Tools: Swiss Army Knife

I mentioned in my first post that a tool that you mind find very useful is swill army knife. Well, duh. It's a swiss army knife, who can't find it useful. Except for maybe Shamus from Family Guy, you know the guy with four posts for limbs. Anyways, let's get started. But first, yes they made this and you can buy it.

The knife above is most certainly overkill for what you need a knife for. But, I think everyone should be aware of its existence. 

Your most basic swiss army knives have five tools on them. Each of these have at lease one use. 

1. scissors- cutting (duh) 
2. tweezers- picking through your stash, cleaning (the edges are good for scraping)
3. toothpick- cleaning
4. blade- cleaning, making your own smoking devices, cutting 
5. nail file with screwdriver- making your own smoking devices  

It would be easier for me to explain how I use my swiss army knife for you to get a feel for it's uses. When I am going to smoke the first thing I do is weigh my stash. I use the tweezers for this to make sure I get all of it onto the scale, so I know how much I have and how much I use. When I move it from the scale to where it will be smoked out of I also you use the tweezers, it can tend to stick to your fingers and you lose some. Then, I put away what I don't use again using the tweezers and the blade of the knife. I use it scrape off the top of the scale. If I don't have my grinder handy I'll use the tweezers to make a finer product that just pulling it apart will do, this will increase the surface volume. When I'm done I'll use the toothpick to push any ash into the ash catcher, to avoid it spilling out. Now, what about the nail file? If you make your own smoking device, when you cut plastic it can sometimes make a jagged edge which for me can mean a not air tight seal or that I will have to do more cutting to adjust the hole OR I just use the nail file to get it how I like. 

If you have swiss army knife with additional attachments that you use, share it here by commenting. 

Storage

As promised, I am going to share a few clever ways for storing your stuff. From experience, I have learned the dos and don'ts of storing your stuff. Sometimes, that really good hiding spot ends up being how your stash is found. For example, a friend of mine had stored his in a backpack under the stairs of his deck for the longest time. He had two problems: 1) We had a minor flood which soaked his whole backpack, stash included 2) when his parents noticed that the lattice surrounding the deck was coming undone (at the spot where he was hiding his stash in particular, he got caught. SO, here are some suggestions that should be relatively full proof. But don't take that as meaning you won't get caught.

Light Switch

They actually sell kits for making a "light switch safe" but I believe there is no reason to spend money. This is easy, free, and actually kind of 007 esque.

The important thing here is to not get sloppy. Sure it seems like a genius idea but there are some faults. You have to watch that you don't screw up the wiring, break off dry wall when removing or replacing, leave smudges to make it seem like it has been tampered with, watch for odor, and most importantly that you put it back together correctly with all the screws and other pieces.

Back to School

One way that I have been messing with for a while is storing things in clever home made objects. This one shouldn't cost you any money either. All you need is scrap paper, a hole pinch, a stapler, and some tape.

It looks like an ordinary binder if you look at it, without opening it. But on the inside is a small box where you can easily hide stuff. You can get as creative and clever with this as you want. Mine looks really crappy because I made it while I was writing this article just so I had something to show you. But you basically make it look like there is paper in it from the top (you can do the bottom too), install some way of storing items like the bandaid box I used, and then put it on your book shelf. If you need a way to hide your favorite bourbon, you can use this way as well but it will only work for small bottles. Just tape them to the inside and viola.

These are just two ways that I think are pretty cool BUT there is honestly an unlimited number of ways for you to hide your stash, or anything really. The point is to hide it somewhere in some way that it won't be found by anyone other than you and it's safe. 

Comment below with whatever cool ways you store your stash. If it's something that I like, I'll feature it in this article. 

Basics

For my first post I am going to cover a few basics. There are a few key items I suggest you acquire if you are going to make hanging out with Mary a regular thing. She tends to be a little needy. I will also provide links for some items that I suggest that I have used and can vouch for.

Storage

You're going to want something that is airtight, waterproof, and relatively easy to put away. You can get very creative with this. In the past I have known people to used small mason jars, Vicks Vapor Rub containers, and specially designed herb jars. Now, this doesn't have to be expensive and honestly there is no need to spend a ton of money. Stay tuned and I will show you a few clever ways to hide your stash and your tools.

Tools

Some of you may ask what tools could you need? Well, if you get into the lifestyle there is some work involved that will require a few tools. If you like to make your own smoking devices then tools will become a necessity. I am going to list a few with a short description of what you may use it for.

• Brushes: You are going to want small brushes with a varying degree of bristle size. Mainly you'll want a fine brush and course one. Paint brushes are good for this. The fine brush will be used for "sweeping" or collecting your smokeables, mainly the finer pieces. The course one will be used for cleaning your devices and other tools.
• Pocket knife: For this I will suggest a swiss army knife. They usually come with a few things that you will find extremely useful. These include: tweezers, a little toothpick, a knife, a corkscrew, scissors, and various other tools you'll no doubt find a use for. I will put a post up with uses for a swiss army knife later, that can get pretty in depth. 
• Container: You're definitely going to want a container that you can keep all of your tools in. This will help keep them from getting lost, you can store them all together, and you have a second place to store you're smokeables. 
• Soldering Iron: This can make your tools list a little expensive BUT if you like to make homemade smoking devices, this will be a god send. It makes holes in plastic efficiently and quickly without having to worry about stabbing through whatever you are using or yourself. This one is entirely optional. 

Gadgets

Here I'm going to provide a list of cool gadgets for you to check out that are not necessary but are cool to have and honestly can be very helpful. These links are good, and if you want to get them online will be the cheapest. This scale is not as good as I would normally recommend;however, this is a good one. Normally you would want one that is 10g x 0.001g but they can get expensive and you usually will get what you pay for. The grinder kit is by no means anything special. I listed it because it is an attachment for there vape pen which is fantastic. I have not tried this grinder, but I thought it was cool. Enjoy!