Am I The Only One

[lowell holmes]

that puts too many sheets through his paper shredder and then has to get needle nose pliers out to clean up the mess.

Just wondering?

[Bruce Page]

Yep! :)
Seriously, I haven't had that problem but thanks for the heads up!

[Frank Pratt]

I do that all the time, but I just push the reverse button to clean it out.

[lowell holmes]

I had a plug today that reverse would not work. Oh Well:)

[Charlie Velasquez]

that puts too many sheets through his paper shredder and then has to get needle nose pliers out to clean up the mess.

Just wondering?


I use a dental pick.

[Jim Koepke]

I had a plug today that reverse would not work. Oh Well:)

How many sheets were you trying to feed at once?

Mine starts to choke on two or three. Most of the time one at a time is my rule.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

It was an envelope with a letter in it that jammed it. I hate to say, it's not the first time. :)

[Jerome Stanek]

I used to have one that would work hard on 2 sheets now I have one that takes 6 sheets no problem and it is a micro cut unit that I got on sale for $32

[John K Jordan]

I use a dental pick.

I use a burn barrel by the shop. Hasn't clogged yet regardless of how many sheets I put in. :)

409939

JKJ

[Jim Koepke]

I use a burn barrel by the shop. Hasn't clogged yet regardless of how many sheets I put in. :)

JKJ

Other than preferring to recycle, burn barrels are not allowed in my neck of the woods.

jtk

[Bruce Page]

Other than preferring to recycle, burn barrels are not allowed in my neck of the woods.

jtk
Ditto here too.
My shredder will take 4-5 sheets at a time. I can hear it strain if I overload it but it's never clogged.

[Kev Williams]

The wife picked up a nice cross-cut shredder a few years ago, from Costco I think-- it claims to eat up to 13 'basic' sheets at once. It does :) Eats credit cards and CD's too, no problem. And the cross cut pieces take up way less space than strips do.

[Jerome Stanek]

We are not allowed to burn here either only tree trimmings.

[Jim Koepke]

One thing to help a paper shredder do its thing is to every once in a while feed it a piece of paper that has been sprayed with cooking oil. If no cooking spray is available, smear some mineral oil or cooking oil on a sheet of paper.

It might be good to do this after the bin is emptied so the 'contaminated' sheet can be kept separate from paper to recycle.

jtk

[John K Jordan]

We are not allowed to burn here either only tree trimmings.

That's what I usually burn, tree trimmings and branches and small trunks when clearing or when a tree falls. I don't think burning is allowed in more populated areas. In this rural area burning is allowed year-around unless temporarily banned when conditions are unfavorable. A free permit is needed from Oct 15 to May 15, no permit needed the other half of the year. No leaf burning allowed. Rules require having a water hose or equipment handy and someone with the fire until it's is out. I use my tractor to push and turn and spread and water to douse the coals. This is what I cleared when I built my shop.

409969

We do recycle paper, cans, plastic, and glass. We no longer have a shredder but my wife sometimes carries papers to have them shredded. If I buy another one it will be a heavy-duty commercial model. I haven't been happy with the cheap consumer models I've had.

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

+1 on the lubrication. I have some sort of oil from Fellows that's made for shredders. I put a sheet soaked in it through whenever I think of it.

[Charlie Velasquez]

I use a burn barrel by the shop. Hasn't clogged yet regardless of how many sheets I put in. :)
JKJ

When packing to move to a new city last fall, I pitched all our old financial documents. Most went into the shredder. But back in the 70's, 80's and 90's I preferred to pay almost everything by check for record keeping. The bank would mail them back after cashing them, and for many of those years we used the carbon type checkbook. And I saved them all since 1975. Boxes and boxes of those stapled booklets.

We, too, have an ordinance about burning stuff. So I lit up the gas grill and just started feeding it.
Hours of black smoke and flames shooting out. After two full tanks they were all gone.

My wife just commented that all the pork chops she cooked on the grill had all this black stuff on them...
as the soot from those checks came falling from the lid 9 months later.

