zerowaste

This is a quick one, not an impressive repair, but maybe a nice demonstration of the perks of keeping stuff until its useful. I found a multi-socket extension cord/usb charger while digging through ewaste (I fix up laptops and give the stuff I find away on my local.Buy Nothing -type group).

Someone had really yanked on it (probably the plug was stuck behind something heavy) and when it came free, two of the prongs were bent, and the ground prong was ripped out altogether.

I had a spare 120v plug - about a year ago, I took some old extension cords from an estate cleanout. Awhile later, while helping a friend build an arcade cabinet, I dug one out and cut the socket off it to wire the cabinet up for electricity. Unfortunately, the sheathing around the individual wires inside the cord had crumbled away to almost nothing, and it wasn't safe to use. I gave the copper to a friend who sells metal to a junkyard, and kept the plugs from either end.

The actual rewiring isn't difficult, just stripped the wires and attached them to the correct terminals. I used an old neon tester my neighbor gave me to check my work. It lit up just fine and I didn't trip the circuit. Later I plugged a bricked, ewaste 1st gen ipad into the usb socket and it started charging just fine. So it looks like this worked out

So there's my excuse for why I keep all these odds and ends.Even when it's something as simple as this, there's something wonderful about being able to take multiple pieces of junk, combining them, and suddenly having a useful item.

I saw a street market vendor with a pile of ~20 or so old TomToms. The price: 50¢ each, must buy in multiples of 2.

I would have loved to be able to flash them with some OSM-based app, but it does not exist AFAIK. It’s half-tempting to buy some if I see that vendor return because it could be fun to have some of the world’s smallest spinning patter hard drives. Indeed, if you open up an old #TomTom there are CompactFlash sized hard drives with tiny spinning platters which use a CF card interface. Probably of no practical use.

IMO, in a forward-thinking world TomTom would be forced to finance porting OSM to those obsolete devices. TomTom’s excuse for obsolescence is that their maps have outgrown the storage media capacity.

I’ve been kicked out of local junkyards ½ dozen times or so now. It’s a tricky game of trying to reach the waste pile when no one is looking, and also seeing who is on duty in hopes of at least ensuring that the same person doesn’t experience the pattern of kicking you out multiple times. Perhaps they would get aggressive and even block you from dumping stuff if you’re kicked out too much.

Strictly speaking, it’s theft to take stuff from the junkyard. To be clear, the junkyards in my area do not sell parts. They just melt and refine the waste. The melt value is naturally less than the as-is value to someone who would repair or reuse.

IMO, the #rightToRepair movement needs to expand to give the public access to junk before it’s recycled or dumped into landfills.

Meds often expire long before they actually decay. There are a variety of reasons for this:

• the drug makers want waste; just like printer ink makers they want to sell you more than you need in part by encouraging waste.
• performing rigorous tests on the rate of decay of drugs to get an accurate expiry date is costly. It’s much cheaper to skip the testing and choose an arbitrary date that is obviously safe. The excessively big safety factor that results supports the 1st point.
• liability for overestimating the expiry is costly.

So I rarely use even ½ a prescription following an incident. But then I’ll often take expired drugs knowing that the expiry date is often arbitrary anyway. Many drugs do not become more dangerous past the date; they just lose potency and need more of a dose (depending on the drug). Anyway, I digress.

The main problem is the excessive controls. You can’t openly resell what you don’t use. Pharmacies don’t want it back and you’re stuck with it.

India has started a “shared doctor appointment” scheme. The idea is that if you have a dozen people with the same medical condition and the doc’s time is limited, they have introduced an option to have everyone meet at the same time to learn about their condition, almost like taking a class. Some patients then establish friendships with other patients with the same condition. Well why not share the meds considering these patients would often have the same prescription?

This one is nothing fancy, but it fit our workflow well. My SO has always saved recipes to a pinterest board - normally she brings a laptop to the kitchen and sets it up on a chair.

