Friday, October 14, 2011

The Fabulous Shower Curtain Ring

Just a quick little post this time :)  I have this thing about wanting to hang everything possible.  Unfortunately, not every knick knack and whatnot that pleases my eye comes ready to hang.  As a result, I'm constantly trying to find a quick, cheap way to attach stuff to walls without putting nail or screw holes in stuff.

During a recent redo of my hallway, it became a necessity to do something about some pictures that I have in these cute little frames.  They previously sat on top of a bookcase, but alas that bookcase had to find a new home.  Enter my stash-o shower curtain rings.

It never ceases to amaze me how many times I have drawn from my $1.19 well of plain old shower curtain rings to solve a problem.  To solve this one....
If you have a picture frame with only the little kickstand on the back, take a regular shower curtain ring, insert the kickstand and voila!  You may have to do a little adjusting, but it works fabulously.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Can I Sharpen a Chain Saw

Bette from Tennessee asked us if we had any advice on sharpening a chain saw.  Brand and Beth looked at this during their days with Tools and Techniques on the DIY Network.  They found that most felt it was easier to just have it done professionally. 

These days, a lot of us find ourselves having to do things that we might have paid someone to do for us in easier years.  So, I did a little research - our mission, we'll spend the time and effort so you don't have to.  Did you know that there is actually a http://howtosharpenachainsaw.org ?  Gotta tell ya, this one was a surprise to me.  The article is pretty informative, but for me, refers to parts that they don't identify, so it's a little lacking in the H.O.W. way of doing things.  The best and most informative article that I found comes courtesy of Mother Earth News.  It was the first source that agreed with Beth on the importance of having the right file.  While reading instruction is helpful, I think that combining the guidance in the Mother Earth News article with watching this great video that I found on YouTube.  It's a bit long, but really good.

There are kits, guides and even a chain saw sharpening stone for a Dremel, so it's unlikely that you'll have what you need laying around in your garage.  The one thing that I thought would be the most useful is a chainsaw filing guide.  Once you've done this a few times, you probably don't need it, but until you get used to performing this task it seems like a good idea.  Most of these tools are less than $20, so it still represents a significant savings over having it done professionally.



A helpful hint from one the sources that I reviewed is to use a piece of chalk or crayon or something to mark the first tooth that you sharpen so that you know where to stop.  I want to give this a try myself, but if you get to it before me, let us know how it worked out!