Haha! Anything that'll cost me more to replace than it'll pay as scrap. Recently pulled the cover off my battery clamp when the truck didn't start, and it was covered in corrosion. Removing it to clean it uncovered a battery clamp that needed to be replaced. Luckily I had a pile of clamps from some old cables i'd recently stripped, and managed to piece a good one together. Not long after that I was wandering through Orchelin's Farm Store and came upon some copper connectors for battery cables etc. $10 for just the small end that crimps onto the cable, with a bolt hole through it, the same piece you'll get 10 cents for at the yard! There are so many similar items that it's almost impossible to count.
The same is true, as mentioned, with iron and steel. 10cents a pound(if you're lucky) to sell, $1 to $10 a foot to buy (at the same yard!)
I'll even have a riding mower going soon, a Snapper! As long as the tires hold air(i'm sure they will, even if i have to buy inner tubes) and the motor will start(i'm sure it will even if I have to fix it). I brought the battery up here yesterday and it held a charge ; ) Today I'll finish running some power out to the barn to plug up a compressor out there. Might even get two riding mowers together using a frame I got with it, and motor off one I already had here, that needed tires.
The list goes on forever, and although there are times that things are tight and I sell something I might could have done better with, it still comes down to how much will it bring, and how much will it cost to replace. That's a very serious consideration if you do your own repairs, construction, and maintenance, or if you just like to tinker.
Even to give to others things you don't need, or are still use-able is many times better than scrapping a perfectly useful item. I had a classic old Huffy stationary bike, built extremely well, but had been under a shed for years, and needed some serious TLC, especially where rain had run across the lower stand. It weighed 25-30 pounds at the most, at best a three dollar bill. I put it on FreeCycle as needing TLC and before the day was out (and not even disclosing it was a Huffy) a couple had driven 30 miles to get it, a woman who needed one to exercise her frail legs, and a hubby who liked to tinker. They turned out to be some very fine folks, and I greatly enjoyed meeting them.
This is kinda turning into a rambling reply, but it isn't pleasurable to me seeing the amount of times some will be so hasty to scrap perfectly good items, that either they, or someone else would greatly benefit from, for the sake of a few cents, or a couple of bucks.
Originally Posted by Bear
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