THINK SCROUNGE !!!

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by: Kent McKeithan

I used to be frustrated by craft magazine articles which began, "Here's a great little project that you can build from the scraps you have around your shop." Because I never could afford enough shop materials to build my main projects let alone have scraps left over for every small one evening job I wanted to do.

But that's all in the past now. My poverty stricken days (at least as far as shop materials go) are behind me. In fact, I've become embarrassingly wealthy in 2 X 4's, odd sheets of plywood, lengths of molding, one inch thick solid walnut boards, and other delicious lumber and hardware since I learned to scrounge.

That's right. Scrounge.

No, I don't mean steal! Scrounging, first and foremost, isn't stealing. Not the way I do it. It's recycling: the gathering up and the putting to use of materials that others don't want. Materials, to state it bluntly, that others are glad to get rid of. So glad that I'm usually encouraged to haul away everything I want at very little charge and, frequently, at no charge at all.

Not only is this financially advantageous to me, it's sound ecological practice for the planet as well. One small example: This country throws away, burns, or otherwise destroys hundreds of millions of board feet of usable lumber every year. Why shouldn't you or I recycle some of that total for our own purposes thereby simultaneously lessening our disposal problem and cutting our personal demand for new materials?

"And where," you may ask, "is this abundance hidden?"

"All around you," I reply. "Most often in buildings awaiting demolition."

Today, you see, because of labor costs and tight deadlines, wrecking contractors seldom take the time to actually dismantle old structures. Instead, they just bring in the bulldozers and trucks, smash the doomed homes, offices, and apartments to bits and cart all that valuable material away as quickly as possible.

Well, I for one consider this to be a destructive, senseless waste. So I now keep my eyes peeled for signs of urban renewal or redevelopment (or just plain old house wrecking) whenever I'm running errands around town. I also watch the newspaper for bid advertisements or notices of demolition. (Announcements of pending new construction on already improved property are good too because, before the new structures can go up, the old ones have to come down.)

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