I'm shocked at what people throw away

bergoff

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I went to my friends quarry for some stress relief and shoot some shit. I always check the junk pile to see what someone threw away when I seen this.

All that it needed was a new line from their pump to the burner and straighten the blades. I turned it on and it fired right up. And the lid is crushed by my friends dad when he replaced the ballast and it didn't work so he slammed it on the ground. I think it will heat my garage nice this winter and with the thermostat I wont sweat my ass off.

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We used to use one of those to heat our band's jam shack. Nothing like kerosene fumes. We'd be about half drunk and high on mary j (for moodicinal purposes only) that we'd hardly notice the fumes. After 4 or 5 hours we'd be stumbling out the door gasping for fresh air. We left out ventilation when we soundproofed the place.
 
Yeah I think I will put a fan in the window or something. I might see if I can trade it for a propane heater I'll see how bad it is this winter. We had one on a farm I worked on and it ran on diesel fuel it would blow black smoke like crazy sometimes. I will just have to watch were I put this thing it had a 8in flame out the front.
 
Went down to the local scrap/recycle yard on a tip from a friend, two xs650's laying in a pile with lawnmowers on top. '78 special was pretty beat up, but the engine turns free, $50. Nice '81 w/drum mag, but the engine is locked up. May go back and snag some parts off it, the wheels looked nice. Both had plates on them. He said the guy had planned on fixing them up for years, but his wife said they had to go, so he sold them for scrap!!
 
Went down to the local scrap/recycle yard on a tip from a friend, two xs650's laying in a pile with lawnmowers on top. '78 special was pretty beat up, but the engine turns free, $50. Nice '81 w/drum mag, but the engine is locked up. May go back and snag some parts off it, the wheels looked nice. Both had plates on them. He said the guy had planned on fixing them up for years, but his wife said they had to go, so he sold them for scrap!!

You'd be crazy not to get that drum mag as they were only made 1 year.
 
I went back up there on Saturday to shoot and ride my quad. I told my buddies dad thanks for the heater and being lazy. He said that I should have gone down the yesterday someone threw an old Lincoln welder in the pile. It was toast and looked like it caught on fire. He scrapped it out and with all the steel in the pile he was paid $500.
 
As an EE buddy said, "The best appliances are on the curb." I have not bought a lawnmower for 30 years. I have five running right now, 4 Craftmans and one LawnBoy. I'll give away the excess. The best Lawn Mowers are found in the trash. Spend a couple of hours cleaning them up to find the problem and a $400 lawnmower is free! Be the envy of your neighborhood.

Fixed up a new looking power washer about a month ago. Left out over winter and a piece inside the handle cracked from freezing water.

Drive through an industrial site on a Sunday and look in the dumpsters. Some finds. Exercise equiptment, new 1000ft. roll of 1/2" sisal rope, A dozen 20 ft lenghts of 1/4" chain, 100 new wheel chair wheels (given to charities), much new or like new office furniture and warehouse fixtures, the list goes on.

Tom Graham
 
I was out taking my son for a walk this morning and someone was throwing out a bunch of computer parts out. On top of the pile is a brand new sealed box with a Samsung laser printer toner cartridge. I happen to have the same printer and these cartridges are $100+
 
I'm with you tom on lawn mowers my latest find a two stroke toro I cleaned the carb runs like a champ eazy on gas self propelled bad cable was going to fix two speed the thing wants to drag me around the yard in first. I put in neutral and push saved the 35 dollars. :D
 
Worked at the county landfills for better part of 15 years. Don't think you would believe what I have seen, perfectly good condition, thrown away! It can still bring tears to my eyes!!
Was talked about for years and heard they finally started a recycle / re-use project.
 
When I lived in/near metro areas, I had the same experiences. My wife just assumed (with justification) that any time I went to the "dump" I'd be coming back with more than I left with.

Now I live in Downeast Maine. A combination of heritage and economic necessity results in most people living the "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" life. Pickin's are pretty slim. Even worse since the price of scrap is up.

I do occasionally score tho. I worked at a sardine cannery that had been in business since the 1920's. The original owner and family NEVER threw anything away. Had a HUGE two story barn chockablock full of stuff.

