A coin cache

Hello! I'm a bit late with this one, sorry.

 Anywayy, above is today's howto. Self-explanatory but very useful. About a year ago I stopped using a huge leather wallet as a storage for my cards and cash and started using a small case where I put my credit cards and bills. I use mainly my credit card, but sometimes I have to use cash, like when I ride a bus or buy snus from Swedish shop. A snus can has its pros and cons:
Pros are that there's lots of room for coins. There's over 9 euros worth money inside the can above, beautifully set in an octagon. Also it's sturdy: it keeps its form so it's easy to handle plus it's pocket-size.
Cons are that it rattles very annoyingly if it's half-full.
I use mostly bills when paying something, but sometimes there are none. To ease paying with a large stack of coins I recommend taping current amount of coins' over lid.

Combined emergency macthes and a reflecting lid for messaging

 Wassup. Today I have a bit more complicated reusing project to show you. Before I say anything else I have to tell you I made this example only for this post and I haven't tried it in action. I'm very enthusiastic hiker and hunter and I thought it would be convenient to carry a small emergency pack with me, something I can put in my pocket - so I made one! The snus pack I used was Taboca white portion.

Above you can see the contents: One boxful of matches, couple of loose strikers, a paper towel and couple of strikers glued on the lid. You can also see there's some waterspots on bottom of the pack. That's because I tried to see if the container holds water. The reason why I destroyed a matchbox is that now I can fit that paper inside with the matches and there's less "worthless" material inside like a badly burning matchbox.
I guess it's pretty self-explanatory what you have to do in order to make an emergency snus pack like above. But don't worry, I will still tell you the instructions :)

1. Get an empty metallic snus pack. Put it in the water to see if it's waterproof. Try different snus packs to see which one holds water the best. If you want to be sure. use tape to seal the crack between the lid and the bottom.
2. See, if lid reflects light well. If not, use fine steel wool to make it shiny.
3. Cut out strikers from a matchbox, glue them to the bottom of the pack or to the lid. Erikeeper will do fine.
4. Get something easily burning material like paper and fit it in to the pack with the matches.
5. Go hiking. Get wet. See if your emergency snus pack stayed dry. Curse me, if not.

 You can see I have used rough steel wool on the lid. It did not really improve lid's reflective properties. Below you can see the untouched bottom which, in my opinion, reflects light much better. I recommend using fine steel wool when trying to improve reflection. Even though a plastic snus pack is more waterproof, the metallic one can be used to reflect light i.e. morse code. Daytime sunshine works as a source of light, nightime lamp works well stand alone or the pack can be used to amplify the light.
Basic emergency signal is SOS ,,, --- ,,,

Oh well. Hope you have happy moments when making this one!

Cheers!

PS: the next post will be published 2.2.

A battery case for triple A-batteries

 

Batteries are versatile, small - and run out too fast. I use lots of devices that need batteries, especially these small AAA-batteries. Before I was introduced to the wonder of rechargeable NiMH batteries I used these alkaline ones. Let's cut to the chase: I was able to fit in 11 batteries into that container. For the pictures I used an old Granit snus pack, the one without a bin storage. if you have more than 7 batteries I recommend using a snus pack without the bin because it eats a lot of space - and it's still that flat you can't put a battery inside. Talk about wasted space... If you look down I have uploaded some pics telling how you can put the maximum amount of batteries inside the snus pack. If you get twelve batteries inside and can still close the lid I will give you a gold star :)

For the first layer put only 4 batteries. Even though you could put a fifth one, it becomes hard to put all 11 batteries inside and be able to close the lid firmly. You can see the lowest battery "getting out of line" because of the pack's form and the fifth one would do the same. I recommend using rectangular snus pack for this kind of storaging.

 In logic sense people would put the batteries between the first layers' batteries, but then they couldn't get all 11 inside the pack, so we use this method. You can see that i put one battery down there with the first layer and you can see why i initially put only 4 batteries.

All done! All 11 batteries are in the pack and now you only need to close the lid.

TIP: if you are a reusing freak like me you may want to use tape and a  pen to mark what is in which pack.

Also using different snus packs for different reusing means is a good option.

PS: the next post will be published 28.1 Stay tuned.

Hello

In this blog I will show you several ways to reuse your emptied snus pack. As a snus user people usually throw away their metallic/plastic containers, not knowing they could reuse them. Snus cans are very compact, they close tightly, sometimes even waterproofly. I will update every week, with pictures, in-action and instructions how to reuse.

Cheers!