Barn Scrapping...

We've been wanting to clean out the old homestead barn at Le Rustique since we bought the place nearly two years ago. And when better to get started than on a cold, damp winter day with the ground too wet to do much else? And today is that day.

The scrappers only brought a pickup truck, but they got the job done.

We were a little surprised to see the scrappers show up in a pickup truck, because we had told them ahead of time the volume of stuff we expected to get out of the old barn. But they know their business, and a pickup is more efficient for the way they work. They are an older husband & wife team who have been doing this for thirty years. He's got a hurt back, unable to lift a lot, but she's got the energy of a teenager - and they brought their young neighbor along to help them.

The previous owner of our property used to raise feeder calves, and he had installed what seemed like miles and miles of 5-strand barbed wire cross fencing, some with added sheep fence for good measure, throughout the woods. Big Daddy spent a good deal of the last two years taking it down. Here is just some of what he has to show for his efforts.

Rolls and rolls of barbed wire from the fences Big Daddy took down.
The ones leaning against the wall are what he's keeping.

The scrappers told us that not too long ago the scrap yards wouldn't even take barbed wire because it ate up their steel grinders. But now, with newer grinding technology and the weakened economy, they are happy to have it. But probably not as happy as we are that they are taking it.

Here's the first load ready to head out. Don't worry - that galvanized steel tub is
split down one side with several holes in the bottom.

One load was mostly fencing and went to the steel scrap yard. The next load was heavier steel items destined for another area of the same scrap yard, as well as old paint cans that went to a third area for specialized waste disposal. The final load consisted of aluminum and glass heading to an aluminum scrap yard in the other direction on their way home, plus all the things they were going to take to their own barn for special sorting and possible resale.

Here is a sampling of items they take home with them for sorting when they aren't working. They also took an old TV, and they'll separate out the electronics and any other usable components. They took several 100-ft or more extension cords that were cracked and taped, and they'll strip those for the various wires inside them.

The scrappers will look at each of these small items and sort out any copper, steel or aluminum,
and she'll be looking for items that  might interest any collectors she knows. 

Once they had their final load and were ready to head out, we helped hoist the old pickup truck shell on top. It's the one from the dump cleanup I wrote about earlier:

Dumpster Diving vs. Dump Diving...

And I'm tellin' ya, were we ever glad to finally see it go. They promised not to let it fall off until they were long gone from Le Rustique!

Finally, we bid adieu to the pickup truck shell that used to mark the location of  The Old Dump.

Joining Rural Thursday Blog Hop #2. Jump on over and check out some of the other participating sites.