Best Dumpster Find?

[Fawteen]

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.

That may be true in many cases, but there's another possible reason: People buy a vacuum based on advertising and find they don't like it for whatever reason: Doesn't clean well, too noisy, too hard to change filters/empty, too heavy.

My wife was a HUGE Filter Queen fan and when our 40+ year old unit got beyond fixing, we spent BIG bucks on a new one. Complete and utter piece of trash. After that we tried 3 different brand name units, none of which was right for her and were given away. Finally found a Miele she likes. I wasn't a huge fan of spending mid-three figures only to find she didn't like it, but she doesn't ask for much and we definitely don't want to compare her toy budget to mine!

 

[T.R.K.]

Here in NC it is illegal to rummage through a dumpster.

So you look both ways. . . . . .

 

[Tony in SD]

Some guy moving out of a house left his stereo in the alley. I said "hey you left your stereo in the alley". He said you can have it because it doesn't work. I fixed it with a transistor I bought at Radio Shack for $2. It has been in my shop for 25 years and before that in my house.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

My electrian friend was painting out his bedroom and put almost all his clothes into garbage bags for storage .
In a fit of distraction he put them out for collection with all the other things he discarded !
Someone may have found an entire wardrobe that day .

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

That may be true in many cases, but there's another possible reason: People buy a vacuum based on advertising and find they don't like it for whatever reason: Doesn't clean well, too noisy, too hard to change filters/empty, too heavy.

My wife was a HUGE Filter Queen fan and when our 40+ year old unit got beyond fixing, we spent BIG bucks on a new one. Complete and utter piece of trash. After that we tried 3 different brand name units, none of which was right for her and were given away. Finally found a Miele she likes. I wasn't a huge fan of spending mid-three figures only to find she didn't like it, but she doesn't ask for much and we definitely don't want to compare her toy budget to mine!

"we defiantly don't want to compare her toy budget to mine!" You are a wise man , Mr. Fox.

 

[RedMF40]

Here in NC it is illegal to rummage through a dumpster.

So you look both ways. . . . . .

Seriously? They don't like people taking trash--or what was set out as trash? Do they enforce it?

 

[T.R.K.]

Seriously? They don't like people taking trash--or what was set out as trash? Do they enforce it?

Seriously. The law came about back in the late 70s, or early 80s when rural areas (in the county where I live, at least) had un-attended dumpsters set out at strategic places. Some people searching through the dumpster would throw trash out on the ground and make a real mess of the area. Sometimes they mysteriously caught fire.
So they made it illegal to rummage through a dumpster.

 

[brooktre]

Picked up a Sears (Eska) 3.5 HP outboard motor sitting outside of the trash dumpster. Nothing wrong with it and it still works great. Wife just shook her head. I didn’t have a boat at the time but do now. She would pick up things that interested her.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

CB's & other electronics from the Rad Shak dumpster & various odds 'n' ends from area department stores. K-Mart must not have made the best lenses. I gleaned several from their dumpster. A couple had a ding on the filter thread & have no idea what was wrong with the other two. Those got traded to a buddy's dad for a Ponderosa buffet gift card. Those lenses still don't have any value, so I believe to have gotten a good deal.

My dad, the lucky dog, got to surf the dumpsters & scrap piles at the railroad when they were going under. Also managed to bring home lumber cutoffs & plywood from the wood shop or buildings & bridges department. Got enough to make three workbenches from hardwood & a 12' x 16' train layout. The brown paint used to seal it was "Boxcar Red" paint that was used on the rolling stock at the railroad & there were three legs under it that were painted with passenger car silver, that would have been used on the side-frames of the trucks for the locomotives & cars. That paint was old already when he found it in the late '70s & he couldn't get it to stir properly. Looked like silver stucco when it was done. Think there's still a cutoff from a silver leg around somewhere. The paint cracked & fell off the rest of them.

Mike

 

[BAnNC]

Here in NC it is illegal to rummage through a dumpster.

So you look both ways. . . . . .

Only if you get caught.

 

[docmirror]

Like Geo, people would be amazed at stuff left behind by tenants. Especially when they are in a rush or evicted. I have a 22Gal 2 stage compressor that I've used for 20 years that was left at a house. Not all of it is good of course. I've had to toss all kinds of detritus left by tenants. I got a decent wardrobe for a size 6 woman that I gave away. As for better stuff, I got a garage full of toys for a child of 3-6, gave all that away cuz I didn't have kids.

The two worst things I found - and, I can't make this up; An urn, with the departed granny of a couple that moved out in the night, left granny ashes on the mantle, and left no forwarding address. A small fridge with about 20 dead Iguanas inside. The two best things I found was a McIntosh MC-30 tube amp(the kids who rented the place thought it was antique junk); A rare, Ruger Standard .22 with the tapered barrel.

Only thing I ever found in the trash was a Craftsman edger with a short blade. Rather than repl the blade, they just tossed the thing in the trash. It worked great.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Almost forgot the Frito Lay warehouse dumpster. If the chips or whatever were a few days before or after expiry, they'd toss them. My buddy, who worked right down the road found out about it & we took a ride to check it out. That thing was full of unopened bags & sealed flats of the variety packs. We packed my hatchback full to the brim. It took us all of a week to get sick of every flavor there was & took us a month to get rid of it all. We did make quite a few extra friends at work, after taking in boxes & bags to leave in the break room with a big sign on them.... FREE!!

I still don't want to see a Frito, Dorito or Cheeto or any other XXXX-o ever again!!

Mike

 

[UncleTom]

Do you think that dumpster divers are mostly from people growing up that didnt have much to spare?

 

[RedMF40]

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...

Nice save, right place at the right time!

 

[RedMF40]

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.

I like that word, "thicknesser." Even if spell check makes me type it 3X before it gives up and says ok you win, it's a word.

 

[RedMF40]

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.

Hard to imagine tossing out an entire tractor. Brain was in "neutral."

 

[RedMF40]

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.

Nice when you recognize the parts you need and can get to them. One man's trash....

 

[RedMF40]

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.

Great house, nice use of materials. Château Debris hahahah! Nice name. Can also do "Château d'Ebris" like Ebris is family name.

 

[RedMF40]

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.

Locally, property investors sometimes advertise for house clean-outs when they don't want to pay a company to do it. Just come get it, take everything--and people pick through all the belongings that were in the house when it was sold. A house nearby had a lot of electronics and specialized tools. Outside was a big Hobart welder/generator that had been sitting for years. Someone basically camped out next to that thing because they wanted it so badly. They were waiting for the heavy equipment operators to show up and load it for them.

 

[RedMF40]

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.

Great story, nice that he had a goal in mind. Ended up with a free pickup minus his time and effort.