Classic & Vintage - Any shame in trash picking?

Not a bike either...my Fiancee and I just bought a house a few months ago...so money has been a bit tight at times. I needed a workbench, but haven't had the time to build one. We were walking our 2 greyhounds down the street, and a few blocks away she spyed this old workbench in the trash, with a vice even (I have a HUGE one in the garage as well). She said "Didn't you want a work bench?" Well, by the time we drove our PT Cruiser down the street at about 6pm the day before trash day, we had worked ourselves up and were saying "OMG I can't believe we are going to steal this 40 year old work bench from the trash"

We got it home, and it's old, but I didn't have one, and what is a workshop without any sort of workbench right? It'll work. I may replace the top, but it's better than nothing...

Question is, were we just in our humility? I'd have no shame snagging a nice bike from the trash, but something as big and "junky" looking to most?

haha

Here are a few pics of it after I got it into the basement...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/msrugis/bench1.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/msrugis/bench2.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/msrugis/bench3.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/msrugis/bench4.jpg

It's obviously still useful as a workbench, so the only real shame would be letting it go into a landfill. Good find. :)

You should never pull trash out of the pile. Now, good stuff, that's a different matter. Looks good to me.

No, there is no shame in picking through people's trash. The shame is that we live in a society so wasteful and lazy that people make no effort to find someone who might want the things they no longer need. I have taken countless items out of the trash, and either used them myself, given them away, or sold them. I have taken antiques out of dumpsters and sold them on ebay for hundreds of dollars. Ashamed? No, actually, I'm proud!

Yesterday I took a nice Blackburn rack out of the dumpster, complete with all its mounting hardware.

Oh, and congratulations, that's a beautiful work bench!

No, there is no shame in picking through people's trash. The shame is that we live in a society so wasteful and lazy that people make no effort to find someone who might want the things they no longer need. I have taken countless items out of the trash, and either used them myself, given them away, or sold them. I have taken antiques out of dumpsters and sold them on ebay for hundreds of dollars. Ashamed? No, actually, I'm proud!

Yesterday I took a nice Blackburn rack out of the dumpster, complete with all its mounting hardware.

Oh, and congratulations, that's a beautiful work bench!

Thanks, I figure, I'll use it. It's got a nice patina anyway :-) It's not very often that I actually stop to pick something up, but I'm always on the lookout....Hoping to see a nice VLW at the curbside...

The house was just put up for sale, so I think that someone just tossed anything left inside, there was a whole load of furniture, but that was the only thing I could actually use. My little brother made fun of me and called it a "turd-bench", but I beg to differ. It'll get lots of use as a new homeowner.

No, there is no shame in picking through people's trash. The shame is that we live in a society so wasteful and lazy that people make no effort to find someone who might want the things they no longer need. I have taken countless items out of the trash, and either used them myself, given them away, or sold them. I have taken antiques out of dumpsters and sold them on ebay for hundreds of dollars. Ashamed? No, actually, I'm proud!

Yesterday I took a nice Blackburn rack out of the dumpster, complete with all its mounting hardware.

Oh, and congratulations, that's a beautiful work bench!

I cannot agree more strongly. Here in NYC, people throw away absolutely _amazing_ things nightly. I've found such diverse things as a stash of foreign money (mostly English Pounds. In both coin and paper), sterling silver belts (yep! More than one), Chanel handbags, a Trek 900, a Huffy cruiser, a few BMX bikes and a Motobecane mixte. Biggest find was about twenty paintings done by a listed artist on particle board.

When I travel the streets, my companions make good fun of my constantly wandering eyes but I know that the next thing I find is gonna be great!

That old bench is excellent! I've trash picked stuff and bought 'fleas' at markets and garage sales, but really well used old tools (or benches!) are the things that give me the biggest kick. There is nothing like holding a well worn, wood handled tool... my hand imagining the other hands that have used it.

I believe that the correct title of "trash removal", by somone other than a

"SANITARY ENGINEER", is "POLLIKER".

"One man's garbage, is another's gold."


