Do you re-purpose things to use in the shop?

[Frederick Skelly]

About 2 years ago, I found a collapsible medical IV stand at a Church garage sale for $2. Its got 8 wheels and an extensible pole. Today, I adapted it to serve as a rolling stand for a new Husky worklite that I bought. It works great!

I sometimes use the bottom rack from an old dishwasher as a drying rack when finishing doors or small shelves. And I use the old lexan bins from my failed refrigerator as sturdy storage bins around the shop.

Finally, I cut the cords off of old appliances and use them again, if I need such - especially long ones from vacuum cleaners.

For me, this isn't a matter of being frugal. It's more that I really hate to waste useful "stuff".
(You dont want to see my scrap bin or the many bottles/containers I've saved. :D :D :D)

I'd love to hear about ways that other people have turned "waste" into something useful for the shop. :)

Thanks!
Fred

[Bill Conerly]

Fred, taking this approach will lead you to have a shop full I've junk. If you doubt me, come look at my garage.

[Paul Girouard]

Fred, taking this approach will lead you to have a shop full I've junk. If you doubt me, come look at my garage.



LOL , nice one!

I reuse plastic tubs from our local Chinese place and potatoes salad tubs for stain and finishing.

[Charles Taylor]

I've got a few freestanding, open frame, two-post electronic equipment racks that I repurposed to a clamp rack (until I outgrew it), a lumber rack (a failure and waste of space), and most recently as an elevated, semi-permanent platform for my dust collector.

i also have a shop full of junk. Coincidence?

[Bob Michaels]

Fred, my wife always cleans and saves used cottage cheese containers as well as deli containers & other round or square food containers for my use to mix 2 part epoxy. I really love West System epoxy and use tons of it restoring windows, doors, etc. in old buildings. Newspapers are saved, in a reasonable amount, to cover my bench for painting and epoxy work. Then there's the hotel key cards that make great shims for fences and the like. Oh yeah, 1/16th to 1/8th inch thick off-cut rips that I cut to roughly 8" lengths which I use to mix epoxy & spread glue. I do the same as you with electrical device cords. Frankly, it's not necessarily the concept of frugality, it's really having these things when I need them.

[Andrew Joiner]

Yes I do. As a kid I would see junk as valuable building material. I did it the least when I was doing woodworking for a living. Now I have lots of discarded stuff stored to make repairs and useful things.
My favorite is inner tubes. I use bike tubes up to truck size tubes a lot.

[glenn bradley]

Here;s a weird one. I don't know how many of these things I tossed until it hit me to hang on to a few. They are the little tops that come under the cap of my anti-persperant when they are new. They make great painter's pyramids for small or long thin stock:

368463368462

A friend on another forum enables his wife's addiction to International Coffees. Once he had all the empties he could stand he offered some up to others. I have a couple of dozen that hold odd-shaped hardware, odd project parts and other things that don't fit into my standard organizational system. The lids stay on well and they stack.

368465

I also use k-cup coffee boxes in a system that is on plywood runners over the rafters. This is semi-long term storage of those pesky things like plumbing repair parts, computer and stereo cables, holiday stuff, light bulbs, antique tools that I can't seem to let go of, etc. The boxes stack nicely, have a large face to apply a label big enough to read from the ground and are free once you pay for the coffee ;-)

As to the 'shop full of junk' problem, that comes from gathering things that don't have a use. Things that may have a use 'someday' are a plague in a shop. If you want to gather stuff that may be useful when some rare and perfect series of events presents themselves, get a shed and fill that with junk, keep your shop clean and accident free.

[Victor Robinson]

I have a small shop and have found that I can't afford to do this as it increases clutter and leads to a loss of space and organization. Yes, if something has a use that I can see right away, I'll do it. But if I have to store the item waiting for the perfect use, no way. It's taken me many years to figure this out and goes against my "save and repurpose" instincts, but has proven counterproductive for me in the long run.

[Brian Henderson]

I don't unless I have an immediate need for something that is on the way into the trash. I don't save things in hopes that someday I might find a use for them. That just leads to clutter and I hate clutter.

[Jerry Olexa]

Yes, admit I am a Packrat and saver/reuser.....Ocassionally, though I have to "thin out " the junk and make space.
Just my nature.....At cabin, I always saved scraps of wood to use as kindling..

