On 2010-04-30, Ted Frater wrote:
Good that you had some interesting finds as well.
More on that loco whistle, it was a cold and wet January day,
A truck had just tipped a pile of iron scrap on the yard concrete floor.
I just stood there with my mind blank and looked at it all.
in amongst the twisted pile of metal was what looked like the end part
of a staircase banister .
I pulled it out and my heart started to beat real hard when i realised
it was a steam whistle in bronze, which at that time i thought was off a
steam yacht. Were near Poole harbour where boats have been built and
scrapped for a hundred yrs.. .
I asked one the young lads how much for the old piece of iron, he said a
couple of pounds , say 5 dollars.
I paid him and put it in the boot of my car quickly, and drove out.
I have a friend in Holland whose into steam, sent him a picture and he
offered me $700.00 for it.

Awesome!@

I once bought a welder on ebay for $0.99 and sold it three days later
for $150.

One more deal was buying an impact wrench on ebay for $45 and selling
same two weeks later for $1500, also no ebay. It was an Ingersoll
impact wrench with a 1.5" hammer. 100+ lbs weight.

It is fun like a casino, plus it involves playing with fun toys, plus
unlike a casino, there is a mathematical expectation of winning. The
only problem is stuff piling up.

i