Regards,
J T

I cannot agree more strongly. Here in NYC, people throw away absolutely _amazing_ things nightly. I've found such diverse things as a stash of foreign money (mostly English Pounds. In both coin and paper), sterling silver belts (yep! More than one), Chanel handbags, a Trek 900, a Huffy cruiser, a few BMX bikes and a Motobecane mixte. Biggest find was about twenty paintings done by a listed artist on particle board.

When I travel the streets, my companions make good fun of my constantly wandering eyes but I know that the next thing I find is gonna be great!

Yup. Sad thing is, people are going to think you're exaggerating. Or that I am. Sterling silver belt? In cannot picture it, but I absolutely believe you. Last month I found a pair of sterling silver cuff links, with some 24k gold bits added (not plated). New, in the box, complete with designer name embossed in the leather. Don't get me wrong; these were ugly, and they were useless (because they're cuff links); but they're an expensive item. Sold them on ebay for $30, which is hardly a tenth of what they cost new.

Yeah, Chanel handbags. Last one I saw looked brand new, but someone had dumped what appeared to be a whole order of Chinese food into it. I left it where it was.

Oh, and how's this: I found a $1000 Fendi gift certificate, can youimagine anything more useless? Sold that on ebay, too.

Trash vs. Treasure

You saw the bench for what it really was.

NPR got trashed yesterday in the letters section for airing this story.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91975541

There is no shame in trash picking. There is much shame in throwing away useful items instead of donating them to charity or leaving them for someone to haul away and use.

Congratulations on that bench. Looks perfectly fine and useful to me. In the 60s-70s, we owned a home in Seattle that was built in 1903. It featured a beautiful woodworkers bench in the basement. The son of a prior owner (who still lived in the neighborhood) told me the original owner built & repaired violins & violas. When we moved, I couldn't see a way to remove the bench without totally disassembling & possibly damaging the dovetailed joints, so I followed precedent & left it for the new owners. Don

I have found amazing things in the trash. I'd say it is the purest form of recycling, and should be encouraged. I have found bikes, the best being a Cannondale that got parted out on ebay.

One time, when I was a new homeowner and not particularly well off financially, I found a 3' tall pygmy date palm on a trash pile. At the nursery, these sold for $100 a trunk foot for mature ones. This one was not in the best of shape, but I took it home and nursed it back to health. It was going strong when we sold the house many years back. I'd hate to have seen it go to the dump.

Yeah, it's no butchers block style work bench that's for sure, just some 2x4's and such...but it works, and matches the character of the home. Its a 1946 Bungalow, that we purchased from the original owner. At closing the old woman told me that in the linnen closet were the original blue prints. I think I was more excited for that than closing the deal. After we signed the papers I ran home and sure enough, foud the 60+ year old blueprints in the linnen closet, as well as a full bill of materials, and costs accociated...It's quite humorous, and priceless.

No shame at all! Congrats on "re-purposing" on a beautiful, vintage, handmade, antique, work bench made by a loacal artisan in the early part of the 20th century.:lol: (Too much ebay recently)

I once found 3 bikes in the trash while taking my dog for a walk. 2 Schwinn Varsity's (Mens & Women's) and a Men's Fuji Toruing Series IV. I donnated the Schwinn's to the local bike co-op and sold the Fuji (too small for me) on ebay. I got $232 for the Fuji. All three bike were ridable with minor work.

Just dont wear trashy clothes while you're taking items from the trash and you should be fine. A suit will work here.

Now all I need is a repair stand in the corner where the Cilo is resting....Doubt I'll find one of those at the curb :))

I cannot agree more strongly. Here in NYC, people throw away absolutely _amazing_ things nightly. I've found such diverse things as a stash of foreign money (mostly English Pounds. In both coin and paper), sterling silver belts (yep! More than one), Chanel handbags, a Trek 900, a Huffy cruiser, a few BMX bikes and a Motobecane mixte. Biggest find was about twenty paintings done by a listed artist on particle board.

When I travel the streets, my companions make good fun of my constantly wandering eyes but I know that the next thing I find is gonna be great!

