Strine Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Glenn I read somewhere :wink: that rust, which would surely appear sooner rather than later with all the soil clooging up the holes, is not at all good for plants. Now you have read it somewhere too. Glad to be of assistance in marital relations how ever far away On the other hand, wouldn't it be lovely to have half of your acorn covered in primroses right in the middle of your shop. How does scale work as a fertiliser cos the primrose half would be a good spot to sweep it all too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Make sure it is secure - don't want it mashing any cute little toes... and maybe set it on cinder blocks, big wooden posts or something similar. There may be a premade peat pot (say that 3 times in succession) size that will fit the holes real well. Just be aware there's little doubt in my mind that the combination of moisture and fertilizer WILL make it rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_rod Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 I have equipped my whole shop with stuff from scrapyards and disposal auctions. In fact I can't remember ever buying anything new for the place. My last find was this old donkey saw. It looked nothing like this when I got it, just a big ball of dirt and rust with a birds nest underneath. I don't know how long it had been laying in the mud in that yard, but it took a lot work to get it looking like this. If I can find some photo's of the other equipment in there (and if anybody is interested) I will show them. one_rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 6, 2005 Author Share Posted September 6, 2005 Find the photos or take new ones. It gives the rest of us get ideas, and challanges us to keep looking in odd places for usable items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Shure, always ready to look at shop pics! Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 I scored two rotary-vane vacuum pumps today -- just the pumps, not the motors. These are exactly what I needed for a project that I'm doing, and they retail for $400 each or more. They were in a dumpster, to be hauled away for scrap metal. Same dumpster that I have gotten thousands and thousands of bucks worth of other vac equipment/misc from before. Dumpster diving ROCKS! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Hello, One-Rod, Sure post more pictures. Whats the brand name on the saw? I've got a Millers Falls saw like that. Nice color, differnt, but nice. T-Gold, Nice score on the pumps. The more money you save the nicer the find! Glenn, That acorn plate, is it a "acorn plate" or a deck plate off of a large bridge? The bridge going over the Missouri river in Atchison Ks has deck plate like that. I'd love to find one like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Well, it hasnt followed me home yet, but It will. My Blacksmithing teacher, Conrad Hodson, Has a #60 leg vise with a worn out screw. I can turn a new screw and nut. Hes willing to sell it for $40. Maybe $60(including the steel for the nut and screw) for a #60 vise is a good deal in my book. And I can also powder coat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Nolano- I'm glad you found Conrad, He's a great guy, really like him.. Tell him Mike in Klamath Falls has a pile of freon cans for his tripod stew pots, if you would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Yeah, but conrad has actually been my teacher since before I started frequenting this forum. kind of funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 A smith up north of me found a wilton square wheel belt grinder in a dumpster---in good working condition. (sometimes I wonder if folks are "trashing" stuff they expect to come back after work for...) Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_rod Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Hello, One-Rod, Sure post more pictures. Whats the brand name on the saw? meco, I have never been able to find a makers name on that saw. It looks very similar to the old Manchester Rapidor machines that I used to use as an apprentice. (Don't know if you are familiar with those over there?). But I guess many of these machines look alike, and it was a long time ago.... It had a flat belt drive pulley and a fast-and-loose cone clutch, so I would guess it dates from before the 1940's. This small Swedish-built milling machine was another scrap yard find: The gearbox and original drive motor were wrecked beyond repair, so the guy just weighed it and sold it me for the resale price on the cast iron. I already had a variable speed inverter (also from a scrap yard) So I removed the whole drive line and replaced it with a 3 phase motor, (guess where I got that from!) direct coupled to the quill drive. It's now a neat little miller with push button variable speeds. one_rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Hello, It's kinda like the old 6" Starret bench vise I found at a garage sale about 9 years ago. I asked the guy about it and he said $5 then said $3 because it was missing the swivel base! I made a base and stand so it was easier to use and move around. The guys at work thought I was nuts for mounting a "bench vise" anywhere other than a "bench"! This vise is one of my crown jewels. Here is a couple of pictures. The base is a car rim filled with concrete. I brace my foot aginst it to get leverage. It makes you think about how to hold something and get the best leverage, which makes you think about some of the ways NOT to hold something that could damage you or the vise.Edit: Image reduced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_rod Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Not everything you get from the scrappy has to have a serious purpose. I often pick stuff up just to have a little fun with....... one_rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6013 Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 One Rod, you have a eye for art. Good show :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 Hahaha, awesome centurion! Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I have some stickers for my tool box thazt have a skull and cross bones and "No Tools Loaned" on them---perhaps your "art" should have the sdame motto? Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strine Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 "No Tools Loaned" LOL The sign in my shed just says "The borrowing tools are on loan, call back later" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 19, 2005 Author Share Posted October 19, 2005 It was a judgment call, and after some head scratching, I brought it home anyway. 1000 feet or so of 7 bundles of 19 wires galvanized 1/4" cable. The bundled section is better than 350 feet. Yes, that is the bottom 1/3 a 55 gallon drum that it is stored in for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakwoodforge Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Boy what a day, Pulled into work thismorning and one of the guys I work with took me over to his car , had a trunk load of 3/8" dia spring tines from some old farm equipment looks like about 3' long when they are un-coiled, he even helped me load them into my car. another guy had a stack of copper flashing and J metal, for me in the back of his truck, almost 50 lbs of solid copper. Must be my lucky day. And to top things off I recieved a NOS Dayton electric forge blower, what a day , feels like Christmas :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny D Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 A friend of mine went to the junkyard looking for steel to build an air hammer. When he walked in the gate there was a 100 # Little Giant laying on it side that someone had just brought in. Needless to say he gave up on the air hammer project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GobblerForge Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 You folks are posterchildren for us blacksmiths being great scrounges. I have been collecting "stuff" that will someday be made into other "stuff" for years. And I have found one downfall with the collecting of "stuff". Some day you might move. Oh my God! When it was time to move my shop, I did not have a new shop yet so my stuff was to be stored in the garage. So only the good stuff moved, the rest left. If I picked something up that had not been touched since it entered the shop, it was gone. Took weeks on a 12 by 12 shop. And on the big stuff, remember what it took to get it in? So as we go on our treks to find what we may, I now look at some things with a new vision. I just wish my visions weren't so fuzzy. Enjoy. Brad :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 Really, I was just in the "neighborhood" of the scrap yard and promised myself that I was "just going to look". There amoung all the rust was 3 pieces of douple wall galvanized pipe. Don't like galvanized so I moved on. As I moved on down the line of rust, the sun reflected off something and caught my eye. I walked back to the pipe and son-of-a-gun, it was lined with the prettiest 12" diameter by 4 foot long liner you ever saw. No magnet so it was take it or leave it. So here is the problem, what do you do with 12 feet of mirror finish 12 inch diameter "stove pipe"? I can NOT use it in the shop as that would mean sweeping the floor and everyone knows that sweeping the floor will eventually lead to cleaning followed by curtains on the windows. :shock: I gotta quit going to those places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Hello, This is todays score. I found all of this stuff walking along the RR tracks around where I live. It took about 3 hours of walking to find all of this, and I passed up hundreds of spikes. If I could of carried off a 20' section of broken rail, I'd done that also. This will keep me for a day or two! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 A few suggestions for your new junque The carriage bolts make good mushroom stakes. The bridge plates make excellent hardy tool plates (bolt to a stump). If you cut off the part that the train rode on you can make a good very small bickern out of those short sections of rail (use the web as the shank, draw one side of the flange to a point). I'm sure you'll come up with some creative uses of your own, too -- please post 'em! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.