We finally took this tablet (came from corporate ewaste) and stuck it to the wall. It's too old for most apps but it seems to work well for this. We installed pinterest, and a podcast player. Eventually I'll check if there's a good replacement OS for the expired android version, but I figure we'll do a bit of a trial run, see how it's working for us and what we need, before starting with that.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/3586855

Parts used:

• Raspberry Pi 3b, found in an ewaste bin
• Secondhand microphone
• Leftover arcade button
• Old computer wiring
• Old computer speaker
• Secondhand extension cord
• Wood screws from an estate cleanout
• Board from Everything is Free (used to be a floorboard in an attic)
• Plywood speaker grille cut by my spouse at the makerspace - the only new material
• Python code and tutorials from the internet

After working on a bicycle or an engine, hands covered in grease, I can confirm that coffee does the job. Spent coffee grounds are gritty like sand so they work amazingly well to get the grease off. I use a bar of soap at the same time which causes coffee grounds to get embedded in the bar. It’s a good thing too because it always helps to have the soap bar a bit gritty.

That much is proven for me.. been using coffee for years to wash greasy hands instead of buying the special purpose heavy-duty hand cleaners.

Coffee is now being used to make clothing and one of the claims is that it gives odor control. I’ve cut back to showering once per WEEK (a pandemic side-effect that became a habit). Even though I’m back to leaving the house regularly the shower habit did not change. So my armpits get quite rank after a week. 💡 If coffee grounds have a deodorizing effect, why not use them on arm pits? I’ve not heard of anyone doing this but thought it’d be worth a test.

So I brought spent coffee grounds into the shower and after one scrubbing with them my armpit odor was gone. Coffee grounds work better than shower gel. Normally I scrub with shower gel, rinse, & sniff. The first iteration is usually not enough.. I have to repeat that process 2 or 3 times with shower gel to get the stink off. Coffee grounds worked on just one iteration. I think what happens is the deodorant is sticky & waxy which then gets coated with sweat then the sweat-loving bacteria. The abrasive grit from the coffee grounds scrapes the sticky waxy nasties away faster than soap can dissolve it.

Coffee seems to work on its own but I only did this experiment once so far so I followed with shower gel anyway for good measure.

(stop reading at this point)

nsfw begin

Of course arm pits aren’t the only area that stinks after a week. The groin doesn’t smell too good either. What develops to maturity is what’s called cock cheese¹. I’m not flexible enough to do a proper scientific test. The nose-crotch proximity is what it is. It stunk before the coffee treatment but not after. So it worked at least to the extent that I could confirm. I guess my next partner will have the noble scientific task of assisting with the close proximity sniff test mid-shower and indicate whether shower gel is still needed.

footnotes:

1. Sorry folks. Indeed it’s not the most elegant nomenclature. IMO there’s a language deficiency here. That’s the only name the stuff has AFAIK. Be sure to forget that term whenever you’re eating cheese. Or alternatively it may not be a bad idea to just cut cheese out of your diet at this point.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You were warned.

nsfw end

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/3036509

There is apparently a printer that can use spent coffee or tea leaves to print. I love this idea but I would not buy a printer when so many are being thrown away. I pull them out of dumpsters with intent to repair them. So the question is, can they be hacked to work with coffee or tea?

Canon actually disclosed how to hack their cartridges as a consequence of a semiconductor shortage due to coronavirus. So this suggests #Canon could be a candidate for this hack. Has anyone tried it? How precisely do we have to match the viscosity of homemade ink to the original ink?

I think I need a sewing machine that can do a variety of different kinds of stitches. One use case is to repair holey socks by cannabalizing fabric from other holey socks. Thus the stitch needs to be the kind that can stretch and ideally not create an awkward feeling on the foot.

Some sewing machines have a fixed number of stitches they can do. Would it make sense to get an embroidery machine and use #inkStitch (an Inkscape variant)? I’m not sure if that’s strictly for embroidery -- or does that give the ability to do a variety of stitches using FOSS?

The inkstitch.org website steers people toward taking a basic sewing machine and modifying it using 3d printed parts. That’s too ambitious for me. I don’t want a hardware project. I just want to buy hardware that’s ready to go and use free software to control it. Is that possible with things that exist already?