Wow, you've done even better than I have! NYC is great for this stuff, although I'm always a bit paranoid of what might be on it (no upholstered furniture for sure, bedbugs are no joke).

My scores:

Vintage Trek with fastback seatstays
60" limited edition Ansel Adams print
DVD/CD player and surround sound speakers
Dell 1.8GHz Celeron
Dell 2.4 GHz P4

Nice solid workbench - looks as if it'll take a good load of abuse from some of those more involved repairs. Excellent catch.

You know you just wanted to show it off ;)

-Kurt

Nice solid workbench - looks as if it'll take a good load of abuse from some of those more involved repairs. Excellent catch.

You know you just wanted to show it off ;)

-Kurt

Alright, alright, you caught me red handed! :roflmao2::roflmao2:

I love trash picking and have decided to use that as a motivator for taking some shorter 5-15 miles rides after work. I printed off the list of streets and pick up dates for my community and will be planning my routes accordingly.

One of the great things about CL is that stuff that I don't have a use for, like old lawn mowers and power equipment, can be brought home and then sold for a little cash very quickly. Even if they don't work.

My favorite trash picking story involves a nice couch that a neighbor was throwing out. We had moved into our house the year before and did not know them very well. We knocked and asked if it was okay to take it. Sure, they said it is very comfortable. The next year, just before they moved, they were getting rid of a bunch more stuff and asked if we wanted any of it. We went and looked and brought home a number of boxes of stuff, a rusty old tandem and an old pedal car.

As we were talking we mentioned how we had felt a little strange about taking their old couch. It turns out they had trash picked it 4-5 years earlier and had the fitted slip cover made for it.

Hey that is one solid looking bench. 4x4s for legs, nice. Those planks on the top are not exactly easy to come by or cheep these days and the wood block vise is perfect for working on bike parts you don't want to mar. Nice score!

Good Save! That Bench still has lots of life left and the wood quality probably beats anything made today.:D

People generate plenty of legitimate trash - no need to put perfectly useful items in the waste stream.

Nice find.
The only thing I might do is sand the top and put on a coat of shellac (which you have
from shellacing your handlebar tape).

marty

I knew a man that was disabled from the Fire Dept. and he made extra cash by fixing up stuff he got people set out by the curb.

Around here, stuff does not sit long. If it even looks remotely usable, people will snag it. I had a guy stop in front of my house. I figured he'd spotted the pound or two of copper tubing from the plumbing job. He didn't just want that, he wanted all the galvanized and the cast iron stuff, too. I helped him load it up because I wasn't exactly sure if the city would get it.

My old harvest gold toilet, white globe living room lighting, avocado green stove exhaust hood, old front door, old screen door, box full of old switch plate covers, and a ton of old nails and screws in buckets all got picked up in less than two hours and I lived on a dead end street! I hadn't had time to put the door hardware out yet so I put it into a box with a sign on it. They came back and got that, too.

Nowadays, I have Purple Heart pick up stuff(they got our old washer and dryer that still worked fine). Or, I take stuff to Habit for Humanity. I've bought four houses in ten years so they've gotten a lot of old light fixtures, hardware, cabinets, doors, paint, and assorted leftover building supplies.

My wife and I supplied several rooms with furniture we found on the street. I once got 10 1 x 12 boards that were painted and in mint condition. Each one was over 6 feet long. Made perfect shelves in my storage barn.

If you can use it, grab it. I'm sure the people that put it there figured somebody would come get it.

At the equipment yard where I work, we have a dump pile in the back. People often set usable items near the pile and they disappear quite quickly. I'm definately not above grabbing a useful item out of the trash (my current commuter bike is a dumpster find). As kids, a friend of mine and I knew the trash pickup days for all the neighborhoods around us. We'd cruise up and down the alleys looking for bikes and other stuff right before the trash was picked up. This was late 60s/ealy 70s and the best find I remember was a Shwinn Stingray that was mint except for one broken spoke. And like many others, we shop at, and donate to, thrift stores on a regular basis.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c41/fsnaqvi0/DumpsterDivingTeam.jpg

I have this T-Shirt and yes I do use it.....My latest find, a pair of Shimano SPD Sandals in my size!!

