My maternal Grandmother would use a cleft stick to collect cobwebs to apply to cuts and grazes. She was known in her locality in East Ham London for piercing ears with a needle set in a cork, driven through the lobe into a bar of soap held on the other side of the ear which would give some antiseptic effect i suppose. Her handbag contained a small bottle of Martell brandy for 'medicinal purposes' and half a house brick in case of attack.
During air raids in 1941 she would sit under the stairs with a jam-making pan stuffed with a cushion on her head for protection, eschewing the dampness of the Anderson Shelter in the garden and avoiding the Public Shelters as there would inevitably be a neighbour there she was feuding with.
She also advised not to touch an electrical plug for a few minutes after unplugging so the electricity would have time to drain out.
Years ago, my best friend in High School related to me a story,
or rather I considered it a story at the time; that his Uncle who was young at the tell, had while washing a sink full of Dishes apparently with all the knives under the mess and cut off his Thumb at the first knuckle. As a teen this is a "i once knew a guy.." kind of story. He went on to say his Grandma, took cobwebs, turpentine and some thread or tape and attached his thumb..and supposedly it took.. but of course it was no longer bendable (like no doubt). Okay Yeah, right
Years later after high school I meet the dude he's older than us but not by much, he shows me his thumb an tells the same story and I had almost forgotten it. it looked really weird and didn't bend but he still had a thumb. I kid you not.