What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
horsewoman
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by horsewoman »

We started working on our raised bed in the garden. I use the wire basket of a (long discarded) deep fryer for sieving the soil. Since we don't buy packaged soil but produce our own humus from manure and green waste there are plenty of stones and other bits in it. The basket is great for this purpose!

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Alphaville
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

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I throw away/donate most unused things due to lack of space + brain space, but I keep a box full of bicycle parts. Stems, saddles, seatposts, pedals, tires, inner tubes, fenders, grips, cranksets, reflectors, etc. You never know when the next Frankenbike is gonna need something or what.

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Alphaville
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by Alphaville »

I’ve started to keep empty glass containers in case they’re needed to mix/store solutions, chemicals, etc, which we normally purchase for convenience.

E.g.: ordered a gallon of 45% vinegar instead of buying the usual 5% kind. And while I only keep chlorine bleach for emergencies, because I generally prefer hippy disinfectants, I might have to mix some bleach now.

davtheram12
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by davtheram12 »

Alphaville wrote:
Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:27 pm
E.g.: ordered a gallon of 45% vinegar instead of buying the usual 5% kind. And while I only keep chlorine bleach for emergencies, because I generally prefer hippy disinfectants, I might have to mix some bleach now.
How do you find the 45% vinegar working for you? I tend to use multi-purpose solutions diluted with water (depending on the use) but my second most used product is 5% vinegar. I especially like using the vinegar since its a great non-toxic disinfectant.

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Alphaville
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by Alphaville »

davtheram12 wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:55 am
How do you find the 45% vinegar working for you? I tend to use multi-purpose solutions diluted with water (depending on the use) but my second most used product is 5% vinegar. I especially like using the vinegar since its a great non-toxic disinfectant.
Don’t know this one till it arrives, but have used 30% before, 3 ways:

1. as cleaning spray diluted in distilled water to 2.5-3% (assuming 1:1 mix of 5% kitchen vinegar or 6% cleaning vinegar and water)

2. as addition to washing machine for rinse, it just needs to be measured more carefully. e.g 1/6 or 1/9 of the usual. use by tablespoon or ounce instead of by the cup

3. in pure form as degreaser, but i find that orange oil works best for gunk

The only issue for me here is that at high concentrations the “vinegar smell” becomes an irritant. It burns the eyes, or if you inhale it too. Oof! At 30% it’s an industrial product: I will handle the 45% with greater respect and it should last me a long time.

The reason I’ve ordered this is to avoid having to hunt down 5 or 6% giant bottles around town. I was actually trying to order the regular stuff and it offered me this option. The 30% at $26 or so? was pricier than the 6 equivalent 5% bottles, but the 45% at $20 beats the price of 9 gallon equivalent. Just have to compensate with more distilled water for the cleaning spray (no streak, I have hard water).

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Alphaville
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by Alphaville »

davtheram12 wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:55 am
How do you find the 45% vinegar working for you?
okay, this is an update on the above.

one big advantage of the 45% concentration is that instead of adding a whole cup to laundry i just add an ounce for roughly the same effect. which i had mentioned before.

but the reduced volume matters, because now i can put the concentrated vinegar in the laundry softener dispenser of a washing machine.

with the 5-6% i had to wait for the wash cycle to end, and hear/remember to go add a cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.

now i just have to load once and let it rip, so i'll be sticking with it unless something happens (corrosion? but i doubt it...)

horsewoman
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by horsewoman »

skinny jeans --> forearm guard
I'm harvesting raspberries right now and got scratched up pretty badly - our berry patch is a thorny wilderness, liberally sprinkled with stinging nettles.
Even with a long sleeved shirt I got burned and stung pretty badly, so I used the cut off legs of a damaged slim fit elastic jeans to protect my arms. I simply sewed narrow tubes out of the denim and put it over both forearms. Much better!
Last edited by horsewoman on Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:09 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Sclass
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

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Nice. I just bought some commercially produced leggings to keep thorns out of my socks. I was thinking of making something but I got a deal on the leggings/gaiters on eBay. $7 including shipping. I used to make my own for skiing but in those days technical outdoor gear cost a lot.

I wish I had some arm protectors last weekend when I removed the agave cactus. I’m slowly healing. The bumps literally left hundreds of open wounds on my forearms. I wonder if I can catch Coronavirus through broken skin.

horsewoman
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

Post by horsewoman »

@sclass - to speed up the healing process I gently wipe strongly dilluted apple cider vinegar over the hurt skin twice a day. It is very soothing and a mild disinfectant.

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Sclass
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Re: What do you reuse/repurpose/upcycle?

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Thanks. It’s worth a try.

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