You ever find metal stock in weird places?

twowheelinjim

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So I was driving down the road and while crossing a busy intersection when I spotted what looked like piece of some machine bracket on the side of the road. I came back around and grabbed it. I still don't know what it is but it yielded a 2' 1/2'' aluminum rod, a 1''x 6'' magnet and a 1''x 18'' aluminum tube where the rod slid in. The top of the tub had handles with rubber grips that T off of the tube. It had been ran over a few times but luckily all the metal was salvageable. It's a good thing I turned around and grabbed it because some guy on a bicycle was already eyeballing it. I have a feeling he would of recycled it along with all the bags of cans strapped to his bicycle...
On a different occasion, while taking the dogs on a walk, a neighbor had curbed a bunch of junk from his rental property for the garbage man to haul off. In the pile I found some brass rods and a nice metal cart built out of steel tubing plus a bunch of other odds and ends. To my wife's dismay, I loaded the cart with the metal along with the dogs and proceeded home. :nuts:
 
So I was driving down the road and.............................. To my wife's dismay, ........... :nuts:

Hopefully your wife will get over it. My wife has gotten use to me pulling over to pick up bits and pieces of material. :whiteflag: Just be careful and don't stop unless it is safe to do so. It's not worth getting rear ended or run over for a free piece of material.


Garage sales are also a good place to look for materials. Look beyond the childrens clothes and house junk. I have found some interesting pieces of material laying in the background. Ask and often you can purchase for very little.

Benny
 
Guilty as charged, LOL

I have been known to pull over while driving to pick up bits of metal. "It is for the safety of others", I explain to SWMBO'd as she looks at me with a real perplexed look, "can't have somebody getting hurt running over something like that can we".

When I was a young pup, I was driving with my dad to work, and hollered to dad to stop as I saw a pair of pliers on the road. Nonsense dad replied and we continued on to my work. Dad dropped me off then went home.

When I got home that night, sitting on my desk was a pair of red handled, bent nose, needle nose pliers, exactly how I had described to my dad as we drove past them. Still have them today approximately 35 years later.

At a garage sale, I noticed a bunch of short lengths of chromed steel tubing and just as I went to ask how much, one of the people running the sale dragged them over to the "FREE" pile. Yahoo, and into the truck they went.

Oh and one of my best hauls, was when a buddy called from the hospital he worked at, he had just loaded the bin with a bunch of steel, if I wanted it to get over there quickly. There was a wood cabinet with a 30 2-1/2" x 13" drawers, which became my bolt bin, and quite a pile of 7/8" x 1-7/8" slotted tubes varying in length from 3 feet up to 6 feet long, a bunch of counter brackets that bolted to the tubes ( you were to bolt a tube to the wal as a ledger, then with special nuts and bolts attach the counter brackets. Then you attached the counters etc) and a pile of sheet metal doors and panels. This has given me interesting stock to work with. Made the workbench, the stand for the solvent tank, a 27" x 54" rolling tool box knicknamed the "Queen Mary" as it was so large and lots of my shelving and many other projects with that haul.

Keep your eyes and ears open, and chunks af metal will come your way.

Latest find was a bunch of stainless steel. Neighbour had a problem with his range hood, fancy european model, so ordered in a replacement. I suggested if he was discarding the old one that I would haul it away for him. I hauled it back to the shop, determined the problem with the fan motor and repaired it. It is just the right size so I am going to mount it over the solvent tank to exhaust the odours "outside" when I have the tank open.

Walter
 
Found one of these on the road todayTurned around & picked it up & tossed it in my bed, A guy hollers at me from across the street, "That's my cord, it fell off my truck when a toolbox door opened :angry:

cord.jpg
 
Guilty as charged, LOL

At a garage sale.......................the "FREE" pile. Yahoo, and into the truck they went.

Walter

I learned the hard way about used bed rails which often end up in the "free pile" on the last afternood of yard sales. I gathered and put probably about 8 or 10 sets in the materials pile before I found a project for them. Then I discovered that welding bed rails is riskey and drilling holes in them will cost you about one sharp drill per hole. They are often very hard unknownium alloy. I now mostly walk past bed rails even if they are free.

Benny
 
I learned the hard way about used bed rails which often end up in the "free pile" on the last afternood of yard sales. I gathered and put probably about 8 or 10 sets in the materials pile before I found a project for them. Then I discovered that welding bed rails is riskey and drilling holes in them will cost you about one sharp drill per hole. They are often very hard unknownium alloy. I now mostly walk past bed rails even if they are free.

Benny

Yup, took the set right out of a new Carbide saw blade.

If you heat the steel enough it will weld OK. Cut with Abrasive blade.

Overall, best to just get proper angle iron.

Walter
 
bed rails are ok for a welding project but i never get enough that look the same to make something that would look good
i have probably 10 to 15 sets under my shed right now they dont even rust they are so hard
steve
 
Years ago, I was driving around town and spotted a pair of pliers in the middle of the road. I stopped and picked them up, then noticed that someone had written something on them with an electric engraver. It said "pliers". Still have them.

A month or so ago, I saw what looked like a small driving light in the centre section of the highway and picked it up on the way home. Turned out to be LED. The lens was smashed and the wires mostly pulled out. I grozed out the rest of the lens and opened up the back of the metal body with a hole saw. Soldered on some new wires, made a mount, put it on a 6" flex neck and now have a good work light on the 'new' mill.

Last weekend, I was taking one of my usual alternate routes home. As I was passing the place where I bought my 9 x 12 bandsaw last year, I noticed the sign "Yard Sale Free". What can you do? He'd finally reached the point of just wanting to get rid of the stuff left by the previous owner (and there had been a lot of it). I picked up a couple of buckets with such things as fixture chain, new 3/4" bolts, nuts and washers, a huge roll of baling wire (always need haywire, right?), an 18" single-sheave rope pulley (looks cool on the wall) and an electronic pressure gauge in a fancy hard-shell case. The gauge works. Oh, and a German springer bicycle seat for a friend who's into such things. Turns out he knew the previous owner of that property.

For sure - stuff is where you find it.
 
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