Stories about treasures you find

Opteron_Man · 03-19-2009, 02:53 AM

I have found loads of neat stories on the internet where people
find all sorts of cool things other people toss away, throw away and otherwise abandon. In dumpsters, next to dumpsters, on the side of the street, at garage sales.

I got a hand made solid wood end table my neighbor tossed out like a sack of shit.
I have gotten perfectly good computers and furniture that was “garbage".

I was walking back home from the post office yesterday and as I was about to cross the street, I see this hunk of black metal half berried in the snow.
I wrench it out, and to my delight, it is one of those keyboard trays that bolts under your desk in the knee space. You bolt it there and you pull it, and the tray with the keyboard swings out on a big hinge arm.

I had always wanted something like this! I carried it home and washed it off. It was all dirty! It must have been there all winter! I oiled it and cleaned it up. It is a heavy duty sucker! I will bolt it under my desk as soon as I have the screws. I can set my dinner plate on the try while I use my computer.

I was helping my mom clean out her basement, and the stuff she planned to go to the LANDFILL was good working stuff! A perfectly working microwave oven and all sorts of furniture and goodies! I was shocked and mom let me bring most of it home with me instead. Thankfully.

I just don't know why people are so wasteful! Just recently, I took my electric kettle apart and repaired it! I had to open it and coat the metal with some paint; it was getting eaten by rust. Had it been anyone else in this town, I bet they would toss the thing. It works beautiful now. But is not black or have blue led’s in it, or a touch screen, or Xbox games. It is probably made in the 1980’s and it is scratched and ugly. But it works as good as it did a decade ago.
People here are so fucking spoiled!

There was a crack in a bowl I have, I had to fix it, and so I welded the crack in the plastic with a hot soldering iron. I had to; it is my only soup bowl. I could have gone and bought another one, but that is not the point!

Opteron_Man · 03-21-2009, 02:53 AM

You don't have any stories?

*face palm*

Lady_Alyce · 03-21-2009, 06:09 PM

I've found a 6 foot tall cat-stratchy-post/climbing-thing in a dumpster while coming home from ballet. It was in excellent condition, had no stains or smells, and still had the original scratchy stuff on it. Mum loaded it into the car and we took it home. We had to take a saw and take off six inches of it to make it fit on the porch.
My brother is the handy-man in the house and he taught me a few things. I once welded several of my mechanical pencils back together after my pencil bag had been sat on. I've also taken apart my dvd player when the tray started to jam and I retrieved the dvd and put a few screws back into place that had fallen out. They still work. My brother takes apart just about anything when it screws up and puts it back together. Usually all the stuff he fixes works excellently.

Opteron_Man · 03-21-2009, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady_Alyce

I've found a 6 foot tall cat-stratchy-post/climbing-thing in a dumpster while coming home from ballet. It was in excellent condition, had no stains or smells, and still had the original scratchy stuff on it. Mum loaded it into the car and we took it home. We had to take a saw and take off six inches of it to make it fit on the porch.
My brother is the handy-man in the house and he taught me a few things. I once welded several of my mechanical pencils back together after my pencil bag had been sat on. I've also taken apart my dvd player when the tray started to jam and I retrieved the dvd and put a few screws back into place that had fallen out. They still work. My brother takes apart just about anything when it screws up and puts it back together. Usually all the stuff he fixes works excellently.

That is very nice! I still don't know why people are so wastefull.

Pyre · 03-21-2009, 07:06 PM

I might go dumpster diving for furniture at the end of the semester when everyone throws out perfectly good stuff. It's ridiculous what gets thrown away around campus.

Solumina · 03-21-2009, 07:17 PM

I've gotten some pretty nice stuff from freecycling, as well as finding new homes for some of my stuff that I don't have room for or simply no longer use. Nearly all of my furniture has a life before it fell into my hands, the table is an especially good find, it was completely filthy and forgotten about but since the wood is laminated it was quick and easy to clean.

HumanePain · 03-21-2009, 07:19 PM

I was on Makaha Beach on the West side of Oahu Hawaii with my family, and noticed something sparkling just under the shallows in the sand, picked it up and found it was a ladies waterproof Fossil wrist watch with inlaid mother of pearl! Still ticking too! I gave it to my daughter.

