I was ready to chunk my kitchen shears in the trash last Tuesday after trying to cut through a chicken thigh. They were just mashing everything. Then my neighbor came over and saw me struggling. She grabbed a ceramic coffee mug off my counter (the cheap one from the dollar store) and ran the scissor blades along the rough unglazed ring on the bottom. Five passes each side and they cut through paper like new. Why did nobody teach me this in home ec? Has anyone else found random household stuff that works better than actual tools?