New life for old stuff

[Timj]

I'm with you to an extent...

Just don't let it go too far.

My father delighted in saving things, and re-purposing them. He was a craftsman, and closet artist... However, as I roll toward the end of over 2 years of cleaning up his stash of "good stuff", and now, moving/cleaning up my hoard of "good stuff" it's a little different perspective... You would all be apoplectic over what I've burned, scrapped, or thrown in a dumpster... And after the auction in September, I'll still really have too much crap, but it's hard to toss it all after years of scrounging parts to save the day when things go sideways...

Today, I'll be taking at least one overloaded dump trailer to the transfer station, one to the scrap yard of just aluminum, and probably a steel load too... Probably have the burn drum going the next 3 days as well. Madness!

Agreed , it can get away on you. I have to purge every so often of the excess of what don't use enough of .

I agree too. I'm the process of moving my business and quickly taking time to purge some stuff. I know some things will get used someday and hate to throw stuff away, but where to go with it.
I get the feeling most of us here were made from the same mold.

[Harry]

I can relate to all of your posts on this subject. I can see myself doing the same thing. I'm the type of guy that if I'm driving down a road and see that someone has something to the curb that I think I could use at the curb. I'm going to stop and check it out.
When I put my shop together I errected shelves that I salvaged from the GM plant I worked in. Then when the leanto was added again I have one wall with heavy duty metal shelving. All the metal shelves are full of odds and ends of things most people would throw away. I saved all the metal wire rolls from welding wire when I worked at the welding school. I think I have used only three since I carried them home. I always say my parents were depression era people and I didn't fall to far from the tree. I'm starting to slowly throw things away, things that my would say you saved that!

Keep the Peace
Harry

[thebuildist]

I'm with you to an extent...

Just don't let it go too far.

My father delighted in saving things, and re-purposing them. He was a craftsman, and closet artist... However, as I roll toward the end of over 2 years of cleaning up his stash of "good stuff", and now, moving/cleaning up my hoard of "good stuff" it's a little different perspective... You would all be apoplectic over what I've burned, scrapped, or thrown in a dumpster... And after the auction in September, I'll still really have too much crap, but it's hard to toss it all after years of scrounging parts to save the day when things go sideways...

Today, I'll be taking at least one overloaded dump trailer to the transfer station, one to the scrap yard of just aluminum, and probably a steel load too... Probably have the burn drum going the next 3 days as well. Madness!

You make a really good point. It's easy to accumulate things both cheap and valuable that are of value only to the person who first accumulated them.

Along with all my junk materials in the basement I have my metal lathe and mill drill that are a couple thousand pounds between them, and a few more thousand pounds of special purpose tools and materials. A huge mess to try to sort through, especially if you're not familiar with what these things are or what they're worth. And none of these things means anything at all to my family. And I have told them if anything sudden happens to me, then just take any items that might matter to you as just a memento or whatever. Anything that makes you happy if it brings back memories of me. But after that just get rid of it. I'm not up in heaven looking down to check on what you do with my stuff. I have moved on to my reward, and I'm only looking forward from there. So call in any junk collector, and tell him he can have the entire contents of the shop. But he has to leave it clean and swept and not charge you a penny. He can keep or resell the valuable tools, and take the rest to the scrap yard. Way more than worth his invested time and gas.

I don't anticipate they'll have any trouble finding someone who would be happy to do that.

Bob

[JSinMO]

@thebuildist Like you I have made my wishes know if something should happen to me. I probably need to put it in writing. In my case the family keeps what they want and everything else is to be handled by our local auction company. They get 10% and the rest goes to the family. Even if what I think is gold isn’t worth much they’ll still have some cash to do what ever with. Kinda like what you said, my last day here is the last day I’ll be worried about my empire of dirt!

[JSinMO]

This post has been on my mind today. Years ago we bought a 2nd hand swing set for the kids. It’s sat unused long enough and has become rickety enough that it was time to take it down. What is a scrapper to do? You guessed it. I disassembled it and saved the material.

I now have a box full of good deck screws, all manor of lag bolts, washers, nuts, bolts, brackets, and a pile of cedar planking and posts. My wife says I should pitch most of it, but with the price of hardware and wood today I don’t think I will. I guess I’m not quite over the scrapping and scrounging disease yet!

What will I do with all of it? No idea! But we did repurpose the roof. It will become an out door feed and water spot for the chickens.

[thebuildist]

Awesome! Deck srews are like 80 cents apiece right now... sheesh!

Bob

[Eugen]

That'll come in handy Jeff! Mark my words.