Tools for making lockpicks

[Gordon Airporte]

That's a pretty sweet kit - I hope that at least five hundred million of the billion pieces are reinforced cut-off wheels
You just breeze through them making picks.
In case you don't already have one - a decent vise is a must. It obviously doesn't need to be all that big for our purposes.

[Romstar]

Romstar, ok that's one use for lard, how about 11 more?

Well, there is tallow and lard. Both are the same thing, but from different sources. The first is from cattle or sheep, and the other from swine. In either case they share a lot of the same characteristics, but one may be unsuitable for a task while the other ideal.

For example, lard is too soft to make candles even though it burns very well. Tallow on the other hand is excellent for candles.

Lard is (or was) frequently used in cooking. Everything from frying to baking. Many recipies that call for lard can accept no other substitute without a significant change in the taste, appearance or flavor of the food. Pie crusts are a prime example of this. While Crisco may claim to make great crusts, I challenge you to bake a few crusts using Crisco, butter, margerine and finally lard. The final result will show you exactly why lard was used for so long, and why it is still in use today. While on the topic of cooking, lard is an excellent "fat" for use in high heat cooking, and works amazingly well in greasing cake pans, cookie sheets and pie plates. Nothing else seems to work as good, or alter the flavour so little.

Soap is an excellent use for lard. Use lye, lard and sometimes salt to produce a material that is them poured into molds and left to sit until cured. This is important, as lye soap is often too strong to use immediately. I haven't made soap in years, so I can't remember the proceedure very well. Although, if you are really interested I will call my mother and get her to reaquaint me with it. She's still making lye and lard soap.

Lard is also an excellent sealent for the lids of jars and other containers. It doesn't spoil as you might expect, and its consistency allows it to fit a wide variety of irregular openings.

Lard is also a very good lubricant for food gade use. While it should be cleaned away frequently and reaplied due to collection of dust or dirt its incidental inclusion in various foods would have no effect whatsoever for people.

Lard and tallow are both excellent non petroleum products that excell in treating and protecting steel and iron from rust and corrosion. If you examine any metal surface under a microscope you will see just how UNsmooth it really is. Advance to an electron scanning microscope, and the cuts look like deep fissures and sharp ridges. The heated and liguified lard seeps into these ridges and helps to repel moisture and other corrosion causing agents.

Lard and tallow are used frequently in leather production to provide a variety of features to a particular hide. These can include water resistance, colour enhancing and increased elasticity. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to have finished leather without the use of some sort of natural fat or oil. Even in chrome tanned leathers, (using chromium salts as opposed to tannin) oils and fats are used to change the characteristics of the skins while they are being processed.

Oddly enough, it has been used on several occasions to PROTECT skin. Early arctic explorers used to use it on their faces and other exposed skin to prevent frostbite.

Vegetable oil in conjunction with lard can be used to make a great "bio-diesel" and as such is another use for overlooked materials. There should be an abundance of information on bio-diesel on the web.

In the category of other weird uses, lard has been used by NASA of all groups to lubricate moving parts on space vessels.

I am not sure if that gets us up to twelve different uses for lard, but there are a wide variety that I have not mentioned here. Most noteably as a result of my poor memory, but while I was writing this, I thought I might check a few things on the net to see if there were some things that I had missed. Apparetly they have thought of another use, look here. http://www.susbloodlabs.com/israelinsiderreprint.html its not for the squeemish.

If I think of anything else, I will fire it over here and we can expand the list.

Romstar

[digital_blue]

Ahhhhh yes. Rom is definitely back. Only ol' Rom could craft two monstrous, yet totally practical and informative posts on something like lard.

I mean, really! Lard! Two great big posts on LARD....



.... and I enjoyed reading them.

Rom, you're one of a kind fella.

Now... give us 5000 words on which pant leg goes on first.

db

[Romstar]

Ahhhhh yes. Rom is definitely back. Only ol' Rom could craft two monstrous, yet totally practical and informative posts on something like lard.

I mean, really! Lard! Two great big posts on LARD....



.... and I enjoyed reading them.

Rom, you're one of a kind fella.

Now... give us 5000 words on which pant leg goes on first.

db

Yeah, after I wrote the second post I kinda stopped and thought about it. I mean, we are talking about lard after all.

Anyway, I can't give you 5,000 words on which leg first because it boils down to standing on the one that holds you up first thing in the morning. Let me tell you, that changes from day to day with most people. Especially if you add alcohol.

Some people don't even stand, they sit or lay down, and some people, being creatures of habit always put in the dominant leg first.

Generally though, it mostly depends on which way works while trying to keep your one eye open and not fall down. Man, I hate that.

Romstar

[illusion]

http://www.susbloodlabs.com/israelinsiderreprint.html

If I see a 'Muslim' terorist I have merely to spray him with lard and he'll be thwarted?

I did miss seeing those long posts - Boring? No! Relevant? Kinda... Worth reading? Yeah!

[Schuyler]

both legs, baby. both legs.

[Romstar]

both legs, baby. both legs.

Now this is a guy who meets the day with enthusiasm. Jumps in with both feet.

Romstar

[digital_blue]

Now, perhaps there's some deep rooted psychological association with how one puts on his pant. There's such variety of ways, like pickmonger's tool set. I mean, you could put the left leg in first, or the right. You could do either while sitting. You could do either while standing. All these choices, like in pickmonger's new Dremel kit. There must be SOME factor that drives one's decisions, like the decision that pickmonger's wife made while picking out his tool set.

Perhaps one that chooses to step into his pants with the dominant leg is, in an almost Freudian way, choosing to step forward with confidence, like choosing the highest speed on pickmonger's Dremel. And perhaps one who steps into his pants with the non-dominant leg does so out of fear and hesitation to face the world, like using the low speed on pickmonger's Dremel.

Maybe Schuyler's enthusiasm is actually more telling, choosing, as you say, to leap forward into the world - much like deciding to make your own tools with stuff such as pickmonger's tool kit.

Hard to say, but one thing I know for sure. No one can accuse me of hijacking a thread.

db

[Romstar]

Pickmonger,

I am terribly sorry. I just jumped in and completely forgot to tell you what a nice set that is (I was looking at a similar one) and how lucky you are that your wife bought it for you. A great woman surely.

I hope to see some new tools from you soon made with this new rotary tool.

Romstar