#askFedi

This table was in pretty rough shape, the top was missing, the varnish was flaking, and the wood had greyed in the weather. There was some discoloration I suspected was mold.

I had a scrap of particleboard left over from an arcade cabinet I helped a friend build, which happened to be a good fit for the top, so I decided to combine the two and put them up on my local Buy Nothing -type group. I sanded off the finish, posted a picture asking if anyone would like it once I fixed it up and what color they'd like it painted (normally I restain them but I wanted to get this one done quickly to clear space, and I didn't love how the wood looked (it had a lot of those zigzaggy joints they use for cheap lumber).

A couple people were interested, one picked white, and I painted it up. The paint is the only reason this isn't a completely zerowaste project. I needed more white paint to get this done, and I was in a hurry so I didn't want to wait for asking around on the group. I felt like it was worth it if it gets the table back into service, and out of my basement.

I laid out a dropcloth and set the table upsidedown first so I could get all the spots underneath the joints, then I flipped it and painted it standing upright.

Some of my yellowjacket buddies came to check out what I was doing but we managed to coexist. Nobody got stung and nobody got sprayed with paint.

I turned it four times so I could see how each side looked in direct sunlight, and made sure I hadn't missed anything.

While it dried, I used some white acrylic paint on the sanded edge of the particleboard, to seal up the material. Once that was ready, I flipped the top so the good side faced down, flipped the old table base so it was upside down on top of the upside-down top, measured the distance to each side and adjusted till they were even. Then I drilled through the existing holes in the base, just through the plastic veneer on the particleboard, and drove six drywall screws through.

The finished version is solid enough, and the recipients were happy with it. It'll do it's job for a good many years yet.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/dont-throw-out-those-used-coffee-grounds-use-them-for-3d-printing-instead/

There are bats living around my parent's house. I wanted to build them a house of their own. They seem to like the barn - we think the scratches on the wall below the eaves might be from bats landing and climbing their way up into shelter. They only seem to exist below the eaves, so I'm hoping that's a good sign that they'll notice their new house quickly.

If you've seen my other posts here, you'll know I try to make everything I build out of old materials, stuff I find on trash day, pull from construction debris, or get from my local Everything is Free page, so that was part of the challenge of building this one. I pretty much managed it - the only thing I bought new was the caulking I used to seal the joints, everything else, wood, stains, screws, bituthene, etc was all old stuff.

I started with a kind of motley collection of materials but I like the challenge of finding secondhand stuff that'll work. On the uphand, I didn't have to cut up bigger lumber just to make the spacers, they were all small scraps from other projects. I don't remember where I got the nice piece of half-inch cabinet plywood. The 3/8" plywood came from a fellow I met through Everything is Free, and the pine boards were found on trash day.

I followed this guide: https://www.mass.gov/doc/build-a-four-chamber-bat-house/download from the state of Massachusetts as closely as I could since we're in a similar region, though I had to make it slightly narrower than the specified 17.5 inches because of the dimensions of the 1/2" plywood. I also made the roof slightly wider, because the board was already that length and it seemed like it would offer additional protection, so no need to shorten it.

We had access to a laser cutter through a local makerspace, so my SO and I decided to burn a paisley pattern into the smaller panels just as a quick flourish. I'm actually very pleased with how that little detail looked on the finished version, and it's something I'll play with in future furniture building projects. The sides were slightly longer than the laser cutter's working space, so I had to carve a little of the pattern by hand, but once it was stained they blended in pretty well.

The instructions tell you to cut groves into the interior surfaces to make it easier for the bats to climb. For most of them I did regular horizontal lines, 1/4" to 1/2" apart, but I got bored a couple times and cut climbable murals instead. I tried to emphasize lots of horizontal handholds, and I made sure that each compartment got at least one regular 'ladder' too. Given that they seem to already be climbing the wooden siding of the barn, I think they'll still find this pretty usable.

