Repurposing (the patience thread)

Pops · Last edited by Pops on Thu May 22, 2008 7:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

Repurposing (the "Make Do" thread)

PO's local fix it guy mentioned loosening a cider press screw using heat and oil and made me think we need a thread about repairing and reusing old stuff for it's intended or a new purpose.

No need to keep it to iron or ag implements really, just what you are doing in the way of using or reusing old stuff.

I walked around and saw these...

I have a railroad tie used as an anvil.

Packing crates as feeders.

Pallets as storage bins.

Wheel base for drill and wide format printer stand as roll around tool bench

Shaft for sander, grinder, and polishing wheel at some point...

And old Ford as drying rack. Laughing

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Make a plan and work it:

Ludi

Horse trailer as storage building

Reuse of old fencing and chicken wire

Reuse of almost all non-rotten lumber scraps to build new structures

Pallets as storage shelves

Blasting cabinet as solar cooker (in progress)
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

RedStateGreen

And on the clothing/accessory end: Wardrobe Refashion

This blog has tons of great ideas, from shirts to pants to bags to shoes (even tutorials).

So far I've:

Made a braided belt out of old fabric

Used ribbon from a floral display I got for ties for a straw hat that I never wore because it didn't have any.

I'm in the process of re-doing a pair of pants that don't fit anymore.
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What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board

RedStateGreen

I've also used old cardboard food containers (ice cream tubs, the boxes grits and rolled oats come in, etc) in place of pots.

I use paper egg cartons to sprout seeds. When the seedlings get big enough to repot I just put the whole cell into a small pot then add dirt.
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What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

Wow! Right up my alley! I'm a string-saver, and I save any sort of iron, wood, leather, canvas, rubber parts, and miscellaneous parts that look useful. The best stuff to re-purpose, is stuff that was FREE to begin with, like the old truck rear end that is now an axle under my wood-hauling trailer, and the dog collar and ladies leather belt that made a neck-traction headgear for my wife.

We recycle everything, but a lot of the time for a new use. I save old high strength bolts, Allen wrenches, files, and axle shafts to use as tool steel for 1,000 uses. Today I got started on a special wrench for a German made tractor, to be made from a junked socket head die bolt. Files have become a complete set of woodturning chisels. Junk wrenches filed out to a new oddball size.

Some years ago, I cut a 20" bicycle in half, and made a 2 wheel pony cart, with old water pipe for shafts. A lot of my grinders and such reside on wheel stands like Pops'. One of those wall mounts for TV's or monitors, now hold the collets and wrenches for my milling machine. Steel banding from pallets is used as shim stock. Brass faucet stems become non-marring punches. I made a sandblast cabinet out of bedrail angle iron, sheet metal off old washers and dryers, a floodlight from the dump, a $20 sandblast gun, and 2 toilet bowl floor flanges to hold the gloves to the cabinet.

My 1" by 48" belt sander (most are 36") was made so I could rip old 6" x 48" sanding belts up to make 6 belts for the little one. The sander is made of parts of an old exercise machine (I don't need a machine for exercise), a shallow well pump motor, an old bean pot to keep dust out of the motor, a washing machine spring, and bearings from a junk snowblower. It stands on a Chevy wheel and some old well casing pipe.

The metal roofing that fireproofs the INSIDE of the welding shop is from an old chicken house. All the galvanized pipe for compressed air in 2 shops is salvaged from old plumbing. Magnets from junk microwaves hold all sorts of drawings and calendars to the walls here. Coat hangers are used for gas welding rods. I use a turkey baster to fill batteries with water. Cereal boxes form the gaskets in every engine and water pump on the place. Bacon grease mixed with used engine oil is a great tapping/drilling lubricant. Smells like breakfast when it gets hot, too! My shop desk is an old high school drafting table married to part of a filing cabinet. This laptop is powered by a couple rejuvenated truck batteries through a dc to dc converter for 19 volts. (Soon to be solar charged, now on a trickle charger.)

The bulk of our food storage is on recycled store shelving units. Lumber from pallets and old concrete forms built most of the furniture in the shop, like the inspection table and tool cabinets.

