Just went down the aliexpress rabbit hole again. Theres really everythinf for some of really niche things that i wouldnt ever buy, but some things really do look appealing. I wonder what do you guys use daily thats worth lets say under $20
A metal 2mm mechanical pencil set. I use it for woodworking and absolutely love it.
I’ve got a Staedtler 2mm and sharpener that I’ve had for at least 20 years now. They both have a permanent spot of honor on my lathe stand.
I’ve been a huge fan of this Hultafors Dry Marker for carpentry and woodworking. Having that sheath with a built-in sharpener is excellent too.
Biggest thing for woodworking for me was just buying more pencils. I bought a pack of 30 or so and put all of them in a cup attached to the wall. Now I just grab a new one if I forget where I put it down.
ditto. also keep one on each side of the miter saw and at the table saw to use the eraser side as an 11th finger when needed
Did you forget your ear? I thought all woodworkers kept their pencil on their ear.
I recently bought an electrician’s pouch that velcros around my belt. Great for holding screws, square and pencils. Think of it as a wall cup on your belt.
Did you forget your ear? I thought all woodworkers kept their pencil on their ear.
Not the clumsy ones. Not after a little while.
Hard to tuck a pencil in the ear when also wearing safety glasses and hearing protection.
True that. I’m less careful when using my compound miter saw or circular saw.
Depends on your lifestyle ofc but a cheap 6’ tape measurer keychain has come in clutch more times than I can count. Within the past week I’ve used it to
measure the hatch of my car to see if a box could fit
compared a 14" pizza to a 17" to my friend group to figure what size pizza to buy
measured an entire house worth of soffit
The thing was like $5 and honestly gets more use out of anything in my EDC except maybe my earbuds and even then I barely touch them since graduating from uni
Make sure you test it against one you’re sure is accurate. My wife bought one that looks right at first blush, but it’s off by at least 5%.
Roughly 0.5 inches would you say?
That’s a funny cautionary tale.
Luftkin makes a high contrast 8’ the size of most 6’ and it is glorious. I have one as a daily driver for work, cold dead hands.
The rest of their tape measures in that same line are great.
I use the one on my leather man micra all the time. Also fans of Adam Savage know about his measuring device tattooed on his arm which is cool too.
Funny, I was just watching some lockdown-era Tested videos and was wondering what that tattoo was on Adam’s arm. Reminds me of my mechanic friends with a 10mm socket tattooed so that “they’ll never lose it”
I keep several full size 30’ tape measures in different places like my truck, kitchen junk drawer and (of course) toolboxes. You might find that more useful than a 6’. Cheap ones are fine, I think, as long as you don’t drop them.
The appeal is to have it fit on your keychain/ in your pocket so that you’ve always got it rather than having to run back to the car or wherever one might be
Thank you, now I know what tattoo to get if I pass by a walk in place. I’m always tempted but the things I want aren’t exactly walk in tattoos. Only question now is to go halfway up my forearm or to my elbow. Guess I could go all the way down my index finger, too, but I’m not sure how long a tattoo on the side of the finger would last, plus all the possible bends when including the hand could reduce measurement accuracy by quite a bit.
Dude, you’ve gotta factor in way more than diameter if you’re trying to make wise pizza choices. They have calculators for that: https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison
Your link is the other way around, you should put the text between [ ] and the link between ( ), i.e. text, the way you did it the text that appears is the url but when you click it it tries to go to literally the address
url.
Pretty niche, but a citrus squeezer. I cook a lot of Asian food and it’s much better to put half a lime in the squeezer at a time than try and hand squeeze the juice out.
Strongly disagree, any cheap squeezer is way harder to use than a fork and my hand.
That’s what she said.
But… Isn’t that standard equipment in every household?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
I assume they mean one with some sort of lever to make applying pressure easier?
Maybe. We had one of that too, but didn’t use it too much either
Alligator forceps
Toothbrush
Driving gloves. Some halfway decent calfskin gloves make it nicer to drive, whether the steering wheel is hot in the summer, cold in the winter, or if you’re going to be driving long distance. Not sure if real leather will be less than $20, but seen some cheap fingerless work gloves make driving more comfortable.
Clip on sunglasses that fit on my eyeglasses. Super easy to clip on, cost about ten bucks. So nice to not have to squint as much.
Dim light bulbs. Nearly every bulb in my house is as dim as I can manage. Some are salt lamps and some are those flicker fire bulbs. Either way, it makes the light at night a little warmer and a little dimmer, and all around a lot more cozy, which really is what one wants. Keep a couple of the overhead bulbs at the brighter end in case you need them, but dimmer bulbs make me a lot happier at night.
I got a new house with LEDs and at night it’s lit like a 7-Eleven. I feel it’s part of the reason I never get to sleep before midnight.