I like to trash pick and would do it more often if my wife let me. She often tells the story of driving behind a Wal-Mart and seeing an old man rooting around in a dumpster. She thought "How sad ..." and then recognized him as her Grandfather! He was digging out the large plastic frosting buckets tossed out by the bakery. They are quite handy ...

Hang out here for awhile -- it's fun (or it was a couple of years ago anyway):

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.dumpster/topics

Bob

I love this thread! I have made a hobby of turning people trash into profits for the past several summers. The highlight of my year is volunteering at one of the local clean up days in an uppity community near me. Since I started going 3 or 4 years ago I have cleared more than $2500 in "junk" that I turned around and sold on Craigslist. The best item was a 1 year old fully galvanized boat trailer that I sold the next day for $700! I don't have enough time or space to type it all up (I do keep spreadsheets showing every transaction!) but the best score yet was a Rainbow playset for my kids - new value is more than $6000 - FREE! I have built a shed and all the shelves in my garage out of materials salvaged from construction site dumpsters and I have sold off more truck toppers, lawnmowers, bikes, etc. than I care to think about. I have been mowing my lawn with a lawnmower than someone on my block had in the garage for the past 3 or 4 years - and several of my friends are mowing their lawns with my free lawnmowers too! I have gotten free or extremely cheap bikes for everyone I know from the trash, garage sales and thrift stores and everyone loves it. The funny part is that my friends and family make fun of me in one breath and in the next they want me to find them stuff! It is all good fun and I hate to see useful stuff get thrown in the garbage. My 3/4 ton Dodge pickup even runs on FREE waste vegetable oil I get from a local restaurant! Anyway - don't worry about what anyone else thinks. Good times.

First, good save! My 1920 home has two such workbenches that remained from the previous owners when we bought it in 1990. You will use your workbench daily.

Second, re: trashpicking in general -- my wife has long picked useful items from the trash in our neighborhood, which is a historic district. She used to supply her sister's antique shop with items found on the curb. I, too, have rescued a couple of bikes in the distant past -- don't remember what they were now. The scrappers our neighborhood regularly. Now that I have discovered this site, I now understand better the value of bicycles, so I'll be more active in checking the curbs on trash day.

Nice find!

I've been in this position many times, and I'm damn proud of it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2447459673_2ebf131796.jpg?v=0

Around here, some people put things out a couple days early if they might be useful to someone. That gives the trash pickers time to get it before the garbage man does.

full bill of materials, and costs accociated...It's quite humorous, and priceless.

frame that thing up and hang it on your wall for a great interesting conversation piece

Around my way we have regular 'hard waste' days several times each year, for people who want to dispose of stuff like that work bench. Such items can be put out front several days in advance, those people interested will cruise around town checking for items they can make use of, and what's left over by the scheduled collection day will be carted away free of charge.

There is no shame in trash picking. There is much shame in throwing away useful items instead of donating them to charity or leaving them for someone to haul away and use.
I can't agree more. In Portland, we have a tradition of leaving useful things to the side of a trash can or dumpster with a "free" sign nearby. Sometimes the stuff will be put on the corner, which is most convenient.

Here is my ghetto workbench that I made from a dead washer, an old platform bed, and odds and ends that people left on the corner with a "free" sign.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u94/donnambr/ghettoworkbench.jpg

A friend of mine was moving and he gave me a crate full of mtb parts, said he was ging to throw it away. I am looking at the boxes, ready to ship, of about 250$ worth of his stuff. Probably split the money with him, it was about 400$.
My first road bike a few years ago was found by my brother in law in the garbage near Boston. Gave it to me with new tires for xmas and I've been riding ever since. Cannondale with 105 parts, still using brake levers on another bike.
I am now a regular at a local bike shop dumpster: free old tires and tubes! people get new tires and tubes and the store guys get free or cheap new ones, so they throw them out.
I live where there is no middle class, and people have gear, regardless of class, and they get new gear. this provides a good supply of thrift store/yardsale/garbage items that can go straight to ebay and make me money.

