I'm cleaning out the pond today. The hose to the submersible pump is filled with algae. I could sure use that gadget to bore through the gunk and get the water flowing unimpeded!
I once tried using the wet/dry shop vac to clean out the same pond: never thought of a retractable snake to refurbish the hoses on that machine.
Could Jay have recommended either of those applications?
You got it, Amy - although it wasn't the wet/dry vac, but my regular house vacuum cleaner. I was working away when I noticed it didn't seem to be picking up well. I disconnected the hose and the input air at the vacuum was much stronger than it was at the hose end. We sent the snake through and about 1/2 way down the hose was a hair ball. Not sure how it got itself stuck, but it had!
Yes, I'd absolutely try one for algae build up in submersible pump hoses!
If you run the snake through the over-flow tube, there is less chance it will go the wrong direction (up the vent pipe) if there are multiple bends in the drain; ...Courtesy advice from Richard Trethewy the plumber on This Old House. I just saw this on an episode today.
This plate that I got at a thrift store puzzles me. It has no markings at all on the back, but looks commercially made. I have never seen this pattern before, but it definitely doesn't look handmade.
Anyone able to find out about this? I'm striking out.
The color is bluer than it looks in this pic, a deep dusty blue, not bright cobalt, but not gray like it looks here.
Pearl Sutton wrote:This plate that I got at a thrift store puzzles me. It has no markings at all on the back, but looks commercially made. I have never seen this pattern before, but it definitely doesn't look handmade.
Anyone able to find out about this? I'm striking out.
The color is bluer than it looks in this pic, a deep dusty blue, not bright cobalt, but not gray like it looks here.
Ah HA!! An apple for you!
Welcome to Permies, what a lovely first post!!
Thank you! I was very puzzled by the lack of any name on the back. Didn't even think about stickers....
Mine is the same size, I paid nowhere near 30.00 for it. It was 1.00 or under. I don't bother to ask prices at that store any more, they are always well below what I'm willing to pay, I gave up asking. When I can, I pay more than they are asking, to donate to them, they are a good cause. It's run by and benefits the local senior citizens center, the money goes to buy fun things for the place, the grants they get cover only the required items. They get some interesting donations. It's a fun shop.
Ah HA!! An apple for you!
Welcome to Permies, what a lovely first post!!
Thank you! I was very puzzled by the lack of any name on the back. Didn't even think about stickers....
Mine is the same size, I paid nowhere near 30.00 for it. It was 1.00 or under. I don't bother to ask prices at that store any more, they are always well below what I'm willing to pay, I gave up asking. When I can, I pay more than they are asking, to donate to them, they are a good cause. It's run by and benefits the local senior citizens center, the money goes to buy fun things for the place, the grants they get cover only the required items. They get some interesting donations. It's a fun shop.
Okay, this may be OT but I'm stumped by it. Obviously it's a tabletop cookstove, and it's WW2 period. I got the screen grab from the BBC series "Wartime Farm." Help!!!
I'm with you, I want one :D
I wonder if it would run off a candle type flame. I have candles I have poured in cans that have a spiral of cardboard as the wick, depending on which one you choose, some have more wick (burn faster and hotter) some have less (slower and lower temp.) Those might be neat in a stove like that.
Hmmm... Now you have me drooling over cast iron ideas again....
Looking for tabletop stoves I found something that looks a bit similar: here described as "ANTIQUE Beatrice STOVE Kerosine England CAST Iron COOK"
Obviously not the same, but gives an indicative direction.
Looking for Beatrice stoves takes me to some fascinating pages - I love the internet really! Who knew there was a forum for classic camping stoves?
Wow! It uses a flat wick and mica windows to give light as well as heat, some had double burners (more here)
I still want one! The closest I've got is a 1947 Coleman single burner gasoline stove, nickle finish, with the original aluminum case, thrift shop $10.
For Christmas we did our silly game of mostly wrapping things from the house, and a few things bought cheaply second hand, just to pretend to be surprised and thrilled when we open them.
This was at a second hand store for 2.00. I got it because it's pretty, and a tool I don't own. And so I could do exactly what I did, open it and say "Alright WTF Santa! What IS this thing?"
So... What IS this thing?? I seriously don't know. It's pretty! That's not a good ID of function. :D
Apple for Steph Walker, thank you!! Gonna have to think on that thing.
Another from the silly game, it's really a heavy rack, looks really specific what is was made for, no clue what that would be. About 12 x 12 inches, has feet on the bottom, so it's meant to stand flat. The spaces wont hold things like silverware in place, wrong direction of bars for things like business cards...