Dimmable smart bulbs, a mix of white and RGB.
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100%. I found one with grooves, so you can tilt and lock on whatever angle you like. Going to use as secondary light soirce on my bike rides and camping trips
What are you doing in the dark that’s so intricate? Genuine question.
I’ve done fibre optic splicing entirely under the light of a headtorch. I don’t think you could get much more intricate than that.
In most places, lights are placed on the ceiling. This is fine for generally lighting a room, but if you need to do something intricate that’s not directly under the ceiling lamp it can be hard to see. Even simple things like plugging in some cables under the desk.
I guess I don’t do anything away from desk lamps. Thanks for the explanation.
I got a Lightbar brand “lightbar pro”, so good. The only downside to it is that there is a design flaw where there is no strain relief on the main power cable so twisting it will lead to failure. I don’t know if they fixed it since I bought mine, but some glue on the power wire should sort it out.
You get a nice wide diffuse light so you can see all around you and what you are working on. It isn’t the best for distance, but most of the time I am working I need to see my surroundings and what I am working on.
Great for walking the dog at night, in suburban or rural settings. A phone flashlight is annoying to juggle while also controlling a leash and impossible when I need to scoop poop.
I worked with a guy who wore a headlamp nearly all the time. When people would ask about it he would always tell them “There are only two reasons NOT to wear a headlamp. Either you don’t have a head, or you don’t have a headlamp.”
I will never forget this.
Oh phew, one of those reasons applies to me. Guess I don’t need one.
And you can get such small ones now! My spouse has one she keeps in her purse where the strap is just a thin wire that retracts into the unit. It’s not even uncomfortable! Needless to say I’m jealous!
Is it the petzl zipka? Because if it isn’t I’d love to know what it is. I have one, but they’ve apparently stopped making them, and it’s so much better not having an elastic strap.
Completely agree on this. For some reason I’ve gone through like four at this point. They seem to break for some reason. Even tried the REI route with the black diamond brand and they don’t seem to last. I need to find a better brand.
Petzl. Had mine for 14 years
Was just using mine earlier!
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A “traveler’s” journal that consists of a cover and replaceable notebook refills. Cheaper than having to buy entire journals once you finish the last one (though uglier, since these refills don’t have cool covers), you can interchange them based on context/what you require and journaling is pretty great by itself.
A good 10-20k powerbank
Good nail clippers. My toe nails grow hella fast and if I don’t keep 'em trimmed, I end up spending a lot more on socks. Good trimmer is like $5. Though I wish they came in bright colors since I quite often misplace them or they fall off my night stand and are a PITA to find.
Plastidip the handles, you can get bright blue or yellow pretty easily, and one can will last ages.
That’s a good idea. Would also give a better grip on the lever. :D
Carabiners. I bought a bunch for accessory and gear hauling when climbing long routes/distances. They’ve since been used for a lot more. I find endless use for them and usually have one clipped on a belt eyelet.
Don’t have an egg beater? Here’s my carabiner.
Do you mind sharing how you apply those fears outside of climbing?
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Well, just earlier I used two to extend a dog lead and tether it at the pub.
In sight of me, a couple are looped through jacket tags holding them onto a skinny rack clothes hangers don’t fit on. My house keys hang off a small one so I can clip them on and off my car key and 4×4 key. I clip on lock keys as well if I’m going mountain biking. Another has a dog training clicker and treat bag on the outside of my backpack. There’s a few holding up shoes and accessory ropes on my outdoor/climbing gear rack.
Other common things, though… Holding up things like lighting, bins, cooking stuff when I camp. Clipping through tied up bin bags so I can take them all outside easier and cleaner—basically anything with a small loop, they become a clip in handle. They’re great for undoing tight knots instead of finger nails. Switching weights in and out of my harness for different exercises on the pull-up bar or hangboard.
Most situations needing a handle, hook, ring, or knot, but faster and easier. I have a lot of very strong climbing ones, but decent ones that’ll statically handle up to 100kg—but try not to ever go half the Max static rating for safety—are light, tough, and very cheap.
That should give you plenty of ideas to work with :)
Reading glasses, unfortunately
A convoy s3 flashlight with uv emitter, about $15 US.
I have a geriatric puppy who’s starting to “leak”, and this flashlight is really quick and easy to tell where needs to be cleaned up. Way easier than shining a regular light, missing and slipping on a puddle.
Now that’s something I’ve never thought of. You must care a lot for the puppy.
Please pay the dog tax. We’d love to see your senior pup!
Use daily? Very few things.
I guess shower head with hose? The advantage is the water comes at you from a higher point, great for tall/medium height people like me.
OMG those are amazing for hosing down the shower walls or washing your dog.