My daughter does sheet metal forming (into car body parts) with a mallet made from a softball bat, on a sandbag made of an old ladies' leather purse filled with play sand. The sandbag sits on a stand made of 2 farm discs welded to opposite ends of a piece of pipe. Her welding outfit started with a blue suede leather coat from the Goodwill.

Junk mail starts the fire in the shop wood stove, and is ultimately used as ashes to fertilize the garden. Most of our firewood comes off the steel truck, since we are his last stop, and he wants rid of the dirty 4" x 4"'s and pallets. Stove ashes are sifted and the charcoal saved for the blacksmith forge.

My work clothes come from the Goodwill, shoes and all. I cut up old inner tubes to make rubber gaskets, seals, and big rubber bands to clamp stuff I'm working on. An old rain gutter nailed to the wall drains oil bottles into my squirt oiler. We use old mayonnaise jars for canning, and lesser jars to store saved seeds. Newspaper becomes mulch. Hydraulic oil buckets store wheat, treated with MIG welder gas to kill bugs. Flannel shirts become grease rags, and old tee shirts strain juices for canning.

Our pole beans grow on a fence of old cattle panels and salvaged steel posts. Tomato cages are old woven wire fencing. My business sign is framed with salvaged pipes and fittings from a chain link fence.

My wife says I bring home more from the dump than I haul away, and my kids say I'm so tight that I squeak when I walk. Not really, that's arthritis.
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Local fix-it guy..

RedStateGreen

Pops

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

I used shellac thinner to put in the garden tractor gas tank, which was afflicted with water in it. Same stuff they sell for 3 bucks a half-pint as "Dri-Gas" for that purpose---also called denatured alcohol, and much cheaper by the gallon, and will do in a pinch for anti-freeze, but it boils away at modern engine temps, so it's temporary. Fuel injector cleaner is acetone, or xylol, or a mixture of the two. Same deal. Read directions on the commercial cleaner can, then buy a quart or a gallon.

Salvaged broom handles (wood) are cheap dowels or tomato stakes, for which we also use old survey stakes from construction sites.

Parts cleaner solvent is mineral spirits, the same stuff sold for cheap paint thinner. The old "Energine Dry Cleaner" and stain remover is Naptha---Lighter fluid.

Most granular drain cleaners are mostly lye. You can use lye to clean the drains, per drano directions, but Drano and others have other chemicals in them, so if you want lye for soap making, buy lye- DON'T use drain cleaner. NEVER pour water into lye-it will boil instantly and spurt at you-can ruin eyes and skin! SLOWLY pour small amounts of lye into water. It will get warm but is safer. It's a concentration problem. NEVER put lye in contact with aluminum-reacts violently. Be safe-read up on it.

Lard was commonly used to grease farm equipment for many years, and still works in low temperature applications. If it gets hot, it runs off. Grease your garden tools with it to prevent rust, it's harmless. Beef tallow works too, but is easier to spread if you melt some lard into it. Tallow melts at a higher temp, so it stays on longer. Melted tallow will do a good job of waterproofing leather boots, too, but mice will be attracted to them when food is scarce in winter.
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Local fix-it guy..

Rogozhin

Gosh I need to start saving the stuff we throw away at work. I'll have to ask my boss.

Great thread!
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"Those who long for exaltation look upwards, but I look downward for I am the exalted."

Thus Spake Zarathustra

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

Our newspaper sells their used offset process printing "plates" for a pittance. 10 of them for $4.50. They are soft aluminum, .008" thick x 24" x 36", and have the greasy, inky image of a newspaper page on one side. It washes well with paint thinner--it's soy based ink. I have used these for roof flashing, making patterns for big metal projects,(cut with scissors), covering the inside of a garage door (pop rivets), muffler bandages held on with old radiator hose clamps, and duct-taped together to make a temporary roof for stuff stored outdoors. You can bend it with your fingers, or clamp it to a board to make a nice straight, square bend. Thicker than a pop can, but not as thick as normal flashing. Call your paper to see if they sell this stuff. I've seen it used to cover old wood buildings and get another 20 years out of them!

Tack it to the walls to make a sparkproof corner for a welding area. Cover ratholes in the henhouse and grain bin. Make cutworm collars for plants. Cut 'em up and use a permanent marker for weatherproof garden labels, so you can remember what it was you planted there. Fold over a half inch to get rid of the sharp edges. This stuff is rustproof, easy to work, and DIRT cheap. Have fun with it.
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Local fix-it guy..

