Gye Greene's Thoughts: Scavenged treasures

So, my neighborhood's "Put Yer Junk/Treasures Out on the Kerb" period appears to be over. Below is a summary of my treasures from my treasure scavenging, plus from another neighborhood a month or two ago.

But before I present my finds -- roughly sorted by category -- let me assert that picking up various and sundry items is VALID if you already know what you're going to do with them. :)

ALSO: note to potential burglars: There is NOTHING of obvious value in my workshop!!! Just a bunch of scrap lumber, old non-working PCs, and many, many boxes of lecture notes and photocopied academic journal articles. So, DON'T BOTHER...!!!

O.K. -- here goes...

WORKSHOP STUFF:

First, I got several shelve-y things to put under the eaves to hold wood up off the ground: lets it dry (or "season") better than if it was on the ground, and protects it from termites.

Here's a white rack made of white PVC pipes; a green(!!!) ironing board; and a black metal stereo stand, including vertical slots underneath for your phonograph records.

Here's what used to be a green two-drawer storage unit. When I found it, the drawers were gone. So, I'm using it to hold slabs of wood (not pictured; put the wood on after the photo).

This one is white-painted tubular metal. It might have been the base to a bar 'fridge. It's now holding up wood.

A blue tub, and a blue plastic tool tote. The tools didn't come with -- rather, I've already pressed them into service.

More tubs and totes. One of the larger ones, after I wiped it off, is being used in the kids' play area to hold toys. The other ones will be used to hold scraps of wood (I intend to sort my wood by length, and by source).

Oh: and a piece of wood.

I think this is my favorite find of the season. From this angle, you can get a sense of the height and proportions of this shelving unit. The shelves seem to be exactly the right depth for cans of housepaint -- probably one of the main things this thing was built to hold.

This is the "inside" view. Unfortunately, the shed's getting a bit messy (and thus, crowded!) -- so I wasn't able to stand far back to get a sufficiently wide shot. Basically, though, two long, wide, shallow troughs, arranged above each other with sticks, to form four shelves. Eventually, I might retrofit some additional shelves in between.

And, here's why this shelving unit tickles me.

Clearly, made from an old packing crate. Maybe it was even sawn in half, and each half used as two of the shelf-pairs.

It has character. :)

Here's one of two pretty-much identical sawhorses.

I wanted to group both of them together when I took the photo, but couldn't find the other one. I did find it a few days later -- about four feet to the left of this one!

These two big rectangles of lumber will eventually become the basis of another set of shelves. And the funny cupboard door-looking thing, when inverted and stuck to the wall, will serve as a small shelf.

The framework at the rear will probably become a stand for a grinding wheel: I just need to add a few boards across the top. I might also add a few across the bottom, to serve as a shelf for holding ballast, to make it more stable.

The wooden box to the front will be a divider for the lumber rack I need to finish building: as I mentioned, I like to sort my lumber -- so lumber will go to the left, the right, and inside of it.

And, of course, a discarded PC.

COMPUTERS:

Over the last few years, I've found myself grabbing old PCs. They intrigue me. I might put them into working order one day -- or I might give them to one of my kids, if any of them get into computers.

Meanwhile, old PCs take up a lot less space than collecting old cars "to someday restore".

So, there was one in the preceding photo. Here's another one.

And here's two more -- under those two rectangles of lumber I mentioned earlier.

I also grabbed two other PCs, after I shot these pics. So, that's six for this go-'round.

ELECTRONICS THINGS:

In addition to grabbing the old PCs (above) for their own sake, they're also a source of small inexpensive fans. One of these days I intend to set up a permanent soldering station (for electronics, electric guitar re-wiring, etc.), and I'll mount an array of surplus PC fans to wick the solder smoke away -- somewhat like this.

I also grabbed a few solar-powered lights. I tried one one, and it didn't work (flat battery?) -- but I'll still use the solar cells for something interesting: possibly link them together for more power, and use them to drive some sort of solar-powered music-making drone thing.

The bucket will join the other totes and tubs (earlier) to hold scrap lumber in the workshop.

And, here's the two answering machines -- described more fully in an earlier blog post. Basically, though, lotsa interesting electronics parts in there (switches, transformers, LED lights, etc.).

MUSIC THINGS:

Some of these speakers are pretty sad. One or two or them need re-coning -- I'll give it a try. Or, I'll use the raggedy speakers as "effect" speakers, to run a guitar signal through and see if it sounds interesting (in a useful way, that is).

I'll probably remove the speakers and build my own speaker boxes: the main reason I got into woodworking was to support my musical interests (building racks and shelves and holders for my music gear).

Oh: picked up the chair, too. :)

This is a slightly fuzzy snapshot of the old-time radio cabinet that I picked up. Clearly, all the electronics are gone. Still has the speaker, though -- although it needs repair. Whether I repair the speaker or just replace it with a working one, I'll use this as a funky guitar amp (or at least, speaker cabinet).

MISCELLANEOUS THINGS:

This thing seems to be a pad that you put under a saddle, to make it more comfortable for a horse. I'll probably use it as a cushion for an office chair -- or maybe on a "guest chair" in my workshop.

This green blanket has already been pressed into service when I brought home the big ol' "paintcan shelf" (see earlier in this blog entry), strapped to the top of the car: used it so I didn't scrape up the roof. Still had the price tag -- seven bucks -- from a local thrift store on it. The black folding stepstool will probably end up in the workshop.