•             Welcome

    This is the personal site of Ted the serendipitist, who has interpreted the Wikipedia definition of 'Hunter-Gatherer' (see that page) as meaning someone who visits junk shops, charity shops, antique shops and hebdomadal matutinal car boot sales in order to acquire low-value objects, which no-one in their right minds would want, at low cost (well, apart from antique shops, that is).

    Deluded Ted believes that at some time in the future, some of his acquisitions will be highly desirable and worth a small fortune.

  •       Car Boot Sales

    TYPES OF SELLERS

    There are two types of sellers at car boot sales, viz traders and ordinary people. Ted tends to avoid traders owing to the high chance of inadvertently purchasing inferior goods at high prices. However, Ted did recently manage to acquire a large number of pairs of everlasting socks at only 50p per pair.

    THE LANGUAGE

    Buyers need to understand traders' language; on asked how much the French carriage clock is, the response might be "toonarf." This would be interpreted as £250. There is no first aid on site for buyers who faint.

    WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT?

    Ted has discovered that, 99% of the time, a strange-looking object is either a massager, a fitness device or a CD rack.

    WIVES

    When a husband and wife team are selling their unwanted items at a car boot stall, it is an interesting fact that, whatever position the husband holds at work, be it dogsbody, manager or chief executive, it is the wife who wears the trousers. If someone asks the wife how much the pretty mug is, she'll say, for example, "50p." However, if the husband were asked, he would turn to his wife and say, "Er... how much for this, dear?" - even if it belongs to him.

    At other times the wife can be heard saying, "No, not there - put it on the ground here...", "You need to turn those round", "You can empty this box now..." or "You can pour me a cup of tea now - you did pack the flask as I asked, didn't you?"

    The simple fact is that women are more suited to this activity than the average man is, and so they naturally take control.

    HAGGLING

    In the early days, Ted's wife would suddenly say, "Ooh, look! They've GOT one!!!" This somewhat weakened Ted's position when he started to haggle. A more appropriate method for achieving a minimal sale price is to pick up the piece unenthusiastically and give a look of horror on hearing the price.

    Some sellers dither when asked the price of an item. At the first sign of this, the buyer should offer a very low price; there is a high chance that it will be accepted, especially if a wife is not in sight.

  • Recent Acquisitions

  • Archives

  • Visitors

    • 77,465

K’Nex Tips


Introduction

This page is aimed at people who have experience of using Classic K’Nex – particularly those who invent things.

Corrections, suggestions and comments will be very welcome, and all will be responded to.

The Tips

1. Know Your Pieces – Rods (Non-flexible)

Believe it or not, the non-flexible rods are generally longer than stated.  Here is a document which shows the actual and stated lengths, and the relationship between them.

2. Know Your Pieces – Rods (Flexible)

The main use for flexible rods is for forming the rims of wheels.  Here is a document which shows how to make elegant wheels.

3. Know Your Pieces – Thickness of Components

When pieces are attached to rods, for example when building a gearbox, it is useful to be able to quickly work out what pieces will fit onto the exposed part of a rod.  Here is a quick way to do it all.

4. Combining Rods

It is often necessary to use a combination of rods to achieve a certain length.  Here‘s how to achieve all the possible lengths up to 1000mm.  And here‘s a shortened version which can be printed on each side of an A4 sheet of paper for laminating.

5. Know Your Pieces – Gears

There are three sizes of gears in K’Nex.  This document explains how to use them effectively and includes the arithmetic involved.

6. Looking After Your Pieces

Damaged pieces can cause problems.  Here‘s how to handle them.

7. Making Strong Structures

Sometimes some extra strength is required when building something using K’Nex. This document shows some useful techniques.

8. Making a K’Nex Ratchet

Ted has invented a K’Nex ratchet – it was required for his fruit machine. This single-page document shows how the ratchet was made.

3 Responses

  1. Jemima, on 25/2/11 at 6:28 pm said:

    This is great Ted! Great picture of a furby.

    Reply
  2. Uri Ljlko, on 17/10/11 at 1:37 pm said:

    Hi
    Some of the bits I got from a charity shop seem to be for connecting
    to ‘Lego’, but I have no instructions.
    There are also some tiny pieces from a miniature set.

    Reply
    • elapoldvic, on 17/10/11 at 1:43 pm said:

      Yes – there are pieces which connect with Lego, but as I’m not a Lego user I can’t say more.

      The tiny pieces are about 60% of the size of normal K’Nex pieces and are called Micro K’Nex. There are so-called transition pieces which connect Micro K’Nex to ordinary K’Nex.

      Ted

      Reply

Leave a comment

  • Categories

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 16 other subscribers

  • Calendar

    May 2024
    M T W T F S S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    2728293031  

  •      A Hungry Furby

    Furby

    A hungry Furby

  •       Charity Shops

    It is difficult nowadays to walk down a high street without encountering a number of charity shops.

    THE TILL

    The chances are that, when paying for an item, a perplexed look can be seen on the volunteer's face as yet again they have to grapple with the electronic till.

    Offering a five-pound note and 19p for an item costing £4.19, so that the change is simpler to give and a pocketful of change is avoided, will only cause confusion and the practice is best avoided.

    VALUABLE ITEMS

    The discovery of a valuable item in a charity shop is very unlikely, so when a buyer spots a chunk of pure gold for 99p they should be wary - items are carefully examined by experts before they are put on sale, and even, in some cases, appropriated by the manager to feed a lucrative sideline (yes - it does happen).

    Serendipity happens at car boot sales, not charity shops.

  •        Junk Shops

    Junk shops are becoming more difficult to find nowadays, what with the proliferation of charity shops and car boot sales.

    However, those that can be found are usually full of furniture and bric-a-brac which have come from house clearances. When someone has died, the next of kin often want to just get rid of the house contents so that a greedy estate agent can sell the property for them, and clearing out the house is often seen as a service rather than the selling (or giving away) of sometimes valuable items for a pittance. There is normally no charge for the woodworm in the furniture.

    It is well worth haggling at these places owing to the high mark-up on the items.