i once "liberated" a chain that was abandoned for at least two years. i busted the (integrated) lock, and now i've got a very nice, 8mm, square cross-section, hardened chain.

i've got my eyes on a 12mm krypto-cable that's been abandoned for several years. it's tied to a rack with a disc-brake lock. if i was living anyplace other than wellington, it would've been gone long ago. i keep thinking, "i should snag it before the city removes it". with my hand-tools, it would probably take 40-60 minutes to defeat the disc-brake lock, but for the worth of the cable i'm not motivated to buy a cordless power tool for the job. so it sits there.