Monday, July 7, 2014

If you NEED it, buy it. If you WANT it, wait for it.

If you need groceries or gas or a prescription med. of course go ahead and buy them. If you want something to either make your life easier or to feed one of your hobbies or your latest ambition you may want to just hold on and wait for a deal or even better, a hand out. I have been trying to put a little kitchen in my garage for the purpose of moving some of the "dirty jobs" out of the house.
Cleaning fish, cutting up a deer, making sausage, etc... are all jobs that might be more suited for the garage. Anyway, I bought a French fry cutter for my little kitchen several months ago but returned it because I was not happy with it's performance. It would not accept large potatoes (you had to cut off the ends) and quite bit of handle force was required just to get the work done. It felt like I was going to break the thing and it slid all over the table when cutting. So I shopped around and found these great industrial-duty cutters designed for restaurant use.

 The price was a bit hefty so I decided not to purchase. Several weeks went by. One Saturday morning we were garage-saling and the most wonderful item was found by one of my daughters.

 
 
This cutter was exactly what I was looking for. Even though it needed a little TLC the price was grand at $5.
 
 
The handle was locked in the open position from a bit of rust but it was very easily broken free with a  bit of vegetable oil and some tapping with a hammer.  With a bit of scrubbing with some emery cloth, a good bath, and a fresh coat of Plasti-Dip on the handle, it was as good as new. I also added some rubber feet to prevent sliding.
 
 
 
It looks and cuts like new. What a bargain. It isn't a cheap copy of the old style cutters. This one is the real deal. Very heavy and high quality. I looked up this particular brand and it looks like new ones go for almost $175.
 
 


 Again- if you NEED it, buy it. If you WANT it, wait for it. You might get a deal you did not expect.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Beauty of Stained Glass


I wish the quality of the photo was better but the beauty shines through my poor photography. The intricacy and choice of color is amazing. Location: St. Mary Catholic Church Peru, IL.

Simplicity Overrules Complexity

It is not very often that you encounter a product which is so simply designed and built. A product which relies on animal instinct (which never fails) to function properly. It operates on the principle that a minnow will choose cover instead of open water. A vendor created a video of it in operation. Take a look.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Buy one here: TAKE ONE MINNOW TRAP