The ULTIMATE recycling

    As those who follow my blog already know.....I intend to be a LAZY homesteader.  This brings me to the topic of my posting for the day.  Many of the tools I need around my homestead have been around for hundreds of years.  In this time they have rarely changed in their basic shape or design.  Take the modern shovel or fencepost.  I call them modern only because they are still in use today.  These tools have been around for hundreds of years yet they still retain their basic function and shape.
     I work for a company that sells batteries and buys scrap metal.  In the 3 months that I have worked there I have come across countless tools I have found a use for around my homestead.  It is amazing what some people will "throw" away.  I'm not talking about junk either.  Among the things that people have scrapped to get their "scrap price" are-two jack stands, an antique cast iron apple corer-peeler, like new 5 gallon plastic gas can with nozzle(this one is a quandary as to who would bring a plastic gas can to a METAL scrapyard), 60 year old Toledo scale(something you would have seen at a candy or hardware store in the 50s), countless steel T posts(all completely straight), rakes, shovels, hand tools, etc.  To me this seems a shame to throw away all these tools of years gone by.  It seem that we have become a throw away society.  With all these products now coming to us for pennies from China, it seems as though we have lost the value of these things that our ancestors produced on our very own soil!  I tend to buy American made goods whenever I can but there just isn't that much stuff made here anymore.  I think we should start recycling those things that WE made here in generations past.  Even if we didn't make it here, lets re-use things that are still able to be used!
        My wife would like to list me under the definition "hoarder" but I see things a bit differently.  I really hate to get political on this blog so I will limit it to this paragraph.
      With all the fraud in our current electoral system, why do any of us vote? There...I said it.....  It seems that no matter who is the "leader" of our country, we keep going in this downward spiral to tyranny.  All great nations have met this same fate after around 200 years of freedom it all comes crashing down.  We seem to be headed in the same direction, yet I don't let it get me down.  I take the position that "THOSE PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY EFFECT ON ME" and my blood pressure is always quite low.  We need to take more   control of the way our lives are being led.  Don't pay attention to the talking heads on the idiot box, the advertisers pay their wages, do you not think they have any say on what is being said?
     OK rant over: back to antique tools!  Basically all I want to say in this blog post is this- go to a junkyard!! You will be surprised how many useful tools from days gone by you will find.  I have purchased a rake, snowblower(ran like a sewing machine), jack stands, gas can, bench grinder, bench vise, roof rake, 12 T posts, etc-and this is only so far!
    Another good place to look for things is a garage sale.  I have not gone to many of these but I have a feeling that spring will bring many adventures!! In closing I just want to say REPURPOSE.  This would be the little known 4th "R" in the recycling square.  Try to find new uses for old things and you will be amazed at what you can do!!