Plastic bags

[wolf creek knives]

This may have been addressed earlier but I need to know what you do with yours.

PLASTIC BAGS!!! You know, the ones that come with pen kits and just about every other turning project. I've given them away, donated them, thrown them away (which I hate to do) and stored them.
I don't use CA as a finish so I can't use them for that. I use Bobbin boxes from Joann's to store small parts like bushings so can't use them there. I've given so many away that those I've given them to say they don't need anymore.
What do you do with yours? And if anyone wants a big bag of them, if you'll pay the shipping, I'll ship them to you. I've got all kinds of sizes.

 

[monophoto]

My wife is the queen of zip-lock bags - she has thousands of uses for them. When we travel, everything goes into its own zip-lock bag which then gets compressed to expel any air and make the bag as small as possible for packing.

 

[dthayer]

Put them on Facebook Marketplace or some similar site. There's always people that want them and will come pick them up if they are free.

 

[lathe monkey]

I reuse mine for repacking some finished items, key chains , pendants, etc moving to craft shows. Put sometimes my fingers aren't working well and I can't open the little bags so I just cut them open and have to toss the bag out

 

[Woodchipper]

I give some to the wife for her crafty things. I keep some for small parts of various types.
Louis, when I travel, I take 12 pair of underwear- January, February, March, etc.

 

[darrin1200]

I don't just use them for CA finishing, I also use them as a disposable mixing pallet for small amounts of epoxy. I use epoxy to glue almost everything.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Some good suggestions. But, most of these are the small bags that the little parts come in. So they're not ziploc size, much smaller. Good thought on the epoxy but I like to use the little medicine cups with the ml measurements on them. I can buy a bunch for not a lot.

You know Woodchipper that any smart person knows you can get at least 8 days out of a pair of underwear. Forward, backward, inside out forward, inside out backward and for the last 4 days you switch with your neighbor and start the cycle all over. Just saying...

 

[wolf creek knives]

Put them on Facebook Marketplace or some similar site. There's always people that want them and will come pick them up if they are free.

Good idea but no one will come where I live. Not the Post Office, not UPS or Fed ex let alone someone with city tires. I'm 8 miles back in the Rockies on a dirt road. A mile down the road from my cabin is my gate and it stays shut and locked most all the time due to some pretty rude hunters. But, I can always send them, not the rude hunters, if they wanted to pay the shipping. Thanks for telling me about this, it might be a good outlet. I do travel into Helena or Great falls on occasion.

 

[Brian G]

I just give them to some guy that hangs out on the street corner nearby. He's kind of seedy looking and a bit nervous, but always appreciative. For some reason, he really likes the small ones.

He must be really friendly because people are always pulling up in their car, talking to him, and shaking his hand. Maybe they are lost and he gives good directions.

 

[Sly Dog]

I just give them to some guy that hangs out on the street corner nearby. He's kind of seedy looking and a bit nervous, but always appreciative. For some reason, he really likes the small ones.

He must be really friendly because people are always pulling up in their car, talking to him, and shaking his hand. Maybe they are lost and he gives good directions.

I think I've seen that same guy in Boise.

 

[wolf creek knives]

I just give them to some guy that hangs out on the street corner nearby. He's kind of seedy looking and a bit nervous, but always appreciative. For some reason, he really likes the small ones.

He must be really friendly because people are always pulling up in their car, talking to him, and shaking his hand. Maybe they are lost and he gives good directions.

Sorry Gary. Since Montana, Minnesota and Boise struggle with drug problems I think I might beat this guy to within an inch of his life. To even think that these bags would come back filled with drugs really disturbs me. And the idea that I hand them over to someone like you're suggesting disturbs me even more. I think after reading your messages I'll just destroy them.

 

[Brian G]

I don't know who Gary is, but that's not what I really do.

I recycle them with the rest of plastic bags.

 

[Warren White]

I throw the little ones out, but keep the ones that the kit comes in.

My wife sometimes has use for them, but I do keep some so that if I am doing several kits at a time (and since the pens I generally make use two blanks per kit), I store the blanks in separate bags during the process.

 

[Chasper]

I'm a clean and jerk bag decapitator. Hold the bag in on hand, grab it by the zip closure area with the other hand, give it quick snap and the top of the bag pops off. Dump the contents into a tray and do the same with all of the small bags inside.
I've always though that a speed unpackaging competition would be a good event for a pen turners gathering.

 

[1080Wayne]

They can be useful for protecting the small things you can make from the slightly larger pieces of wood that you refuse to throw away . I use some for ear rings , bookmarks and fridge magnets ,

 

[howsitwork]

if you put a rare earth magnet in them you can pick up steel swarf then unwrap the magnet keeping the steel swarf inside.

 

[crokett]

I'm a clean and jerk bag decapitator. Hold the bag in on hand, grab it by the zip closure area with the other hand, give it quick snap and the top of the bag pops off. Dump the contents into a tray and do the same with all of the small bags inside.
I've always though that a speed unpackaging competition would be a good event for a pen turners gathering.

So am I. The kit component bags are no longer useful as bags when I am done with them. The larger bag that the pen kit comes in, I keep and put the pen in it until I get it into a pen sleeve.

 

[penicillin]

Deja vu from two years ago:
https://www.penturners.org/threads/too-many-mini-plastic-bags.161072/