Guest Author - Dale Yelich

A Place in Every Tool Box-Nail Polish

As much as I hate to admit this, I use nail polish all the time. I am actually partial to the reddish hues, myself, the brighter fuscia shades in particular, but I can certainly be swayed by some of the darker browns and deep dark gothic black on some of those ‘wild’ occasions.

I know, sometimes it can be a pain to let it dry, but we in the world of maintenance don’t much care about a few little smudge marks. In fact, smudge marks on our nail polish is almost like a badge of courage, in one way or another.

Now, think about this, for all the goodness nail polish does on a persons nails, it does equally well in other places too! One of the best things it does will be to hold a screw tight and secure when screwed into anything metal. Just dab some on the threads, and screw it in! It acts like a glue of sorts, and won’t allow the screw to come out by itself.

Because nail polish comes in so darn many colors, it can be used to hide the head of virtually any nail or screw, especially during a repair issue. You can literally take any screw or nail head, put your project together, then find the matching color of nail polish and paint it on the screw/nail head. No one will ever know, and if you smudge the color slightly while it is still damp, you’ll get rid of all the glossiness, and it will really look good.

Another good way to capitalize on the inherent stickiness of nail polish, is to use it to hold screws to your screwdriver. I mean like those little tiny screws that need to fit in tight places when you are putting something together. Take a little dab of nail polish on the screwdriver itself, push the screw head onto the driver bit that you just dabbed it on, and blow on it for 5 seconds. It’s like a second pair of fingers, and you can tilt or tip that screwdriver any way you want, and the screw on the end won’t budge.

That’s why I like the bright reds the best. They are easy to see, even in a darker environment, especially when you are using very tiny screws. And on ‘wild’ occasions when a quick cover-up is needed, a black seems to work the best!

Any confined space that you need to get screw into, will not be a problem now, It will stay attached to your screwdriver head, and you can just push it on your repair project at any angle, and screw it in!

See, there really IS a place in every toolbox for nail polish. I use it all the time! And just in case I have a big social function later on, and I need a quick touch up on my nails? Hey, I’m always ready for that occasion too!