LAB/SCHOOL

You know those times when you don’t have a stove and you wonder how you’re going to heat up your soup or mac and cheese? Like at college, or when you’re on the road and living in hotel rooms? Times like those are when this 110VAC, 1000-watt (9A) hot plate shines. Has an easy-to-use dial with (5) temperature settings, from 140F to 716F, a neon power indicator, metal body, non-slip feet and a 3-foot cord. Measures approx 8” x 8” x 2-3/4”. This is a serious cooking tool, not a toy, and shouldn’t be used by anyone under age 12. Anyone over 12 should operate the plate under the supervision of an adult. Just one, though. Too many cooks spoil the broth. CE listed.

It looks as though it should be used for administering laudanum! A 30mL, 1-1/4" sq x 3" tall clear glass bottle, it has thick molded sides and a heavy lip: very antique in appearance. It is stoppered with a red(!) rubber stopper which is the squeeze bulb for the glass dropper tube inside. A real eye catcher, but give it a good wash please. It clearly is not sterile.

We don't know why, but Bergamo, a town in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, has given its name to high-quality spiral-bound notebooks. They’re popular as journals or travel notebooks, and this one has (100) ivory pages lined on both sides. Also has a plain “soft-touch” cover (think suede-like). In a dark maroon/chocolate color. Measures 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". Jot down your thoughts and musings (you know you’ve got some good ones) or they might be gone forever.

Can't beat a classic. These uncoated ceramic donut magnets have a 1-lb pull, which makes them dandy for classroom or refrigerator use. They measure 1-1/4" dia x 3/8" ID x 3/16" thick and are polarized on the faces. You get a wrapped roll of 29 donuts.

Our thinner picker-upper, but with a powerful 5-lb-pull, 9/16" dia magnet on the business end (for spilled nails, the screw that rolled under the stove, or the heavy wrench you dropped into the sump). The 5/16" dia x 5-1/4" long 4-draw barrel extends to a full two feet. Has a convenient pocket clip.

Hang it all with this set of (10) magnetic hooks. The 1-3/16" long x 9/64" hooks screw into 1-3/8" dia magnetic bases with an approx 8-lb pull, which is heavier than most jackets and keys. Good for horizontal or vertical mounts, and dandy for adding hooks to gym or school lockers.

We usually have pens, but we usually don’t have (40) packs of Paper Mate® Inkjoy pens in various colors all contained in a sort of tall, plastic peanut butter-type jar with a screwcap. These are long-lasting ballpoints with 1.0mm tips and caps with pocket clips. You’ll get (4) pens each in black, brown, blue, red, magenta, purple, green, lime green, turquoise and orange.

It’s a cornucopia of stencils. All shapes, no alphabets. You’ll get a profusion of (8) clear acrylic stencil sheets, including: a raft of ovals; a preponderance of squares; a farrago of circles, hexagons, pentagons and triangles; a collection of a bunch of shapes, including trapezoids; a roomful of interior design shapes; a melange of electronic symbols; and an assortment we can’t altogether identify, but might be for printed circuit design. All have mm rules along at least one edge.

Our each is a package of (2) steel tech rulers. One is 6” x 1/32” for the first 2-1/2” then 1/64” for the next 1/2” then 1/16” for the last 3”. The other is 150mm x 0.5mm. Both have sliding markers/pocket clips, and both have mm:inch tables on the reverse side. You’ll need excellent eyesight.

These light-up pens are one of the coolest things we’ve come across in a long time, but then again, look who’s saying that—a copywriter. But really, they’re hard not to love. Pull off the metal cap, put it on the other end and bam, the ballpoint is suddenly illuminated by tiny LEDs for all the midnight scribbling you can do! Pen measures 5” tip to tip, is all metallic, and feels nice in the hand. Body is silver and cap, with a silver pocket clip, is either silver, black, white or red. Back end of the pen has a stylus, too. “It was a dark and stormy night…but really it wasn’t that dark because of this pen….”

Rare earth magnets are usually killers for their size, and these thick nickel neodymium discs are no exception. The price, on the other hand, for (3) 7/16" dia x 1/4" 5-lb lift or (2) 15/32” dia x 3/16” 8-lb lift magnets each stored on a 2" dia steel disc, is a rare exception.

This plated N52 14,200 gauss neodymium magnet is shaped like a miniature silver ingot, measuring 1-1/2" long x 1/2" wide x 1/8" thick. Has a big hangonability quotient, which the manufacturer claims is 15 lbs of pull, meaning it's probably closer to 13 lbs. Impressive either way for such a cute little magnet. 

Good things come in (2) different small packages. Our pocket microscopes are compact and perfect for a clear, close look at stamps, coins, flora, insects or assorted minutiae. The 30X version measures 5-3/4" x 1-5/8" x 3/4" in black plastic with a focus knob, on/off switch, small LED for illumination, and a vinyl carrying case. Requires (2) "AA"s. The 60X version is a microscopic 3-1/4" x 1-3/16" x 3/4" and has a built-in white LED illuminator powered by (3) coin-cell batteries that are included. Magnifies from 60-100X, with coarse- and fine-focus knobs, and has a vinyl carrying case.

Eye dropper, tongue dropper, test tube dropper, petri dish dropper, anywhere dropper. Use this 3" glass dropper, with a rubber squeeze bulb to drop small amounts of liquid wherever you think they should go. You will have to measure by counting drops, though, because there are no markings on it. Also, it is called "3" because that is about how long the glass tube is. Overall, it is 4" long.

Start them out right with this (profusely) hand-illustrated, 96-page book: The Story of Inventions. Includes toasters, toilets, television, computers, cars, chocolate bars, dishwashers, pianos, flying machines, bicycles and blue jeans among many others. Includes a timeline, glossary and index. No age recommendations, but we like it for pretty much anyone.

These are very nice (48)-page cardboard-bound notebooks with themes and some unobtrusive notes/formats that will be easy to ignore if you’re not into the subject, but twice as nice if you are. You pick: the 5” x 7” Star Trek United Federation Captain’s Log with a date/location entry on each lined page and fold-out info on the back cover, like a warp-speed conversion table; the 5” x 7” Stargazer’s Notebook with 1/4” rules plus a lightly printed 3-1/4” dia circle with 30-degree markings to chart the sky, and a fold-out back cover with an astrolabe and constellation chart; the 3-1/2” x 5” Star Trek Engineering notebook with a red cover, diagrams of a communicator, phaser and tricorder, grid pages, famous engineering quotes and room for your name, rank and serial number; the 3-1/2” x 5” Entomology notebook with a beetle cover, fold-out back cover showing a metamorphosis of an adult insect, ruled pages and room for observational notes and sketches; or the 3-1/2” x 5” Botany notebook with a fold-out back cover with illustrations of leaves for identification, ruled pages and room for observational notes and sketches.

Okay, it isn't the cheapest magnet in the warehouse - but we pulled about 35-40 pounds with this 4-7/8" x 1" x 3/4" ceramic magnet,  and we think it's a bargain. It has a 6" bracket with mounting holes on 5-1/2" centers, plus a 1/2" ID eyehook bolted into the center of it. It's all set to troll the bottom of the lake next time your filing cabinet falls overboard.

Scientifically speaking. This 8-1/2" x 11" science reference notebook is three-hole punched for inclusion in a binder. From McGraw-Hill, it's heavily illustrated and filled with facts, illustrations and definitions about biology, geology, astronomy, physics and much more. Science! Surplus factor: some may have been packed before the cover ink was dry, leaving a slight speckled pattern that has no effect on the science inside—we checked. And Science is our middle name.