Ludi

We used to use those plates for making shims for gypsum molds.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

Lots of re-purposed containers around our place. We use mayonnaise jars for canning food, baby food jars for small parts, and the new square plastic tubs that baby food comes in for nails, tacks, etc. Gallon metal cans with a handle on top make simple "drawers" in the shop. Laid on it's side, cut the can along each end and once down the middle, end-to-end, like opening one of those single serving cereal boxes. Fold each half of the side down to the inside, which makes a rounded edge at the fold. Left on it's side, it is now a drawer for sitting on shelves. Good for bolts and other fairly heavy items.

Milk jugs have been done to death on recycling, but this was new to me. Lindsay Publications has a book to make your own plastic injection molding machine! Milk jugs, cut into strips, can be fed into this rig to mold into new knobs, or whatever you make a mold for. Will try this soon. Meanwhile, they do duty as emergency funnels and water containers, and hold old antifreeze on it's way to the recycler.

Glass bottles can be cut with a hot wire- and quench method, then sanded smooth on the edge to make cool beverage glasses.
My wife collects "Fuze" brand drink bottles for carrying drinking water to work, or wherever, to eliminate drinking out of plastic.

I cut up old 2x4 and 2x6 scraps and drill them full of holes to hold my huge collection of drills, reamers, end mills and countersinks. Soak them in oil lightly before using, or the wood collects moisture and rusts the end of the tools.

An old 5 gallon bucket with play sand in it, soaked with used oil, belongs where your garden tools stay. Jab the tools in the oily sand a few times before putting them away, and they will be clean and rust free next time you need them.

A short section of huge angle iron from the junkyard is helpful for clamping those unwieldy pieces, edge up, onto the drill press table with some C-clamps.

We modify Vise-Grips (TM), and C-clamps by welding all sorts of steel angle or flats on them to hold special shapes. Old allen wrenches can be ground into high quality special punches. Grind off the bent end, and chuck the longer straight part in the electric drill, turn on the drill and hold it to the grinding wheel. If you first grind off the 6 edges by hand, it comes out nicer, but this will make a pretty good round end for a punch. Keep it cool to preserve hardness. Keep a can of water handy, but DON'T dunk the drill and electrocute yourself!!

Get a copy of Alexander Weygers' old book, "The making of Tools", and make yourself a set of carving chisels, and some mallets.
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Local fix-it guy..

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

Pops,
You sly dog! Just noticed the title change. (red faced)

Well. Here goes. My neighbor built a couple storage sheds out of old pickup camper shells. He used angle iron (old bed rails) for 4 corner posts to raise the height to about 5 ft., fastened it to treated landscaping timbers at the bottom , then pop-rivetted and nailed on some metal roofing horizontally to cover the sides. The original rear doors still work, and allow enought headroom to park his garden tractor in it. He got the camper tops as freebies, of course.
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Local fix-it guy..

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1373

I was planning to reply to this thread a few days ago, but the power supply was going out on my computer and I couldn't stay on line long enough to type anything! Anyway, I am the self-professed queen of scrounge around here. If I can get something for free, I won't pay for it. I'm forever making do with this or that rather than buying something else.

Just a few things around here that are "make-do" projects. The barn where my goats stay now. The first 6x10 section started out as a dog pen, about 6 ft tall. Dad took it down and we moved the pen up to the house when we first moved here, and for a while it housed chickens. When I decided to get goats, we took the wire off (built a new house for the hens out of mostly salvaged lumber - and the metal sides of an above-ground pool for the roof metal) , salvaged some 1x12 boards off the side of my grandpa's old rabbit house (which was scheduled to be torn down anyway), and some tin from an old hay barn that had been torn down. Closed it in, and the first two goats had a snug little (if short) shelter. Later, we got more goats, so we needed more room. We opened up the east wall of that little shelter, and added on an 8x16x9 ft tall main room. Those are the dimensions because we used, in the construction, 4x8 oak pallets. The pallets were used for shipping lumber, and each of them had two 3x4 oak posts on the bottom to hold the weight. We busted apart several for the posts, which we concreted in, and then lag bolted the other pallets, standing on end, for the south wall. Built a knee wall on the top of the south side for roof slant. Used cedar slabs ($20 a bundle that was too heavy and large to carry in the truck) covered the holes in the pallets (between the board), and we used tin off the roof of the aforementioned rabbit house for the roof. The effect is a log cabin looking barn for the goats which has served well for the last 3 years. We'll be replacing it with a structure with a concrete floor and more traditional construction (this summer, hopefully) but for the past three years it has housed our goats for free.

