Best Dumpster Find?

[RedMF40]

I'll bury this topic here in tool talk since I'm mostly interested in tools you've found. Doesn't have to be in a dumpster--just anything people left for dead or actually threw out. Bonus if it was actually IN a dumpster. I'll go first. There have been a lot of finds, but one that stands out is an 18" Poulan Wild Thing chain saw that someone was tossing at the county landfill. I intercepted it for a couple reasons: One reason is that they were throwing it in with general refuse where it would get buried or incinerated. If anything, it should have gone into the metal recycling bin, which was a short distance away. The other reason is that it looked fairly new and could maybe be revived. Turns out it needed new fuel lines, which are not exactly easy to replace. But once that was done it started and ran like a charm. That was over six years ago and I still use it regularly. I also bought an Echo 580 for bigger wood, but I mostly use the Poulan due to its light weight and good power. Oh, the same people were also tossing a wheelbarrow. I took that as well. It needed a new tire but was otherwise ok. Oh, here's a bonus tool: I was driving through the city on trash day and saw that a homeowner had set out a string trimmer with their trash. I grabbed it. I didn't do anything with it, didn't check it over to see if it would actually run. Nothing. Then one day when I hired some day laborers to clear an overgrown patch of land I tossed them the string trimmer along with the other tools.
"Here, see if this works."
It started and ran. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. They actually made a lot of headway with that trimmer. I believe it was a basic Homelite or Craftsman.
I can't believe some of the things people have tossed out.
What have you found?
Gerrit

 

[Steve@Advance]

My prize dumpster dive got me full size Delta Rockwell table saw, a real one with a cast iron top!

This would have been in the mid 80's, I was working for a large company with several divisions. Occasionally I would get called to the plastics division to troubleshoot their injection mold machines.

One day I watched a fork lift driver dump the saw in the dumpster, a strange move that it wasn't put with the scrap metal.

As soon as he parked the lift, I got it out and put it in my truck! He came out and told me I couldn't do that, it was against company policy. I translated that to mean "I beat him to it"!

It was in pretty rough shape. Looked like something heavy got sat on top with the blade up, and the hand wheels were missing. A little TLC and parts scavenging, it was good to go! Still have it and use it regularly. It needs a fence upgrade, but just never got around to it, maybe someday...

 

[Charles in Aus.]

A working thicknesser , literally in a dumpster . What a job to lift it out though . Once the blades were reversed and the lift lubricated it worked perfectly.

 

[38 Sears Roebuck]

A working thicknesser , literally in a dumpster . What a job to lift it out though . Once the blades were reversed and the lift lubricated it worked perfectly.

Thicknesser? Would you be referring to a Planer?

 

[38 Sears Roebuck]

I'll bury this topic here in tool talk since I'm mostly interested in tools you've found. Doesn't have to be in a dumpster--just anything people left for dead or actually threw out. Bonus if it was actually IN a dumpster. I'll go first. There have been a lot of finds, but one that stands out is an 18" Poulan Wild Thing chain saw that someone was tossing at the county landfill. I intercepted it for a couple reasons: One reason is that they were throwing it in with general refuse where it would get buried or incinerated. If anything, it should have gone into the metal recycling bin, which was a short distance away. The other reason is that it looked fairly new and could maybe be revived. Turns out it needed new fuel lines, which are not exactly easy to replace. But once that was done it started and ran like a charm. That was over six years ago and I still use it regularly. I also bought an Echo 580 for bigger wood, but I mostly use the Poulan due to its light weight and good power. Oh, the same people were also tossing a wheelbarrow. I took that as well. It needed a new tire but was otherwise ok. Oh, here's a bonus tool: I was driving through the city on trash day and saw that a homeowner had set out a string trimmer with their trash. I grabbed it. I didn't do anything with it, didn't check it over to see if it would actually run. Nothing. Then one day when I hired some day laborers to clear an overgrown patch of land I tossed them the string trimmer along with the other tools.
"Here, see if this works."
It started and ran. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. They actually made a lot of headway with that trimmer. I believe it was a basic Homelite or Craftsman.
I can't believe some of the things people have tossed out.
What have you found?
Gerrit

I have found many good things in dumpsters. I'm not ashamed to be a dumpster diver.

