Not had one of these threads in a while

In June on the way to drop kids at school saw a huge karite roofbox in a skip, knocked on the door & they explained theyd lost the keys, tried to drill it out & failed so I could take it.

took me about 10 mins and a £10 new lock and its good as new and served us great on our family camping trip last month.

Then yesterday the back wheel on my station bike split at a nipple as i rode off a kerb.
I was about to order a new cheap as chips wheel (it sleeps at euston station so the naffer the better)
Earlier today cycling between sites (to the sound of my back tyre squeaking on the frame) when I see a back disc wheel in a skip, a bit wonky but a quick true and my rat bike is now squeak free

whats your best find?

Not at your level but I needed a small piece of plasterboard to patch an inspection hole I created to fix a leaking pipe. A couple of days later I was walking by a skip and found a tidy little piece that suited just fine, saved me a few £££s and a trip to the DIY store.

Not quite skip diving, but I picked up an absolutely mint Carlton Pro-Am from the tip for £20. Looked like it had wheeled out of the bike shop in about 1978, wheeled into a garage, covered in a sheet, and wheeled out again forty years later to be taken to the tip.

When moving house we dropped the door of a wardrobe that had a nice old mirror with bevelled edges on it.  The mirror broke and although we could order a new one it would have looked wrong.  Walked by a skip on my street one day and we had a very similar one but slighly the wrong size.  Bit of work with a router and saw and one new door.  Was very happy

We have a local system where useful stuff is left on the front wall for any passers by. Had loads of stuff recently as it goes really well with early morning runs, which I have be doing over lockdown. It does mean I end up running with a roll of cable over my shoulder, or rear tyre (a lady I passed exclaimed that she thought it was a snake 🙂 ). I did have to do about 4kms holding a pair of gate hinges yesterday. Actually from a skip I’ve had two tents recently. One in a bit of a state that I have cut into tarps, another is a canvas bell tent, just needed a new pole. Love a bit of skip diving, I can’t walk past without looking in, and am very disappointed when it is just actual rubbish.

Another one – not me but my late dad – he used to work for an AV company that did huge fit outs for exhibition halls, military, theatres and the like. They would get absolute shit-tonnes of Sony gear (they were main dealers) and sometimes bits went into the skips because they simply had no more room for it all. All the family and several friends have very nice separates set-ups, we gave away loads of DVD players, CD players etc over the years too. Personally I have a Brookland’s Edition set of Sony floorstanders and amp in storage waiting for an opportunity to re-instate as well as another set-up in my garage for when I am tinkering.

This was my best find -Big Dog kayak.

It needed a 30cm crack welding up, but I paddled it for 4 years including some good whitewater, and sold it for £150. 😎

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pC6wqR]Autumn Canoe on Loch Ard[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

*So* many big steel Mauser cabinets for various friends and family’s workshops from a nearby engineering company that was throwing out all of its paper handling systems into the big, big skips that are used for shifting tons of rubble. A friend worked there and was told to take what he wanted. We hired a transit for the weekend and fitted out at least six workshops / sheds / garages that I know of with proper lockable steel storage. The keys were missing but coded so you could order replacements for a couple of pounds.

During lockdown our road organised several skips to take away clutter that people had accumulated, and we volunteered to have one on our drive. My neighbour came out with a very nice set of axle stands for a motorbike as well as a turntable ramp, both of which went to a biker in my family.

We’ve got a set of 17 year old Meyer stainless steel saucepans. A couple of the lid handles have perished and despite my best efforts I’ve not been able to find exact or suitable replacements.

On a recent trip to the bottle bank in the local Co-Op someone had dumped a couple of Tefal saucepans and lids. A quick application of the van tool kit screwdriver to the lid handles, which are very similar to the Meyer handles, and they were liberated.

Result.

(Mrs B has no idea about how they were obtained)

Other way around for me.

A few years ago, I hired a skip as I was getting the bathroom refitted. Skipped the throne, in the time it took to get the bath out it’d already been taken.

Who the actual frank wants a 40-year old second-hand crapper in bronchitis yellow? Weird.