What was it made for?
I think it's neat and I have my own agendas for it, but it is puzzling me.
The gaps look wide enough to hold boxes of cereal? (why anyone would buy such things, I don't know)
With the leverage, if it was on a wall, it would have to hold light things. If it's designed to sit, flat, maybe it's a tray for specific things so you can move them from counter to table?
Doesn't look like it is meant to set anything on it.
Because most things would fall through.
I don't have much experience wearing ties but Maybe it's a tie rack.
The rack bars running across it puzzles me. Most of the things I can think of would fall through the cracks.
Carla: I scrolled through a lot of pictures, don't see anything that looks even similar to it. I see your idea, and that makes sense, but I'm still not sure about it. Why would be so sturdy if it was meant for tea bags? And why the bars going crosswise?
It's a VERY well made item. HEAVY compared to most racks that size, the little feet, it's really not a cheap beastie. May have been inexpensive when it was made, but compared to what is being sold now, it's a tank. That 12 by 12 inch rack probably weighs about the same as an 24 x 24 chunk of my oven rack would weigh. Some of it would be the curly stuff, but it's simply a sturdy well made item.
Fascinating thing. I keep hoping someone will say "Oh yeah, my mom had one when I was a kid, it was a....."
We debated that idea when I first got it. The silverware would slide out side to side, as the holes in the swirly spacer things are too wide to keep them in. If it was designed for that, it needs something to hold silverware in place side to side. And it would have been easy to add one more swirl in each spacer thing to make that happen.
I agree, absolutely impractical. Might be A use for it, but I can't imagine it was designed to do that.
EDIT: my mom looked at the link, and said "They didn't know what to do with it either!!" Points for mom!! How do you sell something you don't know what it is? You make up a use.
And one more edit: The term that site used "Metal Flatware caddy" when put into an image search gets all KINDS of practical things that would actually WORK for silverware. That pic is the only one in there you look at and say "Well, that's not gonna work."
The tea bags sit inside the thin cardboard box they come in, that rests on the bars. It makes it easy to change out the flavors. But, I'm also remembering seeing something like that used for displaying wallets, change purses, and that sort of thing, at boutique shops.
Pearl Sutton wrote:
The term that site used "Metal Flatware caddy" when put into an image search gets all KINDS of practical things that would actually WORK for silverware. That pic is the only one in there you look at and say "Well, that's not gonna work."
I agree with you entirely. I did a lot of searching just now and found about a million things with the exact same type design from.... Longaberger Foundry. Baskets are not my thing, but I do recall Longaberger as making baskets for any conceivable purpose (as well as many other things no reasonable person has ever conceived-- I got rid of hundreds of these things when I cleaned out my mother's house). I would totally not be surprised to learn they came with twee little baskets in there to hold the flatware.
(to be honest, I think Carla's idea is the only one remotely reasonable so far, at least in my basket-free existence)
$10. for all 4 or $2.50 ea.
Napkin Holder - 8 1/2" L X 3 1/2" W X 6 1/4
Rectangular Piece 12 1/2" X 10 1/2X 3 1/2"
Large Circular 12" Diameter
Small Circular 9" Diameter
Good solid weight.
12 inch round is dinner plates. 9 inch round is smaller plates often called lunch plates. The napkin holder I agree with. If all the rest of them are serving ware, the idea it's for silverware might be right. I'd agree that something like baskets were probably involved.
And I agree with Carla's idea being more rational.
Apple to Tereza Okava, and I declare this one solved. :D
Pearl Sutton wrote:
Decorative Metal Display Pieces
Other things that occur to me: If it is for buffet display as seems likely, then other things could be displayed on it like glasses, bottles or mugs, foodstuff too: line with a napkin and use for rolls or croissants, possibly fruit like apples or oranges. It could be useful if you wanted something to cool and air (not sure what you'd cook and eat cold though?); it is small enough that you could put a few on a tray for carrying perhaps. Rolled up cloth napkins or large facecloths.....now I'm running out of ideas.
If it were stainless (not sure - probably chromed steel) I could use it as a shelf upside down in my future forge to sit a crucible on. It's about the only metal that has a high enough melting temperature that it might survive.
Pearl, I'm much more interested in how you're going to use it! What ideas have you got?
If it were me I'd gift it to my sister, who has a parakeet that needs more fun in its life, and I'd suggest she put a bath station in one "aisle" and some snacks in another, maybe rig up some dried grasses in there.
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