Anybody get any good deals lately?

[Bushman]

Those 1/2 gallon canning jars usually go for a couple bucks each.

[NormandieStill]

I was at the sawmill the other day picking up some wood for the nw chicken run, and finally got to chat with the owner about barrel staves. They make them on site (quartersawn, split, then resawn) and age them in stacks. The stacks are baled, and sold as a lot to the cooperages. I asked if they happened to have any open aged stacks as I was interested in picking up a few staves, but couldn't justify a whole stack. We wandered over and had a look and sure enough, there was an unbaled stack of good and aged looking staves. I was left to choose what I wanted, and grabbed four pieces, two wide, two narrower. When I went to pay for them, he'd chatted with his dad (who actually deals with the stave manufacturing) and they had no idea of a price, so just said, pay what you feel. I offered 10€, they're happy with some cash, and I've got 4 pieces of weathered, dry french oak to experiment with making barrel heads with.

Now if I could just find a local source of American Oak, I'd be happy.

[stillkaren]

6.5 gallons, man Cranky, nice find!

I need to start hitting yard sales around here, when I was a kid everyone had a couple of those big glass jugs full of "next year's vacation" coins. I had one, it was lost in the first great war, along with a lot of other stuff. In fact, now that I think about it, my first wife's grandma had (6) 3 gallon jugs she made her wine in every year. She wasn't the only little Italian grandma around here making wine, it would be cool to find one of those stashes.

Rusty

I used to have one of those large glass jars and save coins for a major trip. It took years, but I eventually booked it in for a trip to https://orlandovacation.com/pages/unive ... ation-pkgs . It's funny how those jugs used to be everywhere but are now hard to come by. It would be great to come across a hoard like your wife's grandmother had!

[Sailman]

Boy did I hit the jackpot? 160.00 for all.

[Sailman]

More close ups

[Corn Cracker]

Damn, that's a good deal

[Yummyrum]

Oh Man .
That was such a deal

[Bushman]

WOW, that is an amazing buy!

[cranky]

I just picked up this sterling silver boot pin that originally came from the Autry museum for $7

When I found it at an estate sale I guessed the weight at around an ounce. It has a Taxco kind of look and feel. Taxco stuff tends to be on the heavy side, so I figured it was a good price.

I don't have a good gram scale right now but I calibrated my kitchen scale using coins and it weighs about the same as 4 quarts and a dime, which is right around 25 grams. Current spot is a dollar a gram and the refiner I sell to gives me 90% for silver, so doing the math that comes to around $20 in scrap weight for $7

[TDick]

Anytime I need a 5 gallon food grade bucket, I stop by Publix grocery store.

I'm sure most grocery chains that have an actual bakery would do.
Stopped by Tuesday, went to the bakery.
"Hi I just moved here. Do you have any empty containers I could have?"
"I just moved here and the store in Tuscaloosa used to give them to me all the time."

One negative. The ones I get had frosting in it and I get them "as is".
Once you see how hard that crap is to get out of the bucket, you don't want to think about putting it in your body!

[Saltbush Bill]

I Reckon you've got a nice little horde off collectables stashed away Cranky.
I think you would probably find items of interest on the walls and shelves of my house.

[cranky]

I Reckon you've got a nice little horde off collectables stashed away Cranky.
I think you would probably find items of interest on the walls and shelves of my house.

Mrs Cranky and I used to be vultures... ...or what was once known as antique pickers, which at the time meant we found stuff for dealers and select clients. We specialized in antique glass and porcelain and over the years have accumulated quite a collection of some pretty rare stuff...although, we have recently thinned a lot of that out and a couple weeks ago I broke a rare and somewhat valuable wine glass

I started accumulating gold and silver in the 90's when I could get silver at auction for less than $4 an ounce. I actually didn't buy everything I could have, which I regret, but I accumulated quite a bit. Probably 15-18 years ago silver hit somewhere around $50 an ounce and I sent everything to a refiner in Michigan, including half of our very large antique silverware set. Then I started accumulating it all over again. I have no idea how much I have but lately people are being stupid about precious metals. The estate sale where I got the boot is run by a lady who often under prices silver and for some reason the people who buy silver miss it, and I can make a decent score.

Here's a couple pictures of one of my treasure chests.

It's actually getting quite heavy but I'd like to see spot over $40 again before I send it in...although, I've been considering melting it all down and pouring my own bars or making a very special gift for Mrs Cranky out of it.

I also read once about Julia Child being allowed to cook using a frying pan made of solid gold and I've always wanted to make one for myself

[cranky]

Anytime I need a 5 gallon food grade bucket, I stop by Publix grocery store.

I'm sure most grocery chains that have an actual bakery would do.
Stopped by Tuesday, went to the bakery.
"Hi I just moved here. Do you have any empty containers I could have?"
"I just moved here and the store in Tuscaloosa used to give them to me all the time."

One negative. The ones I get had frosting in it and I get them "as is".
Once you see how hard that crap is to get out of the bucket, you don't want to think about putting it in your body!

A while back I was taking a short cut behind a bakery just as a guy was carrying out a bunch of 5 gallon buckets. I stopped and asked if I could have them and he gave them to me for free. they had egg in them, which wasn't difficult to clean out but wasn't a lot of fun either.

[TDick]

Anytime I need a 5 gallon food grade bucket, I stop by Publix grocery store.
"I just moved here and the store in Tuscaloosa used to just give them to me all the time."

.....I stopped and asked if I could have them and he gave them to me for free.

