Wombling

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rivermom

Tenderfoot
Jan 19, 2008
80
0
Sligo, Ireland
Almost every stick of furniture, and the curtains and carpets, in my house is pre-owned. Most of it came from skips, or from neighbours getting rid of things. But it is my greenhouse that really got me a reputation in the village as a Womble.
The council replaced everyones old windows with proper double glazed ones. Thankfully, I got to the contractors before they had smashed too many to put them in the skip. With the help of the local kids, I relocated the old windows to my garden, and then used them to build a greenhouse. I also used some old ceiling boards and pallets in that build.
Now the locals always ask me if I have a use for things before they throw them away. And you would be amazed at the things that they throw away.
 

IanGilroy_2

Member
Jan 1, 2010
18
0
Purley Surrey
I'm an amature but our dining chairs are made out of the timber they use to hold
christmas trees on the pallets.

The Pro is my tobe outlaw who from the same timber makes and floggs bespoke furnature.:rolleyes:

skip diving is fun never knowing what you'l find but bet you'l find a use for it some time.:D
 

MattF

Nomad
Dec 16, 2009
325
1
Derbyshire
I have always Womble'd at first not realizing it with my dad when he was at work on a weekend when still at school it just progresses until you can see what you can use it for or if its worth keeping for a future job I dont horde anything have just got bits that can come in

Matt
 

widu13

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 9, 2008
2,334
19
Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt
Guys, sorry to be a pedant but in England and Wales (dunno about Scotland) anything wombled, found or taken from anywhere without permission (this includes skips and tips) is stolen. If a complaint is made to police the best you can hope for is a caution and able for people to officially (and lawfully) call you a thief having stolen property.

This can include when the police discover you in the act with no complaint from anyone. This isn't to whinge or whine just to point it out, as ignorance is not an excuse from criminal liability.
 

Hugo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 29, 2009
2,588
1
Lost in the woods
Skips are a magnet for me.
Wood is what I started looking for, slatted bed frames are a great find, made shelves and a front gate with some, got almost enough left for a small chicken house left.
I built a stand in my loft to take a large solar water cylinder, and cold water tanks above.
Then there is the lovely cast iron frying pan hanging up in my garage looks new
Just waiting to go on a camping weekend.
Scrap copper, aluminium door frames for projects awaiting, my workbench made of beech.
It goes on, a Hayter lawn mower on top of one skip, push button start, I put it in my truck (oil tanker) see the starter and try it, started first time. same skip some tools and an old velvet curtain, I use it to line my boot when skip diving.
Garden pots, roof tiles.
Still looking. :lmao:
 
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Everything Mac

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 30, 2009
3,112
83
36
Scotland
yup -been wombling for years.

picked up a disposable helium cannister off the street a month or so ago - it will make a nice little stove when i take it home and get access to the proper tools.

i am annoyingly limited in what i can do while at uni so i often find that i pass stuff up.

the best shop in the world is the salvation army store - i bought a leather coat in there for £6 - it will be turned into little pouches soon.

not to mention the top notch sofa bed which still had the plastic bag on the mattress - paid £10 :eek: bargain.

files get made into something sharp and pointy.

made a piece of RR track into an anvil. and made a stand for that out of a couple of big pallets.

my leather awl is currently thick brass wire pushed through a cork :p

andy
 

Mikey P

Full Member
Nov 22, 2003
2,257
12
53
Glasgow, Scotland
Well, it is a British forum, so most of the members will understand fine where I'm coming from with this thread.

I got told I was a womble on another thread for suggesting using something thrown away for a new purpose.

So, who else wombles ? :D

I have gas bottle cauldrons for living history and natural dyeing, (cheers Wayland for the idea :cool: ) and I have a firebowl and fire irons that Warthog1981 made from an old oil drum and stuff he found :approve: , My garden beds are edged with thrown away and fetched home paver bricks and my green house is securely bedded down on broken slabs and the seed trays and their covers are the disposable mushroom boxes. One of my spinning chairs is made from oak that came from an old fishing boat. I have a small bit of heavy rubber that dropped off a lorry as it turned the corner in front of me as I was crossing the road, that has holes in it that's just perfect for holding the canes together for the pea wigwam. Probably lots more, but this is just what comes to mind right now.

What do you have ? or have made ? from your wombling. :D

" Underground, overground, wombling free
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we
Making good use of the things that we find
Things that the everyday folks leave behind "


cheers,
Toddy

You are Madame Cholet and I claim my five scottish pounds! :D
 

hedgerow pete

Need to contact Admin...
Jan 10, 2010
88
0
smethwick , west midlands
I must be one of the biggest womble sgoing , i evan have skip constipation!!!, I make or built most of my allotment from waste . I evan have a poly tunnel made from italian pallets best quality pine there are to the poly tunnel is 8 foot across and 7 foot high and 30 foot long, plus sheds several and alsorts of other stuff its great we live in such a waste full society, I save hundreds of pounds because of it, the nick name hedgerow started because i spend so long in them
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,135
2,873
66
Pembrokeshire
Wombling Rules!
I would be a much poorer man if it was not for Wombling
Much of what I own was headed for a bin at some point and my shelving system in the garage is made from bread baskets rescued from the river...
My work table is a solid pine affair that was in need of a little glue on one leg, my tool cupbord was being thrown out from work...it is a bedroom unit with two sets of draws and a centre "knee hole"...my workbench and wood store roof are doors from the old school lavs that were going to the tip when the school became a private house etc etc...
An lots of my knife handles are made from old Oak and Beech furniture that was past reuse.
So it goes on
 

BushEd

Nomad
Aug 24, 2009
307
0
34
Herts./Finland
lots of skips round me it being a student area. whenever the houses are re-done (most are done every summer) theres a near endless supply of good wood :D
 

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