# Do You Reuse Old Materials?



## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I built my house with a mixture of old and new materials. I recently expanded my shop with all the materials other than studs and joists coming from a house I tore down.
Sorry, no pics as that's beyond my diy capabilities.


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

All my life has been one of scavenging, recycling, repurposing, and just plain "penny pinching".
Very few projects have been done with all new materials. Have built cabinets "all new".

My grandson is constantly "amazed" at what his grandpa will recycle and/or repair. I am trying to teach him to copy, but am fast running out of time.
Hope some of it will soak in to his thinking.

RR :smile::smile:


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## Truth avenger (Nov 30, 2018)

When I tore down my deck, I used most of the lumber to build a shed. I've used lots of old lumber for several projects.

That said, I usually use new lumber where strength/load bearing is important. There's such a thing as being too cheap.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I reuse just about anything reusable, I hate waste. I have a pretty good stash of old barn wood and several woods. I am in the process of clearing out my shop of stuff I can do without. For me this is tough because I know as soon as I throw something away, I will need it.

I did use a lot of used materials in one house I built for myself. The entire floor system was reused materials that was either free or bought.

I have, in the past, built complete sets of cabinets that went in a butler pantry and tack rooms etc out of old barn wood. I know it sounds tacky and not good looking but they turned out looking great, I was even surprised. LOL


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## F250 (Feb 13, 2018)

I have no pictures, but I've saved the large dimension redwood boards from a deak I tore down in Texas some 20 years ago. Thus far, I've milled down that redwood and built a large exterior trellis to support a pair of piracanthas on the back of our house (the one we sold in Texas). I still have enough to make an exterior redwood potting table for my wife, but it's not built yet.

I've also salvaged a bunch of thick mahogany from a large broken artist easel my FIL built for my wife when she was a teenager. Most of that salvage got consumed in building a huge flat lid for one of my wife's 12 gallon crocks in the kitchen.

Then, just this past summer, I cut down my huge custom built (by me) red oak entertainment center. By cutting down, I mean reducing the entire cabinet depth by 16" by circumsizing the back off of it. I reinstalled the back in a different format and removed a couple of built-in internal shelves to open it up for hosting my flat screen TV. Various parts of what I cut off were used in the internal structure of the faux fireplace I built in my dining room in the fall.

AND... when we refaced out kitchen cabinets year before last, I kept all the solid oak drawer fronts and have used them to make jigs in the shop and other miscellaneous pieces for all sorts of reasons.

Along with that, (but this is really leftover usage, and not salvage)... I used leftover tile from our first home remodel (small 3x3 Spanish blue and white tile) to make a set of trivets for my wife. The frames for the trivets were made from leftover oak trimmings from the cabinet work. 

I'm sure there are other things I've done with salvaged materials, but can't think of them at the moment.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

I have some pretty nice pieces of wood I got from a pallet I disassembled and planed. Have not found a project to use them on yet (but I will).

All of these were made with scrap pieces of wood in my shop. 

The marking knife is made from an used up sawzall blade and red wood cut offs from my joiners hammer project.









The tenon jig is made from cutoffs from my table saw crosscut sled.









The grr-ripper was made from my wood bin scraps and leftover t-track from the cross-cut sled project.









The push sticks were made from wood bin scraps.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

If it's loose and lying around, it's loaded up and hauled home.

I found an old Charbroil barbecue, that someone had melted the bottom out of.

Hauled it home, stripped it down, replaced the wood with TREX decking, repainted it, new wheels, and feet.

It now holds several Potted plants, and matches my deck. 

It can be rolled around just like the old barbecue could, repositioned to get the best sun for the Petunias, or Daffydills, or whatever is on it.

The most reused thing is the 4.5 pounds of old (65) grey stuff between my ears. 

ED


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## rcpaulsen (Oct 17, 2018)

Most everything I make is made from someone else's garbage. Most recently, I acquired a couple of gas grills with bottom cabinets (painted steel frames and sides with stainless doors) that somebody had thrown away. I sold the grungy aluminum grills for scrap, made tops for the cabinets from some old pieces of maple butcher block I had laying around, and put a shelf in each one. I now have have a pair of nice tool cabinets on wheels. Total cost: $0.00


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Before I knew flipping houses was a thing I re cycled houses, older neighbourhoods that were close to schools or had close bus service, things like that. I lived in them and fixed them up. There would never be enough mark up to remodel houses like you see on TV. You can improve a lot in a house with used doors that match the rest or finding that window trim that hasn't been made for 40 years instead of replacing with new that just wouldn't look right in an old house. What was important was fresh paint inside and out, maybe a new deck that might be used material. 
For a while we could buy re cycled paint where they just mix new colors out of all those old left overs. When buyers are looking in that neighbour hood because they like the area or that is what they can afford, you just need the nicest one of the ones for sale at the time.