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks guy. Glad I'm not the only one, even though I too have to thin the herd sometimes!

Glenn - I have the international coffee tins too. I use 45* cutoffs from dimentioned lumber for painting pyramids - I end up with a bunch whenever I make tool stands.

Fred

[David Utterback]

I am frugal to a fault. Cannot remember the last time a threw away a cord that was attached to an appliance. I like the ideas in the responses above and will use some of them in the future. My garage and shop are cluttered but I frequently use wedges from tapered table legs and collected screws, washers, nuts, etc. One of these days, my heirs are likely to suffer for my frugality. In the meantime, I will continue to make and repair items for them.

[Doug Garson]

My shop is full of repurposed items, saves money and keeps stuff out of a landfill. It's also fun figuring out how to repurpose something. My workbench base is an old harvest table found in the shed of our old house, the top is a solid wood door from a factory and I use the old plywood drawers from the old house kitchen to store nails and screws etc. The top of my assembly table is a kitchen island laminate top. The first stage of my dust collection system is a Thien baffle in an old shop vac canister. An old floor lamp base supports a work light and dust collector hose. I use a 4 drawer file cabinet as storage. I've often reused old power cords from dead tools. I do get carried away sometimes and hang on to cut offs hoping to reuse them and end up wasting more time looking for the perfect cut off than it would take to cut it from new stock. If I had a woodburning fireplace half the scraps would be long gone by now.

[John K Jordan]

My shop is full of repurposed items, saves money and keeps stuff out of a landfill. It's also fun figuring out how to repurpose something....

Same here: I use salvaged cabinets and shelves, work benches built on and around carts and base cabinets (one with a bowling alley surface) many reused containers, bookcases from a yard sale in the office, file cabinets from an auction. I have lots of salvaged plastics and metals to use in my little welding and machine shops. Tools I've made from pieces. And of course, re-purposed trees in the form of boards and turning blanks!! (Don't we all. :))

One way to keeping it from being nothing but junk is to have a separate storage space for those things that are not immediately useful. For example I have plastic bins on shelves, some for electronic parts, some for small mechanical things, small offcuts of exotic woods, etc.

Don't get me wrong - I love to buy new and I always buy quality, never from HF. (sorry, HF lovers!) But anyone who has a farm knows all about putting used things to work. That is, unless they are independently wealthy...

JKJ

[Keith Weber]

It's called hoarding. I try to refrain from it as much as I can. I have a friend who takes it to the extreme. I asked him one day why he had a jar full of those rectangular, metal knockouts from putting circuit breakers in an electrical panel. He said you never know when you need a little piece of metal for welding practice or something like that.

I call his 3000 sq ft the labyrinth. There's a narrow little maze to follow to get around the shop, and everywhere else is stacked 7-feet high with junk. It's okay to keep stuff in supply that you have a legitimate, near term use for, but storing stuff just in case you "might" be able to find a use for it again is just hoarding.

[Frederick Skelly]

It's called hoarding. I try to refrain from it as much as I can. I have a friend who takes it to the extreme. I asked him one day why he had a jar full of those rectangular, metal knockouts from putting circuit breakers in an electrical panel. He said you never know when you need a little piece of metal for welding practice or something like that.

I call his 3000 sq ft the labyrinth. There's a narrow little maze to follow to get around the shop, and everywhere else is stacked 7-feet high with junk. It's okay to keep stuff in supply that you have a legitimate, near term use for, but storing stuff just in case you "might" be able to find a use for it again is just hoarding.

Yeah, you're right Keith - there's a balance. My shop and storage are pretty well organized and work very well for me. :) YMMV.

Have a good one,
Fred

[Joe Spear]

Cat food cans for glue and thinned varnish application.

[John K Jordan]

It's called hoarding. I try to refrain from it as much as I can. I have a friend who takes it to the extreme. I asked him one day why he had a jar full of those rectangular, metal knockouts from putting circuit breakers in an electrical panel. He said you never know when you need a little piece of metal for welding practice or something like that.
I call his 3000 sq ft the labyrinth. There's a narrow little maze to follow to get around the shop, and everywhere else is stacked 7-feet high with junk. It's okay to keep stuff in supply that you have a legitimate, near term use for, but storing stuff just in case you "might" be able to find a use for it again is just hoarding.