 

[showcrop]

I'll bury this topic here in tool talk since I'm mostly interested in tools you've found. Doesn't have to be in a dumpster--just anything people left for dead or actually threw out. Bonus if it was actually IN a dumpster. I'll go first. There have been a lot of finds, but one that stands out is an 18" Poulan Wild Thing chain saw that someone was tossing at the county landfill. I intercepted it for a couple reasons: One reason is that they were throwing it in with general refuse where it would get buried or incinerated. If anything, it should have gone into the metal recycling bin, which was a short distance away. The other reason is that it looked fairly new and could maybe be revived. Turns out it needed new fuel lines, which are not exactly easy to replace. But once that was done it started and ran like a charm. That was over six years ago and I still use it regularly. I also bought an Echo 580 for bigger wood, but I mostly use the Poulan due to its light weight and good power. Oh, the same people were also tossing a wheelbarrow. I took that as well. It needed a new tire but was otherwise ok. Oh, here's a bonus tool: I was driving through the city on trash day and saw that a homeowner had set out a string trimmer with their trash. I grabbed it. I didn't do anything with it, didn't check it over to see if it would actually run. Nothing. Then one day when I hired some day laborers to clear an overgrown patch of land I tossed them the string trimmer along with the other tools.
"Here, see if this works."
It started and ran. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. They actually made a lot of headway with that trimmer. I believe it was a basic Homelite or Craftsman.
I can't believe some of the things people have tossed out.
What have you found?
Gerrit

B-JD. Not myself but a friend who owned a salvage yard and rented containers for collecting scrap. He picked up a container and was emptying it at his yard when he came to the B. He got it out without damaging it and it took very little work to get it running. He brought it to the tractor pulls for years.

 

[8850dave]

I picked up almost all of the parts for a John Deere 3 row planter and 3 row cultivator for the JD GP tractor at a fam sale years agoout of the scrap iron pile thankfully I had a friend who bought the scrap and I was able to retrieve what I wanted and help him load the rest.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I'll bury this topic here in tool talk since I'm mostly interested in tools you've found. Doesn't have to be in a dumpster--just anything people left for dead or actually threw out. Bonus if it was actually IN a dumpster. I'll go first. There have been a lot of finds, but one that stands out is an 18" Poulan Wild Thing chain saw that someone was tossing at the county landfill. I intercepted it for a couple reasons: One reason is that they were throwing it in with general refuse where it would get buried or incinerated. If anything, it should have gone into the metal recycling bin, which was a short distance away. The other reason is that it looked fairly new and could maybe be revived. Turns out it needed new fuel lines, which are not exactly easy to replace. But once that was done it started and ran like a charm. That was over six years ago and I still use it regularly. I also bought an Echo 580 for bigger wood, but I mostly use the Poulan due to its light weight and good power. Oh, the same people were also tossing a wheelbarrow. I took that as well. It needed a new tire but was otherwise ok. Oh, here's a bonus tool: I was driving through the city on trash day and saw that a homeowner had set out a string trimmer with their trash. I grabbed it. I didn't do anything with it, didn't check it over to see if it would actually run. Nothing. Then one day when I hired some day laborers to clear an overgrown patch of land I tossed them the string trimmer along with the other tools.
"Here, see if this works."
It started and ran. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. They actually made a lot of headway with that trimmer. I believe it was a basic Homelite or Craftsman.
I can't believe some of the things people have tossed out.
What have you found?
Gerrit

Nice save on the saw.
I have been a scrounger and dumpster diver for a long time.
I built this cabin nearly 40 years ago, mostly out of stuff I salvaged from tear downs and dumpsters.
In keeping with my French heritage and as a nod to dumpster diving, I named the place "Chateau Debris".
My cousin owns it now.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I'll bury this topic here in tool talk since I'm mostly interested in tools you've found. Doesn't have to be in a dumpster--just anything people left for dead or actually threw out. Bonus if it was actually IN a dumpster. I'll go first. There have been a lot of finds, but one that stands out is an 18" Poulan Wild Thing chain saw that someone was tossing at the county landfill. I intercepted it for a couple reasons: One reason is that they were throwing it in with general refuse where it would get buried or incinerated. If anything, it should have gone into the metal recycling bin, which was a short distance away. The other reason is that it looked fairly new and could maybe be revived. Turns out it needed new fuel lines, which are not exactly easy to replace. But once that was done it started and ran like a charm. That was over six years ago and I still use it regularly. I also bought an Echo 580 for bigger wood, but I mostly use the Poulan due to its light weight and good power. Oh, the same people were also tossing a wheelbarrow. I took that as well. It needed a new tire but was otherwise ok. Oh, here's a bonus tool: I was driving through the city on trash day and saw that a homeowner had set out a string trimmer with their trash. I grabbed it. I didn't do anything with it, didn't check it over to see if it would actually run. Nothing. Then one day when I hired some day laborers to clear an overgrown patch of land I tossed them the string trimmer along with the other tools.
"Here, see if this works."
It started and ran. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. They actually made a lot of headway with that trimmer. I believe it was a basic Homelite or Craftsman.
I can't believe some of the things people have tossed out.
What have you found?
Gerrit

I can't believe some of the things tenants have tossed out or left behind.
When it comes to tools, tenants have left behind all kinds of tools from sockets, to dewalt cordless tools, a 12v air compressor, too many to remember. A like new dehumidifier.
One tenant left behind tons of food. I called a guy who picked up the can goods and put it in his Church's food pantry.
One lady left behind garage bags full of new clothes with the tags on them.
We found a girl the clothes fit, very happy.
I have a network of friends I can call to pick the things tenants leave behind.
A Retired neighbor lady is a good picker. She has an annual yard sale.
A thrift store called Helping Hands , run by nuns, will take clothes and pots and pans.
They don't care if the clothes and pots and pans are dirty.
They will wash everything. Normally I would pitch these things. Helping hands are happy I bring them things.