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## landfillwizard (Feb 21, 2014)

I mounted my miter saw to an old grill. It is very handy to move around with the wheel. I also have added rollers to each end to move boards around. I also added shelves to the underside to store blades, tapes and other tools.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

landfillwizard said:


> View attachment 554197
> 
> 
> 
> I mounted my miter saw to an old grill. It is very handy to move around with the wheel. I also have added rollers to each end to move boards around. I also added shelves to the underside to store blades, tapes and other tools.


 I have one just like that, handy when we finished a bunch of basements right in our neighbourhood, I would just take my saw for a walk.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

Growing up we never bought a grill. We would use old Volkswagen rims with an oven grate on top. They were made of steel and the vent holes were a perfect size. We would set the rim outer face down on some cinder blocks, light up some homemade charcoal and then bring on the steaks..., or fish or whatever we had to grill.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Yes, one mans trash is another mans treasure? :smile:
This antique chair was from the head knots grandfathers den.
It was covered in green leather...the leather that we reupholstered
it in - - is from our old leather couch....we stripped it, and had enough
leather for the chair. This is the first chair we upholstered in leather,
however, not the last. The footstool legs are from my Mothers mahogany 
coffee the legs have little wheels. 
Also, the wood the couch was made from, he ripped apart and saved for
scrap wood. The entire leftover parts from the old couch fit into one garbage
Pail. :biggrin2:

We’ve made lots of cabinets, tables, shelving etc... from recycled wood and 
curbside adoptions. It’s all so fun! :yes:


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Two Knots said:


> Yes, one mans trash is another mans treasure? :smile:
> This antique chair was from the head knots grandfathers den.
> It was covered in green leather...the leather that we reupholstered
> it in - - is from our old leather couch....we stripped it, and had enough
> ...


Nice job on the chair, I have a bonded leather couch that the leather is coming apart. Picket up a $12 sewing machine, something new to learn. But will be fabric.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Yes, if your going to start to reupholster start with fabric.
Leather is tough to sew, we have a professional machine (Singer)
from the 1930’s it can go through 4 layers of leather with a diamond 
Sharp needle...I also have a brothers machine, that’s the one I use.
The head knot uses the Singer...
I think I posted the wing chair that we did in real Mercedes( car seat ) leather that we
scored from our fabric supplier, we bought 2 skins. It a lovely cream color.

We enjoy reupholstering.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Two Knots said:


> Yes, if your going to start to reupholster start with fabric.
> Leather is tough to sew, we have a professional machine (Singer)
> from the 1930’s it can go through 4 layers of leather with a diamond
> Sharp needle...I also have a brothers machine, that’s the one I use.
> ...


Leather would to expensive to learn on I have used industrial machines before but that was all straight lines, I've done the upholstery before when some one else was doing the sewing.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Wow, some amazing stories in this thread. I reuse a lot of lumber. Scraps really. Some I've had for 20 years, but, I will one day find a use for them. Now, you can go to far with it. A gentleman down the street from me was quite the penny pincher. When he died, his widow asked me to clean out the spouting and fix an area that was leaking. The leak came from an old soup can he used to make a repair to a round downspout. Those things rust quickly so his fix, in that case, was not such a good penny pinching fix after all.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Here’s another leather chair we did with the Mercedes Benz car upholstery leather. 
This was a very thick leather. We bought two large skins.
I took pics of this project step by step as well as the tufted footstool. 

This chair belonged to my Dad and I rescued it from my sisters garage.
It had a seat cushion. I convinced my guy to do a stationary seat, ( no sewing)
so, that involved lots of seat padding...again, we recycled The padding
from the old leather couch. 

This entire chair was NO machine sewing. It was done with staples.
The nailheads cover the staples. I wasn’t sure of the size that I wanted
the footstool to be. The head guy said, I better be sure cause I only have
one shot at it...he’s not making two footstools. :smile:

We upholstered this chair approximately ten years ago. This is a recent
pic.


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

Versatility. It isn't something I deliberately work at. It's more of a way of living. We just learned from the beginning that with limited resources, you make due with what you have. And sometimes you can take what you have to make the things you need.
I remember as a child, I once took a ball bat and whittled down the end of it to fit a double edge axe blade. It didn't work very good but since I didn't have a hatchet, it served a purpose on camping trips. We naturally called it the "bax". A few years later I recall the Steve Miller Band singing "no ones knows exactly what the bax is".


Sorry, just a little reminiscing there.


