Old Bike Tubes

**Preston** · 03-26-2009, 06:20 PM

I have old bike tubes from commuting to work and getting flat tires. I had two but I managed to find a use for one of them by cutting it up and covering my rain/snow boots with the rubber to help keep dry (the boots are about 3 years old and been through a lot and there were some holes) so that used one tube.

But now I have another and I'm sure in the future I have more. These are gppd ribber that I'm sure I can find use for.. I was just curious as to what to use them for??

I have patched a few in the past, but these ones were not patchable.

**peanut** · 03-26-2009, 10:04 PM

Stencils. They make great art supply material. Also, if you glue them to a block of wood and carve them, you have like a rubber stamp.

I've also known people to wrap them around plants nailed/tied to a stake to hold them up.

**Judi Dial** · 03-27-2009, 09:56 AM

I use DH's old tubes for tying up trees, bundles of brush, etc. They are great for that. Also, old handbar tape is handy on lawnmower handles, snow shovel handles, etc!

Judi

**perSue** · 03-27-2009, 10:01 AM

you can use them as handlebar grips, not just on bikes, on lawnmowers, weedeaters, other appliances who dont have 'em, have cruddy one's, or just need a new one.

definitely the plants like others mentioned.

check this out... http://www.instructables.com/id/10-o...Bicycle-Tubes/

1000 Uses for Old Bike Tubes

HTH

**Spirit Deer** · 03-27-2009, 11:09 AM

I keep an old car tire inner tube around (free for the asking from places that change, repair, or sell tires) and use it for things that need some 'give'. I just cut across the tube to make fat rubber bands. The last project I used it on was the sun shades I made for my cabin to help cut the cost of running the AC, which was not keeping up when the sun hit the west wall on a hot day. The AC was on that wall, to make matters worse. I attached the sun shade to hooks up under the eaves using grommets, and on the other side I attached the loops of inner tube to ropes, and then attached the ropes to stationary objects to anchor the shades. When the wind blew, the inner tube loops flexed enough to prevent damage to the shades.

Small pieces of inner tube also work for sealing up things that need to be waterproofed. I've used that on things like RVs that have any kind of metal plate that has a screw through it. Placing the rubber behind the metal plate and then tightening the screw makes the area waterproof so water cannot seep behind the plate and through the screw hole to cause damage. Of course that can't be used on stuff that needs to be food-safe.