KATHMANDU: Keeping utensils clean is one thing, but keeping them in good condition for use is not that easy. The type of damage depends on the material as well as their use, so the repair method also has to be accordingly.

Here are few tips to deal with such kitchen woes. So now instead of throwing your favourite piece of crockery just revive them.

•If your dishes or plates have hairline cracks, put the plate in a pan of milk and boil for 45 minutes. The crack should disappear but if it doesn’t, it was probably worse than you originally thought.

•If your glasswares are stuck together put cold water in the one on the top and the bottom one in hot water. They should come apart.

•If your grinder is clogged insert a crumpled piece of wax paper and keep grinding away. The paper will force every last piece of food out that would not move by itself.

•To remove the rust in your utensils made of iron, immerse them in turpentine for anywhere form one hour to three days, depending on the extent of the rust. Scour with steel wool. You will have to re-season the ironware all over again.

•To mend your rusty knives, stick them through an onion and leave them there for 1/2 hour, then wash and polish. In order to prevent rusting in the future, wipe them very lightly with a very light coating of vegetable oil.

•To bring back your burned pots and pans to their original form, first scrape out what you can (use a wooden spoon for minimal damage). Then partly fill with water and strong detergent. Boil for 10 minutes then let stand overnight. Pour of the water and the burned part will be cleanable with a scouring pad or steel wool. Boiling an onion will work best for aluminium pans; the burned stuff will detach itself and float on the top.

•In order to revive dull scissors, cut a piece of sandpaper into strips with the scissors.

•To open those stubborn jars that are too hard to open, bang the top of the jar flatly on any hard surface. Not the edge, but the flat surface on top of the cover. Just once, hard. That’s all. Now the jar should open with relative ease.