Dumpster diving finds - let's see yours

[japody]

Found this paddle boat at the dumpster today. Needs a little clean up. I can use it on the pond. Neat!

 

[lsgreg]

This is my best ever. It still had the price tags on it, and works flawlessly.

Not a dumpster, but at the dump.

 

[Oaktree]

I don't know where people are finding these dumpsters with good stuff in them, nothing of value in any I've checked out. Like lsgreg I HAVE gotten some good stuff at the dump. Found an almost new wheelbarrow once. I'm guessing someone had some junk in it, emptied it at the dump and forgot to load it back in his truck. His loss, my gain...still have it.

Not as much fun these days where there are just transfer stations, but still some good finds. I'll often joke to my wife "I'm going to the dump, need anything?"

 

[not2old]

When I first met my wife, she had been a single mother for more than a dozen years. Along with a couple of other ladies, she supplemented her income by scrounging things from the numerous vacant houses in the neighbourhood that were slated for demolition. I impressed her when I bought home numerous valuable items, and specifically four almost new snow tires that fit her car. She asked me where I got this good stuff and I told her a condo paid me money to haul it away. I was then forbidden to take anything to the dump without bringing it home first so she could look it over.

 

[KennyG]

When I'm throwing things away I never mention it to my wife. She's always convinced anything can be fixed or used for something. The catch is that I will have to do it and I don't have the time or interest in most of that.

 

[wolc123]

This fiberglass 8 ft truck cap was probably my best. It fits my old pickup truck perfect. It was a faded forest green color. I bought a quart of Rustoleum hammered black paint for about $ 8 and painted it with that.

This 3200 psi pressure washer was my 2nd best. All it needed was a new nozzle (my brother gave me a spare that he had), and an air cleaner. It has worked great almost 10 years now.

I found this dining room china cabinet on the next crossroad behind our place. It makes a great cabinet for my power tools. I can see where everything is with those glass doors. The light even works inside it.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I'm not allowed to go to the dump anymore.....

I usually come back with more than I took!

I do amaze the family when something is needing to be fixed..... I say "wait a minute".... go out to the shop, come back with whatever is needed for the repair out of my "junk collection" as they call it.
Then they say: "of course dad had one..."

 

[Alan W.]

Wife calls my treasured possessions junk
But if I throw something away I need it shortly thereafter.
No dumpsters but.
My cousin was cleaning out his garage and asked me to come up and see if there was anything I wanted.
Wife told me I couldn’t bring anything back with me.
So my cousin said he would bring it down for me.
Got a spare trans for my ranger.
Three point finish mower.
Dump hoist and pto pump to put on the F700
Canister style air cleaner to go on my zero turn Kawasaki motor.

 

[Oaktree]

Not a dump/dumpster find, but maybe 20 years ago I got an 8 year old Grand Cherokee for free. Supposedly the transmission was bad, and the owner had been quoted $5k for repair. Yeah, it did shift kind of funky. Turned out that the kickdown linkage was mis-adjusted. Drove it for about 12 years.
Had to put ~$1500 into it right away, mostly because it had been sitting for a year+, couple brake calipers were frozen, belts/hoses/wiper blades/battery, etc. Oh yeah, a can of wasp spray...pretty good hornets nest in one of the fenders.

 

[MossRoad]

My sister in-law drives through wealthy neighborhoods on trash days. Some of the things she has found:
Gas powered snow blower.
Lots of perfectly good furniture.
Bicycles.
Treadmills (note the S on treadmillS. People give up on those a lot)
Picture frames.
Mini fridges (college housing areas at move out).
Hand tools.
Yard tools.

She mostly sells them on e-bay or FB marketplace.