I agree, Keith (except perhaps with the "near term" qualifier).

I've been around serious Certified Card-carrying Horrible Hoarders and it is in fact horrible. I few years ago I remodeled a basement (built two bedrooms and a bath) in a house and when I got there the basement was, as you say, piled 7-high with "valuable" stuff and the only walking space was a path from the steps to the outside door. You would have had to climb or tunnel to get to the "valuable" stuff. It took (that family and me) all of the first day just to clear out where the rooms were going. I think I made 7 trips to the goodwill with my truck full and they ordered a storage shed for the "extra valuable" stuff. Hmm....

I too think the balance is extremely important, but balanced with what a person does with their life (and their shop). As I mentioned, I do keep a lot of spare things for the farm - I call them "supplies." For example I have a shed full of steel angle iron, square tubing and rod. Shelves with aluminum stock, brass, steel in the room with the welders. A room in one shed with fencing materials, spare sawmill parts and big fasteners. Another shed room with electrical supplies. A room in the barn with extra animal medical things like syringes and extra dewormers plus salvaged styrofoam coolers and freeze packs for sending off fecal samples. Spare chain, clasps, hooks, cables, wire, ropes, nylon strapping, fasteners, hose, pipe, and water fittings for farm use. Another room packed with tools like big pry bars, tampers, special shovels. I keep lots of salvaged materials for re-purposing, steel and plastic drums, big sheets of HDPE, titanium tubing. A lean-to with spare lumber construction lumber, metal roof panels, and fence posts.

If I put all this in my shop it WOULD be packed to the ceiling! But with a huge variety of "spare" materials on hand and the tools I can usually make anything I can imagine or fix I need for the farm, even at 1am on a Saturday evening. And guess where farmer friends bring their broken tools, hydraulic pumps, and furniture! Break a baler in the middle of putting up hay or a chain grab hook on the FEL while lifting a log - no problem, I can weld on a spare!

In this setting I do question your "near term" use qualifier. But I guess "near term" is relative. For example, I got my 8000 lbs of steel stock at a steal of a price and have been using it for 10 years now.

My shop IS in fact often cluttered. For me the problem is having multiple things going on at once; I clean up when I have time. But I love living like this - keeps me off the streets at night!

I've read decluttering advice by so-called professionals that insist you throw out anything you haven't used in a year or some arbitrary time. Maybe some of these people never do anything interesting. Maybe [gasp] they watch TV.

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

It is my nature to re-use things...I truly hate throwing "good stuff" out, so yes, that practice extends to the shop. When I have something that can be used to improve or add something to my shop environment, etc., I take advantage of that. And for things that are very usable, but not usable by me, I try to choose donation rather than the trash as an alternative way to re-deploy them...I like the tax benefit from that, too.

[Charles Wiggins]

I am really big on reusing, repurposing, recycling, upcycling, etc. My parents were depression-era Appalachian kids so frugality was the norm in our household.

I keep some of the reusable plastic containers from cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. for whatever comes up. My mom keeps them all.

Right now I am repainting the house and the large yogurt containers are a great size for a paint pail, and the lids fit fairly airtight so it helps keep the paint fresh between coats. I have a small bucket with a handle that the dishwasher soap packs come in. It's perfect for carrying up and down the ladder with my soapy water for cleaning before painting. Then to paint I rinse it out and put my yogurt tub of paint, the brush, and a damp rag in it and I have an S-hook so I can hang it from the ladder frame while I paint.

368555

That damp rag I mentioned is a piece of one of my old work shirts. I have a huge bag full of old cotton shirts and underwear that were washed and cut up into usable rags when they developed too many holes to wear even for yard work.

My dipper for pulling more paint out of the gallon into my paint pail is the measuring scoop from a pack of Oxyclean.

Those fake credit cards, real (old) credit cards, old membership cards, and the like make great putty knives, especially for nail holes and such on interior walls and trim.

I keep my Reebok shoe boxes to put together little service "kits" to use for household maintenance and the like. I have a plumbing kit with flux, brushes, solder, Teflon tape, basin wrench, faucet wrench set, PVC cement, tube cutters, etc. I have an electrical kit with tape, wire caps, cutter/stripper, wire, connectors, etc. A box of sandpaper scraps. A box of drilling accessories like doweling sets, countersinks, self-centering bits, screw extractors, etc. A box of router accessories like extra bits from basket sales at Woodcraft, base plates, wrenches, collets, etc.