New owners wanted it sorted out and organized, but didn't want to pay wages to do it. Being as I was the Assistant Maintenance Manager, I pretty much knew what was in there and where it was. I offered to do it on my own time with the understanding that I'd sort things into 4 piles:

1. Total junk, scrap it for the cash.
2. Not sure, need a management decision.
3. Keep it.
4. This shit is mine, I'm taking it home.

#4 was the payoff. I walked out of there with:

A brand spanking new never been used Lincoln Inverter-type TIG unit. (Sold that for big bucks)

A Miller DialArc 250 welder - AC/DC/TIG, complete and working, just needed a new stinger and one range switch knob.

A Hobart Handler AC/DC welder.

A pipe bender (which I foolishly sold for about 1/10 of it's actual worth, because I didn't research it.)

A battery-powered electrical forklift

Owners were happy, I was ecstatic...
 
I got a '89 KX80 that a guy was, literally, pushing out of his truck at the junk yard.
I asked the guy if I could take it and he said sure.
Of course the attendant there told me I couldn't because that is called scavenging, lol. The owner put back in his truck and we pulled out across the street. I have him $10.00 and I hauled it home. The top end was fried, but runs good now. I had one when I was 14 and it was, and still is, a little death machine.
 
I still have 4 XSs that I saved from the crusher. They're pretty rough but I might get one completed from the four.

If you think you score good, just ask the guys who work there. I told all new hires that needed a car to be patient and one would come rolling in in just a few days. Then, if they stuck around for a few months I would give them back the money I charged them for the car. (Company policy.) My boss gave me most anything I wanted, cars, bikes, trucks, wood stove, tools, parts.... And the company scored really big with scrap like a Cat D-9 bulldozer we fixed in less than an hour then I used it to grade a new lot for our expansion, commercial air compressors to use in the shop and on the yard, welders, saws of every shape and size, dump trucks....

And nobody working in a scrapyard ever buys a tire.
 
A friend of a friend is in the process of moving, so I got a call saying this if i wanted a free old Honda all I had to do was come pull it out of his woods.

A few hours later, and trip through the car wash, here it is:
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It had been sitting in his woods under a shredded tarp since 1984. The guy said his plan was to restore it, but a new marriage and moving means he just needed it gone. He even gave me the title for it!

I cleaned the carbs, cleaned and set the points, changed all fluids, and replaced the battery. After a bit of cranking, it fired up!!:bike:

Now the real question is... what to do with it?
 
Found this at our "world famous dump" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/world/americas/13iht-dump.html ) a couple of months ago, 1988 GS1100 Katana. Seized engine, missing oil cooler, it don't look like it was crashed, just neglected and discarded. Pulled all the trashed plastic off, looks like it could be a cool future Rat Bike. .. .or part it out out on e-bay. It aint the first bike Ive found there, last year I found a full KZ750 rolling chassis, and a couple mini bikes. We are allowed to "salvage" (PC term up here for scavaging) for free! any time the dump is open "shoppin' not droppin" When ever the city tries to stop salvaging there's such a huge uproar from the residents that the powers that be back down and settle on adding some new bullshit rules. You can fight City hall, just have to do it in numbers.
 

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Found this at our "world famous dump" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/world/americas/13iht-dump.html ) a couple of months ago, 1988 GS1100 Katana. Seized engine, missing oil cooler, it don't look like it was crashed, just neglected and discarded. Pulled all the trashed plastic off, looks like it could be a cool future Rat Bike. .. .or part it out out on e-bay. It aint the first bike Ive found there, last year I found a full KZ750 rolling chassis, and a couple mini bikes. We are allowed to "salvage" (PC term up here for scavaging) for free! any time the dump is open "shoppin' not droppin" When ever the city tries to stop salvaging there's such a huge uproar from the residents that the powers that be back down and settle on adding some new bullshit rules. You can fight City hall, just have to do it in numbers.

I remember when our dump worked like that. I was a kid then. I used to go there to get bicycles and bicycle parts, then sold the bicycles I put together to kids in the neighborhood. That was my introduction to turning wrenches and learning to do things for myself. And it kept me from getting beatings for taking apart Daddy's car.
 
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