The instructions all said to stain it with water based stain so the fumes/smell wouldn't bother the bats. I did all the interior surfaces with a can of expresso water-based stain and the outside surfaces with two coats of oil-based stain for improved water resistance (and because I ran out of the water-based stuff). I left all the panels leaning upright on our porch for several weeks so they could offgas with good ventilation, prior to assembly. All the stains came from Everything is Free.

I decided to stain the paisley panels with red mahogany stain and the rest with two coats of ebony to give them a little more contrast. This left the roof and front stained black for maximum sun-warming. On the front paisley panel, which had a frame around the pattern, I did my best to do the inside in red and the frame in black, to match the sides. It was all pretty much hidden by the very distinct grain that piece of plywood happened to have. A prestain might have helped, though I mostly wish I'd had more of the cabinet plywood I used for the upper front and back.

I started assembly by attaching the back to the sides, and started that by caulking the joint. The silicone caulking was the only thing I bought new for this project. I could probably have kept asking around until I found some, but I settled for giving the rest of the tube away on Everything is Free because I didn't think I'd use it for anything before it expired. The directions emphasized that you really want a good seal everywhere except the specified vents, because the bats need to be warm and dry, so I made sure to seal all the exterior joints well.

Once it was all assembled, I added a coat of oil-based urethane to the top and sides of the roof to help with water resistance. If it warped, that could allow drafts and additional moisture intrusion. I also added little bits of trim to the sides under the roof, after sealing that joint a second time.

We hung it partly using some metal strips my dad had from past projects, for attaching chimneys to the roofing around them. They were galvanized and a kind of corrugated pattern. I found two sets of two where the existing holes lined up, and drilled two new ones in each set so they all had four. Then I painted them and attached them to the back.

Another relative provided a scrap of bituthene which we stuck/stapled to the roof for additional waterproofing.

Once it was ready, I pushed it to the top of a tall ladder leveled it against the wall, and put two screws through each metal bracket, then two screws through the landing strip at the bottom, and two toenailed in through the vents on the sides. I'm told that was overkill but I really didn't want any bats we housed to fall off the wall someday. At this point, if it goes, it'll take the siding with it.

You'd be surprised how many stores sell bleach, soda, baking soda and citrus acid. It's cheap, very low in waste, and less to carry from the store.

The ones I have even describe how to use them for different use cases. Basically you just put it in some water. A package costs like a euro and lasts you a year if not years.

Edit: Here's the list:.

• Water: Helps you mix and rinse; cleans almost everything. :)
• Washing Soda: Great for tough stains on clothes and hard surfaces.
• Baking Soda: Sprinkle on carpets or scrub sinks; it's a gentle cleaner.
• Bleach: Need to kill germs or whiten whites? Use bleach, but carefully!
• Citrus Acid: Makes your kettle or showerhead shine by removing scale.
• Rubbing Alcohol: Perfect for glass and wiping down surfaces; dries fast.
• White Vinegar: Mix with water for an all-purpose cleaner; good on glass too.
• Borax: Boosts your laundry detergent; helps keep bugs away.
• Sea Salt: Scrubbing a pan? Sea salt helps scrape away the tough bits.
• Castille Soap: Wash floors, dishes, or even pets; it's mild and versatile.

I've noticed that the Nivea roll-on deodorants I'm using are pretty easy to open after used up, but haven't found any refill fluid on the market.

I know some people use powders etc, I'm not willing to try that, but does anyone know of a reasonably priced refill?

Pine isn't the perfect material for tool handles, I wouldn't use it for anything that's going to bear an impact like a hammer or axe handle. But it turns easily, and cleans up pretty nice. I've used lengths of Christmas Tree trunk both because it was quick/easy (as for this quick handle for a file) and because it's nice when the materials have their own story, and I can preserve a bit of a special time in something I make.

I don’t know what the slrpnk.net opinion on Christmas trees is. Around where I live, when a farm or orchard goes out of business, developers turn it into another subdivision. A tree farm might not be an ideal habitat, but I’m willing to bet on it being better than another clearcut, paved, human neighborhood. So for us, we figure we can give some money to the Boys and Girls Club, help keep a farm solvent, and then use the wood left over for projects. I think this fits the zerowaste ethos well enough.

