Dumpster diving finds - let's see yours

[Gem99ultra]

View attachment 882887This 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.

View attachment 882893This 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.

View attachment 882894I 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.

GREAT finds! You must have that lucy star over you.

 

[Jstpssng]

We had a cleanup day at the company office years ago. At the time I had a tandem axle trailer and wished I had brought it. I could have hauled a load of scrap metal then come back for the good stuff. Instead it all went into the dumpster.
One thing I remember getting tossed was (were?) several sets of heavy duty steel shelving which had never been assembled. Multiple desks and chairs which were perfectly good but in the way. I don't remember what else. When my father started cleaning out the property it was the same way. Old, running snowsleds along with a lot of junk. He rented a dumpster and we cleaned out the barn. There were multiple heavy wool blankets which he used to cover the cold frames with when the temps dropped in the spring. We threw out case after case of peat pots. A lot of it was NIB supplies, he just didn't want to have it laying around.

 

[sixdogs]

Lots of great stuff around here but a good find was a bunch of dug out landscape bushes that must have failed to grow as expected.

The owner probably got them in root bound pots and in our clay soil the roots just went roundy-round in the hole and strangled. They looked sad but cutting them way back, snipping off lots of circular roots and planting in our yard worked great.

We weren't sure what all were but gave some Latin-esque sounding names picked after friends. The "Glennus Bushado" name we made up was the Glen Bush, etc. All good.

 

[masscity]

Not me, but a clam bucket crane operator that I me in a bar in Detroit City. I was downtown to get my marriage license.

His company would send him to wreck buildings and put it in piles or dumpsters. He told me about a hardware he had to take down.

It was completely full as the day it was in business. He called his buddies, uncles and anybody he could think of to come down and haul stuff away.

I operated a 23 ton crane with a hoist and dragline, so I stopped at one of his jobs and he let me the tear some of the

building down with the clam bucket crane. Probably a 40-50 ton on tracks.

 

[stuckmotor]

Late one night I took the trash to a dumpster near the railroad track and a man jumped out. I didn't get a picture.

 

[paulsharvey]

Found 2 reliever type hitches in 3 days; a 4 way, 3 sizes and hook friday; and this afternoon a 2" receiver style pintle hook type. One on the paved shoulder of a road, about 25 ft from a raised RR crossing. and the pintle type in the middle of a dirt road.

I already have a 3 way, but mine doesn't have the extra hook for recovery rope; and I didn't have a pintle hook, till about 5 minutes ago

 

[ultrarunner]

Lots of gas powered landscape equipment...

With all the ICE bans folks are putting out to the curb Honda Mowers, Echo Trimmers, Blowers, Chainsaws...

I actually got the self propelled Honda Mower curbside and asked if it was Free...

The owner said they just bought the place and have a garden service so getting rid of everything including good American made rakes, shovels, hand clippers...

I said I will take it all and did and he was happy and me too.

Someone tossed in the work dumpster several new or like new Campbell tire chain sets and a 4x6 trailer but not dumpster because too big.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Not sure if this is the best, but it is up there. Metal dumpster at the transfer station. Got it home and it started up. But it leaked gas as you can see. Took it to my chainsaw guy and for $100 he fixed a few things, tuned it up and got it running like a top.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was driving past a volunteer fire department and they had been cleaning. At some point I was looking for fire hose although I don't remember why so I grabbed this. The stuff is great as a sheath for axes, pole saws and other cutting tools.

 

[bigtiller]

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?"

Back in the 60's it used to be a joke around here also.

In a town of less than 2000 people, a woman disappeared and all they found of her was her thumb in the sewage treatment plant. The cops speculated her husband took her body to the city dump and buried her. After that, the local dump had all kinds of officials rifling through everything.

So when a couple got into a heated argument, this remark was made "You want to go to the dump?"