Replies

1. 
   CheekyMonkey | Apr 16, 2003 06:58pm | #1

   The dumpster is our friend.

   Down the street from where I work there is a place that builds cabinets, mostly store fixtures. In addition to enough hardwood plywood offcuts and sheets of laminate for a lifetime of building shop fixtures and jigs, I have pulled out several hundred pounds of tempered glass shelving, most still in it's original shipping cartons. For instance, about 6 months ago, I found a bunch of 20"x42" pieces of 3/8" thick tempered glass, packed 2 to a box, perfect for coffee table tops. I ended up taking eight of them (could have taken more, but I don't really have the room to store everything I find).

2. 
   Bengst | Apr 16, 2003 09:34pm | #2

   Cabinet shop dumpsters are gold mines!  There's one close by that I frequent regularly.  Cherry and maple are the most common.  Mostly less than 24" but sometimes longer.  I make end grain cutting boards out of most of it that I sell with a "reclaimed wood" tag on it.  People buy them up like crazy.

   Best find in a dumpster, Lie Neilsen #3 with a missing tote.

   Jeffrey 

    

3. 
   BG | Apr 16, 2003 09:37pm | #3

   I'm a dumpster diver.

   Every Sunday I have a special one I visit, actually they have three.  It's a company that makes fancy moldings from hardwoods.  Obviously knots and splits get cut off and thrown in the dumpster.  Two Sundays ago I got about 15 pieces of cherry about 3-4 feet long....

1. 
   wrick2003 | Apr 17, 2003 03:07am | #4

   my dad taught me to dumpster dive. much of the the furniture in our house was found and fixed up. 

   most functional thing ever found:  a bosch circular saw that needed one of those reverse threaded bolts that i still use in the shop.

   favorite thing found: the desk my computer is sitting on right now.

   god bless america and the dumpsters it supplies us with.     hehe      rg

4. 
   stancalow | Apr 17, 2003 03:27am | #5

   I haven't been successful myself, but I have read others have scored with pallets from Home Depot and other places.  It seems like they get their hardboard and some other sheet goods form South America, and the pallets are often local hardwoods.  I've seen some interesting ones in the store, but never when they were close enough to being empty.  You have to be there at the right time. 

5. 
   besea | Apr 17, 2003 03:43am | #6

   I work in a hospital and everything is on wheels in hospital.  They throw out alot of trays, tables etc. that are on perfectly good wheels ( large diameter ) trays made of stainless and with a new top they make a great accessory table or assembly table that can be moved wherever.

   They also throw out alot of old metal desks whose thick solid laminate tops are great for  shop use !

   BC

1. 
   MStehelin | Apr 20, 2003 09:13pm | #10

   Hospitals. Good tip!  I too have a favorite dumpster, window and door manufacture. I'm going to get a digital camera and post pictures of my dumpster. It is so generous it deserves recognition. It always surprises me the things you can find. Heck, 90% of my house is furnished with Hand me downs and dumpster scores. One of the strangest useful things I found are cut-outs of insulated doors.(Cut out  to make room for glass on the door). They consist of foam sandwiched between metal about 20 inches X 3 ft. They have nasty ragged edges but a angle grinder makes short work of that. You CAN cut it on the table saw- but I wouldn't recomend it. I did. Scared the hell out of  me, Sparks, hot metal flying everywhere and at your face. Dulled my blade. I made insulated boxes out of the panels for plumbing in my house that needed a little warming in the winter. The biggest problem I find is storing the great stuff and using it effectivly. I always feel a little stingy about using the wood......

   Frenchie, thats a hell of an offer! If only I lived closer......

   Cheers

   Mitt

6. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 17, 2003 04:35pm | #7

   dumpster divers invitation!

     Please come by my place. It breaks my heart to burn cut offs of Black walnut/ white oak/ maple and cherry.

         Some of the cut offs are 6"x12" x3 or 4 feet.  I've got all kinds of 4x4 black walnut cut offs some as long as 6 feet..  and in my pile of cutoffs there is a beautifully flamed piece of 4"x6"  black walnut for the first one to show up... 

1. 
   besea | Apr 17, 2003 10:17pm | #8

   Wow frenchie , where are you? I might be tempted to take 3 or 4 days off work and drive 30 hours to load the truck up with your cut offs.  It's a challenge to get that kind of stock in Florida.

   BC

1. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 18, 2003 01:51am | #9

   By the shores of kitchee Goomie (sp)    by the shining big sea waters  (from song of Hiawatha, which if you studied it in school you know is Lake Minnetonka Minnesota)  

       Let's see 2000 miles each way at 15 mpg.. (well, maybe a little less pulling a trailer or driving a truck)  and gas @ 1.50 a gallon..  Hmmmmmm might be an expensive dumpster dive..

2. 
   BG | Apr 20, 2003 10:40pm | #11

   Frenchy,

   Sorry ! We have our standards...tempting as your invitation sounds...we require a dumpster to retrive from...   We are not the common trash picker types, we have the skills to avoid all discarded food and beverages and carefully choose the right board to lift therby revealing the treasure trove stored below. 

   Now if you rent a metal container, we will reconsider your petition.

   Sincerely,

   dirty Fingers

1. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 21, 2003 05:51am | #12

   Dear Mr. Dirty Fingers,

           Not only do I have a metal container for you to dive into, I'll go one step further and wrap the aformentioned cut-offs in plastic to prevent possible dirt from offending your white gloves..

     we do have available a Valet service where-by cut-offs can be deposited into the vehicle of your choice..  No extra charge of course!