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Finding a New Use for Something (Repurposing)

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    recyclersteve started this thread.
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    Finding a New Use for Something (Repurposing)

    First of all, a hat tip is in order to HoboFinds for his posting from late last year about other uses for ceiling fan blades.
    Here is a link to that thread, which shows some very creative artwork made from such blades.

    https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scra...an-blades.html

    Now, I thought it would be interesting to see what other creative uses there are for things we might throw away. Also, if you can come up with a new use for something where you get more money than you would from scrapping it, please add that as well.

    I've got a couple of repurposing things to throw out there:

    HUMAN HAIR: We have had some decent results using human hair as a skunk deterrent. I've also heard of people using it to keep rabbits out of gardens. Furthermore, I've heard that there is an item used (which is partially made of human hair) that is an absorbent for oil slicks.

    STEEL FROM SWING SET: A neighbor carved up his old swing set into metal pieces about 18-24" long. Rather than take all of them to the scrap yard, my wife decided to use some with chicken wire to keep rabbits away from our flowers. They have worked VERY WELL.



    What else can everyone come up with? I look forward to learning from the responses on this site. Thanks in advance.

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    eesakiwi's Avatar
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    I recycled used bullet shells & made them into weed pipes for a head shop a few years ago. I made hundreds of them, like 1000+.
    A hundred at a time. Cost a $1 to make, sold for $3, he sold them for $9.
    I could have got more for them, but in this case he was selling 50 OTC & 50 direct to another Head shop out of town, that profit paid for 1/2 his cost overhead instantly & I sold twice as many.

    I used a small drill press & a 1/8 NP tap & die, 2 bullet shells & a small Copper pipe cutter. For the bullet tips, ( on the version I sold the most of) I used ex Tracer projectiles. I got from a hunter who was buying ex Finnish ammo & pulling the tracers & replacing them with hunting projectiles. I had to drill the compound out, then the copper divider, melt the Lead out, use acid to clean the rest out & clean the insides, wash & drill + Polish.

    later I got a small lathe & machined & cut ( with a Die ) a thread on the end of the second shell.
    In the end I had 4-6 different variations of shells & designs.

    They looked super pretty all polished up. Like they 'Glowed' in the light.
    There's pics on the net of similar pipes, my pics have gone into the ether ( thanks Imageshack...) But mine definitely looked far better.
    Last edited by eesakiwi; 10-07-2018 at 07:42 AM.

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    I don't really have any ideas but if someone could figure out how to make money from all of the nasty couches, chairs and mattresses listed on CL, they could be rich.

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    I just saw this on facebook today. I think it's a really cool use of old sewing machine bases. It would take some time to save up that many.

    Copper, brass, and Leather. 3 of my favorite things.

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