Special nails

On the way in to The Girl's netball game (similar to basketball, but the ball is smaller; you stand and pass or shoot, rather than dribbling; and there's no backboard behind the net) -- an "away" game -- I noticed that there was construction going on at the school.

On our way back to the car afterwards, I noticed a cluster of nails scattered on the ground in the dirt-and-gravel parking lot.  I picked them up and put them in my shirt pocket.

One of my "things" is that when I scavenge (or "salvage"?) materials, I keep track of their source.  Then I try to keep them consolidated in a single project (or, with a large enough stash, multiple projects).

So, this collection of nails -- one teeny, six medium, and six longer -- will end up in some mini-project.  I'm not sure what yet.  Maybe a small wooden box -- or (even smaller) a tray of some sort?

There's no hurry: the opportunity will present itself.

Meanwhile, I put them in a small metal "mints" tin -- along with the note that identifies where and when I found them.

When I do use them, I'll make a note on the bottom of the item about the provenance of the nails.



--GG

Missed a scavenge

Saw this as I was leaving the local shopping mall:  two wooden "vegetable displays" in the bins.  The wood for the legs is pretty hefty:  enough "meat" that I could do something with it.

And the display stands themselves -- presumably surplus from the produce store -- could probably be put to work as some sort of gardening stand (for potted plants), or some sort of work surface.

Sadly, I have no way of getting them home.  If only I had a pickup truck, or a small trailer.


--GG

Free speakers

As I've mentioned before, I love scavenging for treasures.  And therefore, I love the "kerbside rubbish" weeks -- where people place larger items out on the kerb, for the rubbish collectors to (sometime that week) pick up.

About five days ago I was driving to where I park my car to commute by train.  Amongst the other items piled in front of one house, I saw an item which I perceived as a large shopping bag with two large blue circles on the front (photo above) .

But the next morning, I drove more slowly, and realized:  a speaker box!!!

So that evening, on my way home after work, I grabbed it.


Here are some more shots:
 

Just a simple plywood box, with a bass port, and rope handles.  I checked the terminals on the back, and we indeed have continuity:  about eight Ohms worth.  So at some point I'll add a quarter-inch jack (the front is held on by screws -- so, easy to disassemble), sand it just a bit, and paint it blue or green (or, blue-green).


And then -- just yesterday -- I came across this pair of speakers:

Just a fake wood-grain vinyl covering, and some sort of chipboard constuction.  As you can see from the reference ruler, they're about one foot by one foot by one foot (or:  30cm x 30cm x 30cm).

As with the earlier speaker box, both of these speakers have continuity -- so they probably work -- although I haven't tried them with an actual signal.  For these, the resistance is just above four Ohms.

At some point -- but not until the new year at the earliest -- I'm going to connect them together with some scrap wood, wire the two speakers in series (so the total will be around nine or ten Ohms -- and that's OK [better to have too much impedance than not enough!]), and mount a quarter-inch jack on a spacer between the two speaker boxes.

And, again:  paint them some variation of blue or green:  I have a fair amount of "mis-tint" paint in blue and in green, which I pick up cheap.


FWIW, here's the plate on the back of one of them.  It's an actual brand name -- although I don't know anything about the fanciness of that brand.

Anyhow -- two "free" (plus labor) speaker cabinets, within the space of a week:  not bad.

Although:  I wish people would throw away from amplifiers, or guitars...  ;)


--GG

Scavenged wood

On Sunday afternoon we went to a barbeque hosted by one of The Lady's co-workers.  I noticed a small pile of wood that was lying on the ground next to his garbage can.

I finally figured out a (hopefully) diplomatic way of asking whether he was throwing away the wood -- and if he was, perhaps I could have it?  He was (or rather, he was just going to burn it as scrap) -- and yes, I could.


Above is the "before" picture.  After we got home I couldn't help but spread the wood out to assess the situation.  As you can see, it appears to have been some sort of packing framework -- maybe from some appliance?  Various staples and nails are holding many of the pieces together:  they need removing.
 

This next shot shows four additional pieces.  Luckily, they don't have any nails for me to remove.

Here's the "after" picture:  I spent maybe a half hour (I forgot to keep track) that evening, removing the staples and nails.  In the photo, I've laid out some of the tools from my nail-removing kit, which I used for this session.  Yes, I have a dedicated kit, collected in a tool tote, for removing nails from pallets and such. 

This kit includes nail-sets and a hefty hammer (for driving nails back out of the hole), a "cat's paw" prybar for getting between pieces and prying them apart; and a pair of pliers to straighten bent-over nails, so that I can drive them back out; I also sometime hold the nail with the pliers, during the "driving out", to provide some extra rigidity, so the nail doesn't collapse.

Oh:  and a crummy margerine tub, for holding the discarded, bent nails.


As you can see, it's a pretty decent haul of wood for "free" -- if you disregard my labor.  I have a few ideas for what I'll build from at least some of this wood -- although it'll have to join the queue:  I have a backlog of projects (which I guess means that I won't get bored!).


Four of the pieces of wood got damaged in the process of separating them.  So today I glued them back together.

Then -- as usual -- I labelled each piece with the source (i.e. "the guy's house") and the date I got them.  I just wrote directly on them with a permanent marker.

As I think I've mentioned, I generally try to make my projects out of pieces from the same source.  Part of the design -- and engineering -- challenge, for me, is to figure out how to accomplish my design goals while using the available materials.


--GG

Kerbside treasures

So, last weekend I was thinking that I really ought to mount the grinding wheel that I received for Christmas onto some sort of stand or mini-workbench -- I need some lumber.

And also that I have some plants that need re-potting.


Luckily, it was ''put your weird oversized junk out on the curb" week!


Scored a batch of lumber (see photo); the table it's on...