 

[ning]

During the dot com boom (2000-2001) I spent a couple days each week in the middle of silicon valley and stayed at a company-rented appartment

Occasionally I had to be there more than a couple days and my wife would sometimes come down and bring the kids

and one day the kids went out in the complex walking around and as they passed by the dumpsters they saw all kinds of good stuff
among the haul was a small-ish telescope with a whole set of eyepieces and two black&decker portable collapsible workbenches

I figure so many people were moving to that area at the time (if you could spell "C" or "vi" you could get a job in tech) people were probably moving from a bigger house, came to sv and found that they could barely afford a 2BR appt instead of the 4BR house + 2 car garage that they had and just dumped what they didn't positively need today

I still have the workmates, 24 years later

 

[tradosaurus]

I'm looking for ways to always get rid of crap. If I haven't used it in 3 years or more it usually gets sold or junked.
I don't want to be that dude whose estate sale looks like Sanford & Son.

 

[lman]

I'm looking for ways to always get rid of crap. If I haven't used it in 3 years or more it usually gets sold or junked.
I don't want to be that dude whose estate sale looks like Sanford & Son.

I tried to control my stored items until my Dad died, now I've got things that belonged to my parents along with my grandparents. I couldn't part with an Indiana license plate from 1913 along with a few other things from that era. That was the first year for license plates here.

 

[tradosaurus]

I tried to control my stored items until my Dad died, now I've got things that belonged to my parents along with my grandparents. I couldn't part with an Indiana license plate from 1913 along with a few other things from that era. That was the first year for license plates here.

I've got a set of fine china from my grandmother (passed in 1980) and I soon just as use it for skeet shooting.

 

[CalG]

This one takes the cake!

About 20 years ago, I was driving the loop that goes past the local high school. The "back way, out of town.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a roll off dumpster unit in the student parking area with what looks like shop table legs sticking out the top.
I pulled in for a closer look. (summer time, evening, not too many folks about)

Sure enough, it's a nice 5 foot, strip maple topped shop table turned upside down in the bin!
But get this, there is a horse and a half electric motor and motor starter switch attached. And when I tried to pull the table out for a better look, low and behold there is a "Spinning lathe" attached!

Whoa!
I had a few tools in a box in my car, so I grabbed it and jumped right in! First, off came the electric motor, then the lathe came off the other side. Those went into the trunk of the car. Then the table with legs it's self was carefully let down the side of the roll off and went onto the car roof. Tied down with ropes!

That spinning lathe and table are mighty nice in the shop. The lathe is General Purpose multi speed arbor, and the table has lots of room remaining. I even fitted a wood working vise!

Dumpster diving! I did feel sort of silly climbing in and out with the "goods" in my sweaty hands. Summer time, remember?

 

[lsgreg]

No photos, but I once got a TV from an apartment dumpster. It worked perfectly, and as newlyweds who couldn't afford such luxuries, we appreciated it.

We used it for about 5 years, then sold it for $50. That was in the late 80s.

As a college student, I used to forage food from the Kroger dumpster. I'd give it to my friends, those in the know would smile, those who didn't know would wonder about my source for all that great food!

 

[bdhsfz6]

My BIL works at the county recycle center. It's amazing what people take there. He had to put up a pole barn to house all the stuff he's collected!

He sells on eBay & Craigslist and also at local flea markets. It's a hobby for him that nets a tidy sum every year!

 

[1Mech]

Someone down the street was cleaning out the garage, or something, I pulled 3 weedeaters, a big fan a fire department used to clear smoke from a house, a couple lawn mowers, scrap metal, some good angle iron and a vintage Montgomery Ward gasoline horizontal shaft engine. All the lawn equipment works, I need a 1/3 hp motor for the fan, the gas engine is still waiting on me to check it out. Over the years I have found lots of good stuff others have discarded!

 

[Runner]

The best item I've picked up was not from a dumpster dive, just a floor lamp from a roadside find:

I did obtain a rolling workbench from a dumpster that is now an outfeed table for my table saw (just the steel frame, I built the top):

Most items that were either dumpster dived or picked up are hardware or raw material used for other projects, mainly steel. Also a few pallets. Lots of steel bed frames.

I don't know how many thousands of pounds of nuts, bolts, zip ties, etc. I picked up while running.

 

[Streetcar]

Neighbor threw out stihl chainsaw after cutting his tree done