Apr 042017
 
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No Southern-fried Southern boy wants to be called a Yankee, but we share the characteristics of shrewdness and thrift. Thus, each month we include a money-saving tip. It’s OK if you call me “cheap.

I got this little vacuum attachment, you guessed it, for free.

I picked up this discarded vacuum on my daily walk, intending to set up the cyclone on a bucket for use with a shop vacuum. I saw a project like that on YouTube.

This little attachment came with my free vacuum at no extra charge!

I’d never used one before, but, when our regular carpet attachment (borrowed from inside the house) wasn’t working, and I needed to clean a rug in the garage, I decided to give it a try on the end of our whole-house vacuum hose.

Man! I had no idea!

There is a similar attachment on our vacuum at work, and I’d noticed it only in passing.

For some time I’ve fretted over getting these pads clean. Not any more! The little beater-bar attachment doesn’t grab the rug like the full-size floor attachment does. The difference in the cleaned and uncleaned rugs is more dramatic than the photo depicts.

My new “rug routine” is to gather all of them into one place (on top of an old card table) and put the attachment on the end of my Shop-Vac’s Dust Deputy-filtered hose. Then, I can clean the rest of the workshop, floors and all, separately.

Decades ago, I got this card table for free from the roadside. I use it for all kinds of trashy jobs. I replaced the original cardboard top with some salvaged 3/8″ plywood. It’s stored, folded, with my collapsing sawhorses, within easy reach.

Return to the April 2017 issue of Wood News Online


Jim Randolph is a veterinarian in Long Beach, Mississippi. His earlier careers as lawn mower, dairy farmer, automobile mechanic, microwave communications electronics instructor and journeyman carpenter all influence his approach to woodworking. His favorite projects are furniture built for his wife, Brenda, and for their children and grandchildren. His and Brenda’s home, nicknamed Sticks-In-The-Mud, is built on pilings (sticks) near the wetlands (mud) on a bayou off Jourdan River. His shop is in the lower level of their home.Questions and comments on woodworking may be written below in the comments section. Questions about pet care should be directed to his blog on pet care, www.MyPetsDoctor.com. We regret that, because of high volume, not all inquiries can be answered personally.

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