Unconventional Uses for your Dishwasher

Okay, I admit it; maybe I'm going a little crazy here doing all this unlikely blogging with no warning.

. 6 Unconventional Uses for your Dishwasher - DishwasherInfo.com: It takes the right mix of ingenuity and desperation to discover new uses for old tools, but whoever first tried steaming a salmon fillet in their dishwasher must’ve been drunk. For folks who are curious about what else their kitchen contraptions can do, here’s a rundown of the most unconventional uses for your home dishwasher.

Go to the link (see above) to list all of THEIR 'unconventional uses for your dishwasher. And maybe they're going a little crazy here, too!

The thing is ... I HAVE cooked Fish Filets in a dishwasher.  The first time was for a girlfriend in the 80's, and maybe it was a desperation thingie; she already had convinced herself that I was a kook (EDITOR'S NOTE:  that's a very Politically Correct expression meaning "Asshole", in the Real World).  But when I slathered a Salmon Fillet in mayonnaise, wrapped it tightly in three layers of tinfoil, put it in her own otherwise-empty dishwasher (without  detergent) and ran it through the whole cycle ...She decided that ... oh.  Okay, Full Disclosure: she still thought I was an asshole, but maybe I was not COMPLETELY full of bovine effluvia

I don't have SIX Unconventional Things, but I have also blogged here on my use of the dishwasher to clean firearms ... this time, both with and without the CASCADE soap.  (As I have just today made my custom, I'm not gong to search for the original article; if you're that interested, you can search for it as well as I can.)

Rules of Thumb for cleaning guns in your Dishwasher:

1. Rifles are not a good candidate, especially if they're (a) long, or (b) stocked with a wooden stock.  If you don't understand why, maybe you should consider just laying all of your rifles under the rear tandem-wheels of your F350 and running over them two or three times.  Same effect, but it's faster and easier.
2. If you're just putting your barrel in, go ahead and use the Cascade if it makes you feel good.  Include the slide?  Still okay, as long as you detail-strip it.  It's optional, but it WILL remove most of the grease and oil; not so good for lead or copper-jacket deposits in the barrel, of course.
3. Want to put the frame of your pistol in the dishwasher?  hmmm probably a good idea not to add the Cascade; regardless of the television adds; you may discover that some unfortunate deposits (lime,  soap-scum, etc.) may be building on the small parts and the channels through which they operate.  And always, ALWAYS TAKE THE STOCKS OFF THE FRAME!  They won't get clean, but they may be damaged by heat & humidity.  Also, they will interfere with the flow of the hot water through the frame interior.
4. Want to detail strip the frame, and then put it through your dishwasher WITH the detergent?  Hell, I don't care.  It's probably not the best idea, but you might get just as good a clean doing it by hand using the regular methods, and you'll probably be a lot more sure.
5. Stainless Steel .. isn't.  but I've run my S&W 659 through the dishwasher lots of times, and if I miss a target on a stage, I've always got a ready alibi.
6. Small parts; yes, you CAN springs, pins, safeties, extractors, etc. through your washer, and even include the CASCADE ... but make sure that your small parts are (a) enclosed in some kind of container, like a cloth bag, and (b) large enough that they're not going to squeeze out of the bag and wash down the drain.
7. Always, ALWAYS run the parts through the dry cycle as well as the Wash and Rinse cycle.  That little bit of moisture left in the extractor channel in the slide, for example?  It needs to be dry.  (Running a Q-tip through the extractor channel is never a total waste of time.)

Okay ... other things that I've cleaned in the dishwasher include motorcycle parts, car parts .. well, you get the idea.  If it's greasy and it fits, throw it in.

And washing caps in the dishwasher? Absolutely!  In fact, it may still be possible to purchase 'cap forms' online, which can be inserted in your cap to insure that it keeps its proper form through both the wash and the dryer cycles.  I've washed a lot of caps this way.  Especially after the end of the Summer Competition Season, when half of my caps are showing significant rings of salt due to perspiration.   Really, it WILL make them look a lot better; you cannot DO this in a Laundry Washer and Dryer with the same positive results.

FINAL CAUTIONARY WARNING:  .... and this is serious, Folks, so disregard this at your own peril:

Do all of this when your wife is NOT at home.  Well, except maybe for the Salmon Filet .. hey, no dishes; what's not to like?

But greasy guns, car/motorcycle/boat parts?  Funky caps?  You can't put that stuff in the laundry washer, and she'll agree with you there ... but  she doesn't want the dishes to taste and smell like your Hoppes #7; you know, that stuff that you not only use to clean firearms 'by hand', and even as a cologne by some misguided competitors.

FINAL FINAL!

• It never hurts to run an extra rinse cycle at the  end
• It may HELP if you run the last cycle without soap;  or even run a cycle before you start.   It might keep keep the machinery clean, but it's also a way to prevent irritation of the member of your household who cooks.  Nobody likes it when dishes come out of the washer dirtier than they went in.
• When you're done with the 'laundry list of suggestions for unconventional dishwasher tasks,maybe you can think of a couple which are unique and original within your own mind.  There's room for imaginative thinking here, and your creativity might earn you a little free time, while you relax and let the Dishwasher do all the "heavy lifting"