Helpful Hanks Advice, Handy Hints, Bargains and, Deals. A Marbled Mosaic

Hi all, Helpful Hank here,
In my last post I talked about two words Hope and Patients and how I have learned valuable lesson from each of these word and, how they have shaped my life. I’d like to know what you folks think. What words, phrases, or sayings motivate you? How have they have shaped you on your life’s journey.

Here are some replies to Helpful Hanks first post

Dear Helpful Hank,
Boiling water works well sometimes also along with the best way, a pipe wrench, remove and clean the trap.
Deserttrek.

Thanks for the Tip Deserttrek. I am sure my readers will find it helpful



Helpful Hank:

Looking forward to your blog, it sounds like a great idea, and fun to see what surfaces round here! Best of luck too!

I know where there are literally 100's, if not 1000's of pounds of huge slabs, and tiles of marble. Slate, and other large pieces of natural stone that has either been removed in remodeling, or teardowns but do not contain any cement, or glue on them. Can these pieces be used in artist's mosaic works, or any other reuses that you could list? I really hate to see them go unused, and become buried in the sand where some of them lie, or turned into pebbles by land graders in the years to come.

I see beautiful pieces of solid wood furniture on curbs for the trash to take, or dumped in empty lots valley wide that are often rare woods, priceless antique. These items often contain hardware such as hinges, drawer slides, knobs, pulls, and decorum that are in perfect condition and again, often rare and unique items simply discarded.
Are there any uses for these items that are quite expensive to purchase and many are unique, and/or no longer manufactured. As a seller on E-bay I assure you what I am describing have a very high general resale value.

Any ideas, suggestion, or local references of someone who may be able to help me find a place for reuse or resale would be appreciated?

Suzie Adams

Dear Suzie, I love using pieces of scrap marble for mosaics. I use to work for a Marble contractor and obtained some through away pieces. I broke them up and using an Old coffee table that had no top to it I took a ¾” piece of Plywood cut it to size and used the Marble to create a new coffee table. This is a great way to recycle. The one thing you want to make sure of is that the pieces you use be of relatively the same thickness so you have a smooth surface on your mosaic. As the say one persons trash is another persons treasure and you never know what you are going to find discarded behind some of these high end resale shops, or even at garage sales. Sometimes you can find a piece of furniture that has great bones but it just needs to be refinished. Recently had been discussing making under the bed storage and I kid you not that evening we went to our favorite dumpster dive spot and sitting right next to the dumpster were to sets of drawers used for a waterbed. Each set had three drawers one drawer had it slider wheel detached. So we took it home I refinished it and we now use it for storage under the bed. The plus, was that it also had the cut plywood that lies on top and although I didn’t need those pieces for this project, I can use them for another project. Nice hardware can be expensive so if you can find it free take it while it is and use it. It is better then it going in a landfill. Your Ideas are both great ideas. Thank you for your question. And Hey if you’d like to share where that marble is We are looking for a few pieces in this house to redo bathroom counters. Now there’s an idea mosaic counter top made with Marble or Slate. Something to think about.

Remember we are all Imperfectly Perfect

Helpful Hank

Helpful Hanks handy Hints:
1. When you find old furniture with good hardware you can use that old hardware such as drawer knobs and pulls to give an existing piece a new look.

2.When breaking up old pieces of stone, marble, slate or other such pieces, lay the piece upside down a board you have place on the ground to break it up on. By breaking it up from the backside, you are not damaging the top side.
Also, make sure to wear protective eyewear as chips can fly up.

3. When going to get your vehicle serviced oil changes and what not always look to see if the shop has any discounts or coupons that you can print out from their web site. It can save you money. I recently had my oil changed and saved about 10 bucks. Hey that’s almost 3/4 tank of gas on my S-10
Write Helpful Hank at: askhelpfulhank@gmail.com



Helpful Hank is written by Russell E. Bertlow © 2009 All rights reserved. No portion of this blog may be reprinted in part or whole without the express written permission from Russell E. Bertlow.