Is anyone else a collectomaniac?

[Monkey Mark]

Perhaps not the exact context in which the term is meant, but it feels appropriate.

I've always been the same in that I always have projects, or at the very least ideas coursing through my mind. Infact it's quite difficult to switch off at times which can be frustrating.

Anyway, I'm trying to sort out my garage so it can actually be of use and as I'm going around i keep coming across items i had collected for projects/ideas.

As an example, a quick look today found;
Twin shaft induction motor - intended for small polisher.
AC motor still in its old housing - disc sander.
Treadmill motor & winscreen wiper motor - belt sander.
Tumbler motor - no idea.
About 20 small/medium pneumatic rams.
Centrifugal fan from an air handler - air cleaner.
Fridge compressor - vacuum pump.
God knows how much electrical ceap.

I also have a habbit of stripping any broken items for anything that could be use ie bolts, knobs, gauges etc. Just done it today to a mitre saw.

I just picked up a base from an electric reclining chair to strip for parts.

I know I'll not be the only one, but my my it can be frustrating. :roll:

 

[ChrisR]

Plus one.

My garage has a lot of what I call useful equipment. My long haired boss calls rubbish.
But one day I will use it, maybe. :roll:

Chris.

 

[lurker]

Her majesty refers to our garage and environs as steptoes yard

 

[Lons]

Erhm... a double garage workshop with high pitched roof, single garage and 2 large sheds stuffed full. Do I qualify? :wink: :lol:

 

[xy mosian]

My garage a lot has a lot of redundant treasure.
Sadly when I pick it up to chuck it out it transmogrifies into useful treasure again.

xy

 

[Bod]

+ another one!

Bod
Who has learnt, chuck away today, want desperately tomorrow.

 

[graduate_owner]

Yeah, big shed = more stuff collected. Then I can't find what I want because it's hidden by piles of other stuff - I know it's there though, oh yes, it's there.

K

 

[Homers double]

Her majesty refers to our garage and environs as steptoes yard

+1
Im well known for having reclaimed spares for every imaginable situation!, its in my blood, I'm a clone of my grandad or so I'm told, when he passed away we had 3 full garages of bits and pieces to clear. i was to young then to realise how useful a lot of it would have been.
its amazing, when I'm needed to repair something i get praised for having whats needed to hand, the rest of the time I'm verbally encouraged to skip most of what comes home with me.
i do have a lock up my wife knows about but thankfully she's never been there. Its mainly used to store a clients furniture on a long term basis ( a very long story), but it enables me to have away from home storage for a lot of tools, equipment and reclaimed parts

 

[Lons]

Forgot to add, I needed to make a large gate and frame a couple of weeks ago for my son and decided to use some reclaimed mahogany. No problem, knew exactly where it was however took me 6 hours to retrieve it from the shed and put the other "treasures" back. :lol: :lol:

I did keep out an old electric golf trolley, a couple of plastic boat fuel tanks, my wifes' old cycle, van ladder racks and a dog cage, sold them all on Gumtree so got a couple of hundred notes burning a hole - wonder what I can buy?

 

[heimlaga]

I am not a collectomaniac....... but I alöways have several projects going on and many more in the planning stage. "Planning" being synonymous with "digging at local scrap yards looking for suitable parts".

In my treasure stores it is possible to find:
-A few dozen extra hand planes.
-A 10 HP Bukh diesel boat engine
-Two extra joiner's workbenches of which one belonged to my greatgreatgrandfather.
-A lorry load of timber in dimensions raging from 7x10 and 2x16 down to 7/8x4
-Two full size industrial spindle moulders awaiting rebuild.
-A 3kW dust blower
-Half a dozed grindstones for wet sharpening tools the old way. The biggest is 90cm in diametre.
-Roundabout a metric ton of assorted spare parts for Högfors wood fired cooking ranges.
-Roundabout a dozen broadaxes half of them needing new steel welded on.
-Two extra waterstone grinders
-A dozed three phase motors sanging between 0,5 and 7,5 kW
-A heap of cast iron flat belt pulleys.
-A horse drawn potato digging machine.
-A heap of bent and broken scaffolding parts.
-Some 5 metric tons of assorted scrap iron. Raw materials for metal fabrication.
-50 kilos of white metal for bearings

.....and so on.....

