Friday, March 26, 2010

Razor Blades

Do what!!  Yes, it says razor blades, and let me now tell you why:
  • Cost - about 1.50 for a pack of 10 single edge (which is what you want)
  • Grout - after you scrub grout, there is usally this little bit of gunk you just can't get out, well, I get it out with virtually no effort with a razor blade
  • Gas cooktop - you know what I mean, the little bit of dried oil, butter, food, etc that get burned, brown and stuck on right there under where the flame comes out, a razor blade takes them off easily, just be careful not to dig so you don't scratch your surface
  • Nonstick cookware - **don't do this if you have any type of warranty because it will nullify it.  But if you have the cheaper kind, I personnally have used a razor blade to get stuck on pam spray off before.  My hubby is usually the only one to use the nonstick and clean it, and sometimes if little bits of the spray gets left on, it will burn on and it's hard to get off -
  • Glass - get stray spray paint or other stuck on matter off of glass in a cinch - I personally love to do this on my toaster oven because it's hard to clean the door
  • Small appliances - I have a kitchen aid stand mixer that I use almost daily.  I wipe it down after I use it, but sometimes I like to take if apart and just give it a good bath.  Well, since I make a lot of flour products, bits of flour dust get left behind when I wipe it down, and because it's not far from the stove, grease particles maket he flour stick, and sometimes you get gunk around the screws in the back of the machine, so when I give my mixer the spa treatment, I get the razor blade out and scrape gently around the joints and screws and my baby comes out clean as a whistle.
  • I use a clean razor blade to slash bread tops before baking too, you can get pretty creative with the art this way because the slashes are so clean.
The razor blade is fast becoming one of my good friends, however there are a few instances when a razor blade should never be considered:
  • On humans - do I really need to get into this, just don't use it on people
  • On animals - can't think of  a good time to use it on critters either
  • If you have a mentally unstable person living with you - then you may want to forego razor blades in the home at all
So, I like to use razor blades for certain jobs, but I keep them in a safe place and far away from where my kids could find them.  I also store the little case they come in inside of another container, to further hide them.  Used cautiously and responsibly though, they can be handy little suckers and save you a lot of cleaning time and headache.  Plus they are dirt cheap themselves.

**Please read disclaimer to the bottom right of this blog!

3 comments:

slk2042 said...

May I add my own warning here? Only use CLEAN razor blades. When I was little, my dad used an old, dirty razor blade to take a bumper sticker off of our car. He cut himself and got blood poisoning. So if you do use a razor blade for cleaning or removing gunk, make sure it's clean.

snippity1 said...

and those of us that have the flat-top electric stoves can use them to clean the extra gunk from there as well. We have a nifty plastic handle thing to hold the blade while in use...which keeps it pretty safe to use. I also use my blade to scrape my glass baking pans if something gets baked on. It is very handy for many uses!

Tia said...

your little disclaimer there was funny - don't use on animals! lol