I got to thinking a bit (no I didn't get hurt)...(and no one else did either...LOL) and remembered that I put a small magnet...literally about 1/2 a centimeter long, less than that wide and about as high as its width....into an EDC 'kit'.

I got it from an old DVD player that bit the dust...I took apart the player and found 2 of them in there. I got to thinking about using it for a survival situation and immediately though about making a compass.....so I just tossed it in....

A number of things came from that DVD player (other uses than EDC). It got me to thinking....what have you taken apart and found inside that was/is useful? Especially things that you wouldn't think of.....like a small magnet in the DVD player....

Timely post - Yesterday I took apart 4 broken solar landscaping lights to scavenge the solar cells. Wired 2 cells serially and then added 2 in parallel with those, and adding a Maxim DC-DC pump IC I'm able to charge any USB powered device (cell phones, MP3 players).

Whenever someone is ready to destroy a pallet or burn it, I try to take a small prying tool and salvage some of the nails first. Sure beats buying them; I've saved a little money this way whenever doing little projects around the house.

I do the same thing with bolts and wheels on office chairs whenever someone throws out their broken one to the curb. I find that the bolts and wheels on most modern models are often almost exactly alike and interchangeable, and whenever one gives out in my chair I just replace it. I've been using the same office chair for about five years now, cannibalizing parts from their cousins.

I also remember some time ago in another post I mentioned finding little cheap-o LED lights at Target on clearance. I cracked those ones open because they used the same type of batteries that go into the clearly superior Photons. I saved a LOT of money doing that, those little quarter-sized CR2016's cost a bundle!

I take apart any broken electronics I have as well, to see what parts I can mix, match, and use.

And OH YEAH, I almost forgot. If I ever use a disposable camera (the kind with a flash function), I always make sure the film is winded in the internal canister, then crack it open and take the AA battery that's inside, powering the flash. If I hardly used it it can go into an Inova X1 or my headlamp and last for a little while.

DrmstrSpoodle - Buy bolts in bulk the time saved from taking them off old parts (and knowing you have NEW ONES) is well worth it. Here I can get a bolt in bulk (by the lb) for say .21/each at Ace or Home Depot it would be about .80 or so... I have $ in bolts buying in bulk.

But like you guys I do take parts off things I want too

I just tossed a treadmill and had no time to take the motors from it They would have been AWESOME for shop equipment, etc, but no time and to big to store right now. DOH.

There are recycling companies that do this too, gov. funded, and they make a profit selling "good" parts from the bad, and then the scrap steel recycling etc.

A lot of ways to make money$$

Sock. In a Nigheyes pouch that I carry a pair of Leathermen tools [Crunch and Original] I daily carry a magnet. It is on one of those extendable pointers. About 7 inches collapsed and 27 inches pulled out. It is designed as a magnetic pickup tool. It is rated to lift 8 to 10 pounds. I replaced the pocket clip with a screw eye so I could easily attach some cordage to reach even lower. The initial idea was if I ever dropped or spotted something metallic I could go fishing. The magnet could also be used to magnetize a piece of metal like a sewing needle as a backup compass.

Well being ready payed off. Dropped my keys down a drain grating. Too narrow to reach through and too deep reach. 30 second later I had my keys back. Came in very handy.

Never throw away treadmill motors, they are 95-volt DC motors and make great windmill generators.

Wow some great ideas from this link. I never thought of pulling the battery's from a disposable camera and I do have access to treadmill motors in my line of work.

Not really sure why a magnet would go into an EDC kit. As long as the primary compass is Dummy-Corded to my body and I have my button back up, I don't foressee using using a magnet for navagation.

Saving nails from pallets?

What's your time worth? Given the cost of new, straight nails vs the cost of used, most likely bent nails out of a pallet, I'll go to the hardware store once a year or so and buy a couple of pounds of nails.

Scavenging and recycling is great, I do it a lot but if you're gonna salvage pallets, the wood is much more valuable than the nails are. And it's easier to get.

John E

"...pallet...I try to take a small prying tool and salvage some of the nails.."

How do you get those suckers out? I have tried to dismantle pallets before (I used the wood for "barn wood" projects), with just about zero results. Those nails, with their shape, are just about impossible to pull without ruining the head, not to mention the wood itself. You got a secret tool or something???

If you're gonna salvage the wood, use a reciprocating saw and cut the cross planks off where they meet the braces. The larger end pieces are gonna be full of nail holes and as I wrote above, the time and effort to pull all the nails is really not worth it.

The cross planks are what most people talk about when they talk about using pallet wood for woodworking projects. Depending on where the pallet was made, you can get lucky sometimes and get some really nice exotic hardwood in premilled form.

John E