 

[ColeyS1]

I'm a womble

Coley

 

[adidat]

Yes another womble and hoarder here, if it's going for a song then you just can't say no!

worked at the tip for a year or so, wow what other people class as rubbish!

My moto is what's one mans junk is another's treasure!

Adidat

 

[rafezetter]

I am not a collectomaniac....... but I alöways have several projects going on and many more in the planning stage. "Planning" being synonymous with "digging at local scrap yards looking for suitable parts".

In my treasure stores it is possible to find:
-A few dozen extra hand planes.
-A 10 HP Bukh diesel boat engine
-Two extra joiner's workbenches of which one belonged to my greatgreatgrandfather.
-A lorry load of timber in dimensions raging from 7x10 and 2x16 down to 7/8x4
-Two full size industrial spindle moulders awaiting rebuild.
-A 3kW dust blower
-Half a dozed grindstones for wet sharpening tools the old way. The biggest is 90cm in diametre.
-Roundabout a metric ton of assorted spare parts for Högfors wood fired cooking ranges.
-Roundabout a dozen broadaxes half of them needing new steel welded on.
-Two extra waterstone grinders
-A dozed three phase motors sanging between 0,5 and 7,5 kW
-A heap of cast iron flat belt pulleys.
-A horse drawn potato digging machine.
-A heap of bent and broken scaffolding parts.
-Some 5 metric tons of assorted scrap iron. Raw materials for metal fabrication.
-50 kilos of white metal for bearings

.....and so on.....

He wins

(and I'm already on the way to becoming one)

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I don't have the memory / retrieval skills of you guys! If I can't see it - I probably won't be able to find it
It means I can be quite ruthless and chuck things away that I haven't used for a while - which is often quite a good thing. I do dream of living somewhere where I can have a barn or two to just scatter my stuff around though!!

I will make a sweeping statement though - if you can make or create things by yourself - collecting and hoarding is really quite a logical thing to do.

It's just work and other stupid things that get in the way of using it all!!

 

[SammyQ]

I have packrat genes...and I'm related to a squirrel...what do you think my 'come-in-handy'(?) pile looks like? Clue: I have to balance on one leg while simultaneously bending over from the waist, extending my other leg at a compound angle and reaching my hand out for balance THROUGH a...a...a...something... to get over/through my stash to get to near my chosen relic...either that or I'm sentenced to a similar 6 hour rummage/restock like Lons above. .

Sam

 

[adidat]

Just in the last two weeks i have aquired a 2 ton dumper truck with petter engine. 20 bowling pins and a 1.5m length of railway track all for less than £100.

Im well on my way to heimlagas level!

Adidat

 

[No skills]

What wood is the bowling pins made out of?

And yes another confirmed womble here as well. I have so much crap in the garage and shed its stopping me woodworking-a tidy up is in process....

 

[adidat]

There American ones covered in plastic, but the ones we shoot at the rifle range are maple cores laminated from 9 pieces.

Adidat

 

[Jonzjob]

That must be a fair sized gun to shoot bowling pins :shock: :shock:

I'm another that looks and thinks "I can use that for??"

It works too. When a friend says this or that is busted it's amasing the number of times I can find something to repair it.

The thing that worries me is the number of boxes in the loft! But they may come in handy one day :? :?

 

[AES]

Yet another +1 here. All sorts of stuff "in stock". Exactly as someone above said, I get praise when I can manage to fix stuff with bits & pieces from stock, but otherwise SWMBO thinks it's all junk, and says so!

To make matters worse, over here, supermarkets & such have to take back broken stuff they originally (theoretically) sold. It's the law. So when I go with SWMBO for the weekly shop I'm into that "rubbish" bin like a rat up a drainpipe - always, always being accompanied by SWMBO's "what junk have you found to fill the cellar up with now?" She hates me doing it, and that despite the fact that even days when I don't go to that bin (in the interests of marital harmony you understand) there's always at least 1 other bloke sorting through it - some even park their cars right alongside and seem to "fill 'em up".

Doesn't matter, I shouldn't do it.

So I guess you could say that although I can't produce as long a list as some of you, I'm certainly qualified as at least an amateur womble.

AES