It followed me home

[Glenn]

Show us what followed you home, and from where. Show us the steel, tools, equiptment etc, that followed YOU home.

Also where it was found, such as the junk yard, street corner, alley way, flea market etc.

And maybe a few details to give the rest of us non-scroungers a little help on how the process works. :?

[bruce wilcock]

been away for a week and still to catch up ,on the posts

well as to following home i went to a yard and saw a big fly press oa its side with weeds growing through it ,so i got out my rule and gave it once over ,there was no one around so i found a bar and stood it up ,i had a horse to shoe so i went to shoe the horse thinking to grab it later .Got the shoes on the nag,went back and the press had gone// well nothing for it but go home ,all the time wishing i hadnt stood it up ,for the world to see .back at the smithy stood infront of the door ,the fliy press, i had to move it to get in.

a day or so later a man that worked at the yard told me the boss saw me ,and told them to take it my budding smithy ,to stop me from pinching it ,and if i had he wouldnt let me in the yard again , he never charged me for it and never spoke about it, until i mentiond it and he told me he thought i was going to take it the way i was looking around, and didnt want me to get into ,bad habits,

[T-Gold]

LOL, Bruce! That's pretty cool.

Hmm... I don't have pictures, but a floor washer chassis followed me home recently, with motors and miscellany still attached... heavy sucker, too. Let's see... axle, shocks, rims, and disc weights from the local Goodyear's dumpster. Loads of stuff from UH including scrap steel, kiln shelving, Duraboard, and other goodies. One time 13 computers followed me home from school. That was fun. (No, I didn't steal them... they were being thrown away) Hmm. A lot of other stuff, for sure -- mostly from dumpsters, but other places too.

[the other dave]

A fair amount of things seem to find their way into my pickup bed when I am driving around. It seems that a Sunday afternoon and early evening ride around the neighborhood is always a good time for doing some reclaimation. Lets see, iron bed frames are always volunteering to become light weight angle iron for stands and brackets. And then those empty metal buckets from the dumpster at work become coal shuttles and small quench tanks at demos. Then there was the new style disk brake drum which transformed itself after I found it next to a trach can into the forge pot for my coal forge. A home weightlifting gym provided square tubing for my anvil stand. And a few blowers from evaporator coils on home air conditioners provide circulating air in the shop in last summer, though only the smaller ones are 120 volts.

[HWooldridge]

I have been fortunate enough to have been given several items over the years - sometimes because it was just 'right place and right time' and sometimes in exchange for work instead of cash. Several years ago, I got a 500 gal propane tank when the company I worked for switched to electric forklifts, then they gave me a 3 ton gantry crane with hoist because it was too tall for one of the areas in the plant. Later, they gave away a couple of MIG's and a bunch of pipe fittings. Another company I worked for sold me two Bridgeport mills for $300 because they were extras and in the way. I sold one for $600 and kept the other. Although it has no digital readouts, it's in almost new condition despite being made in the '60's.

On another occasion, I helped a fellow do some work on a large power hammer and he gave me some sheet metal working tools (a Beverly shear and a Niagara slip roll). Another fellow sold me a MIG with a bad contactor for $100 - I replaced the contactor for $40 and still have the welder. I haven't always done this well but it usually works out to a favorable conclusion... :wink:

[Glenn]

Went to the junk yard today to finally get rid of some small drops and short pieces of little use. Fellow pulled up beside me in a pickup with the rims almost touching the ground. He had cleaned out a garage and everything in the truck was rust perferated or rust. Nothing worth even a second look.

At the bottom of his load he put a couple of pick axe heads and a maddock head off to the side, but threw a pry bar into the junk pile. It was one of the straight ones, with the bottom 1/3 square, the center thrid hex, and the top third round. The working end had a single bevel. I said he may want to keep that bar. He said no one uses them any more, you can't sell them, it's junk.

Usually these are about 1" square stock and about 4-5 feet long. But this thing was 2 inches by 2 inches square, a full 6 feet long, and weighed most of 50 pounds.

I ask the weighmaster what he wanted for the bar, and he said to put it on my truck before I weighed out. I owe the weighmaster a favor now, got the bar in exchange for small unusuable pits of stock - weight for weight.

[JimG]

Five feet of 12inch chimney flue.

[Bwilloughby]

heh, Halloween 2003, this was out in my front yard. (Kinda followed me home)her name is Spooky


Just a few weeks ago this one followed me home, the junk man said "the boss is not here, Throw them in your truck an git"
The tank is about 40" long and 16" diameter. I've started making the forge out of this, I'm gonna cut maybe 18" off and seal up an end and make the other the door.

[Leah]

Bwilloughby,

What was in the tank? Have you cut into it yet? I am not trying to mind your business, but please be SURE you know what was in the tank before you start to cut into it. You sound like a neat person and I would hate for you to go boom .

What kind of critter is Spooky? She sure is cute.

[Bwilloughby]

Thanks for the concern, I had thought of that as well.

Dunno what was in the tank, I have already cut the top off with a cut off wheel. from the looks of the inside the valve part has been gone since moses parted the red sea. :P

Spooky is a Red eyed white Ferret, shes about 3.5-4 years old, I think someone got her and didn't realize what a hand full they are and couldn't take it so they let her go.