Salvaging the World

Another one of my favorite past times when I have the summers off is Dumpster Diving. Ever since I was a kid I always went through other people’s trash. I found all kinds of cool stuff: several pocket knives, coins, toys, books, magazine, and porn. Lots and Lots of porn, you would be surprised what people throw away in what they think is an anonymous trash dumpster, but I digress.

All this fun is multiply tenfold in a college town, and when the neighboring countries have their “throw everything and the kitchen sink away for free” day, I’m in heaven. This is made even more fun in the fact I can ride my recumbent around while I look for stuff. When you are driving through a neighborhood at five the ten miles per hour you see a lot more detail in people’s lives. I have a neighbor we I’ve driven by for the past 3 years, and I know she collects salt shakers because of biking down her street.

In a nutshell, I found some really cool stuff. This is a brass lamp I found. All it needed was some elbow grease and some Brasso. I fixed the switch for three dollars in parts. Wham! Good as new. I just need the right shade and it will be perfect for the home office.









The Next item I found was this lovely dresser. I should have taken a before picture, but I was a little slow on the uptake. The dresser was painted white with blue, pink and purple knobs. It must have been in a kid’s room. I’ve been look for something like this. Not for personal use, just something to work on my refinishing skills. It’d hard to find real wood furniture that can stand up to refinish. Painted furniture is always a gamble because you don’t know if the paint is covering up some bloodstained marks on the piece.

Only bad thing about this dresser, I broke my Sandstorm Sander. As far as I can tell I burn out some wiring in the motor. Getting it fix would cost more than replacing it. Which is something I hate on principle. Why make something so cheap it’s not worth fixing? So I’m waiting for my next paycheck before buying a new orbital sander. I’ll post some before and after picture when it’s done.

I found this at a garage sale. I have always said I need more nude statues around the house. Actually, it just called to me and I thought “What the heck!” I spend more for soda than what this would cost in pocket change. Besides I think she is cute. Some of the details need to be touched up a bit, but it should offset the brass lamp nicely.