If your screwing into timber and discover that the screw will go in but not bite in to the wood, you have probably drilled the hole too large or stripped out the wood fibers that make the thread.

To repair break the head off a match and insert the remainder in the hole then try again with the screw.

A handy and cheap way to de rust various large or small metal tools and components is too use Molasses and water.

Use a mix of about 1 part Molasses to 7 parts water and suspend the part to be de rusted in the liquid.

After about a week remove the item, wash off with water and inspect it. If longer is needed just put it back in.

Using a 44 Gallon drum you can de rust quite large components. Molasses is given to horses and other animals and can be bought from feed suppliers.

Some times it's necessary to draw a line accurately along the centre of a piece of wood, maybe to cut it with a saw or drill holes for hinges etc.

This jig is easy to make from scrap wood and solves the problem.

When your painting it's hard to stop drips from forming on the side of the tin if you wipe your brush on it.

An elastic band stretched over the tin will stop those drips.

Another idea to stop paint tin drips is to punch a hole in the groove around the edge of the tin that the lid fits into.

The lid will still fit and seal the hole when not in use and it does stop the drips. I find the elastic band works best for me though.

Fresh paint and other smells in a room can be removed or at least reduced by cutting an onion in half, placing it in the room and closing the door. Then leave over night.

It also works with fridge smells. Discard the onion after use.

Drilling into a ceramic tile is made much easier by first applying a piece of masking tape to the tile and drilling through it.

The tape stops the drill from slipping and turn off the hammer action of your drill. But remember take it easy they break.

It can be hard to judge if your car is far enough into the garage to close the door, but far enough away from any stored boxes etc so you can walk around the car.

A tennis ball hung from the ceiling at the right point so that it just touches the windscreen when your car is in enough works well.

When you are trying to insert a screw in to a hard to reach place either above your head or maybe in a cupboard or something, put a spot of Blue Tack on the end of your screw driver.

This will hold the screw on long enough to line the screw up.

Blue Tack is wonderful stuff it has so many other uses.

We use some on the feet of our microwave and Telephone base to stop them slidding around.

When you are nailing near the end of a plank of wood you will sometimes find that the timber will split along the grain.

If you first blunt the nail by hitting it on the end with a hammer, then the timber probably won't split. If the timber is particularly hard the nail might bend but it's worth a try.