This month I got a surprising number of things for free, spotting them while on my way home on my bike. Here is what I got:
Two heavy duty pruners (kind of like scissors with a hooked blade and two-foot-long handles - for cutting tree branches up to a couple of inches diameter) - one old one in good shape, one newer super-heavy one with a geared-action blade. The latter had a handle that wouldn't stay on any more because, after much consideration and careful thought, the previous owner decided not to take 30 seconds to sharpen the blade but instead to force the dull thick metal edge through the wood until they wrecked the tool. It had formed what is called a "wire edge" on the end of the blade about a millimeter thick instead of coming to a sharp edge like you need on any cutting tool. I sharpened the blade and fixed the handle on with a nut and bolt and a couple of washers.
Three big packages of fiberglass insulation, too big to carry even one on a bike so I dashed home and zipped back with the car, expecting to arrive in time to see someone tossing them into a van. 24" wide R11 insulation, maybe $40 each.
Concrete bird bath. This was the only thing that didn't have a "free" sign next to it but it was by a bag of pop cans on the curb, and you don't put a broken concrete bird bath out by the curb unless you are trying to get rid of it. It's a pretty fancy one, with a motif of two standing herons on the pedestal and cattail pattern on the bowl, like they are standing under a bunch of cattails that spread out over their heads. It's broken at the bottom where it bells out to form a base - they made it hollow underneath, but so hollow that at some points the concrete is less than a half inch thick. It broke the whole bottom section off pretty cleanly, and it will be easy to put it back together with mortar, and fill in the hollow bottom with mortar as well, so it won't have any reason to break again. Again, impossible to carry on a bike but I didn't think there was as big a rush getting back to it with the car, and I was right.
