Off Label Usage

[Dangerdean]

Stupid Bookseller Tricks:
Lighter fluid on a kleenex will wipe almost any mark (ink, grease pencil, adhesive, snot) off of a book cover.
Also, a quick, careful buffing with fine sandpaper will take the yellow off the top of the pages.

[ScotFree]

If your green veggies are looking a little week, soak them in a liter of water with a teaspoon of baking soda, they green and crisp back up. Old restaurant trick.

[LANCER1562]

Toothpaste works well for cleaning small pewter and stering sliver items (ie: rings, medalions, etc.). Old cotton t-shirts torn up make good dusting rags and polising cloths. I use them when I spitshine my shoes. They also come in handy when you run out of bore patches for cleaning your guns.

[Baldybrown]

I always have super-glue in my first aid kit. Much better than stitches for cuts. Also had a friend fall out of a tree stand while hunting. His hip socket ended up under his left arm pit. because he'd put his two left over Oxycotin pain pills in his kit, He was able too drag himself 2 miles to his truck, and then drive himself to the hospital.

[Deirachel]

I haven't anything to add, but does anyone know of a product that can soak color out of a cotton shirt when bleach doesn't work? I double-checked that it wasn't color-safe bleach.

Not an off-label use, but RitDye has a "whitener" that works rather well. Depending on what the color is depends on if it can be leeched out at all, honestly.

I always have super-glue in my first aid kit. Much better than stitches for cuts. Also had a friend fall out of a tree stand while hunting.

That's what "surgical glue" actually is. Of course, it's a single-use sterile packaging, but the chemical is exactly the same stuff.

His hip socket ended up under his left arm pit. because he'd put his two left over Oxycotin pain pills in his kit, He was able too drag himself 2 miles to his truck, and then drive himself to the hospital.

Good tip, just remember to check expiration dates. Some meds can become deadly after they go over.

Speaking of medicine.... the empty bottles can be quite handy.

I use them to hold collar stays, small amounts of baby powder/talc, extra jewelry (rings, necklaces, pins) when packing for a trip.

You can also make a cheap cat toy with them. Drill a hole just large enough for a treat to slip out, toss a few treats in, and close the child-proof cap.

[Braw Cathairneach]

Mi missus and I use the cardboard tubes from wire clothes hangers to safely and neatly stow rigged fishing hooks in our tackle box. One barb of the treble hook goes into one end of the tube. The line is wrapped length wise around the tube (narrow slots are first cut into the ends of the tube) and secured with a rubber band.
[Note: Stowing fishing hooks was previously not a problem as I was accustomed to web sizes of 5” to 8.5“ mesh, 29.5 meshes deep, by 50 fathoms long.]

[ohiopiper]

A variation of the camp stove is to use toilet paper. Take about four feet of it, wrap it loosely around your hand then fold this in on itself, making something of a donut. Toss a match in the middle. It'll burn long enough to heat a hot dog or such, or burn long enough to get a "real" fire going.

Lighter fluid is a good degreaser. It is basically naptha, which rinses away grease and oil, then dries leaving no residue.

Careful with the tampons for wounds. Don't pack them into deep wounds, just enough to close the surface. They can actually INCREASE blood losss due to their absorbent nature.

Barbasol Lemon-Lime shave cream works for sunburn relief.

Kool-Aid (and similar drinks) powder makes an excellent stainless steel and chrome polish.

Really dark sunglasses make my wife think I'm handsome...

[Jay]

I haven't anything to add, but does anyone know of a product that can soak color out of a cotton shirt when bleach doesn't work? I double-checked that it wasn't color-safe bleach.

Oxyclean whitens whites better than bleach (it's peroxide)

An alternative is to use swimming pool chlorine. Same basic thing as fabric bleach but at a far higher concentration. It will turn the darkest blue jeans white

[Iain Robb]

Yet another use for toothpaste: Polishing hazy plastic headlamp covers.

[Deirachel]

The geek in me must say this:

Crown Royal bags are great for keeping dice.

Other uses:

Shoe shine cloth, polishing rags, etc. Helps avoid skin staining if the rag surrounds one's hands.