Sometimes I find myself diving through the almighty dumpster for clad. I recently found a small 60's roll around tool chest that made home in my shop as well as a small power-washer with malfunctioning power switch and sheet metal left overs. Also I have pull out things in which should have stayed such as T5's and other stuff. Today i found 3 sewing machines, a phaff 230 a Dressmaker sewing machin and another which i hope one of them is an industrial one. I like to leave stuff there too for others to take Nothing beats free. What have you found at the dump??
I once found these giant Volkswagon candles. They were 1:10 scale beetles and vans that were made out of wax.
If looking for shop furniture, go to the grad student dorms at the end of the year- they usually buy nice stuff with their loan/grant money and chuck it when they graduate... don't forget that some graduate in Dec!
I once fished most of an original Ala-Kart kit from a big pile of stuff someone put out on Junk Day a few years ago. Well, more like 15 years ago now.
Last thing I found was a nice set of Lakewood traction bars left out for the garbage man. Needless to say, the garbage man didnt get um.
I once found a 1930's or 40's Arnold-Schwinn Admiral Bicycle. The paint was rough, but I brought it home, aired up the tires and there was nothing wrong with it mechanically.
They renovated a local Toys-R-Us when we built our garage. Walls are covered with pegboard liberated from the dumpster(with hardware).
I've gotten some of my best meals out of dumpsters!!!! actually a buddy lived behind a great bakery, they'd bring stuff out there straight from the oven, cookies, coffe cakes, and even chocolate milk!!!! Heres a garbage picking tip for ya'all, If ya see a non prehistoric vacume, grab it. I've gotten plenty of brand new $100-200 vacumes that were only cloged full of crap, but non mechanical people can't clean em' so they just throw em away and buy a new one. I found some camaro t-tops in the trash and plenty of other junk. The possibilities are endless.
Great thread idea...one of my favorite subjects! I may have a leg up on some of you as my job is to haul unwanted crap away for people. It's amazing what gets tossed away!! For example, I got this minty, one-owner 1940's bike. It's all original, just had to replace the tubes. I hauled a load of old fence boards to the dump and stumbled across this work bench... The welding cart was an old computer desk (complete with nice castors) that I was paid to haul away. The two cabinets were also items I got paid to take away. The one with the slot board was an old cell-phone display stand from a store in town. I've gotten so much good stuff that I've had to rent a small storage unit. I have about 40 4x4 sheets of pegboard, lots of good lumber, a few antiques, etc. Do you think I love my job?
Me and my brother scored a killer Bireleys Orange sign that looked like it was used for some target practice, also a whole stack of 80's Hustlers and OUI's Great reading material!!!! JOKER JASON.
Back in the 80's I found a cherry full set of early "American Racing" 14" mags at the dump, complete with American Racing wheel weights....
Old bed railings are great for misc. angle iron projects.They seem to be plentiful in dumpsters. I found a 48 chevy truck dash behind Earl Schieb's shop. Now thats a dumpster dive!!!
I occasionally cruise the alleys in the neighborhood I work around. It's pretty common to find older bicycles (which the wife said I have to stop bringing home). A few years ago I found an 80's Honda 500cc motorcycle left out to be junked (I asked). I hauled that puppy home and ended up giving it to a friend that was building a cafe-style bike. That was a pretty good haul. Jay
Used to dive all the time at work. I found two Proto 3/8 drive ratchets, 4 or five pairs of channel locks, A couple of Vise Grips, a Craftsman radial arm saw (needed a switch), a nice hip roof style tool box, a weed whacker (works fine), An under sink water filter (new and in the box), an unopened gallon of gloss black acrylic lacquer, an old aluminum bodied 1/2 drill (works fine, also), a large Van Norman rotary table, a new 10" 3 jaw chuck, all sorts of usable steel, fittings, electrical boxes, switches, etc. All of it your tax dollars at work. Government waste at it's finest.
Not long ago (2 weeks maybe) I got a new flourescent light fixture complete (with good balast) out of my dumpster. Also got 2 brand new unopened bags of insulation that will be used in my garage soon. A couple of shopping carts. I chop them up and use the wheels for rolling stuff around, or make them into rolling parts carts. Got a sweet "paramedic" toolbox last month. Thinking of using it for a pinstriping box as it's got tons of space to store. I and ghe GF regularly cruise alleys and see what we can find Cruising the colleges in December and May is awesome. When I was in school I'd keep a close eye on them as others left. I've gotten brand new with tag on pants out of the dumpsters and returned them for cash. High dollar jeans at that, think I made like 150 off 2 pairs returned. Stereo systems, tv's carpet chunks. All sorts of stuff kids drop a lot of money on and then don't want mom and dad to find out about!
I found one identical to yours about a year ago in the scrap metal trailer at work. Mine is missing the label however.
I am a confirmed diver: 4 real 6-lug knock off wire wheels, a complete oxy acetylene rig including tanks pieced together over the years from different dives, a 10 inch Craftsman table saw, a 8 inch Baldor bench grinder, a brand new 25' Tweco wire feeder, a Craftsman 30 gallon compressor, a LARGE 10 inch bench vice, about 50 # of TIG wire.
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