Around the house

The Ace Hardware Web site offers a list of household tips and a place for Web users to add their own. Here are a few unusual ones from www.acehardware.com

*Easy garden-tool cleanup: Fill a bucket with sand and add a quart of motor oil. When finished with tools, hose the dirt off and plunge into the bucket. They stay clean, rust free, and ready to use.

*Spatter less paint: Take an empty margarine tub and cut a slit large enough to push a paintbrush handle through. Use it to catch drips when painting overhead.

*To mask an ugly furniture scratch, rub bits of shelled pecans or Brazil nuts into the wood. The oil in the nuts will darken it. (Test it first on an area doesn't show.)

*Recycle a leaky hose by poking more holes in it and using it as a soaker hose.

Compiled by April Austin