Any dog owner who lives in the midwest knows that winter presents some special challenges. For instance-trying to take a deuce-bag off a roll and open it to collect your canine pal's treasure while you're wearing mittens. (It just doesn't work. You have to take off at least one glove/mitten to open the bag up. On the bright side, once you retrieve the payload, it's warm...)

Anyhoo, I'm sharing my solution. Now of course, you can just shove a grocery bag in your pocket, but that's all crinkly and inelegant, and you have a wad of bags in a bag under the sink. This gadget lets you roll the bags up nice and tight but in an easily stored and opened manner.

Supplies

To make one, you will need:

1 Dry cleaner's pant hanger
1 small aluminum tube,~3/16" OD
Solder
A brazing torch
A tube cutter or hacksaw
Stout wire cutters
Locking Pliers

Step 1: Cut the Tube, Cut and Bend the Hanger,

Cut a 5cm section of the tube and set it aside.

Cut a 20cm piece of hangar and 2 spacer pieces a little less than 5cm.

Bend the 20cm piece about 10 degrees off at 1cm to one end, then fold the piece in half so that both halves are flush to each other. (See the last photo for this step.)

Step 2: Insert and Solder

Hold the two spacers together with the long wire piece, then insert them into the tube section as shown. (You can use a chunk of wood with a hole the diameter of the tube drilled halfway into the thickness of the wood to hold this assembly if you like.) Use the brazing torch to fill the remaining empty space in the tube with solder. Use all normal safety precautions-eye, respiratory and hand protection (that last if you plan touch it soon after soldering.) At this point it should look roughly like the title pic of this instructable.

Step 3: Use

To roll the bags, the easiest thing to do will be watch the video, but here's a description of the process:

First make sure your bag doesn't have any holes in the bottom (you don't want to get any dook smeared on your gloves because it snuck through flaws.) Lay it on a work surface as flat as you can get it (with the side flaps in as they would be on the dispenser rack at the store.) Fold the bag in half along the longest center line, laying the handles one flat against the other. Then, fold the bag over into thirds or quarters along this same long line so that you have a long, flat strip of bag with the handles at one end.

Slide the bottom of the bag-strip between the wires protruding from the tool, then wrap the bag around the wires fairly tightly. When you get to the handles, continue wrapping with only one of the handles, leaving the other free, and only wrap the wrapped handle to about half it's length. Open the free handle, and use it to hold the wrapped bag shut like a hair tie holds a pony-tail, though not quite as tight.

I keep a bowl of these on top of the fridge next to the dog treats.

To open it, pull both handles apart and whip the bag a few times to fill it with air, then pick up the pooh.

I would say enjoy, but... well, you know-I mean it's picking up dog poop after all.