About 10kg of good quality Lego in a clear bin bag. A dog had pissed on it in the interim (at least, I hope it was a dog…) but nothing scrubbing with washing liquid and a dip in a weak bleach solution couldn’t fix.

My old man used to work at the Photography museum in Bradford as a historian until about 1995. Just before he retired he was leaving work and noticed some 19th century volumes (lots of books) in the skip outside the council library next door. Went inside and asked if he could take them to which the answer was of course yes. Put them up for auction around a year later and got 11 grand for them. Wish I had his eye for antiques.

I picked up a Henry Hoover for the garage out of a skip a couple of weeks ago.

Had brand new bag & filter in it, but didn’t suck. Putting the hose on it backwards sucked out the blockage & it works great.

My office desk is from the Midland Bank on Clumber Street Nottingham, from their 1986 refurb. I have a bunch of encaustic tiles from local skips for repairs to our hall floor when necessary. Victorian/Edwardian fireplace. A few Systainer tool boxes last year was a nice surprise, and a couple of weeks ago a skateboard, Toy Machine branded for my son who started last year. Plenty of timber over the years too.

11 grand from a skip! Wowsers.

11 grand from a skip! Wowsers

He basically retired young on wise investments with buying and selling old photographs. He tells me that you’ve got to know what collectors are wanting to pay over the odds for and then will use his knowledge to sell at the right time. Fair play to him as he’s worked his entire life as a photographic historian so has (now) 70 years experience.

I even had “the tour” last time I saw him round his office bookshelves basically telling me what had to go to auction when he pops it as didn’t want me taking it to the local Oxfam.

A friend had most of a spiral staircase. Making up the missing bits so that it fitted into the house prperly was entertaining. Personally, my favorite find is a mahoosive wrought iron drivebelt wheel from a mill or whatever. It’s now a in the garden, just over there —>

I rescued a yukka from a skip many years ago in Balham. It lives on today near Llanelli.

Walked past a skip with about 200ish Accrington pattern bricks and was tempted to knock on the door of the house and tell them how much they were worth in salvage : gone the next morning by someone else who spotted them

Actually I one stole a Toilet ! House I lived in had the original 1930s loo but the basin had a crack in it, salvage yards were quoting £200 and this was 20yrs ago. Saw one in a pile of old junk in a house next street along and it had the proper external flush pipe connection and everything. Cleaned it to within an inch of its life.

Marcel Duchamp?

We used to go gomi hunting when I lived in Japan.
Japanese houses don’t tend to have much in the way of storage space so people would tend to throw out all their unwanted stuff every spring as part of a spring clean.
It was 30 years ago now but I remember finding a nice pair of shoes, a rice cooker and a TV!

Haha but no, more like a proper old armitage Shanks one with the separate cistern on the wall behind you at head height. Had the original claw foot bath as well, but I’ve long since moved out so I hope it’s not all been junked by subsequent buyers who don’t appreciate period stuff…

I’ve had the odd pallet too for making kindling for the log burner (yes I know how very stw, I’m not as much a fan but my wife loves having one)

seeing anything of value seems rare round here, it’s 99% concrete paving slabs and earthworks followed by knackered chipboard kitchens

Love a good skip dive,

Once found 6 huge HP ink cartridges still sealed but out of date.
Put them on eBay at they sold for just over £500.

I also have a few bits in the loft hopefully gaining value, one is a set of 6 rose wood mid century dining chairs made by molbfarik that retain for about 2k, got them from the local tip 😁

Must be over ten years ago I rescued a slightly damaged extrawheel trailer from a bin. Still using it now. Great piece of kit.

Got an Arcam CD player and Amp, both working. Also around the same time a splatter paint GT mtb, which was an ideal pub bike.

I can’t walk past a skip without having a quick look. Drives my missus nuts😆

I can’t walk past a skip without having a quick look.

I usually peek in. I’ve never seen anything but rubble and bits of wood with nails sticking out.

One on the front of my drive if your interested absolutely bugger all worth anything in it.
I did once find a full set of boxwood Marples chisels in a tool roll at the tip dated before Marples and son. My wife came home with a tent that had a un scratched lottery card in it and won 50 qiud we still have the tent.
I love a skip dive