Free Stuff

Why use Free Stuff?

• Some tools can be made more quickly than going to the shop.
• Finances might be very tight
• Sometimes there's just no reason to go & buy

Sources

• Skips
• Freecycle & similar schemes
• Leftovers

Tools

Tools from scrap wood

Many tools can be made from scrap wood, such as:

Mallet

• A lump of wood on the end of a stick of PAR.
• Round the handle corners off

Silicone Tool

Smoother & profiler is made from feathered polypropylene

Lathe

A wood screw with its head cut off makes a basic lathe for small parts. Screw into the item to be turned, put it in a drill chuck, and tool gently.

Dust Catcher

An envelope stuck to the wall catches drilling dust

Water Level

• hosepipe

Materials

Half inch chipboard

Offcuts are common in skips. Not normally worth chasing, but if things are that tight its the one material you will regularly see in skips down south. Not really true up north.

=Firewood

• Plentiful in skips
• Offcuts from DIY sheds

Mortar

Many free additives can be used in mortar to reduce material cost. See Mortar Mixes

Tyre Inner Tubes

can be used as:

• chair webbing
• lightweight hinges
• springs

Expanded polystyrene

• insulation
• Stuffing beanbags

Curtains

• Most types of cloth can make curtains.
• Natural fabrics can be bleached if ugly, and dyed with the few very low cost dyes available.
• Used clothes yield cloth patches for applique, especially velvet, satin etc

Chalk

A small strip of plasterboard makes chalk for marking.

Wallpaper Paste

• Boiled flour & water
• Adding alum makes it storable.

Fillers

• lime & chalk
• Lime & sand
• Lime & mud
• Paper, flour, water & alum, boiled
• Toilet paper & glue
• Sawdust & glue

Insulation

• Sheet Cardboard. Large sheets are available from most shops handling large quantities of goods
• 1" - 2" card boxes, eg biscuit or dry catfood boxes
• Filling boxes with dry leaves increases insulation value
• Airbags from packaged goods can insulate around hot water tanks
• Cardboard faced with foil is used behind radiators on external walls to reduce losses
• Flammable insulation such as cardboard should be fireproofed.
• See Insulation for more information.

Cement Dye

• Emulsion leftovers

See Also

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