Off topic....similar result.
The lawn in the house we moved in has been mowed but otherwise neglected for about 20 years.
And then there's the neighbor's cats crapping in the yard.
So a combination of keeping cats away and trying to add some nutrients, I read about putting out coffee grounds in the lawn and plants.
Thursday I went to the local Starbucks. (I've bought $tarbucks coffee once in my life.)

My usual conversation starter,
"I just moved here and I USED to get (fill in the blank) - spent coffee grounds from the Starbucks - in Tuscaloosa."

"Sure. We don't have any right now. Best to come back in the evening about seven when we're cleaning up."

Yesterday it was late and I was driving by there. Almost on a whim I stopped.
The guy recognized me and said, "Sure, I've got some in the back for you." as if he was expecting me.
I thought it was going to be in with other garbage but instead he drags out a 40-50 pound bag of barely used coffee grounds.

NOW I'm thinking!!!!!!

[Bushman]

Our Starbucks always gives it away free if they have it available and probably would even save it for you if you request.

[TDick]

Our Starbucks always gives it away free if they have it available and probably would even save it for you if you request.

You MAY be a moonshiner if..... you have a 30 pound garbage bag of wet coffee grounds sitting in the sun just to see if it'll ferment.
I'll let you know.

[cranky]

This one is Mrs Cranky's fault

On my way home from the dog park yesterday I stopped at an estate sale with strict orders from Mrs Cranky "NOT TO BUY ANYTHING BIG THAT WILL BE HARD TO PACK!!!"

I had looked at their listing online and didn't think that would be a problem

I found a 40pc Vermont American tap and die set that looked like it had never been used for $15, which I thought wasn't a terrible price. It sells new for $100 at Granger, so I got that. In the back yard was a blue Arrowhead carboy priced at $25, which isn't a bad price but I don't really need it in spite of my current one having a small crack and going to be sold soon.

From my point of view Arrowheads have 2 problems, #1- they are too valuable to actually use and B-they are too difficult to ship if you sell them but, to tease her, I took a picture of it and sent it to Mrs Cranky

She texted me back that she liked that one and I should buy it. I told her no, for the reasons listed above as well as it being $5 over my maximum carboy purchase limit.

When I got home she kept on about it because she "likes the Christmas trees" and I told her I would go back tomorrow (which is today) when it will be 25% off and thus under my $20 maximum and would buy it. She said I should go back and buy it because they won't have it tomorrow or that I needed to go as soon as they open.

I'm at a point where I don't care what's there or how cheap it is I'm not going to go stand in line early in the morning for an hour to maybe get it, so I said, "No, well stop on the way to the dog groomers". He had a noon appointment, so I did just that, stopped on the way and it was still there hiding in the back shed, just waiting for me

Now for some reason Mrs Cranky thinks I should swap it out with one of the 18 others I'm planning on keeping and sell one of the Crisas I'm thinking I should go back tomorrow on half price day and see if I can get one of the 2 non arrowhead carboys that were there and make it an even 20 but don't tell Mrs Cranky

[cranky]

Well... ...I couldn't help myself...

I ran by the estate sale today because it's 50% off day and those 2 other carboys were down to $12.50 each so I just had to go get them they were actually 27.55 after taxes so that actually came to $13.775 each...or if we average all 3 it's about $16.07 each, which is a good enough deal that I just couldn't pass it up.

They are actually really nice blue carboys

They are also marked on the bottom

Those markings may not look like much but A S C E around a number (72 on one 73 on the other) and at the bottom GPD.

Well doing a little research reveals GPD stands for Arrowhead and Puritas Water
Co. (Glass Products Division) and appears to have been used from ca. 1957-1960s although my guess was the 72 and 73 were the years but I'll have to research that when I have more time.

[Bushman]

Cranky you are the master at finding deals!

[cranky]

Cranky you are the master at finding deals!

That's because I'm a cheap bastard

[cranky]

I got around to researching those 2 carboys today and I now know way, way more about Arrowhead carboys than I ever wanted to know.

The bottles are date marked early 1972 and 1973. GPD was the glass company that Arrowhead bought in 1956 or 57 and changed it's name to "Glass Products Division" and used the GPD logo until the end of glass bottle production probably in 1979, although nobody is certain of the exact date. Last ASCE (Actually most likely AESC) began being used in 1972. Some believe it was a way of saying it was approved by the Society for Civil Engineers but more likely it was "Aerojet ElectroSystems Co"

Another group, also active in the same area, was the Aerojet ElectroSystems Co., using
“AESC” initials as a logo. According to the Federal Communications Commission (1980), the Aerojet Puritas Water Company, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles, was a
supplier of ‘Distilled and/or Spring Water’ to Aerojet...

If you would like to know far too much about Arrowhead carboy marks here is the link
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Arrowhead1.pdf

[Saltbush Bill]

Mrs Cranky and I used to be vultures... ...or what was once known as antique pickers, which at the time meant we found stuff for dealers and select clients. We specialized in antique glass and porcelain and over the years have accumulated quite a collection of some pretty rare stuff..

I made my living for about ten years by buying and selling second hand as well as antiques and collectables . It's interesting what you learn and inturn the things that you will buy that you once would have walked right past.
These days I sell at a few of the bigger swap meets around the place, but mostly just for the fun and to catch up with old friends who did the same. Gives me an excuse to visit a few distiller friends while im travelling to the swaps as well. Once it's in your blood it's hard to get out, I still can't drive past a yard/ garage sale.