Make Green-Friendly Tools from Plastic Coat-Hangers by FeedTheGrid
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Reclaimed from an alley trash can. Just trying to save the environment, one step at a time.

It might not be as detailed as it would be with an Epilog Zing Laser Etcher.
But, it's still a useful tool! ; - )

I thought: why waste the energy sending old plastic coat-hangers to the landfill; or waste energy melting them down at a recycling plant? Every time I put something in the trash, or see something being thrown away, I always wonder how these items could be repurposed.

Voila! Hanger Tools!

Materials Needed:
Plastic Coat Hanger
Wire-Cutters (or a hacksaw)
Sandpaper
 
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Step 1: Get a Hanger and Cut a Piece Out of It.

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If you see plastic hangers in the trash, get 'em! You can make tools out of them.

The size of piece that you choose to cut from this great re-usable resource, depends on what kind of tool you are making. This tool is for burnishing and writing into copper. So, I cut about a six-inch piece out of this one. Choose any section of the hanger that fits your need. I chose one of the corners because then you can hanger the tool from its hook when you're finished using it.
alexarene says: Sep 19, 2012. 11:31 PM
a cool thing to do with these kind of plastic hangers is cut them with a tool to size of your wrist or like i like my little girls size and put them in hot water enough to bend the plastic into a round shape take out of hot water wearing gloves and bend into a round shape for a cool bracelet ! make hundreds, if you like for her friends too!
radznjason2011 says: Aug 26, 2012. 6:37 AM
I was thinking about reusing plastic coat hangers yesterday. I was thinking that if there was a good source of plastic blocks about 1" on a side, you could tap them and use them as connectors and build things from coat hanger rods.
zs says: Apr 29, 2009. 4:53 PM
you could also make flat chisel like tips for working with clay or soft materials. Great start though
sdbigguy says: Mar 24, 2009. 5:19 PM
I really liked your idea and I needed a plastic pointed tool and I thought that I could guess use a piece of plastic hanger and run it through my pencil sharpener. Worked great and thanks for the idea.
FeedTheGrid (author) says: Mar 25, 2009. 12:23 AM
Awesome, sd. I'm glad you were able to use this idea. If you get a chance, upload an image, here in the reply. In the coming future, I hope to add a whole list of different types of 'Hanger-Tools' made from old hangers.
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