...and a bunch of pots, a laundry basket (will use it in my workshop to hold scrap lumber), and a pink frisbee...














...a pair of deck chairs (it's a pretty simple fix: just buy some canvas, hem the edges, and nail them to the end-bars of the chairs)...









...and a pair of large stereo speakers that I will cannibalize and turn into speakers for a guitar amplifier.



Free stuff!!!


--GG

More wood scavenging

So, yesterday I was driving through a neighborhood near ours, and saw a construction dumpster out on the sidewalk: doing some remodeling on a house. After my errand I parked near it, got out, and asked the guys if I could take some of the wood from the dumpster. Sure; whatever.

So, a nice little haul. Four or five pieces were too long to fit in the back of the SUV without removing the childrens' booster seats (a total nuisance), so I wrapped them in a blanket and put them in the front passenger seat, with one end down in the footwell.

Most of these were 2" x 4"s; there were also a fair bit of heavy-duty plywood, about two inches thick.

Most of the longer pieces of lumber, plus the two partial sheets (chipboard, I think) will be of immediate use, as this weekend (or next) I'm hoping to finish my lumber rack.


I already carry rope, and two moving blankets, in the back of the car. Gotta start carrying work gloves, as well...


--GG

Little sandwiches

Walked by the conference room at worked, and noticed the aftermath of a meeting -- including a plate of various 1/4 sandwiches on a tray.

They were just sitting there, waiting for the university catering folks to come back and throw it all away. So, I stood there and grazed for a bit -- hadn't had lunch yet -- and then had to head back downstairs to check on a photocopy job.

Nice sandwiches!


--GG

Mansion of junk

This three-story house was made completely out of stuff salvaged from the junkyard.


--GG

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.



And finally, a little something for the kids: a bubble wand (works **really** well!!!)...


...and one of those Razor-style scooters. A bit of surface rust -- but everything works.


And **that's** my haul! :)


--GG

Kerbside treasure number one

Once a year, the Brisbane City Council declares it "kerbside week" (or some-such), where people can pile their bulky garbage (e.g. chairs, dishwashers) by their driveway, and a week or so later the garbage collectors pick it up.

Of course, myself and other like-minded scroungers stop by and seize the good stuff: lumber, chairs, stools, suitcases, and etc. (Those are just "for instance" examples: I personally don't bother w/ suitcases.)

Sometime here I'll do a post on all the treasures I've seized for this round. Today's post is just on a pair of answering machines.


It was raining a bit today, so they got a little wet. No apparent damage, though -- just some leaves stuck to it (see above).

Completely disassembled one; left the other one intact, since it doesn't save much storage space to take it apart.


Salvaged components included a transformer (yellow circle on left), which I'll do something clever with audio electronics (in the future...) -- and a solenoid (an electromagent, with a metal bar that extends or retracts, depending on the direction of the current) -- also something musical -- maybe trigger it with a pushbutton so it hits a bell or a cymbal. Since I have the other (identical!) answering machine, I'll have a pair of each of these.



Also two capstan(?) rollers (from the tape transports). When I disassemble the other ans. machine, I'll have four of them: make a little cart (trolley?) to roll on the workbench, or maybe a sharpening guide for chisels.



Two outgoing message cassette tapes, two "messages" tapes, and a speaker (plus another speaker in the currently-intact ans. machine). I'll wire the two speakers in parallel, mount them in a wooden box, and use them as "special effect"-sounding speakers for a guitar amp (16 ohms each, so 8 ohms in parallel, which is standard for guitar amps). The tapes will provide people's voices to be (possibly) used as snippets and samples in songs (e.g., "Uhh - hi! This is Bob. Give me a call.")



A funny switch which completes the circuit when something touches the two wires. Maybe something funky on a guitar? And three slider switches, to select between options. Again, maybe on an electric guitar.



A volume knob, and a selector switch (plus one of each in the intact answering machine). All sorts of electric guitar or electronics uses. And another transformer off to the side.



A little motor (plus another in the other answering machine), and a red and a green LED (plus another set in the other machine). Motor could be used to "bow" a string, for a sustained drone sound; LEDs have all sorts of amusing uses. Oh -- and a few misc. springs.


Also had a whole lotta small screws, and washers. Kept 'em, as they don't take up much room to store, and might come in handy.


--GG

Treasure hunting

On a rotating basis, the various neighborhoods in Brisbane have periods of about a week when they pile junk-ish things on the kerb. People walking or driving by can stop, sift through, and take anything that appeals. And about a week later, the garbage collectors take the rest.



Sunday, on the way home from church I grabbed a few pieces of wood (including a 4" x 4" beam that would make an excellent workbench leg!), three wooden drawers (for workshop storage, once I build a frame around them), and a wooden shelf. Oh! And a metal three-level rack, which is intended to hold a phonograph player and stereo, with the bottom having vertical dividers for your LPs. But I'm using it to hold "in progress" wood, under the eaves.




Today, went back and got a mostly-empty old-timey wooden radio cabinet. It's kinda like the photos, above -- except the radio components, and knobs, had been removed. The only electronics remaining was the somewhat torn speaker, a transformer on the underside of the speaker, and an audio cable coming from them. I'll use this thing as a speaker cabinet for my guitar amps, just for the novelty value -- either with the speaker repaired (I'll give it a try), or with a different speaker.




I also picked up a pair of portable (folding!) plastic sawhorses. They're intact, except for some overspray on the top from a black spray paint can. Also, one of the locking devices on the side of one of the sawhorses is missing -- but I can just use a stout piece of cord, tied as a loop, to keep the legs from splaying.


The sawhorses look pretty much like this, except that the blue bits in the photo are actually yellow.

Nothing fancy. But, not bad, for **free**!!! In woodworking, it's good to have a few extra sawhorses.


--GG