Fact or Fiction? Uncommon Uses for Household Items (Part 2)

Heard about Cokes from both the reputed manufacturers being used for toilet cleaning (didn't try out, have other chamicals) - seems to be very effective due to its high acidity. Infact anti-coke demonstrators demonstrated the effectiveness on several forum

This household item seems to be very powerful insecticide too (used as spray on crops) May be the insects and germs overfeed and die.

A good friend of mine is a master electrician, works mostly on high rise office construction. He always has a 4 liter bottle of Coke with him, uses it to clean concrete out of blocked conduit. When he finds a blockage he pours the Coke in, lets it sit over night, after cleaning the pipe he can then pull in wire. Coke is also good for cleaning copper and brass, and chrome.

He would do better to use hidrochloric acid [Pool cleanser, spirits of salts] to clear sement from the pipes. Rather drink the Coke while waiting for the acid to work! Like many food recipes.......rather drink alcohol that the recipe prescribes and add something else.....the alcohol would evaporate at about 80 degrees in any case!!! What a waist!

Just overkill

And how to casually carry hydrochloric acid on your hip?????

No Man, coke [the kind you drink!] is alkaline.....thus it is good to remove acid from your cars battery! But... bicarbonate of soda in hot water is cheaper.

Are you a (blind) Indian?

Kool Aid-type powdered drink mixes, the ones that are sugar free, are very effective at cleaning and polishing metal items.

I have been using Olive Oil for pain relief for years, the extra virgin works best since it is the first batch taken off the extraction procedure.

Have a splinter of wood or steel in you skin? Chew some bread to paste and apply it to the spot, next day the splinter should be out. Sounds funny but it works, mt grand mother proved it to me when I was a wee one.

I have found by experience that Mosquitoes do not like the smell of people who love hot sauces, I have a hot sauce with either Habanario or Halipino (sorry about the spelling) every day, and during the mosquito months they never seem to bite me, they buzz around but never land. for the clowns out there yes i shower on a regular basis 8-)

"have found by experience that Mosquitoes do not like the smell of people who love hot sauces, I have a hot sauce with either Habanario or Halipino"

That may vary according to species, so I wouldn't rely on that too much (mosquitoes don't seem to starve in India or Mexico). I've always found that (as a supplement to using DEET), the best way to counter mosquitoes is to keep my skin cool - even more effective if I can manage to find a travelling companion who has a high skin temperature.

Mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide. The most effective prevention is therefor a little drastic. A product called 'Skin-so Soft', marketed as a womans skin softener, is used by many a burly logger in Scotland.

But loads of bites around the nose and lips?

If I had to take a leak in some remote mosquitto infested place, I wouldn't let it hang around too much. They don't seem to like cigarette smoke too much.

Put a softener dryer sheet in a pocket a skeeters no more

Could do, but this is maybe a 'greener' option than all the creams etc;

I have used those and had no trouble staying warm but getting a drink may require acrobatics without a bite

About 5 will fit in the opening of a beer can

In northern Ontario we have whole suits of that stuff. Call them Ontario flack suits.

I kept mine when I moved to BC. Kinda interesting to attend a nudist camp around sunset when everybody sits around the camp fire wearing . . nuttin' but!

The fine mesh even keeps no-se-ums away. But the fine mesh also keep out the light breezes so I prefer the "skin-so-soft" for mosquito repellent.

elnav,

Sounds like black flys make it up to northern Ontario...

I remember doing some geological field mapping in Eastern Maine about 30 years ago, just about this time of year, early June, the peak of the dreaded black fly season. The mosquito net hats, long sleeves, & "bathing" in DEET helped keep the flies at bay...

One could take a drink right through the netting from a bota. But I remember that trying to eat anything out in the field was futile. In the two or three seconds it would take to (attempt) unwrapping and taking a bite from a sandwich or other food from inside a pack, the entire surface of the food would be swarming with black flies before my hand reached my netted head...

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just my $0.02...

Yeah, I've seen the commercial ...

http://www.tabasco.com/arts_pavilion/tv_ads/tabasco_mosquito_ad.cfm

Pain relief.......check "comfrey" on google!