Today, I have two car garage with a loft filled with items waiting for their rebirth. Everything from hot air furnaces with ductwork, to lumber, to used vanities and tops. Several hundreds of feet of electrical cable, ductile iron pipe and conduit. Gutter troughs, down spouts, and carpet remnants.
More stuff than I care to admit! The wife asks me when I going to clean it out, and I reply "I did and this is what's left"!


PS - I remember my father making picnic tables to sell back in the 60's. He cut the end of a screw driver off and chucked it in his 3/8 Black and Decker drill and then used it for driving the long wood screws. Just a little thing to make your life a little easier.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

I can remember cutting handles off screwdrivers. Round shank if we were going to use it in a chest drill, preferably square shank if it was going in a 2 jaw brace. 

A lot of electric drills from the 50s were pretty anemic for driving longer and/or thicker screws, particularly in hardwoods.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

I still have a little Ball Peen hammer, that I broke the wooden handle from as a kid, and a 3/8 ratchet that I broke the gears out of also, they now are married as a welded together steel handled Ball Peen.

ED


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## gthomson (Nov 13, 2016)

I found an interesting use for a couple old things I had - a gocart my grandfather built me when I was probably about 8-10, and a hope chest that was my mom's - her and her mom re-finished it together at some point. I didn't have the heart to toss in the trash, but I knew I would never use either, and nobody I know would either.
Found a guy local that had as a hobby an 'old town' in his back yard that he liked to add old western-times things to if they fit in.
He took both and said they fit right in.
He sent a picture, but I can't find it at the moment.
But the pics below are when they were still with me.

And while I guess this isn't really considered re-using, I still use an old Delta table saw that was my grandfather's maybe 60 years ago. Just replaced a belt on it, and it still works great. I'm probably also looking to get a modern day fence to put onto it.
And I have this old rocking chair from one of my grandmothers. Wood and underside setup all still looks great. So I'll be re-doing the cushions at some point.

I have a few mantle clocks and a couple guns passed down through multiple generations that still work great as well. I'm working on cleaning up a bit. 

But for a lot of things that I'm getting rid of, I'm not finding a way to re-use them for me. So I put it by the curb on trash day and it's always gone before the trash truck comes. So, somebody is making use of it in some way. 

Does re-using my food scraps and pulp after juicing to feed my worm bin count?


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

When I was disassembling an old couch in the process of getting rid of it, we found some the foam padding was still in good shape. My wife used them to make some throw pillows.

I was able to salvage a good number of t-nuts with bolts as well.


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## jecapereca (Mar 28, 2019)

Oh yes. Like someone mentioned above, I hate throwing out stuff that I think can still be used in some way, like clothes that are torn and can't be donated (turned into dish rags) or paper that doesn't have any sensitive information on it. I am thinking of repurposing an old refrigerator into a cabinet - just need time, little help and design tips from the rest of the household. Told them the idea and they were excited.


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## rcpaulsen (Oct 17, 2018)

jecapereca said:


> I am thinking of repurposing an old refrigerator into a cabinet - just need time, little help and design tips from the rest of the household.



I made a paint cabinet for my heated garage/body shop from an old refrigerator. It didn't take much imagination to see the potential of a steel box with adjustable shelves as a storage cabinet, but I decided to take advantage of the fact that it was insulated. I picked up a cheap thermal switch that turns on and off at 45 degrees and used it to control a small battery warmer (designed to keep your car battery warm in winter weather). With that in the bottom of the cabinet, I can put all my paint supplies in the refrigerator and turn off the garage heat when I'm not planning to work out there for a few days in the dead of winter here in Wisconsin.


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## jecapereca (Mar 28, 2019)

^ Forgot that I didn't thank you for sharing that! It's still a future project for me at the moment, but I'll keep what you did with yours in mind. We do have another idea from reading about giant chess sets on here and we might go the route of creating our own from spare materials rather than buying, as it has been some time since we did something large with our hands.


I mentioned about not wanting waste in my previous post to justify reusing old materials, but forgot about it being fun especially when it becomes a way to bond with the rest of the family.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Remember when 1x12 rough western red cedar fence pickets were available? For nearly 30 years I've had about 40 from our daughter's old fence that was replaced. Between projects and giving some away I'm nearly out of project lumber. Daughter inlaw ask me to build a box for our son's archery supplies. Notice the lid support is a leather strap from an old Red-Wing boot top rather than a chain.


