How to Clean Up Easily by Using Aluminum Foil as a Paint Tray Liner

Aluminum Foil Painting Tip
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I have been doing a lot of painting lately, and I found a tip that cuts down on cleaning of my roller pan.

I have started to line it with heavy-duty aluminum foil before using it.

This trick is especially helpful if you’re painting with different colors — for each new color, throw away the old foil (after pouring excess paint back into the can) and put in a fresh sheet, molding it to the pan.

This aluminum foil painting tip saves an enormous amount of cleanup, and makes painting much easier.  I don’t enjoy painting, but I hate cleanup, so knowing this simple painting trick makes me much more likely to perform seasonal preventative maintenance.

For those that think this is a waste of aluminum, you may be right, but depending on your recycler, and the amount of paint you have on the foil – you still may be able to wad it up and send it in for recycling.  If you are really big into recycling – why don’t you build an aluminum foundry and use the paint filled aluminum foil to cast things?

Use this with the no drip tip and you are on your way to an easy cleanup after your job.

How to Keep Aluminum Foil in its Box

 

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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This Aluminum Foil Tip is another one of those quick tips I was surprised I did not know so I share it with the expectation that most of you already know this but it may be new to some of you.

I have a problem in my pantry in that the aluminum foil, wax paper, parchment paper and the like slide out of their boxes and get everything all messed up.

What I learned the other day is that many manufacturers put a cut out at both ends of their wrapping box so that you can press the cut out and a tap sticks out inside the box and keeps the tube of material in place.

Its a modern miracle and works great for me.

I learned while doing this post that my own wife was someone that did not know this tip.  She grew up sheltered, but I had no idea how sheltered….  LOL

Anyway, this tip will help keep your foil cut straight and in the box.  Which for some reason really bothers me.

I’m not OCD but some things tickle my brain and having a cabinet full full of empty foil boxes next to rolls of foil and parchment paper because they all fell out of the box drives me insane.

How Shooting Stance Impacts Recoil Control

 

Shooting Stance Training Tip
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I love firearm training, especially instructor courses.

When running an instructor course I get to meet the best kind of people – smart, dedicated, and proficient shooters. Not only is it great fun, but I get to talk with people with all sorts of backgrounds.

I learned about the 300 blackout on a break at a course, got to discuss suppressors with a manufacturer, and today I get to share some training from a new NRA Pistol Instructor. We started talking and after class we decided to do a little video work.

The instructor in the video is Marcus Talley from Veteran’s Tactical in Mississippi.  He is not far from my land in Waynesboro TN and I hope to have him come teach on occasion.

In the video he is giving an example of why proper stance is important for accurate shooting and good follow-up shots.

If the shooter tenses up as they shoot multiple shots can get the shooter rocking, but too loose makes for a slow second shop.

A good balance where your body can absorb the recoil but not be taken too far off the target is optimal, and his tip of having a second shooter tap you hand while in stance can help you find that balance point.

How to Estimate Campfire Temperature: The Hand Test

How to Estimate Campfire Temperature: The Hand Test

 

How to Estimate Campfire Temperature: The Hand Test
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This is camp cooking temp that tip is handy to know.

If you have ever tried to manipulated something in a campfire fire, you know that the hotter the fire the less time you can stand to have your hands near it.

This means that you can learn to judge the temperature of a fire by knowing how much heat a common person can stand.

Please use some common sense with this.

If you cautiously hold your hand, palm side down, over the fire at cooking height and count the number of seconds you can hold that position and you will have an indicator of how hot the fire temperature is.

Camp Fire Temperature Estimation Times:

5 seconds = low
4 seconds = medium
3 seconds = medium-high
2 seconds = high

This is an awesome prepper skill to have, it works great with outdoor baking as well as other cooking skills.

I have used it to cook steak over coals for a really impressive and testosterone fueled dinner.  This skill really separates the woodsmen from the campers.

Until you do this enough to memorize, I would laminate an index card with the chart below and stick in somewhere with your camping/bugout equipment

Mosin Nagant Cleaning Rod Tip

Mosin Nagant Cleaning Rod Tip
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At a recent NRA instructor class we got into a Curio and Relic discussion on one of the breaks, and one of the students told me he found a solution to the short cleaning rods that come with the Mosin Nagant 91/30s.

As always, I was open to learning how someone else did things, so I was all ears to hear about his Cleaning Rod Tip

What he did was to take a simple ¼ inch dowel rod and use that to push his patches down the bore.

Since it is wood, it won’t scratch the rifling – it is long enough to push the patch from the breech to the muzzle – and being slightly smaller than .30 it is a nice tight fit.

I like it, and now have a dowel rod near my cleaning bench.  This is a great way to clean guns as the wood will not scratch the bore, it is cheap, and it keeps me from switching jags back and forth.  For some reason I hate unscrewing and changing tips on my cleaning rod.  With the cost of dowel rods and the ease at drilling one out for a jag I can afford to have a few.

Try it, and tell me what you think.