Corpsey · 03-21-2009, 07:30 PM

Nice! Where did you find the table? At first it sounded to me like you found it in the Bush or off the beaten track.

I'm not quite as recyclable as that Solumina but I've had a few good finds.

My favourite would be a pair of running shoes I'm currently wearing. A Regimental Sergeant-Major (High ranking officer) threw out a huge bunch of his shoes and I happened to find out. I rummaged around until I found a pair that fitted me and they've lasted me for the past 3 years.

Another time when I was working on a recycling truck, I found a huge stash of Asian CD's in some CD cases along the side of the road and several old looking cups that looked useful.

Seriously, it was a great find but methinks an ex girlfriend had her revenge.

*Edit*

Great find, Humane. Did it have any indication to its age?

HumanePain · 03-21-2009, 07:38 PM

I seemed relatively new as it had a leather wrist strap in excellent condition, and one would think the salty seawater would have dissolved it from the watch proper itself had it been in the surf long.

Beneath the Shadows · 03-21-2009, 07:44 PM

I found half of a suit of armor in a dumpster once. Most of it was all dented up, but the helmet was in good condition.

HumanePain · 03-21-2009, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

I found half of a suit of armor in a dumpster once. Most of it was all dented up, but the helmet was in good condition.

WHAT? NO WAY! Some people have all the luck.

Uh...you wouldn't want to sell it by any chance, would you?

Solumina · 03-21-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corpsey

Nice! Where did you find the table? At first it sounded to me like you found it in the Bush or off the beaten track.

Well when I was moving into my first place one of my mother's friends said that she had a bunch of stuff stored in her barn and that I was more than welcome to look and see if I wanted any of it. The table was in the back of the loft of the barn and it was covered with dirt/bugs/mouse poo/ickyness but there were some spots that were kept clean thanks to the stuff on top and I could see how beautiful the wood underneath was as well as how nicely it would clean up, it was just a bit of an adventure trying to get it down as the entrance to the loft was a ladder so we had to lower it from the open end of the loft.

I also found a set of glasses as well as some serving dishes (all of which were boxed up so they were protected from getting too dirty and were fine after a run through the dishwasher on "sanitize").

Drake Dun · 03-21-2009, 09:29 PM

You would love Japan. People throw out perfectly good stuff here all the time. Just yesterday I had a lady ask me if I wanted a brand new one of those miniature cars for kids, the battery powered kind that you can hop in and drive around in. She got it as a gift, but doesn't want it because there's no room in her place.

Beneath the Shadows · 03-21-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumanePain

WHAT? NO WAY! Some people have all the luck.

Uh...you wouldn't want to sell it by any chance, would you?

Unfortunately, I can't. The only part I took was the helmet, and I gave that to a friend years ago.

Man In Room 5 · 03-22-2009, 11:10 AM

I grew up a block away from the Illinois Army National Guard armory in my city. Dumpster diving there was always interesting. In the 80s they threw out manuals which would be shredded in our post-9-11 society of today. I had a very interesting bookcase in my bedroom as a result. Me and my friends were the only kids in town with instruction manuals on the M-16, M-60, and M-203 and the only kids who could make napalm out of soap. We had all the MOS manuals (not very dangerous actually) and several FM manuals (highly dangerous in the hands of teenagers). Just beyond the armory was an abandoned drive in theater whose gravel parking lot was a great fireproof testing grounds for our little science projects. I'm lucky to still have all my fingers actually.

Opteron_Man · 03-23-2009, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Man In Room 5

I grew up a block away from the Illinois Army National Guard armory in my city. Dumpster diving there was always interesting. In the 80s they threw out manuals which would be shredded in our post-9-11 society of today. I had a very interesting bookcase in my bedroom as a result. Me and my friends were the only kids in town with instruction manuals on the M-16, M-60, and M-203 and the only kids who could make napalm out of soap. We had all the MOS manuals (not very dangerous actually) and several FM manuals (highly dangerous in the hands of teenagers). Just beyond the armory was an abandoned drive in theater whose gravel parking lot was a great fireproof testing grounds for our little science projects. I'm lucky to still have all my fingers actually.

That sounds like a real interesting childhood! I wish mine was like that!