Solution: Leaves tend to float on top the water and sand sinks. Position the water i...
Big old windsurfers that no-one wants anymore make great sit-on-top kayaks. Lots of fun, fast, and easy to use.My cousins Donna and Eva demonstrate. D...
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Nov 14, 2006
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