[TheForge] Scrounged riches long ramble

Fri Aug 1 07:16:02 2003

At 03:02 AM 1/08/2003 -0800, you wrote:Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh


>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer" <[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 12:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Dumpster Find
>
>
> > Alix;
> > Dumpster diving is a spontaneous art, like jazz. One works with what is
> > given.
> >  For us, as blacksmiths, a dumpster can be a giant giftbox.
> > We live in an age when iron is so cheap, they literally throw it away.
> >   It is as close to being rich as I expect to get.
> >    Pete F
> >
>
>
>Rich is what we are Pete.
>
>Being rich isn't about money, it's about having enough, fullness. More than
>that, it's having enough of the right things. I don't know how else to say
>it. Before I got married I made more money than I spent by a factor of about
>three. When we started building I dropped over $100k out of pocket, cleaned
>myself out I did after pulling in my assets. Then we mortgaged ourselves to
>the hilt. Deb and I are barely staying in the black right now. But I've
>never been richer. <grin>
>
>Deb cringes when I load the truck with bottles and cans for the dump,
>there's no telling what I'll bring back. Over the past six months or so I've
>been keeping my eyes open for a 300 gl. fuel oil tank to make a charcoal
>retort from. I'm not going to pay for one of course I'll find someone who
>doesn't want to spend a couple hundred bucks disposing of it. Heck maybe
>I'll put a message on the boards at the local supermarkets offering to
>dispose of fuel tanks for reasonable rates. Only if I tire of the hunt
>though. <grin>
>
>I thought I hit the jackpot about a month ago but it's a 500 gl. tank.
><sigh> Did I say no thanks I want a 300 gl tank? Yeah right! It's sitting
>out back waiting for the 300 gl. for an insert. My envisioned charcoal
>retort only got better. Originally I was going to use the 300 gl. tank as an
>incinerator with a door large enough to put a 55 gl. drum in it, to make
>charcoal. Now I'll have a 500 gl. incinerator with a door large enough for
>the300 gl. tank. A guy's gotta be flexible dontchaknow. I'll be using waste
>oil to fire the charcoal, free for the hauling. . . . Of course. <grin>
>
>About the only time I buy steel anymore is if I have a fab project. The guys
>at the vehicle maint shop don't even show interest when I'm dumpster diving
>anymore. I used to ask their permission but it started to irritate them so I
>stopped. I had to tell the guys at work to please stop picking up leaf
>springs for me I have plenty. Last time I hit the local spring shop I shot
>the breeze with the foreman for a while and was lucky to get away without
>having to haul off all their drops. Yeah, I have enough leaf spring stock.
>If I want some more coil spring though I'll have to hit the recycling center
>and buy it for $.15/lb. but I still have plenty.
>
>RR spikes too. Showed somebody a RR spike snake I made once and the next
>thing I know he drops off a couple hundred lbs. of spikes, a bunch bolt
>plates, derails and some other right of way finds too. Had to pack the
>darned stuff home too or I would've hurt his feelings. I got even though I
>gave him the blasted snake. <grin> Same thing happened with RR rail, I made
>the mistake of saying it's handy to have some around, now I have a couple
>thousand lbs. of the stuff. There's probably 50,000 + lbs. of it at work
>I've carefully NOT shown any interest in. Same with the bent luminair poles,
>guardrail, culvert and other potentially useful stuff. It costs them $ to
>haul it away, if I were so silly as to mention I could use it I'd be stuck
>with it, delivered.
>
>Another fellow I met was interested in blacksmithing but we only got
>together one time for a short session. Though he was working about 300 miles
>away, he ws living about 25 miles away and commuting on weekends. The job
>was rebuilding a coal fired power plant and he stopped by several times with
>fire bricks and other salvaged goodies. He also dropped off a couple hundred
>lbs. of RR spikes, bolt plates and the like while I wasn't looking. <sigh>
>He's since moved to a reasonable distance from work and I'm happy for him. I
>miss the goodies but I'm glad he and his family are living together full
>time again. Besides I have ENOUGH RR spikes already!
>
>A couple years ago I almost ended up with a couple old printing presses. The
>printer bought a new one that replaced three old type set types and he
>wasn't able to find anybody to buy them. It would've cost him a couple
>thousand to haul them to the recycling center and he understandably didn't
>want to spend money to rid himself of working machinery. Talked a friend
>into them though so all that GOOD stuff is still available. Don't know how
>I'll get any of it without having to haul off one of the whole darned
>presses though. Hmmmm.
>
>Truth to tell, I've had to learn to be careful or I'd have more "good" stuff
>than even I want around, let alone what Deb will put up with. Understand,
>Deb's a wonderful and tolerant gal, she just doesn't want people visiting us
>to feel like they're visiting a scrap yard. That's reasonable. . . I guess.
>
>Wonder what they'll think of  a100 lb. power hammer ripping loose? All I
>have to do is scrounge a bit more, just a little bit. <grin>
>
>More than once we've been told it's more cost effective to buy new stock
>than scrounge and this is true. I've never fabbed something for someone out
>of scrounge, it ISN'T cost effective. I don't mean I haven't hit the
>recycling center before putting out for new, I have but I don't use
>scrounge. A good friend and I built the foundation for his hangar from "H"
>beam bought from the recycling center. I had to straighten it after Mike let
>it lay jackstrawed all winter but even that was worth the look on his face
>when I made 40' lengths of bent and twisted wide flange snapline straight
>with a drilling hammer and a 2 lb. hammer as a backer. Wouldn't do it for a
>living though; not in MY shop anyway.
>
>If you're trying to make a living you'll go broke in no time trying to use
>scrounge or even good salvage from the recycling center on a regular basis;
>you have to have consistant resources and scrounge just isn't. If I got a
>commission requiring a whole bunch of 3/4" x 5" sq. stock, those pesky RR
>spikes would still stay right where they are as I headed out to the steel
>store.
>
>You have to consider a lot of things when using scrounge. Mild and spring
>steel is easy, it's when you get into high carbon and alloys you have to be
>careful. Very careful. It's on the scrap heap for a reason. Sure, I can
>identify scrounged steel well enough to use it. I can also determine if it
>has a fatal flaw, usually. I'm NOT about to make something for someone with
>material that's USUALLY going to be safe! There's also the time involved. In
>the time necessary to test a mystery piece of HC steel well enough to
>properly work and heat treat it I could've driven to Anchorage, bought it,
>returned and made what I want.
>
>Regardless, I LOVE the hunt. Scrounging is as much fun as making things. For
>me anyway.
>
>Can you tell I've had enough coffee tonight? I got put on graveyard shift
>for a while, as we're working on a couple busy multi- lanes in Anchorage and
>it's too dangerous to do during the day. I'm too old to switch to days on my
>weekends so I'm up all night, drinking coffee and bored. What the hey, I
>retire in 2 1/2 years and if I lose my mind completely I might miss this
>crap.
>
>Night all.
>
>Frosty
>------------------------
>If it ain't forged
>it ain't real.
>Wrought iron is.
>The FrostWorks
>
>Meadow Lakes, AK.
>
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