Random Cool Tricks

^^^^He’s a Ninja. Amazing!

 

One second later. Ready to work. I keep a few of these handy in my vehicles. Send $29.95 plus shipping(another $29.95) for yours. If you act in the next 5 minutes......

 

I worked in a big truck tire shop in Japan. This would've been a neat trick to master for some where I couldn't get the truck into the job site.

 

One of the coolest tricks in my arsenal is to carry around a good cup of coffee instead of a 12 ga. It has saved me beaucoup bucks in bail and lawyers over the many decades of my cantankerous life.

 

I like my coffee in the morning, but after breakfast I have other options to keep my cool when I'm not driving.

 

Ever run out of book shelf space? I don't think my local used book store ever will. The top picture shows where you check out. In a narrow gap between stacks of books at the end of the aisle.

I love this place. It's bookie heaven.

The Book End. Jacksonville, NC

 

Puppy power!

 

I vaguely remember there being a thread about things we should've known, or an old dog/new trick thread, but I can't locate them, so I'll post this observation here.

I had an opportunity to test a Walther P1 today. A quick search indicated.that the P1, P5, P38 are all left eject semi-auto handguns.

The question is, why left ejection?

My test, firing only two shots, one in each hand, gave an immediate answer. The recoil, when fired right or left handed was absolutely straight back. No twist as I'd expect with a conventional right eject handgun.

Of course, I also like the idea of throwing brass back at people who are always doing it to me.

 

I only ever had trouble with .40SW pistols. If on my immediate left, they always toss hot brass at my face!!

 

If you survive having one of these hoods fall on you, you'll never forget this simple trick.

 

Finally a good use for old gas cans that have developed a leak.

 

I was wiring new lights of the fire truck and thought I'd post about this great piece of gear. The old windshield sun shade.

I may have posted about this silly repurposed sun shade before, but it's a new season and I've found new reasons to love this thing. I think of it as a very low profile, light weight, creeper and ground cloth for doing all sorts of vehicle maintenance.
In winter it keeps me off the cold ground, in summer it insulates me from hot parking lots. I can slide across it without damaging my uniform or getting dirty, and I can scoot along under a car by just grabbing a corner above my shoulder and giving a push with my feet. The rearview mirror cutout fits around most tires and will keep the shade from blowing away. I find them in car in the salvage yard, and keep one in every one of my cars.

 

Not sure if this qualifies as a cool trick, but it's sure making my life easier. In the past when I wanted to cast bullets, I'd set up an old aluminum sign as a base in yard, pile cinder blocks on it, move a chair into place, build a ventilation system out of stray stove pipe, lawn chairs and a window fan, and make about a dozen trips in and out gathering everything to cast bullets. It made things difficult enough that I was using the "too hot, too cold, might rain" excuses and getting no bullets cast.

Then I was given this box. It's some sort of military maintenance set box, and needed several rivets and a small weld. It holds all my casting junk, including the smelter, is aluminum, so nothing sticks, and can be set up and packed away in minutes, even while hot.

I will eventually set up a power strip on one side with a dedicated 8" vent fan and collapsible dryer duct to route the fumes safely away from me on days without a steady breeze.

Casting is fun again!
It is quite heavy, but manageable.

 

One liter plastic bottle with a slit down the back to fit over the hasp.
It does a fine job of protecting the padlock from rain, and has been there for almost twenty years.

 

I thought this was pretty cool. The whole curbside front of this bus is glass. With all the mirrors it'd be hard to miss a kid in front of the bus, and now there's even better visibility to the side.

 

You can eliminate static on plastic by wiping it with an old dryer sheet.

Powder dippers and funnels are the worst for this, but are static free after a quick wipe.

 

I could name a whole nother world with the stains on my shirts. This is gonna be fun.