3 Simple Products with Lots and Lots of Uses

There is something wonderful when you find an object or discover a product that performs several different tasks, or has more than one or two uses. It's easy to fall in love with a product that you can reach for to handle several different needs.

Granted the above example of the 'mother of all pocketknives is a little extreme. But it is true even for the most basic of products. For instance, consider the many uses of coat hanger. Or the multiitude of uses for a Paper Clip. In fact, here is a website that list 100 uses for a paper clip. Duct tape is another multi use product. Here are 25 uses for duct tape. 

Some of our own bambu products are also versatile and functional. Here are three of our favorites. Topping the list is our 'more than a pot scraper'  Pots and Pans Scraper.

 

1. Bamboo Pots and Pan Scraper

Our simple and multi-functional scraper is made from certified organic bamboo. No glue, no metal or plastic. The scraper is hand shaped. Each corner of the scraper is angled differently to get at a range of corners and angles. Here's what this handy little tool is good for...

• Halloween is here, use the tool to effectively carve out the pumpkin guts. Scrapes clean and quick.
• Scrub and clean up any dirty pot or pan easily without scratching.
• Removes spilled candle wax from your table effectively.
• As a 'jimmy' for the wobbly table or chair. Its variable height fits most gaps.
• An ice scraper for your windshield on cold wintery mornings. Ditch the plastic and save your credit cards.
• If you are a ceramist, it is the ideal pot shaper for potters. Our potter friends rave!
• A frosting spreader for cakes.

[ In fact, we just used our scraper for this very purpose after learning this trick from a customer. We were visiting the Compass Rose, a fabulous store in Olympia, WA when two women walked in and eagerly purchased several of our pot scrapers. Curiously, I asked about them. And the one women was buying these for her friend saying they were the best cake frosting 'spreader' she found. She just loved them! True story. ]

We know there are loads of more uses. These last forever. What other clever uses or ideas do you have for this tool?

$9 for 4 Scrapers. Or consider the Scarf and Scrape gift set. 4 Sporks + 2 Scrapers in one portable bag. For eating and for clean up. 

 

2. Pebbles

From our 'scrap series.' We'll explain. Our decorative bamboo pebbles are made from the left-over pieces of bamboo used to make our cutting boards and utensils. Normally burned or discarded. We take the ends and lose pieces and fashion them into smooth stone shapes. 

 

People will ask us, 'what do they do?' And we respond, 'they are doing what they do.' In other words, nothing! But really, you are only limited by your imagination when it comes to what to do with bamboo pebbles. Decorative or more functional. 

• Set a scene on your table. Group them together or scattering them around randomly.
• Fill a glass bowl or container to create a clean, natural decor element in a living room.
• Use as place settings at the dinner table. Write directly on them and easily sand off names and use again.
• Create a perfect rest for your chopsticks.

It should be no surprise that we use nearly all of our products in our own home. We have numerous cutting boards we've been using for years and years. Cooking tools too. And of course, our pot scraper daily.

But our favorite, more used product at our home? The 'first' tool we reach for most often? Well, perhaps to the surprise of many, it is a knife. 

Our bamboo-handled stainless-steel serrated knife. 

 

This is our first 'go to' knife in our home. And we know, it's the same for a lot of other people too. And we put our knives to test!

It's a spreader, a slicer, a remover of unwanted plastic packaging. We use ours as a utility knife to cut wire, rip away plastic packaging with ease, pry the plastic top off, or slice cleanly, hard-crusted bread. No cheese is too aged or too hard for this knife either.  Of course, it takes on any ripeness of tomato, is a clean cut on all fruit, hard aged cheese, and you can spread with it too. 

It's more often on the counter ready for action, rather than buried in the drawer. This knife and our stainless collection of bamboo-handled knives are available here. 

Get stuff done with these three simple products. What new uses can you come up with?