The Thingamabob. You Need One.
This is a Thingamabob. You need one.
You need this like a cat owner needs a lint brush. Like a morning needs coffee. Like a car accident victim who is trying to rip off their insurance company for scads and scads of money needs to always wear his “doctor prescribed” surgical collar, even if he thinks no one is looking. You need this.
I don’t know the actual name of this thingamabob but every hardware store carries them. It’s the sort of thing that you would never think to buy. I’m not sure why I thought to buy it, but I’m glad I did.
In the past 10 years I have used this thingamabob to scrape stickers off just about everything, clean dried paint off of windows, clean up messy silicone, scrape guck off my counter and slice through my thumb. One of the aforementioned incidents was an accident. I’m not telling which one. Guessing’s always more fun.
Behold … the razor squeegee.
A razor blade encased in plastic. Or genuine metal, depending on how extravagant you are. I used to have a metal one. I broke it. Now I have a plastic one. I hope to graduate back to the metal once I break this one.
The blade, as you can see has been well used. When it gets to this point you simply slide the blade out and replace it with a new one. Unless you’re me. In which case you keep using the rusty old thing.
I realize you’re probably looking at this post thinking … Uh, great, thanks Karen. FOR WASTING 2 MINUTES OF MY LIFE! I passed up checking out Design*Sponge for this???! You can take your weirdo “Razor Squeegee” and shove it up your #$$%&!!
But the truth is … these 2 minutes haven’t been wasted because if you go out and buy a “Razor Squeegee” I guarantee you’ll make that 2 minutes back within the first week of owning it. Within the first day if you’re lucky.
And if you’re really lucky the purchase of your new “Razor Squeegee” will also gain you entry into the exciting world of a genuine emergency room!
It wasn’t as bad as it looks. And luckily for me, I had a tetanus shot a couple of years ago following an altercation with a rusty car trunk! But consider that disgusting picture a warning. The “Razor Squeegee” really is a must have tool. You just must be careful with it.
**At no point did I ever make an insurance claim against the above stated injury.**
Teri
Yep, that is a grand and well used tool! Mine gets a workout cleaning off my flat-top stove.
mothership
OMG.. that is what I use mine for too! when I am not scraping paint/stickers off windows, or skin off my hands… but my stove is not flat…. must navigate around burners…. hence skin injuries… maybe if I changed the blade????
carla
omgee.. I too am mothership! I’ve heard I’m not alone, but thought it was just an urban legend!!
also… LOVE my razor thingamabob. It was one of the first tools to enter my new tool box 30+ years ago.
Shannon
I have one too. It is the best thing for scraping crap off my granite bench tops & glass cook top. There isn’t a week that goes by without several uses of the thingamabob.
Never managed to slice myself with it though. Geez! And this is coming from someone who once required stitches after an altercation with a piece of baked on dry pasta.
Caroline
it even smiles!
I think I need one. Particularly as long as I keep cluttering my apartment with Goodwill finds and they keep putting those @!^!*% stickers on their stuff!
Leah
OK, while reading this, in my head i heard this guys voice “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCK6wQ0BoxI” with this music in the background… “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF4oVOA5cvw”.
Its perfect.
I have a metal Thingamabob. It is necessary.
rshadoan
i love mine too. and i never change the blade, just “sharpen” it on a piece of sandpaper.
Shilo
YES. My father is a major backer of the razor squeegee and taught me one of the most satisfying uses for it.
When you paint your window frames, forget the tape. Splash all the paint in the world onto your glass and then indulge in a life-affirming razor squeeqee OCD session neatly slicing all that dried paint off the glass.
LIKE HEAVEN I tell you. Like heaven.
Karen
IKNOW!!! That was my #2 reason for loving it. It’s 10X easier to not tape your glass, and NOT worry about getting paint on the windows. Just paint away and scrape it off later. It’s fantastic! Your dad knew what he was talking about! Welcome to my little self-diagnosed OCD club! ~ karen
Anj
Yes this is the perfect use, unless your windows are bevelled glass like in a French door. Then you must be an expert at using a razor squeegee always keeping it flat never nicking an edge. The bevelled area of the glass is much softer and prone to scratching.
Pam'a
…and it cracks really easily if you try to use a heat gun to get paint off it. Fail. :(
Norell
Wondering why I don’t have one of these. I spend so much time getting price stickers and other “unmentionable” gooky stuff off surfaces. This is going on my have to have list. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Nicole Lisa
Oh my! I have one of those and it works wonders!
I have a few other items in my tool “box”. All items I have no idea what is named but that I wouldn’t want to live without.
I never thought to tell people about it, but it is actually a good idea.
Thank you!
/Nicole Lisa
Debbie Doodles
Love, love, love the razor squeegee thingie. Have used one for years. It is a regular in my carry-about tool box. I must say though your plastic one is so much cuter and more colorful than all my metal ones put together! Cute! I also found a delightful mini razor squeegee that has come in quite handy. But alas also easily misplaced. ;-[
Laurel Alanna McBrine
Yup, I use it to scrape paint off my glass palette. Also, I have sliced open my fingers TWICE just by trying to get gum out of a foil backed blister pack (be careful, that metal foil can be sharp!), so I am surprised I have been unscathed using the thingamabob.
Rhonda N
HA ha! Every thought I had as I read popped up 4-5 lines later in your post. The most dominant one being, even before I saw the ER picture, “Man, I hope the ‘finger-slicing’ incident from the first paragraph didn’t happen with that rusty blade still intact, and if it did, I hope she had a tetanus shot!”