Most of the fencing and t-posts around here were salvaged from other people who wanted fencing taken down. A little rusty, but it keeps critters in.

The same bundle of cedar slabs I mentioned earlier, along with some harvested cedar posts has made a 3-rail fence around our front yard, as well as provided rustic trim around the inside of the house.

Speaking of the inside of the house. You want to turn dark old paneling into drywall without the cost? Get yourself a bucket of drywall mud and texture your own walls. Cost about 9 bucks to redo the entire livingroom and kitchen, and the walls of the living room addition we added last year. 9 bucks and some paint and we have a whole new look.

The opening between the original living room and the addition is framed by 4x6 solid oak timbers which we got from a 100 year old house that was being demolished.

My computer desk is made from the door off the old pump house that my dad made many years ago. The legs are the leftovers of those 4x6 timbers. Rustic, but very nice.

Two end tables in my living room are actually old fruit crates, complete with old paper labels. I just like the looks of them, and they are quite functional set on end. A place for a lamp on top, and and opening underneath for books.

I save old blue jeans in a bag (everyone gives them to me). I've made rugs and quilts out of the jeans so far. Very heavy and warm in the winter. And virtually indestructable. I have also bought boxes and boxes of fabric scraps at flea markets that I have turned into many other quilts. About $10 in fabric a couple years ago made quilts for every person in my family as Christmas presents.

Dumpster diving provided us with my china hutch. Boy was it ugly when we got it. But I stripped and sanded it down and refinished it, and it has stood proudly in my dining room for the last 7 years. Didn't cost a dime.

If you add up the cost of every stick of furniture in our house, you might come to about $600. Living room sectional, freestanding bar in the kitchen (which btw, was an old buffet that I added a 2x12 bar to the back side of. It now serves as kitchen island and breakfast bar), dining room table and chairs, china hutch, bunkbeds, kingsized bed in the bedroom, 3 dressers... you get the idea. We scrounge, buy used, refinish, and have new stuff.

While we didn't build it, our wood splitter is also homemade. We bought it from the guy who built it. The gate on my garden is actually the gate off the back of my grandad's pickup cattle hauling contraption. It works just fine at more than 30 years old.

There's so much more, but I am getting tired of typing. I pay attention to freecycle, craigslist, flea markets, yard sales, and any opportunity to scrounge free materials. They have come in very handy and saved us a TON of money. We couldn't have all we have now if we hadn't.
Kathy

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1400

Great stuff Kathy! We used to scrounge at the county landfill, too, but they had some idiot fall into a dumpster, so they stopped that.

My daughter works in our family shop biz, and loves to make stuff on her own time, too. Lately, she scrounged cut off pieces of copper, aluminum, and brass wire, and has been making jewelry out of it. First, she made a wire bending jig, sort of a steel cribbage board with steel pegs, and uses that for some bends, such as a toggle clasp.

She also chucks a small rod in our crank powered drill press, pokes a wire in between the chuck jaws, and turns the crank. The rod revolves and wraps the wire around it to form a spring. The spring is then cut with pliers into single rings that are used to make chain of many sizes, depending on the rod diameter.

Another easy one is to chuck 3 different colors of wire into the drill press, and crank it to twist the 3 strands together into a multicolored cable. She cuts it to length, beats it flat with a hammer, and files the ends smooth. Wrap it around somebody's wrist, and you have a cool bracelet.

Scraps of small copper pipe, beaten flat, also make a nice man's bracelet, with the ends rounded, and enough ball pein hammer marks for texture.

Kids love to do this stuff. She's got a date with a boy scout troop to make some of these things.

It's a pretty good money maker, because it goes fast, and she has spit in materials!
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Local fix-it guy..