This plant really works better than anything else; It is really unbelieveable.

For any burns or any inflammation there is none better. Known to man from Before Christ!!!!!!!

FOXGLOVE (DIGITALIS PURPUREA) Foxgloves are the pharmaceutical source of the heart drug digitalis, which is poisonous in overdose. POISON TYPE : Potent cardiac or steroid glycosides: digitoxin, digloxin, digitalin, and others. Another possible cause of poisoning by this group of plants is the abuse of herbal medicines prepared from them. These medicines should be administered only by qualified medical personnel. As comfrey leaves resemble foxglove leaves, use caution when growing these two plants and isolate them from each other. Comfrey is often used as an infusion or tea.

Precisely so - a small mistake in identifying your Comfrey could cause undesired permanent lack of pain. It's also no all that effective for headaches - it might be worth trying Feverfew instead (but not during pregnancy or while breast feeding); plus Feverfew is a much prettier garden plant weed than Comfrey.

As comfrey leaves resemble foxglove leaves, use caution when growing these two plants and isolate them from each other. Comfrey is often used as an infusion or tea.

Vinegar is surprisingly good for cleaning glass.

I believe the benefits of the acid have been explained elsewhere - but can someone tell us why vinegar works even better on windows when combined with newsprint?

Tumeric (food grade) as used in many asian dishes makes a poultice that works wonders on skin sores and minor cuts. I had a skin rash on my foot that refusd to heal for more than four years despite the salves, creams, etc. prescribed by the doctor. A poultice treatment for three nights in a row, repeated every couple of weeks. After each session of 3 consecutive nights application; a definite improvement was noted.

The skin rash/lesion was bad enough to bar me from using a public pool. I have not had a recurrence in over two years.

We now use this for rapid healing of various cuts and injuries to arms, legs, and fingers. It seem to work better than polysporin.

-Try Turmeric with mustard oil . Works like magic on your muscle aches.

- Our area people take some sort of Calcium Hydroxide or so (with betel) it is edible so can not be Ca(OH)₂ ? - very effective for bee stings (had to put on just a few days back)

- In my chidhood- people especially ie my sisters used to make a pultice of the cream the aggregate formed on top of surface when milk is boiled- and white fine wheat flour - and this was used to clean the skin by putting over the sikin and rolling by the flat of hand- very good defoliator, keeps the skin soft and removes dead skin.

-Try Turmeric with mustard oil Any idea where to find mustard oil in Canada? that is one thing I have not seen available.

It doesn't. You'll very slowly accumulate a nice veneer of ink on your windows.

It did at a time when the ink was a coal oil derivative

Are you saying it's safe to wipe with The Sun newspaper again ?

Most of it is soy based now, even the paperbacks. Figures I'm allergic to soy.

Vinegar is excellent for removing water scale.

Vinegar also works well to combat heartburn.

Plop Plop - Baking Soda is cheaper.

Baking soda may be as good for human plumbing, but Alka-Seltzer has advantages for blocked sinks

Alright, for sinks, add vinegar with the baking soda ? Sure I read something about mintoes and coke as well. Much more fun to disecredit expensive, branded, off-the-shelf stuff.. Whilst I'm here, vinegar and a handful of rice for inside glass vases.

Jalapenos, garlic and onions both mask and simulate halitosis.

The powdered orange drink "Tang" will bring your old stained dishwasher to a brilliant clean shine with only one wash. Simply put the powder into the slots where you normally put the detergent, and run a normal wash (without dishes).

Garlic, onions, and jalapenos are the staple of my diet. I suppose i wont ever know if my bad breath is caused from them or masked by them....

I have also used flour and water to fill nail holes in my drywall before moving out of a rental unit.

Gargling with a glass of warm water with a single drop of Dettol will stop the pain from a sore throat....

Dettol may be UK only.......

Dettol is used for sterilizing right we have it in Holland.

Red Bull is good for removing Chrome

Red Bull chew?

??

