Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Good tip Nick, I will pick up some VIVA brand paper towels on my next shopping run.  Not sure I will try hanging up to dry though, virtually all my used paper towels end up with oily residue on them !

Rog

Mechanical wrist watches, can't resist them, I like mechanical clocks as well and obviously steam engines...   Allan.

After the water dries out of the oily paper towels, they are still good for one more use .... fire starting in the wood stove!

I do use paper towels over and over until they are too oily and soiled to be useful.

I have been known to buy tools I remembered not finding at home when I saw them on the store rack.
Yes I have brought them home only to find the those I could not find before.

Then there is the mysterious disappearing variac. I looked all over for it in December. No luck.
Mid January I looked all over the house again when Charlie came by for a visit on the way to Cabin Fever. 
Still.... No luck!

When Charlie lost his variac at Cabin Fever due to the effect of gravity on a 50 foot air manifold made of 2" schedule 40 pipe when the tables are no longer supporting it, I decided I had better order a new one...!

Still.... Stubborn as I can be and not quite believing I could actually lose something that large and that heavy, I just held off ordering another until after a few more searches. Last week I broke down and went on ebay to order and they are now half the money I spent 8-9 years ago so I ordered 2. One from each of 2 different vendors, both $70-72 delivered. I got an ebay shipping notice with tracking number from both vendors. This morning I got an apology from the one that should have been delivered yesterday saying he had sold his last unit before I bought mine. (odd since his ebay listing said he had them in stock, something like 2 left.

This morning I went back on ebay, told the errant seller I would gladly accept a refund.
I also searched again and found one for even less and I ordered one for $67 including postage!

By now you must know where this is going.
The reliable seller's variac arrived today.
I carried it into the Office of Steam, opened it, walked around the corner to put the box in a storage room and there it sat- my original variac sitting on the floor right next to a wood box I had opened to look for it!

So I now have 2 with #3 on the way.

Gil

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Great story Gil and it's even more fun when you find steam engines that you have no memory of buying 

By the way, the best paper towel I have found is made by the brand Viva. They are cheap, durable and absorbent.

That's what we buy. Amazon Prime have them really cheap every so often and we buy a lot.