Skip diving.

[Hugo]

I've been at it again.
Whilst out on my walkabout poking my nose into a skip, I spied three cast iron thingies I believe something to do with leather, outside a cobblers shop, goodie I think.
Two of them had a handle to pull down and were decorated with a flower pattern, they were quite heavy, the other was some kind of punch or press with a worm screw and two handles above like a fly press.
So go get the car me thinks, trip trap over the rickety bridge I went and came back, somebody had beaten me to it on the first two thingies, but the press thingey is in my garage awaiting the daylight to see what it is.
Picture to follow.

 

[Radix lecti]

You are not on your own there Hugo, i cant resist a bit of skip diving

Daz

 

[shutz]

Yep i cant resist having a look in neither... drives the other half mad. But one mans rubbish is anothers treasure..

 

[addo]

Ooo skips are fun. I've had some great finds.

 

[Tengu]

Bummer, you beat me to it

 

[Hugo]

Well this is a picture of said piece, of what looks to be Victorian.
It is a hand embossing thingey.
I tried it out and it does work well, even on leather.
This could be adapted to do other tasks me thinks.

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/Brighthealmstone/bushy007.jpg

 

[bojit]

An old mate of mine has had all his bikes out of skips , and he rides round in the evenings hunting for skips.

Working in the building trade it is crazy what gets chucked out , i have made many a trip to the scrap merchants with old steelwork .

Boxes of screws , nails, glue, silicone, doors, skirting, timber, roofing felt, plasterboard, plywood . at the end of a job is best because any excess goes in the
skip , very rarely does anything go on to the next job and if it does it ends up in the skip .

the building industry has to be one of the most wasteful. with shopfitting among the worst.

Craig............

 

[Minotaur]

Have heard the arena places were surpossed to be unbelivable. Someone I worked with said people were always getting sacked for taking (brand new) TV etc out of skips.

Ever since I started gardening I do this. Always on the look out for pallets.

Think it is part of the Bushcraft thing, if you think about it. I was watching a youtube video, and the bloke (Hedgehogleatherworks) was taking about wide angle vision. Looking at the world with a less narrow focus, because in the woods, you have to find things, and not rush to the next sign post.

 

[resnikov]

I saw in the papers whilst I was living in Australia about people not only skip diving, but bin diving at supermakets and other food shops. They were picking up lots of food that was being chucked as it was past its sell by date. The food was still in its packing so wasn't spolied. I do a bit of skip diving myself but don't think I could bring myself to get food out of them. Should mention the people getting the food were not homeless or down on the luck, just regular everyday people.

 

[bojit]

Supermarkets in the uk use locked skips to dispose of out of date food , probably a health and safety rule (isn't everything)

Craig.............

 

[3bears]

deffo not alone here, I cant go out these days without sizing something up for 'crafing uses.. I'm like a kid ar xmas in a pound shop lol

 

[Peat]

Supermarkets in the uk use locked skips to dispose of out of date food , probably a health and safety rule (isn't everything)

Craig.............

Well, some do... Many don't. I spend £3 a week on food (goes into a kitty jar). The rest all comes from supermarket bins, friendly local shop owners that leave their waste out rather than putting in the bins (unlike the supermarkets, many of which throw bleach over the food or lock it up), or from the allotment.

It is an absolute crime, the amount that gets thrown away. Having regularly seen the huge amount of waste that comes from small 'local' supermarkets and green grocers, the quantity that must end up in the crushers that all large supermarkets have must be enormous.

I know that some people reading this will be disgusted by the idea of eating food out of bins (even though much of it is sealed and only just past its date). This is a common reaction from the public and supermarket staff. In fact today my friend was shoved and sworn at by a supermaket employee for trying to take a bag full of perfectly good food. The fact is that almost anywhere else in the world, it would be seen as complete madness that so much good food is thrown away. IMHO It is mainly due to snobbishness and the elevating of private property as the most important aspect of society - "I don't care of its a waste of perfectly good food, its OUR rubbish and you're stealing it". I think its madness. Even in Spain it is perfectly common to see kids, respectable people in suits and the elderly rummaging in the bins. In Barcelona all shop waste including supermarkets goes into large permanent bins with a foot peddle that anyone can access. And it is accepted. Because people are poor, or hungry or simply don't want to see food going to waste.

 

[bojit]

I do a lot of shopfitting work in supermarkets and all the ones i have been to lock up the waste food , but i suppose there could be a lot that don't.

It is criminal the amount of food that shops and restaurants throw out every day.

A lot of good could be done the eccess food for those in need .

Also farming and food processing waste a huge amount some of which goes for animal feed , but there a very strict guidelines on this so most goes to landfill.

Craig.....................

 

[rik_uk3]

I've had a few nice things over the years ranging from several pee pots to a Victorian dressing table.

Food...problem is if some bin dipper goes and takes a curry or something from a skip and goes down with the Montezuma fast trot then the company could end up in court, sued by the very person who took it. So, while the amout of waste if terrible I can fully understand why stores/shops do it.

 

[Dogoak]

Yep i cant resist having a look in neither... drives the other half mad. But one mans rubbish is anothers treasure..

Couldn't have put it better, SWMBO had a fit when we were on holiday in France and I pulled into the local dump

Well done Hugo, nice find and it is victorian.

 

[Nova & Pinky]

We'd be lucky to get much from skips around us; gypsies patrol regularly in transit vans and take the good stuff. When we were clearing our house for renovation, there would be 2-3 vans checking our skip daily!

 

[Peat]

Food...problem is if some bin dipper goes and takes a curry or something from a skip and goes down with the Montezuma fast trot then the company could end up in court, sued by the very person who took it. So, while the amout of waste if terrible I can fully understand why stores/shops do it.

Its crazy that sort of litigation could even make it to the court. If I eat something from a bin and get ill, thats my resposibility. It boggles my mind how people get away with suing for the things they do. But thats a whole other discussion.