A New Shop Tool

[Jim Frye]

We were grocery shopping this afternoon and spotted this on an end cap. It was in the hardware department, but I couldn't resist picking it up. I've always had Q-tips in the shop for small jobs that I didn''t want to dirty a brush with, but this seems to be a better solution. I have some GRIP tools in the shop like a set of hole saws and a Forstner bit set. The lady at the checkout register looked at the package with a quizzical expression and I told her they were for people with big ears. Sorry, bad pun, but I couldn't resist.

[cwsmith]

Hi Jim,

Not a bad idea. I too keep cotton swabs in the shop, use them for all kinds of things. I haven't seen anything beyond the normal 'Q-tip' size though. I do have a 4" roll of 12" wide cotton batting, which I rarely tear off a piece to wrap around the end of a small dowel to make my own big Q-tip. Good for cleaning out holes that are too large or deep for a normal Q-tip. The product you've found would be a lot easier.

The question of course is where to find them around here. Do you have a brand name? Your first picture was pretty blurry..

CWS

[Jim Frye]

Apologies. My cell phone camera is a bit tedious to use and I'm getting old with shaky hands. The brand name is GRIP (short for Grand Rapids Industrial Products). not sure how wide spread their distribution is. I honestly don't remember where I bought the hole saw set, nor the Frostner bit set. It may have been Harbor Freight or the neighborhood Ace Hardware.

[Carlos]

I've bought a variety of sponge sticks and q-tip style tools from the makeup section in Walmart. Super useful for details and repairs, for example.