I've got two examples to show off today. The first one was actually the very first thing I made on the lathe after I got it restored . We had a few years of Christmas Tree trunks drying at the time, so it was an easy, low-stakes material to start with, and already round, which makes starting on the lathe easier.

The finished version was obviously pretty crude, but I didn't want it to go to waste, and I liked the feel of it, so I attached it to an old file I got at a junk store awhile back.

I've been using it for several years now with no problems.

The second example is a knife repair, (though on this one I chose the Christmas Tree wood more for sentimental reasons than for convenience). This was a gift/repair for my grandmother - a few years ago she threw a party, and someone dropped this knife on the floor. The bakelite handle shattered near the top. She was going to throw it away but I said I'd make a new handle for it, though I'll admit it took me a few years to get around to it.

Step 1 was to take the handle the rest of the way apart and get just the blade and it's decorations separated from the broken plastic.

I cut this piece of pine from the trunk of our 2020 Christmas tree after it had had awhile to dry. It was the same piece I carved most of the koroks from though this piece was too skinny to fit any koroks inside easily.

I'm still very much an amateur at turning, and made some mistakes as I went, but I learned a lot on this one, and was able to get some results I was pleased with.

I cut the top to fit the little decorative cap, drilled a line of holes for the tang of the blade, and did some test fits and adjustments. I also cleaned up the bottom end and sanded it with all the same grits of paper the rest of it got.

I wanted the stain to be a reminder of the original handle, so I started with gunstock (a very bright, orange-red color) and then while it was still wet, I worked in Red Oak, which is darker and more brown. This deepened it and brought out some nice detail in the grain. The red oak on its own turned the test pieces very dark brown, and it wasn't as visually interesting, so I'm glad I did it this way.

I followed that up with four coats of high-gloss polyurethane, with some light sanding in between. The pine was thirsty - drank up the urethane in some spots on the first coats so you wouldn't think any had been applied. Eventually I got a nice, even finish.

On the Zerowaste side, the blade was old and I was able to put it back in use. The wood was left over from a Christmas tree. All the stains were found on our local Everything is Free group, or left over from old projects. The urethane was also leftover. The project cost time and electricity, but nothing beyond that.

Hi Punks! I am wondering what would be the best option to do some eco waste recycling at home? I am living in a small flat and have a balcony where I am trying to grow some veggies and herbs. Lately I am getting targeted apps about worm farms that you can have either in your flat (because apparently they don't smell?) Or on a balcony. Does anyone have experience with this? Or does it make more sense to simply compost? I think you can use bokashi as well to compost that has some microorganisms? I am wondering what would be the best option smell wise and suitable for smaller amounts of waste and space. If anybody has some experience to share I'd be grateful :)

If you've seen any of my previous posts here, you may have noticed that I enjoy woodworking. I’m also very sentimental, so I save our Christmas trees after we take them down, dry them, strip the branches, and keep the trunks for future projects. I think it’s nice to have that bit of story behind something you make.

(I don’t know what the slrpnk.net opinion on Christmas trees is. Around where I live, when a farm or orchard goes out of business, developers turn it into another subdivision. A tree farm might not be an ideal environment, but I’m willing to bet on it being better than another clearcut, paved, human neighborhood. So for us, we figure we can give some money to the Boys and Girls Club, help keep a farm solvent, and then use the wood for projects.)

I use them for small items mostly – I’ve got a set of lathe projects I plan to show off next, but for the moment, I’m going to focus on the little carvings I’ve been doing.

My wife loves the new zelda games, especially searching for koroks. (Koroks are little forest spirits that live in the game and hide all over the game map. Finding them can be as simple as picking up a rock or more complicated, doing timed challenges or figuring out a mild puzzle.) She shares the Nintendo Switch with my brother- and sister-in-law though, so I hide these little guys around our apartment for her to find when she can't play.

