Garage Sale and Dumpster Diving Finds
Like many real Americans, I am a garage(yard) sale junkie. Friday and Saturday mornings are an 'event' in my weekly routine. Now dumpster divin' is another matter. Most find divin' beneath their dignity, but not me. I've posted pictures, in the past, on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking and links on rec.woodworking of my finds but, finally, I've gotten webspace for a dedicated Garage Sale/Dumpster Divin' Gallery.
(click on picture for a larger view)
July 28, 2003
  |
I just couldn't pass up this table that was in a dumpster behind a business over on the other block. The tabletop is a parallelogram shape and I think the whole thing is ugly and probably someone's jr. high woodworking project. The enlays are particularly sloppy. |
| The wood appears to be ash. I plan on cutting up the top and aprons for one of my working projects. The legs will be tossed. |   |
 |
I turned the table into an Arts and Crafts nightstand. Click on the picture to the left to see all the details. |
August 1, 2003
| I got this whole pile for $10. Actually she wanted the ten for the length of heavy copper cable and gave me the rest. What looks like an old music stand will turn into a support for an outfeed table. The round things are lead. There is an unused on-off switch(although the sales slip showed a date of 1962)and some unused light fixture parts. The large screw things are scaffolding leveler feet. I can turn them into some sort of vise or other. All this copper wire and short pieces will be crafted into some of my copper lawn ornaments or objet d'art. |   |
January 22, 2004
 |
Picked up an old, oak, office desk(w/o drawers) beside a dumpster at one of the local Salvation Army Stores. It looks like someone tried to clean off the finish but gave up. When I saw the athetic, old desk I could see,maybe, two small night stands and a coupla clocks in there. I offered the folks some $ but she said,"just take it." I was prepared to use my Sawzall to get out the good wood, but found instead that a few strategic raps with my convincer(dead blow hammer) the joints came apart quite easily. |
  |
..got that desk all apart...the veneer plywood didn't fair well but most of the other pieces will be useful...not sure what to do with the top(its just veneer but heavy wood inside...may have to take a look inside there and see what it is.) ..got 4 short legs and 4 long legs plus some 1x4 boards of oak...all that and a sunburn to boot....there is a pile of short and/or narrow pieces on the bench out of view in the photograph. |
I've been dumpster diving many times since Jan 2004 but placed much of the items other places.
January 21, 2005
| I stopped by a dumpster behind a home decor store that was renovating and picked up a pickup load of stuff early this morning. I'm not sure what it is(wink, wink)but it is sure heavy and it's not oak. There must be a dozen pieces of the stuff in my haul and more in that dumpster. I had an appointment at my health club so I had to leave a lot more behind.. I can vision a piece of fine furniture with this stuff. Maybe even another ultimate router table. |
 |
  |
Went by some of my favorite dumpsters and picked up a large piece of 14 gauge sheet, some square thinwall and 5 nice drawers from a bureau beside a Salvation Army dumpster. I had to leave the bureau because I already had a full load and it needed a little more than TLC to get it back in shape. I'm making a return visit to that dumpster where I picked up the steel to pick up some wire merchandise display baskets and some more of that thinwall.These drawers, notice, have machine cut dovetails front and back and the sides look rather exotic. The brass hardware pulls look useful. |
More to come. Check back often.
The Dumpster Divin' Table Experience Link
The Rocking Chair the Church Man Threw Away
Check out http://dumpsterworld.com/
HOMEPAGE