Just got my tetanus earlier this summer. I took my 3-year old with me so that she could see that I, too, have been subjected to needles – and that I don’t even cry when it happens, as much as I might like. (BTW – I recommend this outing to every mother – or any relative – of small children; I have never seen a look of such admiration on a child’s face, and feelings of admiration do not come quickly to this child of mine. It was an exercise in self-aggrandizement, true, but such a simple, straightforward one. And one that ultimately benefits the child, too, since my DD has 4-yr shots looming on her horizon.)
Shauna
But make sure you start with a fresh blade on the window or it’s very easy to scratch your window….I should know…My mom found my Thingamabob this summer!! :( “Oh…did I scratch it?” So hide from mothers is my advice!! Also Karen…more notice tomorrow morning if there’s blood please!! lol
Liz
I have SEVERAL of these thingamabobs. I have one rusty one by my kitchen sink for scraping dried on gunk off my ceramic stove top and scraping labels off wine bottles (it was one such incident where the thingamabob malfunctioned and resulted in me slicing right through the front of one of my fingernails and into the flesh beneath – ouch. I’d show you which finger but you might take it the wrong way and be offended). I have one in my craft room for scraping up bits of hardened hot glue drips, and hardened candle wax drips. I even have one at work because people insist on taping various memos & notes all over the counter tops and windows and then when the notes are no longer needed you’re left with all the bits of tape messing up the surfaces! To make a long story longer, I don’t think I could live without my thingamabobs.
Oonafey @ Little Pink Houses
I definitely need one of these. We are having our house painter and they are making a complete mess of the windows… Bastards.
Jill@BarrioAdjacent
I love my razor squeegee too! I never new what it was called. I have several – great for taking the label off cheep wine bottles before you bring them to someone’s house for dinner! No injuries yet, although I did take the tip of my thumb off with a mandoline a couple of months ago. Still feels weird.
Kim from Milwaukee
I have two of them so that I don’t have a panic attack if one is lost. It scrapes the gunk from the bottom of the oven like a dream, takes off jar labels AND the glue, gets paint drips off the hardwood floor, and cleans up glass shower doors. Why couldn’t I have invented this tool? Damn!
Hope your injury heals quickly, Karen. I would slice my hand if I had large thingamabobs, too. I have the black baby ones. Much safer.
mykidzmomnow
Yes, Razor squeegee is a wonderful guillotine. Every home should have one. We have lots of children so we have lots of razor squeegees.
I hope you heal easily and quickly!
RoseCampion
You should submit that photo to the happy chair is happy website. That razor squeegee is gleeful that it cut your hand.
http://happychairishappy.com/
Singer_cindy
A great companion for the Thingy is Googone you can find it at dollar stores now. Those nasty stickers off in a flash with less elbow grease! And it does get dried paint out of carpets and fabric!!!!
Karen
Cindy! I’m good friends with Goo Gone! ;)
kasia
I have one of these razors, but shorter, and I have to keep in on the ledge of an upper window sill. Why? Because that’s where I left it once when scraping paint off that window, and now when I need it, if it’s not on that ledge, I have no idea where to even look and it drives me nuts! So it stays there, even though people thinks its weird and wonder why I don’t “put it away”. Definitely a MUST HAVE round the house!
Kathleen
Just closed on a 1940′s bungalow and have been dreaming of using this on all of the poorly painted windows! Can’t wait!
Kev
I like Design Sponge *
Karen
As do I!
Teresa
the gadget-thingamajig-razorsqueegie is aptly named something nice and simple. When you go to the hardware store just request a “Paint Scraper” and you’ll find exactly what you need!
Karen
Ah hah! See? I think of this as a paint scraper. Or even this … http://www.plumbersurplus.com/images/prod/1/Stanley_28-616.jpg (I have one of those too. :) ) I will forever think of the thing I spoke of as a razor squeegee. :) – karen
Teresa
I agree razor squeegee is exceedingly more interesting!
Jessica
Razor squeegee is an awesome name for those, that’s what i’ll have to call them from now on. My grandmother has one of those and when the cement for the back porch was poured it splashed little cement drops on the sliding glass door and i ended up having to scrape it off which sucked but at least i had a razor squeegee that i could use. Since then it seems to have disappeared. I didn’t know there were smaller ones i’ll have to buy one.
Karen
Jessica – I LOVE my razor squeegee. LOVE it. I use it all the time and I’ve only had to be hospitalized once because of it! ~ karen
Clare
Well you know, only the BEST tools cause hospitalization. Last Monday: my upholstery shears and my left finger. I.rest.my.case.
I have one of these thingamabob razor squeegees. Totally love it. I have yet to be hosptalized because of it, but it is most likely only a matter of time.
Just found your blog via design sponge, and I love it. Thank you!
Karen
Thank *you* Clare … that comment made me laugh. Yup. Nothing funnier than a finger slicing story. (when it isn’t mine) Hey! Did you read about my illegal chickens yet? They’re my newest obsession and building their coop is where I got an even BIGGER hand slicing injury! ~ karen
Heidi
I have a small version with a mini plastic handle – awesome tool. I recently learned a new use for it when ripping some seams in a pair of jeans – seam ripper! Get it at the correct angle, and don’t push too hard (so you don’t cut the fabric) and it takes a fraction of the time that a regular seam ripper would. And it’s SO satisfying. :)
Karen
Heidi! Thanks for the tip! I just happen to have lost my seam ripper! ~ karen