Like I said, the wood comes from our Christmas trees and the paint I use for their leaves is 15-year-old acrylics from back when I played warhammer. Electricity and time spent, but no new materials.

I start by using the bandsaw to cut a section of tree trunk from the Christmas tree. I use the belt sander to flatten one side, then use the band saw to square it up a bit, similar to ripping full-size tree trunks into dimensional boards on a sawmill (I don't like to lose too much material, but you need at least a couple flat sides to safely rip the piece lengthwise and so you can draw on one side and still lay it flat while you cut it out.

After I cut them out, I rough them into shape with the belt sander and a boxcutter, then a dremel.

Before sanding, I like to paint the mask. This gives it plenty of time to dry (so I can come back and make adjustments) while I sand the main body. I'm not as good at painting as I was when I was a kid, but I can still do a bit of detail work when I have to.

Then I do lot of sanding with sandpaper. I like to read a ebook while I sand out any blemishes.

I drill through the mask for the branch/nose (if there is one), and use the same dab of glue to attach the nose as to fasten the mask to the korok. After I glue the mask on, I set them on a bench outside to dry - I remember super glue fogging my warhammer minis, and airflow is supposed to help.

One of the really things I love about woodcarving is the way the wood comes with constraints that can shape the final piece. You have to adjust your plans as you find quirks and irregularities in the material, or as you damage it or make mistakes. It feels a bit like a collaboration between you and your work. I generally really like working around constraints.

You can usually find two koroks in each three-inch piece of tree trunk, but it depends on the size of the koroks you're looking for. Sometimes it turns out there isn't a korok in a piece of wood. Sometimes there's just a mask.

These are fun, and quick to make - at this point, they usually go from a chunk of tree to a finished, painted carving in about 4 hours. I could probably take more time and put more detail into them, but to be honest, making sure there's a lot of them to find was a higher priority for me than sanding out every blemish or making the leaf as thin as possible in pine.

At this point, I've almost used up our 2020 tree. Its branches have been useful when I need wooden pegs, and now that I have a lathe to work with, the already-round, dried wood is useful for that. Luckily I have a few more to work with.

So if anybody wants a solution they won't have to scour the internet for what are essentially the same uses over and over again

Here's a short list I made through searching this sub and other threads+articles:
#WARNING: Keeping your phone constantly plugged into the charger for long periods of time may cause the battery to swell up and potentially explode
#WARNING: Keeping the screen on constantly on a phone with an OLED screen will likely cause burn-in eventually

Keep it as a backup phone
Dedicated camera
Dedicated music player (especially LG phones with qDAC)
Baby/pet monitor
Use it as a smart doorbell
Use it to record POVs akin to GoPros
Smart Home controller
Bedside alarm clock
Universal remote
Remote PC controller
Help science by lending your phones power for research
Dedicated eReader
Dedicated gaming machine
Webcam
Dedicated car phone for GPS etc
Dashcam
Digital photo frame
Education tool for kids
Video call device
Wifi extender/hotspot
Host a media server on it (Plex etc)
Host a normal server on it (c. /u/3Werve)
Timelapse camera
Give it to kids
PC Statistics (CPU, GPU usage)
Wireless adapter for wired controllers
Kitchen recipe guide
PC Monitor
Macro pad for PC
White noise machine
Disassemble and make an art piece out of it
Experimentation (e.g trying out apps or ROMs)
Dedicated chat device (Whatsapp, Telegram etc) (c. /u/utakatikmobil)
Cast Receiver (c. /u/Substantial_Berry_14)
m3u IPTV player (c. Substantial_Berry_14)

###No uses fit you?

Donate it
Recycle it
Sell it

I may link to examples or guides but for now im a bit too lazy. Googling should be enough, if not add site:reddit.com to the end of your query

This one was scratch-built as a gift. They wanted a shoe rack and sent me some links of examples for sale on amazon. The designs weren’t consistent, so I took what I felt were good features from each and built one from lumber I had.

