Five-gallon bucket spacers

How to store lots of these and still have 'em come apart with ease.

"The Andy Griffith Show" made its debut this day in 1960. In one homespun episode, the boys at the filling station were struggling with a problem. A stack of empty 5-gallon buckets had gotten jammed together so tightly that they couldn't be separated. While Barney pulled from one end and Opie tugged from the other, Goober tapped on the middle with a rubber mallet -- to no avail. As they were about to give up, along came Sheriff Andy to save the day. First, he put ice cubes and water in the top bucket; when it cooled and contracted a bit, he pulled it free of the one below it. He then poured the ice water into the next one and repeated the process until all were separated. To prevent this problem occurring in the future, Andy put 2 x 4 blocks in the bottom of each one, as spacers. That let them stack, but not get stuck! Then they grabbed a few buckets for bait and to use as stools. And they picked up their poles and headed off to the pond to go fishing. And that's the On The House Tip for today.

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