So what do you do with all the "stuff" you dig?

Shorty Buckshot

Jr. Member
Aug 19, 2012
48
164
Northeast Indiana
Detector(s) used
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just wondering what folks do with all the miscellaneous "stuff" they dig....pieces of toys, broken hardware, and such, you get the idea...Not the stuff that has some value, just the things that may be cool to find but hold no value....I have a whole flat of things that hold no value but not sure what to do with it...I have went to throw it away a few times but for some reason, just can't bring myself to do it....Am I just being silly or what? What do you do with the "stuff" you dig? Thanks....Shorty
 

It goes into a large ziplock labeled with the year on it and then sits in my closet :)
Haha! I know the feeling you are saying. I think it would be neat someday to have a display case with some of the neat odds and ends. Even it its half of a car just it cleaned up a bit, pic of the original behind it, a year, etc. Its still neat to look at and talk about.
 

I melt the brass, Al and Cu into ingots, recycle the Pb into bullets, trash the trash, and still have buckets full of worthless stuff in the barn.
So No, I cant help you.
 

i store it under my desk i would like to clean them up and get a display case
 

I have a few big olive jars going with misc items. I throw anything solid into them. I think I even have one filled with pull-tabs
 

I have overcome the OCD of hoarding. I throw stuff away! And, yes, I have thrown away things that I shouldn't have.

I have the keepers in displays that have overtaken the room formerly know as the dining room.
 

I keep everything except for big iron that has no historical value, recycle the junk, and at the end of the year after my tally I recycle the tabs and other things that I don't want.
 

Coins I keep or spend. Tokens I keep. Jewelry I keep or give away. Lead bullets and balls I recast into balls. Usable tools I use.

The rest goes in the trash. Exception being a couple crotal bells I have cleaned up and keep.
 

Excellent question. I like the wide mouth plastic containers that nuts and candies come in that you get from stores. Use one for brass, copper, stainless, zinc etc. this keeps it off the floor.
 

All scrap metal, brass, aluminum, and copper gets sold for it's value as metal. New coins are used as cash, and old coins are sold for whatever they will bring. Jewelry composed of precious metal gets sold either as what it was made into, or for scrap. Any antique metal is sold for what it will bring, along with CW relics. Lead I keep for casting into bullets of various alloys, and I also keep any marbles I find, since I lost all mine years ago.
 

I was thinking about fertilizing the local parks with all my junk to give future detectorists and Archies a place to study for generations to come.
 

I was thinking about fertilizing the local parks with all my junk to give future detectorists and Archies a place to study for generations to come.

that would be neat
 

I keep anything I can recognize as not trash like keys tokens even trinkets and the trash goes right in the trash at the hunting spot.
 

The trash like twist caps, pull rings, wrappers etc go in the trash can before I leave the beach. All the clad goes to the coin machine at my bank ($355.19 total this year, drop off another load today). Gold & silver Jewelry goes in the display cases. Hot wheels and match boxes cars are cleaned and put in there display cases. Silver coins go in the coin books. The Costume jewelry I have been saving for a project. I have some Oak that was milled 200+ years ago That I got from an old barn being torn down. Going to make a treasure box to toss all that junk jewelry into. The rest goes into shoe boxes and I put in the bottom of the closet in my cave.
:occasion14:
 

I have a 3-ring notebook with 2"x2" plastic coin sheets in them. Tokens and dog tags and the like get stapled into 2"x2" cardboard coin flips, labeled, and stuck into the plastic sheet (they don't go in those sleeves easily!) Good, old silvers, Indians and War nickels get hard plastic cases, Rosies get carboard flips.

My one Copper Culture spear point (found in an urban street tearout!) hangs on the wall in a shadowbox that I bought at Hobby Lobby, and another shadowbox has an arrangement of cool misc Victorian artifacts.

Otherwise, most of the rest is in plastic pencil boxes, labeled with the year that I dug them. I have one for old shotgun shells and cartridge casings, another for flatware (spoons, etc), and another for misc stuff.

But... I've only been at this for two seasons now. I'm not sure how long I will really keep up this level of energy with organizing and storing stuff. Time will tell, I guess.

Oh... zinc pennies get tossed like the trash that they are. Copper Lincolns and clad gets a quick tumbling in the fall to clean them before a trip to the bank where they will be run through the change counter (free for account holders). I consider that my "rebate"
 

1) Brass, copper and aluminum goes to the scrap yard. I toss cast iron and steel, since they're not worth jack squat right now.

2) Horseshoes and license plates go on the wall of my spare bedroom, which has turned into a relics room.

3) Ax heads go on a shelf, with bells and leg hold traps hanging down from the shelf.

4) Horse tack buckles, cap guns and pocket knives and go in a drawer.

5) Bullets and shell casings go in a plastic container that I stash under my bureau.

6) I also have two big boxes of toy cars, junk jewelry, locks, lighters and so on stashed under there as well.

7) Rusty cone top beer cans and some flat top cans go in a cabinet over my bureau. I have a few of my better bottle finds in there as well.

8) Oxen shoes and rusty soda cans go on a shelf in my garage. They're too grungy to display, but I can't toss them. There's also a few hubcaps and assorted car stuff out there. Not in good enough condition to sell, so I'm stuck with them!

9) All my other bottles and jars are in my cellar on my pool table and other tables I've got down there.

Yes, I do have a problem keeping stuff that should be tossed! LOL!
 

I keep all my stuff,nobody touches my stuff, every body has stuff but they won't admit it,my stuff is in shoeboxes, I don't have any idea how much stuff I got none of my stuff is good stuff,but it's my stuff and you can't have it my thanks George carlin
 

I sort most of my trash by what kind of metal it is then haul it in to the recycling company about once a year, and usually walk out with around $100 if I sell my brass and copper too. Just a few days ago I sold about 18 pounds of clean lead that I melted down into ingots for $20. Why people throw it away baffles me.
 

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