The most recent project in progress using that fence lumber is the 2 pieces of a 25" pic Easel the wife ask for.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Gymschu said:


> Wow, some amazing stories in this thread. I reuse a lot of lumber. Scraps really. Some I've had for 20 years, but, I will one day find a use for them. Now, you can go to far with it. A gentleman down the street from me was quite the penny pincher. When he died, his widow asked me to clean out the spouting and fix an area that was leaking. The leak came from an old soup can he used to make a repair to a round downspout. Those things rust quickly so his fix, in that case, was not such a good penny pinching fix after all.



QUOTE :A gentleman down the street 

***********************************************
Your quote reminded me of some of my small projects.
A gentleman down the street from my sis, about a 6 hour drive away, was updating their kitchen in hardwood. He set his scrap pieces out at the curb bundled. Sis was taking walks at that time and spotted the bundles and ask for those. Yep, yours for the taking so she saved those until she came to visit. Perfect hardwood material for give away tape dispensers.


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## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

Whenever I go to Lowe's, I always check around their panel saw. It is amazing what people leave behind. I have found large pieces of furniture grade plywood and since they were left behind, they are free. I also check the cull pile, and look for damaged pieces of cement boards. They usually just have a small piece broken. And they go for a buck. 

I also check the cull piles at construction sites, what they consider unusable is quite usable to me. 

And as for reusing items, well, that is why I like to use screws instead of nails where possible. I just make sure to use the proper screws, and only use drywall screws for drywall. 

When I do decontruction, I am careful to take things apart carefully. Whether it be electrical, plumbing or walls, I can re-use pretty much anything. Especially plumbing parts like steel pipe connectors, ball valves, etc.. I have learned to de-solder joints quite well. MAPP gas is our friend. 

I have embraced CSST and PEX as they are flexible and can be routed around obstacles quite easily. They do require more care when cutting the ends and ensuring that the connectors are done correctly. But, you can undo the joints, or just cut them off, and reuse the pipe where needed if you change your plans. 

I always save electrical cable. There is no reason ever to toss it away. I save the cut ends and small pieces of wire that can't be re-used and give them to my nephew. He has a metal recycling plant down in Denver and I figure why not give him a hand. 

As for the wood, as someone said earlier, as long as it isn't structural, I can always use it for something. Something will always need some bracing or support.


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## sestivers (Aug 10, 2007)

Is auto salvage pertinent to this topic? For some older car parts there might be no new materials available, and used OEM parts are sometimes better anyway. I've been trying to get the factory driver's floor mat for my old, gifted Celica and the best I could find was this one. So I cut a section from a generic rubber floor mat and stitched it to the problem area. The other carpeting is tan so I don't mind the brown thread that came with the stitching awl.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

sestivers said:


> Is auto salvage pertinent to this topic? For some older car parts there might be no new materials available, and used OEM parts are sometimes better anyway. I've been trying to get the factory driver's floor mat for my old, gifted Celica and the best I could find was this one. So I cut a section from a generic rubber floor mat and stitched it to the problem area. The other carpeting is tan so I don't mind the brown thread that came with the stitching awl.


Did you shop J.C. Whitney catalog?

They have many mats and other things for most all older cars.

ED


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## sestivers (Aug 10, 2007)

de-nagorg said:


> Did you shop J.C. Whitney catalog?
> 
> They have many mats and other things for most all older cars.
> 
> ED



I mostly use RockAuto if I can't find a suitable salvage part - but they don't have everything, either. Exploring J.C. Whitney for the first time since 1993 now!


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

With that ingenuity and talent he doesn't need J.C Whitney. :biggrin2:All he needs is to look around that stuff he saved or in this case the salvage saved.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I knew I saved that old used wire for something.
I made an older brother a copper bracelet a couple years or 4 ago, and a couple months ago he had a procedure in a hospital but forgot to take it off. So, hospital personal removed it (_ standard procedure_ ) and it's never been seen since. Sure hope whom ever is proud of themselves. 

Anyway I got busy early this morning and made a couple. His great grand daughter has wanted one ever since she saw his first one. They be mostly completed with the exception of a little fine tuning.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Reuse and avoidance of waste, is both important and worthwhile to both the individual and to society (and the world) in general.

I think one of the greatest inventions in this regard is Craigs List. It is a convenient easy and no costly method of improving re-use.

(On the other end of the spectrum are companies that design their products to be unfixable (likely cause being either lack of concern or intentional planned obsolescense).

Some countries in Europe are mandating consumer products makers put certain warranties (backed up by service capability) and provide replaceable designs and parts supply such that their products can be repaired.

A throw away society serves no one's long term benefit.


