The Right Tool for the Job

Tales from the Cutting Counter:

A gentleman approaches the cutting counter.  He is fifty-something, well dressed, tall.  "I have these pipes in my basement," says he, "about this big."  He makes a circle with his thumb and middle finger to show the diameter of the pipes.  "I am looking for something to wrap around them to insulate them."

I hope the incredulity I was feeling did not show on my face.  I spoke slowly.  "Have you considered, um, pipe insulation?" There's a plumbing supply place less than a mile from the fabric store.

"I have," said the man.  "But I notice you have long cardboard tubes inside your upholstery fabric.  Do you give those away?"

"No, we reuse them,"  I said.  I am thinking fast, here.  "What about pool noodles?  You could slit them down the side."

"Cardboard will be best,"  he said, definitively.  "Thanks anyway."

This past week has featured single-digit temperatures, and my guess is that the local plumbers have thawed a lot of pipes in a lot of basements.  And nothing insulates pipe better than

cardboard.  :/