I just remebered: Hiker boxes. When you are thru hiking the Appalachian Trail, hostels, POs, everywhere hikers frequent has hiker boxes. when you get mail, or just go thru your pack, and find something you don't want, that is still good, you leave it in the hiker box. Food, gear, everything. Example: I am at the store, and don't want a whole tub of peanut butter, I just take what I want in my pack in my main container, mixed with jelly, and leave the rest for someone else to use. Or, I might find both in another town and use them from the hiker box and not have to $pend.
Too bad there's not much like that in real life...

That looks like an amazing work bench! There is a nearly identical one for sale at a antique store in town for $850. I'd probably be interested in it if I had a place for it.

All of the stuff in my house, except my bed, was given to me prior to curbing it, or picked up curbside.

Kitchen table, coffee table, couch, chairs, silverware, teapot, dresser, porch light............even a couple of bikes :)

leave it as is... I wouldn't replace that nice solid top - it's a perfect workbench and I'm sure you'll put it to many years of good use!

I have been collecting bikes out of the trash for almost 5 years. A friend of mine recently opened up a CO-OP in our area for low income kids with all the bikes he and I have and a local Bike club have collected over the years. So yes, I find no problem in dumpster diving. I wish I had a shirt like The Figment has. I would wear it with pride.

Found this one leaning next to a dumpster the other day...figured I'd grab it to build another gravity bike for my buddies:




http://www.observedtrials.net/otn4/trashschwinn.JPG



While I was loading it in the car I noticed an unexpected suprise:



http://www.observedtrials.net/otn4/trashschwinnda.JPG



Shame it's just the drive side crank, but trash pickers can be too choosey.



My wife yells at me all the time for trying to watch the trash cans and the road at the same time, but I can't help myself. Something about rescuing cool old stuff from an eternity in a landfill just makes me all fuzzy inside.



Steve

While I was loading it in the car I noticed an unexpected suprise:

:eek: :thumb:

Now there's something that will eat you with the curiosity "How did THAT get there?" for weeks on end...

-Kurt

+1 the shame is that we are in a disposable, throw away society.

+1 keep the old top in tact, its part of the character of the bench. If you must have a smooth top, cut a sheet of plywood or OSB to fit over it, but I would leave it as is.

My neighborhood is full of lazy folks that throw out all kinds of reusable stuff. Why they are too lazy to drop it off at Goodwill, which is less than a mile away, escapes me. We talk about being green, then we fill up the landfill with totally usable, recyclable stuff. I picked up a bottom end bike yesterday, that I will drop off at the local Goodwill. If you can't use it yourself, pass it on!!

I got a nice set or rollers from the trash , all that it needed was a new band. If it can be liberated from potential landfill and given a new lease on life no shame in that. I recently scored about 400$ in ceramic tiles (still in their boxes) that will help make the new shower as well. Those were damned heavy bringing home in several trips on my bike, luckily it was only a few blocks from the house.

All our old clothing and stuff like that goes to Goodwill, or the Diabetes Assoc.

My old computer ran on 2 sticks of ram that I rescued from the garbage and a CDR drive that I found in the parking lot of my building.

I don't trash pick very often, and I never pick things that I don't have a personal use for, but if I see something I need that's just waiting for the garbage truck, I see no shame in grabbing it.

:eek: :thumb:

Now there's something that will eat you with the curiosity "How did THAT get there?" for weeks on end...

-Kurt


You and I think alike...that was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the DuraAce arm. I know BITD guys used to run DA on their BMX race bikes, but this Schwinn is pretty far removed from those days...wonder what else is laying around the garage it came from...



Steve

No shame in trash picking... you're recycling! My boyfriend and his family, on the other hand, are HORRIFIED at the very thought - call it a cultural difference (they have money; my family does not). If I find anythign good in the alleys I plan on saying it came from Craigslist. They are OK with that, marginally.

(The Boy's Dad came over while I was working on bikes today. He was gobsmacked. He knew I tinkered - but when he saw the bike I had cleaned up for my sister, he realized that I can make something old look close to new again and perfectly functional. He does love a bargain so maybe we are approaching common ground here :))