Most of it was just pressure treated 2”x4”s someone on Everything Is Free had been looking to get rid of while cleaning out under his deck (these are the ones with thick, visible grain and a slight greenish tinge (always wear a dust mask while sanding but especially for these)) and older heat-treated 2”x4” whose origin I don’t remember.

The top section's side plates and the supports for the lower shelf were cut from lengths of white-primed trim – these were edge-glued boards, meaning they were glued together from pieces of smaller scrap, and had zig-zaggy joints straight across the face of the lumber here and there. Because these joints are kind of ugly and not as strong as the regular wood, I cut sections from it that didn’t include them. Then I sanded off the white primer (wear a dust mask for this too) so I could stain them to match the rest of the piece.

The hardest part was finding something for the shelves themselves. I had a few thin lengths but not enough, and ended up posting to the Everything is Free page with a couple example photos asking if anyone had something close. Within minutes a guy offered up some bedrails he’d found on garbage day. He had taken them so they wouldn’t go to waste but didn’t have a project in mind and was happy to offer them up. I sanded them down smooth and cut them to length.

Wherever I can, I use wood screws as they’re much easier to remove than nails. But for a piece of furniture with very visible joints like this, I used finish nails almost everywhere. I also glued the joints as I nailed them so they wouldn’t work apart (this was especially necessary on the top, as the finish nails were thin brads and the slats liked to try to wander as I hammered others into place).

Once it was done, I treated it to the usual stain and polyurethane (both left over from previous projects, the stain I think was second-hand).

I was pleased with the final product - it's surprisingly sturdy for something without any 45's in the design - and the recipient liked it quite a bit, which is what matters.

This was a kind of odd project, but I think it’ll fit. Back when I was researching ways to reuse plastic from 3d-printers, I ran across a thread discussing HDPE, turning plastic bags (if you can find only filmed HDPE ones) into printer filament through something like a filastruder, and that got me thinking about milk jugs. HDPE is a very strong plastic, is readily available, and can tolerate being re-melted better than many others. When melted and formed into shapes, it’s hard, and glossy/smooth.

My experimental design was simple, a little owl figure (like a squishmallow) to make into a necklace for my spouse.

I carved a simple wooden mold, and set up outside with an old toaster oven (the fumes can be dangerous, it’s important not to heat it anywhere near 400 degrees Fahrenheit – I found 250 to be more than sufficient). I cut part of a milk jug into thin strips and piled them on a piece of sheet tin and let them soften in the oven. Once they were soft and sticky, I used a pair of pliers to wad them into a ball and pressed them into the mold.

It took a little clean up (trimming the flat disk of extra plastic which forms between the two sides of such a crude mold and adding the faint little face) but it worked alright. After a few tries, the soft pine of the mold started to compress a little, the softer wood around the dark grain receding slightly so the grain marked the plastic.

It was an interesting one-off with some potential, but probably better done by people who know more than I do. I don’t generally like plastic projects like this because of the scrap which isn’t going to get accepted by a recycling center (if they actually recycle it at all) but I like the potential for local reuse of material and I could always melt it again. I thought about making a beta fish mold, so the disk of extra would form its fins, but never got around to it and let the project drop. As materials go, it actually feels pretty nice to touch and to carve, and I could see perhaps using it to make tool handles or something similar, if for some reason I wanted plastic rather than wood, which generally works best for me.

This was a recent one, kind of the start of refinishing furniture with the intent to give it away on our local Buy Nothing -type page. We found this old kid-sized chair on the curb on garbage day. The finish (some kind of shellac, I think) was peeling or gone in places, the wood was a bit weathered, scuffed, and water stained.

I sanded it down and posted a photograph of it with the bare wood, surrounded by cans of stain, to the facebook group, offering it up with a promise I’d stain it whatever color they picked form the pile (or provided themselves) and urethane it. I ended up having to do a little raffle as there was a decent amount of interest. The winner picked a nice medium brown color and I stained it and urethaned it.

The person who received it was delighted – it turned out she was a retired teacher, and had fond memories of these chairs. She brought us a pot-holder her granddaughter had knitted to thank us for it (which was unexpected but very nice!).