Andy - like this? Found this website via search, which has other interesting pages (click "TOP" at bottom of this vise page).
I thought this thread was the one we had going a while back. We have similar experiences: lawn mowers, tools, materials in wood and metal, etc. Got approval from the better half when I started bringing things home that could actually be used. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
>>I find that it is always worth taking a minute to look at what others are throwing away
We have a setup pretty much like yours, and I always take a peek when I am down the dump as see if there is anything good to bring home.
My best find yet is still leaves my head shaking...after unloading my trash about 3 years ago, I take a peek in the dumpster and sitting there is a pretty decent looking TV, 27inches, color, stereo outputs, lots of extras...anyway, I look at it a minute and decide its just to nice looking to be in the trash, so I load it on the truck and bring it home...not wanting to lug the thing into the house if it doesn't work, I run out an extenstion cord, and sure enough it starts right up, nice picture and everythin g.
Here i sit almost 3+ years later and have used it almost everyday without a single problem....still can't figure out why this one was tossed away [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Absolutely! This is especially true here in suburbs around Pittsburgh. Most don't pay for trash pickup and people will put everything out in front of their house for the garbage men. I've netted 2 nice coal shovels (one with a wooden handle), a few small kerosene lanterns, some decent furniture... the list goes on. I'll even pull trashed mowers out for the engine block and deck scrap aluminum.
The best was a friend who pulled a decent looking dryer out of someone's garbage. He thought maybe he could sell it after making a minor fix. Once he had it apart, he started finding change. When all was said and done, he had $13! Unbelieveable!
<font color="blue"> Andy - like this? </font color>
Yep. That's the vise. Mine looks exactly like it as it is also missing the wooden handle, under table tilt lock and removable tilt jaw.
I was looking through "The Workbench Book" last night and found a whole write-up on the vise. It was fun to learn a little more of the history.
I tease my wife about dumpster diving but we just brought home an antique rocker. The a fellow ahead of us had pulled it out of his car and was about ready to throw it in the open trash container. She called to him and told him if he did not what it she would take it. All it needed was a new rush seat. Forty-five minutes work and she has a cute little walnut rocking chair.
One young couple loaded up about 50 square yards of expensive carpeting. It had come out of a home that was being redecorated ( wrong color) but was in like new condition. The contractor was just going to dump it. A few of us helped the couple load the carpet in a pick-up.
In my area we have people who waste good material and pay to have it disposed of in the land fill. It is funny to see a truck come into the transfer station with garbage and leave in our case a nice antique. It makes it fun to go. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
We sort our trash and keep the paper/plastic and burn in our wood furnace.......and recycle aluminum cans
When we go to the local dump we always come home with more than we dump. The difference is the stuff we take is useable.
I ONCE found an antique doorknob and sold it on ebay for $50.00. I couldn't believe it.
That was only a once in a lifetime deal. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I take all the junk mail I receive, that has a postage paid return envelope, and rip up what ever they sent me and pack it in the envelope along with other junk mail I receive and mail it back at their expense. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Does that qualify as recycling? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
Argee [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="purple"> I take all the junk mail I receive, that has a postage paid return envelope, and rip up what ever they sent me and pack it in the envelope along with other junk mail I receive and mail it back at their expense. Does that qualify as recycling? </font color>
I love it, and I do the same. I somehow wish the same tactic would work with email, but in that case it works against you. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Anyone notice how the (physical) mailbox is a bit more empty these days...all the ads are coming in via email.
Dump picking is discouraged at our local tranfer station, but it depends on who's on duty when I go to drop off a load [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I recycle fairly agressively, within the restrictions of our curbside pickup. They could do a lot more (they only take milk jugs for plastic, for instance) but I'm stuck with their regs on that.
We did have 'bulk pickup' once a year before the transfer station opened, and it was like Christmas in July for me. I'd take the ton truck and go cruising, some years I'd have to make three or four trips to bring it all home. My wife was often less than thrilled [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I recycle ALL byproducts of my little hobby farm. I use a bale of hay three times: Once as feed, what they waste becomes bedding, and when the bedding is saturated, it gets composted. All garden waste is added to the compost pile, and a friend who has a horse but no way to dispose of the 'exhaust' adds four or five big trailerloads to the pile every year. With Llama, sheep, horse and chicken manure in the pile, I get VERY rich compost, and have a waiting list for what I don't use on my own garden and pastures. People gladly pay $40 a pickup load for it, and I could probably get more if I was greedy.
Any brush clearing I do gets chipped and used for mulch on the raspberry patch or rhubarb, or as a base for bedding in the sheep shed.
Used lumber gets de-nailed, stashed and covered. Anything too small to use gets saved as kindling for the wood stove. Sawdust from the wood shop gets bagged and used as scratch bedding for the chickens.
I do my level best to make sure that anything that leaves this farm is USED UP! By golly, if I'm done with it, there ain't nothing left of it!
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