FROM^Easy ways
↓ to do hard thingsSHOP
NOTESPRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE43214848 June 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com
ILLUSTRATIONSBYJAMES^ CAREY;^ SUNSHINE^ PICS/ALAMY^ STOCKPHOTO^(ZIPPO)BONUS!▶While restoring an old car, reader Jack Sweeney of Westfield, Massachusetts, and his pals
came up with a way to muscle around the pristine, newly restored suspension without scratch-
ing it: They took a bicycle inner tube and cut it to roughly the length of their crowbar. (They
made sure to take off the portion with the valve stem.) Then they slid the tube over the crow-
bar, giving it rubber padding to keep it from damaging the car parts. Note that this will work
for pretty much any tubular object that’s a scratch risk, like a bike lock—a length of inner tube
over your lock, saved after a tire change, will keep the lock from scratching the bike frame.
▶Zippos are great lighters, but they take very volatile
fuel. If you’re less about a pack-a-day habit and more
about general-purpose fire creation, the infrequent use
means the fuel will probably evaporate
before you’ve got ten many lights out of it.
To slow the evaporation, cut an inch-wide
strip of inner tube and put it
over the seam where the
Zippo lid closes. It’s
not a perfect seal, but
it’ll prolong the life of
the fuel supply. And, if
you’re really in a bind, a
small piece of inner tube is
a great—albeit smelly—fire
starter, even in the rain.
LOOSE-LEAF RINGS
ORGANIZE WRENCHES
▶Loose-leaf rings,
which you may have
lying around—or holding
together an old instruction
manual you no longer need,
or can just buy in multipacks
for only a few dollars—are
great for organizing box-
end wrenches. String the
wrenches on the ring in size
order, with separate rings
for SAE and metric.Bicycle Inner-
Tube Trick
Even More Uses
for Inner TubesDouble the rope back in a loop.
Tighten. Adding the loop is
called slipping the knot. It makes
it easy to untie—just pull the
free end of the loop.Pull the end of
that rope under the
first wrapping.Pass one end of
the rope around
a second time.Gather up the neck of the
bag in one hand, and wrap
the rope around it one time.A KNOT TO KNOWThe
Constrictor Knot
▶Be it wood chips and charcoal for
the barbecue or soil or fertilizer for
the garden, the warmer months
mean pouring stuff from sacks...and
then figuring how to cinch them
shut. Consider the constrictor knot.READER TIPPull
here