Got any cool ideas on how take old junk and reuse it in some way?

Question

Like say you have carpentry skills and you have to cut down a Tree in your yard that was too big, so why not craft it into a coffee Table?

Please also check out my other question in D.I.Y. section by going through my profile and seeing the question about a Hairdryer. Thank you.

Answer 1

You tell me. If you want to do it then do it. I have carpentry skills but I don't have the tools to cut down trees and make furniture out of them. I have a truck that I can go down to the lumber yard and buy pieces of what were once trees that someone cut down and used the tools that I don't have to make them into the pieces that I am buying. It is just easier that way. Trees by the way are not old junk. They burn very efficiently.

Answer 2

Sure, us DIY types always have ideas waiting around to materialize! When the right tree falls, or is cut down, and we see it, we'll know what we want to do with it! My ex-landlord had cut down an apple tree, so I went over and gathered a bunch of smaller sections... probably about 4-8 inches diameter. These I sliced up on my bench saw, and now have some really nice slabs for projects! Nearly any fruit tree is as good as any exotic wood. I look for salvageable stuff all the time. Trash bins behind a cabinet shop are great for smaller hardwoods. Even old oak shipping pallets can be salvaged for their oak.

Answer 3

Ok, so I tracked down a bunch of carpet scraps which I cut in pieces and glued to padding in a design I favored and used binding material on the edges and I have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind wall-to-wall carpet in my living room ( which is small ) for the price of peanuts. Bought a $5 cylindrical accent table from the thrift shop to live next to my papasan chair and covered it with broken up tiles and dishware. Just glue and grout and the price of gas to get around to find the stuff. Got some free bamboo from a guy I know & used it for curtain rods. Just sanded it a little with my girlie sander & put some paste wax on it. Took a left-over piece of plywood, cut it the size of the top of my electric stove, stained it and waxed it & set it on the stove to have some extra counter space. It looks nice. My friend gave me some 8 x 8 inch postcards. They are remakes of the old Florida orange crate labels. I just nailed them right into the wall in the kitchen at the top of the wall near the ceiling in a long row & I have the best-looking art work in my kitchen now. A girlie hammer & a few strategically placed teeny weeny nails, basically just the cost of the nails for that one. I got a girlie tool box and I am not afraid to use it.

Answer 4

I re use stuff all the time. im poor, i have to. I take things apart and find uses for the parts. i find things being tossed out and redo them or find another use for them. i work with small things since my space is limited. there is a way to reuse almost anything though. If i knew exactly what you are trying to reuse, I could give you some ideas on it. i even take cans not the recyclable aluminum but the plain kind, and make things from the metal. clips for holding wires, this that or the other thing, depending on what i need or want to make. some things i simply take to the recycling place.

Answer 5

Give them to a school for art projects. My brother had to do an art project with an old record (large black disks with a hole in the middle)when he was in the first grade. He glued macaroni on it and then it was spray painted silver ( My mom game him a record - 78 RPM from the "Oklahoma" set - groan). I've seen CDs hanging from trees to keep squirrels away. Paint them with either an acrylic or fabric paint and then lightly draw/trace a design onto the dried surface and proceed to scratch onto the design. This removes the paint and leaves the shiny rainbow part exposed ... voila you have a unique "scratch board" use them as reflectors for Christmas lights outside....the c-7 size bulbs fit thru the opening and then we put the light string on outdoor stakes and line a sidewalk...looks REALLY cool when it is lightly raining...the clear colored bulbs work best, but the opaque ones will do Fasten to a wooden stake by pre-drilling and screwing/nailing it to the wood, shiny side OUT, and use as reflectors along your sidewalk or driveway Use cd's shiny side up to sit small pillar or votive candles on. The reflection off the cd's is great for centerpieces on buffet tables, especially during the holidays

Answer 6

___One of my favorite things to do on Saturday morning is hit the local yardsales and estate sales.

I've found expensive stuff for next to nothing, which you can clean up/sand/fix and either place in your own home or give or sell to someone else.

___Think outside the box. I recently turned solid teak gazebo panels into shades over my french doors next to the pool. Cost? Gazebo panels, free (I had them). --- Outdoor Cloth, Linseed oil stain and misc supplies $70.00. --- Labor, about 5 hours. --- The very cool Asian inspired look and increased shade and rain blockage? Priceless.

Answer 7

Try www.gardenweb.com Go to forums then to Garden Junk. People on this site are always making things from the "junk" they find. A lot of really neat stuff on there..
Hope this helps..

Answer 8

As a DIY person, The local dump was my gold mine! Not allowed anymore because of health concerns, I have been allowed to take all of the used lumber I wanted. I denailed it and cleaned it up. I built many projects and sold them . Things like dog houses, garden benches, picnic tables, you name it, I built it. I guess I was one of the first to help the environment by recycling waste

Answer 9

Cut the trunk about ten foot from the ground and build a treehouse on top of it

Answer 10

ok so you should do that! Otherwise any thing can be used again.... glass and pottery into mosaic.......etc.