Friday, June 17, 2005

Homebrew baby-wipes with your table-saw


For parents with table-saws: converting a roll of paper towels to a roll of baby-wiped through judicious application of shop tools and a water/soap/oil mix.
The first thing that must be done is cut the roll of paper towels in half. I've tried doing this with serrated knives or hand saws, but I've found that they either squash the roll or produce a very ragged, chewed-up end. The best solution I have tried is the table saw. A band saw would probably do as well, but I don't have one to test on. First, put on your safety glasses, then raise up the blade as high as it will go. Then, with the plastic wrapper still on the roll, cut the roll down the center. You will probably have to spin the roll to cut all the way through....

Now, a box of 384 premade wipes costs around $10. A bulk package of 8 paper towel rolls costs around $5, and makes somewhere around 900 wipes. So the former runs around 2.6 cents per wipe, while the latter is about 0.6 cents per wipe. Plus you have the intangibles, like a personal feeling of accomplishment and the fact that you get to use the table saw.

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posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:31:48 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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