 

[SkipperII]

We had an older equipment operator(1970s), that would go through the dumpster after the lines crews went home. He salvaged all the small pieces of copper wire, burned out line switches, etc., over the course of about four years, he paid for a new Datsun, Lil Hustler pickup.

 

[Russ from MN]

I am heating our house here in Arizona right now with a little heater that I got out of a dumpster, it doesn't take much heat here! The tip-over switch had move out of position, and easy fix!

 

[Charles in Aus.]

Thicknesser? Would you be referring to a Planer?

I think you ight call them jointers . Basically a wide mouthed free standing planing machine that has a over feed and planes timber to an exact thickness .

 

[Brown David]

I think you ight call them jointers . Basically a wide mouthed free standing planing machine that has a over feed and planes timber to an exact thickness .

Yes, jointer is the term I know them by.

 

[Ultradog MN]

A working thicknesser , literally in a dumpster . What a job to lift it out though . Once the blades were reversed and the lift lubricated it worked perfectly.

Where I grew up the machine that surfaced the wide sides of the boards was a thickness planer or planer.
A jointer was for surfacing the edges of the board.

 

[Janicholson]

From my current lawn mower (reliable first pull in the spring starts) to my Stihl chainsaw, to my rototiller, to a 800$ telescope mount, to my sons barbeque they were all very nice finds. Jim

 

[UncleTom]

Not really in a dumpster but curb find lawn mowers, snowblowers and leaf blowers and the list goes on. I got this blower recently. The guy said the motor siezed up. All it was was the belt wrapped around the crank pulley. Its 800-1000$ new. Fixed it for nothing.

 

[Keith True]

About 25 years ago A friend walked in my garage and told me to look in his truck.He had a big old Kalamazoo horizontal bandsaw in it.He was moving stuff out of a power plant,and the boss told him to put it in the dumpster.He said he wanted to put it in his pickup,and the boss said sure,we just want it out of here.He brought it to me.I still use it.

 

[Russ from MN]

Where I grew up the machine that surfaced the wide sides of the boards was a thickness planer or planer.
A jointer was for surfacing the edges of the board.

That's what we call them in MN!

 

[Fawteen]

About 25 years ago A friend walked in my garage and told me to look in his truck.He had a big old Kalamazoo horizontal bandsaw in it.He was moving stuff out of a power plant,and the boss told him to put it in the dumpster.He said he wanted to put it in his pickup,and the boss said sure,we just want it out of here.He brought it to me.I still use it.

When I worked for the cannery, we had an old barn chock-a-block full of "stuff". Zero organization, stuff just tossed into piles. Fairly often, we'd need a part and I'd go out and rummage around and eventually find something that would work. Asked the Plant Manager one day about getting it organized so it didn't take half a day to find anything. He said he'd love to see that but couldn't/wouldn't pay anyone to do it.

I told him if they brought in a dumpster, I'd do it for free on my time and sort things into three categories: things for the dumpster, things we should keep, and things I was going to take home, no questions asked. He agreed. I took home two welders - A Miller Dial-Arc 250 Stick/TIG unit, a Hobart Handler stick welder - a humungous battery-powered forklift, a Hossfeld bender (which I later sold MUCH too cheaply, not knowing what I had...) and half a pickup load of smaller stuff that I don't recall specifically.

The Miller just needed a good cleaning, a knob and some new leads. That was 15+ years ago and I'm still using it. The Hobart needed nothing. The forklift needed some wiring repaired and new batteries. I sold it to a machine shop and made decent money on it, more than enough to consider all my other acquisitions as "free".

 

[38 Sears Roebuck]

Not really in a dumpster but curb find lawn mowers, snowblowers and leaf blowers and the list goes on. I got this blower recently. The guy said the motor siezed up. All it was was the belt wrapped around the crank pulley. Its 800-1000$ new. Fixed it for nothing.

I almost always see good stuff sitting by the curb when I'm out and about delivering fuel. Sometimes I'll go back after working and it's gone, dang it. I can't believe all the vacuum cleaners I see sitting out by the curb. Most of them look brand new. I guess some people just use them until they stop sucking due to a clogged filter. I just don't understand some people.