Junking For Fun

At sometime in your young life you have probably heard the phrase: "One man's junk is another man's treasure". Not too long ago grandmas and grandpas traveled the back roads and highways "junking" in search of yard sales or antique shops on "junker's row" in a hunt for cast-off treasures, coins, and such. Now-a-days most people have become savvy to the practice and get their so-called junk appraised or they check the going price on eBay before putting their treasure on the market. There are even TV programs dedicated to attic finds and forgotten treasures in old cupboards.

Junkyard junking is not about buried treasures. It is about using your ingenuity and smarts to create things from discarded or unwanted parts for the least amount of money.


Junking = easy pickings

Our grandson likes to go junking in his spare time - something he has had an increasing interest in for several years. This is how he describes it:

When he goes to the junkyard he wanders around for awhile, sometimes for an hour or two, just looking at things. He says it usually helps to make one go-around before you start scrounging and picking things out. This way you know what's available in order to assemble the parts needed for the project and what parts go together; e.g., will this bushing fit over this rod?

When finished scrounging, the next step is paying for them. If the price is missing it usually works in your favor … just ask what the price is and it goes something like this: "How much for this little sump pump? It looks kinda dirty and its missing the plug." "Oh, How about 10 bucks." Chances are the missing price was twice as much. Or "Can you discount it if I get everything in the cart?" Or "I only have 10 bucks." It never hurts to drive a bargain when junking.

Mission accomplished

Make Magazine did an article on his Play Station Wizard project in their Volume 13 issue. You can see some of his other projects on Photobucket – from his shopping cart project to more advanced ones like building a computer in a Lucite box with all the lights and whistles. If it has wheels and computer parts, it "talks" to him. Then he talks to Granny (me); e.g., about funding his wheelchair "find" to make the shopping cart caravan you can see in Photobucket. Most of his finds come from junking at junkyards or sidewalk discards.

Get creative, start junking. It's a buzzing kids world.