When I was stationed in Arlington Virginia I had great success, initially, with finding stuff from the free section of Craigslist. One day it all kinda dried up. I'd head by a "curb alert" that was posted a short time ago (like less than 2-3 hours) because they were tossing something I could use. By the time I'd get there, everything would be gone. Turns out there was a group, all Hispanic, who ran several "teams" of trucks/vans. As soon as someone posted a free on CL they would get directions and send whichever vehicle was closest. They covered a lot of ground and would take everything, sell it if they could, or just dump the non valuable stuff. I can't fault them for profiting on what people are throwing away but it did suck because everything I saw I believed I could use was never available.cmaje72 wrote:My wife always gets mad at me for picking up old bed frames off the side of the road...but I made several things out of them for my latest cherokee project. We have some pretty dedicated scrappers in my area now...aggressive almost. Its hard to find anything useful before they pick it up.
Too bad oak pallets are so much hassle to make workable.Tatsadasayago wrote:When I was working up in North Dakota I noticed the pipe supplier (CTAP out of Colorado) used Oak boards for dunnage under the pipes. The guys who unloaded the pipe from the freight cars would pile it all up and burn it. I loaded the 45' flatbed 4 feet high and trucked it over to our place in Montana one weekend.
My uncle grabbed some, planed it and built a beautiful lady's dressing table with it.
Free hardwood is always a good thing.
I expect most companies are the same. I find “good stuff” from several companies on a regular basis at the scrap yard. They must make room so out it goes, usually the fastest way.tedlovesjeeps71 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2017 11:40 am The military has a horrible habit of trashing very useful stuff.
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There is a guy in Germany on youtube who goes out into salvage yards to pick up stuff he can refurbish or use to make something else, it is unreal some of the stuff he findsthreepiece wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:10 amI expect most companies are the same. I find “good stuff” from several companies on a regular basis at the scrap yard. They must make room so out it goes, usually the fastest way.tedlovesjeeps71 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2017 11:40 am The military has a horrible habit of trashing very useful stuff.
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I work in the prototype department of an automotive company you all have heard of. It is common for them to replace a complete powertrain from six or more production vehicles with prototype units. These brand new engines and transmissions get tossed in the dumpster.
Years ago they had a custom made production spot welder hard wired in the building. They bought it and several overhead cranes to fabricate prototype car and truck bodies. This unit had two water cooled welders each with a tool balancer and jib crane. I guess the four swivel casters alone cost $400 each. Not one body was ever built there. After about eight years it too went in the dumpster.
I came up with an idea of how to process them but I have not tried it yet. My plan was/is to make flooring. My process is to cut around the nails with an annular cutter with a size that matches easily obtainable wood dowel rods. The boards can be planed or edged and fastened to the floor structure. The holes can then be plugged with the dowel.tedlovesjeeps71 wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2017 1:44 pm [
Too bad oak pallets are so much hassle to make workable.
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Curious why so many think this is behavior stupid and have no issues discarding usable items. It seems the opposite is more logical. I suppose we can thank television and corporate advertising for helping to define the values for so many. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRnNDkHb0MU
This is common practice for all scrappers as they get paid a higher rate for the wire than the appliance it was connected to. The problem I have is when this is done to otherwise perfectly good units. I have collected dozens of working kitchen appliances and shop tools from the scrap yard, most have had their cords cut.j10builder wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 4:34 am I hear ya Phils67! My father used to cut the cord off everything that was headed to the scrap yard.