I think the Large amount of Cafeine is the culprit, but then i am not a chemist

Thought it was the carbonated water, CO2+H2O=Acid, thats why your teeth rot from soda, well, that and the sugar. Same for why it cleans the toilet and 'eats' through sheet metal. Atleast this is what they told us back in highschool chem.

Oatmeal - By way of general trivia, the botanical artist Elizabeth Cameron (who died recently) invented boil-in-the-bag porridge. It sounds truly revolting, but I think the dear lady deserves a mention. On the matter of Quakers, it was their belief in non-violence, and strong work ethic that resulted in most of the UK's Chocolate industry. Many worked as stetcher bearers during the war. I'll shaddup, I'm rambling to gawd knows where......Oh yeah, very healthy stuff porridge, though I think I'd pass on the Snail Porridge (available at the Fat Duck restaurant)

Vinegar and salt do a pretty good job of removing the tarnish off of copper.

Peanut butter can be used to make diamonds.

Vitamin E on chapped lips keeps them from cracking more and heals them faster.

Butter seals the air from light burns but should not be used if the skin will or is breached.

A pencil lead (well rounded) will stick to foreign matter in the eye and not the eye.

Some people use a flax seed left a while in the eye to clean dust and straw out.

Tea bag makes a good poultice and astringent due to the high tannic acid content.

Maple(real) syrup will calm an acidic stomach.

A bar of soap will make a temporary small hole patch in a gas tank.

I'm sure I have forgot more than I've listed.

Are you sure of your last point: "A bar of soap will make a temporary patch in a gas tank."

Did you mean that soap will patch a small hole in the gas tank temporarily?

As far as I know soap will render the fuel useless, it would not ignite. Sugar does anyway. Does someone know more and is definite about this?

Actually soap and fuel = napalm, and I know it will temporarily patch a small small hole in a gas tank from use. Sugar does not stop fuel from burning but carbons up the cylinder to the point it seizes the pistons. Ask my neighbors who had to drive out their pistons with a sledge hammer when I tired of them stealing my premium gas.

We lived in the 6th largest county of Oregon, the largest town was just over 1000 people and the second was just over 500. You could count the service stations on one hand. I've had to siphon fuel into a glass coke bottle and fill the float in the carburetor repeatedly among other things to get home.

As for the new perfume soaps I have no idea but a plain bar of white hand soap will work for the short term. And yes nylons have replaced a broken fan belt to keep the water pump and generator working well enough to get her home ( minus her nylons)

Another dangerous trick is to use starting fluid to seal the bead on a tire to the rim. Tricky to get the right amount and tricky to ignite.

Brad

Here in za northwestern farmers kept some dates in the cubbyhole to seal a cracked feul tank but a mixture of soap and sugar also lasted a long time.

In Florida, we have a terrible problem with a certain kind of bug, during the months Of May and September. The bug will splat on your cars front end, and ruin the paint if you don't remove it soon enough. The bug insides have an acidic content that messes up the paint. Anyway, I found out that dryer fabric sheets remove and disolve the bugs, and many other kinds of deposits on the cars body quiete nicely.

I though it was a bunch of houey, but it works. there is something in the dryer sheet that dissolves the bug compounds, and softens it enough to be removed.

Try it, you'll like it.

What is a "dryer sheet"?

Do they need to be wet (or are they already wet)?

Tissue that is used in tumbler-driers to spread antistatic agent around the place. Often carries allergenic perfume as well. I don;t know what they use as a solvent, but as it is used in a drier it should ideally have a lower vapour-pressure than pure water.

A dryer sheet is the fabric softner sheets that are put in the clothes dryer to add fabric softner and reduce static electricity in the clothes drying cycle. Found in the laundry products section of the grocery store. The stuff they put in them seem to dissolve bugs and tar on a car bumper. especially bug goo.

I also add a little WD-40 to the dryer sheet, and it really dissolves the icky stuff very well.

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Horseradish and olive oil will probably work as a liniment. It makes a self heating rubbing oil, so it has 2 advantages. The self heating increases the blood flow the same as a heating pad would. The olive oil won't polymerize easily, so you won't become part of a plastic laminate.