[Lee Schierer]

That's what I usually burn, tree trimmings and branches and small trunks when clearing or when a tree falls. I don't think burning is allowed in more populated areas. In this rural area burning is allowed year-around unless temporarily banned when conditions are unfavorable. A free permit is needed from Oct 15 to May 15, no permit needed the other half of the year. No leaf burning allowed. Rules require having a water hose or equipment handy and someone with the fire until it's is out. I use my tractor to push and turn and spread and water to douse the coals. This is what I cleared when I built my shop.

409969

We do recycle paper, cans, plastic, and glass. We no longer have a shredder but my wife sometimes carries papers to have them shredded. If I buy another one it will be a heavy-duty commercial model. I haven't been happy with the cheap consumer models I've had.

JKJ

So you can burn all you want in the hottest, driest months of the year but have to have a permit in the wet months. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Jim Koepke]

In my area we have to printout a fire permit from the internet and have it on site when we are burning. Usually a burn ban is in effect during June through October. It may run longer depending on the weather.

jtk

[John K Jordan]

So you can burn all you want in the hottest, driest months of the year but have to have a permit in the wet months. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

I thought the same thing, sounded backwards.

Maybe it's because of the dense vegetation and high humidity in the green months in this part of the country that would keep a spark from setting something on fire. Note that in rare periods of extended drought things dry up and any outdoor burning may be banned until a good rain. Permits are not needed for burning in containers such as burn barrels with a screen on top. Rules are different within municipal boundaries of cities and towns.

They told me another reason they require burn permits in the winter is a fire can sometimes be seen from quite a distance when there are no leaves on the trees and sometimes dozens of people start calling to report it. If a permit is not on file at the reported location they have to send someone out to check on the first call.

Burning without a permit can be expensive if caught. Even with a permit if you are negligent and allow the fire to get out of control, you will probably be fined and charged for the expense of the firefighters and big equipment, but if you don't get the (free) permit you will be in big trouble! Years ago some guy near here was burning logs and brush in a ravine behind his house and went in to eat lunch and take a nap. That nap probably cost him a fortune - fines can be $25,000.

They are specific about what canNOT be burned: https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/apc-air-pollution-control-home/apc/open-burning.html

I see they now allow burning leaves. Otherwise piles up to 8' x 8' can be burned with a permit, larger piles with a call to the forestry division. I know a guy clearing woods for cow pastures who has burned several huge piles, probably 1000's of tons so far and only 1/2 done. Seems a shame to a woodworker with big oaks, poplar, cherry, hickory, and others going up in smoke.

JKJ

[lowell holmes]

I cleared mine and it takes 4 or 5 sheets, so I'm good now.

[Jim Koepke]

I cleared mine and it takes 4 or 5 sheets, so I'm good now.

Remember when two sheets are folded in an envelope, it looks like eight sheets to the shredder. Two for the envelope and six for the two sheets with the standard two folds.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Thanks Jim, I figured that out. :)

All envelops will be empty in the future, I can be a bit slow sometimes, but normally I figure things out.

I don't talk back to SWMBO either.

[Jim Koepke]

[edited]
I don't talk back to SWMBO either.

That one is still sinking in a bit.

She has been speeding up the process by calling my mallets, "hubby clubs."

My stance is more akin to that of Abe Lincoln, "With mallets toward none… "

SWMBO thinks of me as being, "mallet adjusted."

Ducking for cover,

jtk

[Lee DeRaud]

When packing to move to a new city last fall, I pitched all our old financial documents. Most went into the shredder. But back in the 70's, 80's and 90's I preferred to pay almost everything by check for record keeping. The bank would mail them back after cashing them, and for many of those years we used the carbon type checkbook. And I saved them all since 1975. Boxes and boxes of those stapled booklets.BTDT: burned out a pretty good shredder getting rid of a couple decades of cancelled checks. (Burning almost anything in SoCal can get you in a world of hurt.)

By comparison, I only wrote one check each of the last three years, all to the guy who trims my trees each fall. Turns out he (finally) started taking plastic last year, but I had already written the check before he told me. So it goes.