Welding Tips and Tricks

On my way to the liquor store when I spotted these on the curb. Nice little jump shear(grew a third testicle getting that in the truck) and a little Jet bandsaw that looks like it was hardly ever used...must have tipped over because the pulley cover is shattered and one of the pulleys has a huge piece cracked out...had it running in 20 Minutes and 2 beers I am going to fix the pulley by backing it out with copper and re-building the pulley with aluminum and finish it on the lathe...will post pics...I love people who throw out good shit!

Score! A good reason to go to the liquor store. Keep an eye on that place, who knows what they'll throw out next!

WOW!

Brilliant!

Artie F. Emm wrote:Score! A good reason to go to the liquor store. Keep an eye on that place, who knows what they'll throw out next!

LOL I don't need much of a reason to go to the liquor store but now I need less of a reason to go there....Gonna watch that house

What a score!
Next time bring a trailer and offer your help to clean out all his dirty old tools.

unbelievable....

Makes you wonder about some people throwing good stuff out. Just be careful to not bring to much or then the wife might get mad or you'll end up with no room to work.

I am friends with the guy that runs the local landfill. It is unbelievable what comes in. The municipality encourages picking ( sign at gate) and the metal scrap pile is a huge attraction. Stuff almost like new maby a small broken part or a bit rusty. Two years ago I picked a 30in 2 stage snow blower ( Canada you know )with hardly a scratch on it. Took it home and found rod thru block. It looked so new I think some mechanical genius didn't read the-add oil before starting tag!! Bought a 13hp Honda clone -did some adapting to mount it and it works great. Pretty sad but great for us pickers.

[quote="Farmwelding"]Makes you wonder about some people throwing good stuff out. Just be careful to not bring to much or then the wife might get mad or you'up with no room to work.[/quYThe wife understands how I feel sorry for tools and I understand how she feels sorry for cats..she brings home a stray cat and I'll be damned if I can figure out why that cat runs away...lol...I'm glad she doen't read my posts

Well done!

I am constantly picking up stuff and putting it to use again. I fear we are about to witness that time when cordless electric takes over completely from petrol/gasoline home and garden tools, because from what I can tell there are people out there who throw away their line trimmers and chainsaws the moment they run out of fuel!

I wonder if they'll throw away their cordless stuff as soon as it needs a charge?



Kym

Our council actively DISCOURAGES scrounging. We have what they call Recycle centers at the gate where they take anything that looks good, and or made of metal and sell it. (handy when you just need to dump reasonable stuff)

What kills scrounging (at a landfill/waste site) is insurance costs.

Any time you have people crawling around and picking through stuff you have a risk of someone hurting themselves and then suing.

I do my scrounging at the kerb! My latest score is 2X Bosch cordless drills. No charger, but my hobby/RC charger works just fine with them.



Kym

Drop some catalogues of stuff you'd like in his mail. With a bit of luck he'll buy them and maybe you can pick them up for nothing in a couple years

If the JET was cheap maybe you might through it away in a fit of anger (is it of the cheap and cheerful variety?). But the shears? Then again maybe he couldn't be bothered listing them on ebay or CL or whatever and figured someone would grab them.

Rupes wrote:Drop some catalogues of stuff you'd like in his mail. With a bit of luck he'll buy them and maybe you can pick them up for nothing in a couple years

If the JET was cheap maybe you might through it away in a fit of anger (is it of the cheap and cheerful variety?). But the shears? Then again maybe he couldn't be bothered listing them on ebay or CL or whatever and figured someone would grab them.

The funny thing is I looked at a small Dayton band saw the day before ( same saw with someone else's name on it) that guy had on Craigslist pretty close to me for only $100 and something told me to pass on it. It was in good shape too. I don't really need these items but I'll give them a home anyway.

jump shears are priceless. i had an 8' shear i sold
when i retired because it took up to much room
and was heavy to move. that small one you have is perfect!
craig

MosquitoMoto wrote:Well done!

I am constantly picking up stuff and putting it to use again. I fear we are about to witness that time when cordless electric takes over completely from petrol/gasoline home and garden tools, because from what I can tell there are people out there who throw away their line trimmers and chainsaws the moment they run out of fuel!

I wonder if they'll throw away their cordless stuff as soon as it needs a charge?



Kym

I have picked up so many string trimmers and snow blowers over the years and the number 1 thing wrong with them is usually a plugged fuel filter or cracked fuel line and people just pitch 'em rather than take 10 minutes to see whats wrong with it. I bought a $4000 Hotsy steam cleaner from a guy for $250 dollars because he said the burner fuel pump was bad. I could tell by looking at it that they by-passed the burner and were simply using it as a pressure washer. Brought it home and reconnected everything the right way and she works awesome. Some people are really dumb sometimes.

My neighbour drives a garbage hauler. Stores are the worst. Brings home new stuff -maby a scratch or old stock etc. Showed up one day with a new twin tank portable air compressor that probably someone had returned. Plugged it in and it wouldn't run. While he was puzzling over it a friend came in -looked at it and pressed the reset button and away it went!! Kinda sad and we pay for this stupidity with everything we buy.

I worked for the BNSF RR for 41 years. When some bean counter decided to move a maintenance facility somewhere else on the system they just scrapped everything and moved. They did that years ago with a roadway facility in St. Cloud Mn and part of what they scrapped where brand new still in the crate Miller gas generator welders, smashed to bits and scooped up with a front end loader and dumped into gondola cars for the scrap yard. Sickening. They get a big tax break for that.

To continue the theme...

My brother works in defence technology. The level of waste is astonishing. Picked up an amazing solid timber shed bench there years ago. "We're switching to all steel benches, come and get a wooden one, they are all being thrown in the skip!"

Later, metal chairs and stools. "Come and get some. The corporate colours have changed so all the old brown ones are being thrown in a skip. We've purchased new blue ones."

The most recent is the frame for my new welding bench. It was in a skip because the top was worn and it was easier for them to throw it out and buy a new one than procure a new top. I also score all of my aluminium offcuts and chill blocks from their skips. The pickings are rich indeed.


Kym

My dad is buried in a National cemetary near me and they rip up and re-sod the whole place every couple of years. There is never anything wrong with the old sod, but they rip it up, throw it away and replace it for no reason. I asked if I could come and get some and they told me I would be arrested for stealing government property. I pay for it but they would rather throw it away than let anyone have it. Only in America.