My paint cabinet its a couple of old medical cabinets that my MIL salvaged when they remodeled her work building several years ago.

My main tool locker is made from the OSB off a double-door crate.

When I worked at the furniture store I once built a loading dock out of old mis-matched waterbed frame parts (two-by-eights)

[George Bokros]

I use the bowls from Healthy Choice frozen meals for staining. I just wipe them out with a paper towel and reuse for further staining on the same project. When the project is done I pitch the bowl. Saves cleaning up a container between stain application on the same project.

[James Pallas]

My favorite is quart size plastic milk containers. Cut them half in two. Great funnel with a handle.
Jim

[Brian Henderson]

I've been around serious Certified Card-carrying Horrible Hoarders and it is in fact horrible. I few years ago I remodeled a basement (built two bedrooms and a bath) in a house and when I got there the basement was, as you say, piled 7-high with "valuable" stuff and the only walking space was a path from the steps to the outside door. You would have had to climb or tunnel to get to the "valuable" stuff. It took (that family and me) all of the first day just to clear out where the rooms were going. I think I made 7 trips to the goodwill with my truck full and they ordered a storage shed for the "extra valuable" stuff. Hmm....

I have been too. My mother used to be that way, she'd go around to garage sales and buy things that "she might need someday". About 5 years ago when she moved, we went through her house and threw away, I kid you not, 5 complete dumpsters full of junk. She had stuff that she was hoarding for nearly 50 years in that house. We got her pared down to what she actually needed and nothing that she'd never use. I mean, she had nearly 1000 rolls of wrapping paper, most of which still had the plastic on them. It was just absurd. Today, she's a lot better. I guess growing up around WWII has something to do with it, where people just wanted stuff, for the sake of having stuff, just in case.

It's fine if you're actually going to use it, but having no clue what it might be used for, but "maybe"... no.

[Jon Grider]

Interesting thread. I guess I'm a pac rat in recovery. I've mentioned in other threads my daytime employer's journey into lean manufacturing and my implementing some of the 5's principles I've learned to my basement shop[Sort-Set in order-Shine-Standardize-Sustain]. I've sold quite a bit of excess stuff, donated some, and thrown away more in an effort to eliminate the stuff that somewhere my brain tells me I may need someday. I quit going to garage sales and have developed a resistance to buy something in the tool aisle because it's at close-out prices if I don't have an immediate need for it. I wait until I actually need something before I go out to buy it. I have a ways to go yet, I still have more stuff to sell off, but I'm enjoying my shop a whole lot more with much of the clutter gone and knowing where each tool is without digging through drawers searching. My work flow is more efficient and I can actually make a bit of money with my shop time as I seek to continuously improve my organization, efficiency, and work flow. I guess I may have gotten off track here...
I do repurpose large plastic peanut butter jars. I find them useful for hardware, screws, dowels, and supplies I use regularly.

[Mike Cutler]

Same as the rest, I keep the little plastic containers for projects and mixing epoxy.
My shop is also used for working on the cars, so a lot of car stuff finds it's way in there.
What I really need to get a handle on is off cuts. I have some scrap wood bins that are getting a little out of control. I probably have enough exotic off cuts to keep someone making pens for a long time. I can't bring myself to burn it, and I always forget to haul it to the dump.

One thing I did purposely buy, knowing it would be repurposed, were a 1/2 dozen moving blankets when we moved a bunch of furniture in a POD. Those cover my all of my machines when they're not in use. I don't think there's a natural fiber in them, so they don't absorb any humidity/moisture. My machines have had zero rust issues since I started using them.

[Bill Dufour]

Well I think we all take a piece of wood and plane, cut joint it to fit.:D None of this buy precut wood and nail it together.
The DPO of the house I am living in used 4x4's 8' long to build a 3.5 foot tall fence. They dug a hole 4.5' deep to get rid of the extra length. then they added concrete to make sure it would not move! Stupid me when I took the first one out I dug all the way to remove all the concrete. the next one I stopped at 2' deep or so since it just has a lawn on top.
Bill

[Rick McQuay]

I reuse things if I have a specific use for it. Once upon a time I would save things that looked handy and 99.9% of the time they became clutter. My weakness is jars, especially small ones.