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## mamario (Jul 18, 2019)

I often keep a lot of things that others seem to be "junk", hahaha. Then, these things helped me solve many small problems in my life. You never think of when a colorful button that was previously saved will re-present itself somewhere.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

SeniorSitizen said:


> I knew I saved that old used wire for something.
> I made an older brother a copper bracelet a couple years or 4 ago, and a couple months ago he had a procedure in a hospital but forgot to take it off. So, hospital personal removed it (_ standard procedure_ ) and it's never been seen since. Sure hope whom ever is proud of themselves.
> 
> Anyway I got busy early this morning and made a couple. His great grand daughter has wanted one ever since she saw his first one. They be mostly completed with the exception of a little fine tuning.


That's great. 

I found a 4' long 4" diameter phone cable, tossed to the ditch a few years ago.

They were re-routing the buried utilities in the "big city", and had this extra left over, it lay there a couple of weeks after the work was finished, so I figured that it was up for grabs.

So I did. 

It has probably a thousand different colored wires in it, I have it just lying around at this time. 


I also have a large barrel full of cutoffs like you used for that bracelet.

A good use for them.


ED


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I'd welcome some wire that has been stripped of insulation. This I have is old and the insulation is hardened and challenging.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

SeniorSitizen said:


> I'd welcome some wire that has been stripped of insulation. This I have is old and the insulation is hardened and challenging.


What you do is,

Run that old insulation through a low flame, heat gun, or other source of heat, to soften it, then you strip 1" off the end, poke it through a V groove in a piece of steel flat bar, with a hold down clamp, to keep the wire in the groove.

Grab the end of the wire with "vise grips", and slowly pull as much as you need stripped out of the unit.

If you keep the insulation soft, as you pull, you can pull 10+ feet at a time. 

You must stop to clean up the discard sometimes, it gets in the way, but this is faster than the old sharp knife way.


ED


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## Calson (Jan 23, 2019)

When I remodeled my kitchen I was adding all new cabinets. I posted a listing on Craiglist with pictures of my old cabinets and had the "demo" done so that the cabinets were largely intact. Someone picked them up and put them in an apartment he was remodeling and so he got free cabinets and nothing went to the landfill. 

Cannot do this with glass as it becomes brittle with age and breaks more readily. 

In reality the only material that is truly recyclable is metal. Glass is too heavy and too expensive to ship to be melted and reused and plastics do not become new plastic bottles or containers but end up in a landfill somewhere.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

If your favorite or only Rubbermaid water pail/bucket plastic handle disintegrated from UV conditions or whatever it can be replaced with one that's at least more comfortable than the wire bail and it takes only a few minutes.

One length of 1/4" clear tubing you saved for something but didn't know for what at the time. One length of 3/8" clear tubing you saved for something but didn't know for what at the time.

Using a box knife or similar, make a spiral cut around the 1/4" tubing full length. Place that over the wire bail. Next make a spiral cut around the 3/8" tubing full length. Place that over the 1/4" tubing. There done and didn't even cut myself.


You may ask why the spiral cut rather than just split it straight. There is a reason.:smile:


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

SeniorSitizen said:


> If your favorite or only Rubbermaid water pail/bucket plastic handle disintegrated from UV conditions or whatever it can be replaced with one that's at least more comfortable than the wire bail and it takes only a few minutes.
> 
> One length of 1/4" clear tubing you saved for something but didn't know for what at the time. One length of 3/8" clear tubing you saved for something but didn't know for what at the time.
> 
> ...



I don't need to ask why the spiral cut, I know why.

I have did that using a 3/4 inch auto heater hose, saved for a "possible", at a later date. 


ED


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

When we order takeout, I will often wash out and save the plastic containers.

As a result I have a nice variety of sizes from about 1-quart to small ones that were used for sauces.

They come in handy as storage containers (the ones with lids), glue trays, and for custom mixing small amounts of airbrushing paint.

Last year I gave my 10-year-old grandson who loves building things with wood a basic set of woodworking tools. To help him keep his interest, I will sometimes give him cutoffs which I had resawn and/or plane down to sizes suitable for small projects.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Drachen:
This reminds me of my son that has the woodmizer sawmill. As can be expected there are lots of cut off's we or some would call scraps, excellent hardwood as stove or fireplace material.

Not at his residence. He has more girlfriends (_ that's what his wife calls them )_ lined up at the door to get those for crafts or painting or whatever they can see can be produced from those.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

I saw an article years ago where this guy had probably 500 saplings growing on his acreage, and he wanted it cleared to build on.

He cut them all down, de-limbed them, then made thousands of 1/4 inch "rounds" from all the saplings, in 1" to 4" diameters. 

Glued them to his living room floor, then sanded them until smooth, then filled in the gaps with clear polyurethane, and barely covered the rounds with it. 

Made a great floor with them.


ED


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