Lifehacks

Alex Reid

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Zushi, Japan
I just read a great thread on another forum called Lifebacks: post you tips for everyday living. My favourite tip was measure your hand from the tip of your longest finger to the base of your palm and remember that length. Also measure one joint of the same finger. You can now use your hand or finger to efficiently measure the length of many everyday objects.

One from me is if you drop something fragile use your foot to break the fall. It works for me about 90% of the time.

I know you guys are full of tips for the workshop but how about daily life?
 
I did the foot thing just last week while dropping an egg on a tile floor. I slowed it down with the top of my foot, and the egg only cracked slightly instead of splatting on the floor. :thumb:
 
I do the foot thing all the time too, but once I stuck a chisel into my boot when I did that........ no harm to the chisel or my foot, but the boot ended up with a hole :eek:

My wife does the body measure thing, she knows the length from her elbow to her finger tips, as well as the spread from her thumb to her pinky.

Whenever I leave the Dungeon, if I do not have the time for a proper clean up, then I put 6 things away, it does not replace a good vacuuming, but it helps, I hate coming into a messy shop.

If you are trying to learn sharpening chisels, buy a really, and I mean REALLY cheap set, start on the 1/2 size, the steel is often a little soft, which I find easier to sharpen quickly. You must learn muscle memory, just spend 10 minutes on a stone, or better yet, a diamond plate, sharpening, don't worry so much about getting the cheap chisel sharp, worry more about how you stand, is it comfortable, is the surface you are working on the right height, keep you attention focused on what you are doing. The diamond plate is better, IMHO, because you can work on it all day and not wear it out, or wear a pattern in it.

I made up a piece of plywood about 12" square, that has a block of wood that is maybe 6" long by what ever the gap is in the ways of my lathe, whenever I am putting finish on a piece on the lathe, I pop this square of plywood in under the piece, this does two things, it keeps the finish off my lathe, and it gives me a nice stable platform to put my bottle of finish on, the ways are very narrow, and I've made a mess and wasted bottles of finish by bumping the bottle over:doh:

Who's up next! :wave:
 
The relation between the measures of the body is nothing else but the golden rule. When we know them and apply them conciously in our pieces they are more pleasant proportion wise, as they share the same relation with our body proportions.

For dayly life I learned from a friend to sprinkle salt from a salt shaker holding my left hand flat, (palm down) in between the shaker and the dish that I want to dress. In this way I know for sure if I'm dropping salt on it or not, as sometime salt shakers have blocked holes or the light in the restaurant is too dim.
 
These aren't really lifehacks. More like life lessons...

When you're shooting .44 Magnum hollowpoints at a gallon glass jar filled with water 30 feet away, don't expect all the broken glass to go away from you. :doh: (Didn't do it, but watched it being done. He only caught a few pieces of shrapnel in the legs.)

Sort of woodworking related, but still...

When you're working with bright blue dye, don't brush your hair back out of your eyes until you take off the rubber gloves. Especially if you have blonde or gray hair. DAMHIKT. :huh:
 
.44 Mag? Hollowpoints? 30 feet??

Do you often swat flys with a Howitzer??? :rofl:

I mean, I know the general rule is "There's no such thing as too much firepower" but geeze Louise. :D

-Kevin in Indy
 
1/ When you park the car in a smallish garage, try to enter on an angle, so even if the nose is tight to the wall, there is still room for the passenger door to open and be usable.

2/ Before getting out of the car after a solo shopping trip, remember to turn down the volume on the stereo before clicking it off, so that LOYL does not get blasted by noise (her words) when she gets into the car next and turns on the key.

3/ If you struggle with being a late riser + getting to work... get in the habit of partially setting the breakfast table before going to bed at night. All you need in the morning then is the juice + milk and you can get going on your cereal.

4/ Despite the negative aesthetics... put a "No Soliciting" sign at your front door. Right below the doorbell if possible. (it SURE cut down on the door-to-door traffic for us!)

5/ When you see advertisements for things like cellphones or satellite TV or Magazines... Get in the habit of ALWAYS multiplying by 12 (or by 52 if it's a weekly thing) and then use THAT number to consider if it is worth it to you.

So when the car dealer tells you that adding option x-y-z on your potential new car is only and extra $5 a week on your payment!! you counter with... Umm, that's $260 a year... no thanks.



...art

ps: interesting thread, Alex. These are just some random things that popped into my head. I look forward to reading more lifehacks (life lessons?) from folks.
 
Here is one i developed during the time i traveled around a lot.

When you go somewhere and see a novlety or something you want to buy, by it. Dont think "oh i will pick that up later, or i will wait till i see it at a better price'.

Most of the time if you dont you end up leaving without that one of a kind special item and no matter how long you search you never seem to find it for what you really want to pay.:D

Be careful with this motto, you aint seen my home office full of nick nacks:rofl::rofl:
 
Vaughn said, "When you're shooting .44 Magnum hollowpoints at a gallon glass jar filled with water 30 feet away, don't expect all the broken glass to go away from you. (Didn't do it, but watched it being done. He only caught a few pieces of shrapnel in the legs.)"

Better yet, never shoot at glass. I outgrew that when I was nine years old and used to take my .22 zip gun to the garbage dump and vacant buildings. If I couldn't shoot rats I shot glass.
<<<Afterthought: How is it possible most of us lived beyond childhood???>>>
 
Vaughn said, "When you're shooting .44 Magnum hollowpoints at a gallon glass jar filled with water 30 feet away, don't expect all the broken glass to go away from you. (Didn't do it, but watched it being done. He only caught a few pieces of shrapnel in the legs.)"

Better yet, never shoot at glass. I outgrew that when I was nine years old and used to take my .22 zip gun to the garbage dump and vacant buildings. If I couldn't shoot rats I shot glass.
<<<Afterthought: How is it possible most of us lived beyond childhood???>>>

I'm sporting a chipped tooth from shooting at the bottom of a glass jug with a BB gun... the BB bounced back and hit me in the mouth, chipped my tooth... it's taken 59 years to wear the sharp edge of that chip down enough that I don't cut my mouth on it.. :rofl::rofl: (When I was 10 and a share cropper's kid, we never heard of a dentist...)
 
If I lay my hand flat on something, my 4 fingers laid next to each other are 3" wide.

I always thought that a dollar bill is 6" long - I have to check that. I was told that nugget at the Englishtown NJ Raceway swap meet when I was 17 years old. I was looking for some 14 x 6 Pontiac Rally rims for my car. I asked how wide were the rims I was looking at and the vendor yelled back - A dollar bill is 6" - measure it yourself!!!!

My eyes are approximately 5'-0" off the floor.

Jim
 
Stupid hurts
Stupid can also be expansive
And the trick with the foot thing is to be able to flick what ever it is falling back up so you can catch it. Or just catch it on you foot and lower it to the floor.
Never try and catch a falling heavy object (see stupid hurts) just get out of it's way.
Playing and throwing rocks at each other usually ends with some one getting hurt (again see stupid hurts)
If your mother says you'll put your eye out with that, than you will.
 
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