Next time you’re at the dentist, ask about the lead foil that comes in X-ray film packages. Each piece is 3cm x 4cm (1 1⁄4″x 1 5⁄8″), and 40 of them make a stack 2.5mm (0.1″) thick that weighs around 28 grams (1 oz.). Individual pieces of the foil can be burnished, bent, embossed, cut with scissors, painted, and attached with super glue to make clothing, tarps, flags, sheet metal, and all sorts of things in all the popular scales. You can also use pieces to weight aircraft noses: Just fill available cavities (pun intended, I’m a dentist) by packing the foil in with a brush handle. Dentists save the stuff to recycle, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to get a handful for an adequate supply until your next checkup.

Tip submitted by:
Jay ZvolanekDowners Grove, Illinois