Scrap To Stakes

I was working in a development area and noticed the stakes were all sorts of woods that were usually not found marking corners.  There was a lot of ash and oak, some cypress and even some lath cut from lumber core plywood with a a good sanded veneer.  It was evident to me all the materials were from a cabinet shop or a millworks.

I had the opportunity to talk to the surveyor and he confirmed my suspicions.  His son runs a cabinet shop on his property.  He said he likes to cut his own stakes from the scraps of an evening.  He said there was something "therapeutic" about it. 

Sounded good to me.  😉

I was thinking of iron stakes cut from scrap iron.  Many years ago I purchased something like 300 smooth two-foot long by 3/4" diameter iron stakes from a metal recycling facility (scrap yard).  The price was right and both buyer and seller were very happy.  Probably should have bought more but money was scarce at that time.

I've told this before, so excuse me if you have heard this one.  About 30 years ago I received my first call to locate some corners in a small rural subdivision.  I noted the subdivision plat creator had the same last name as the name of the subdivision, which is a well known local name.  The surveyor, however, was based over 150 miles from the site, so I assumed this was a "family" deal.  We did our best to narrow down our search area for the first lot corner we needed.  Wow!  The metal detector screamed at us.  We started knocking down some head high weeds and grass clumps with 18 inch stems.  Tried again.  Same result.  Finally cleared out enough material to find dirt and suddenly saw a threaded bolt standing vertical.  We decided that was a very unusual item to use for a lot corner set only about 15 years earlier.  Decided to keep digging around to see if we could find a pipe or rebar which would be the local standard for a lot corner.  Instead, we found a second threaded bolt standing vertical.  Then another and another.  We finally uncovered the rear axle from a vehicle with the spindle and lug bolts all present.  Went to the next lot corner and found the same thing.  We later learned that the surveyor was also the owner of a salvage yard in his home town.  Every lot corner had the same monument.

Our former neighbor owned a trophy business.  He would bring us scrap walnut pieces about 1 inch square, sanded all four sides and random lengths, none longer than five inches.  We would toss the whole box in the fireplace to get a fabulous roaring fire which produced hardly any ash.

Going back to the early 1950s, what was the name of the company that sold solid wood model airplane kits. All of our gang loved those model kits. It was a double name but I can't think of it. If I remember correctly the owner noticed a bunch of scrap wood going to waste and had a bright idea. All we had to do was glue the parts together, sand them (two kinds of sandpaper supplied), give it a coat of silver paint, and add decals. 

I built and flew a Sig cadet.

Carl Goldberg made them

North Pacific