We don't use the entire buffalo (rant)

Hot rodders often get a bad wrap for being 'wasteful' because the world often sees only the big engines. The conclusion is 'bad gas mileage', therefore evil people must be behind it.

The part they don't see is the recycling of perfectly good components.

As a society, we don't use the entire buffalo, and that is wrong-wrong-wrong.

Here's an example: my neighbor is renovating his house. They've already gone thru two dumpsters filled with clean lumber scraps. A large portion of the wood being discarded are perfectly good studs and joists; for example, there are many 2x8x12 footers with few nails in them. Sitting on the ground is a stack of brand new 2x8x12 footers that were just purchased.

Why? Well, because it is 'easier'. It is easier to throw all the old stuff away and buy new, even though much of the old is still perfectly good. So my neighbor pays someone to have it hauled away and then pays again to buy new.

The remaining wood in the dumpster is mostly cutoffs. Nice, dry dimensional lumber. It gets hauled out to the dump past houses with fireplaces. Homes that pay someone else to have firewood delivered.

God forbid that someone should go through the wood to recycle that which is usable, and then offer the rest to someone who can burn it for heat. Instead, the most expensive business case (in terms of the sum total of required money and resources) is in place. We pay to move things this way and that, and for more things to be produced in the first place, because we do not reuse that which is still good.

This is a nice, convenient way to operate. A lot of people have jobs moving all this stuff around. We get better and better at it, too (like roll-off and boom trucks). But we end up doing better and better what we should not be doing at all.

We need to use the entire buffalo. The way we do it now may be convenient, but it is not sustainable.

Pure hot rodding relies on recyling and that is extremely responsible. Burnouts and so on are a lot of fun, but the basis of our hobby is as green as Al Gore's wallet.

Our good example needs to be put into practice on a broader scale.

 

Amen.

 

I am always reusing things and some people call me cheap because I do it, I don't reuse old bottles, cans, wood or whatever because of a money issue its because it seems wasteful and pointless just to throw it out and then go buy something for that same purpose.
Going green is just another fad and everyone will go out and throw away everything in there house and buy "green" items just to be able to say "look at me I'm greener than you" my wife has a friend like this but I had to point it out to her the day she gave me her old paper towels just so she could go out and purchase recycled paper towels....I really wanted to give her back her "non-recycled" paper towels and say here you go now they are recycled.

 

Yup, alot of very wasteful people in this world. It drives me crazy sometimes.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm... buffalo...

 

I know it is good to recycle but, why is it your duty to police his project. I thought this was a car site not a Bob the Builder neighbor site. If it bothers you so much maybe you should go and tell him he is doing his project wrong. To me you would be one of the nosey neighbors going through HIS dumpster that no one likes.

 

Try this reply :
It is a standard that it takes as much energy to build an automobile as it will use during the lifetime of the vehicle on the average . So everytime one is built the equivilent of thousands of gallons of fuel are used . Not to mention that the ores for copper, iron , aluminum , require open pit mining which releases immense quantities of toxic chemicals into the environment , sometimes savaging the surrounding areas for decades . So every new vehicle causes impact on the evironment way before it is even built . Our cars on the other hand are actually recycled materials which were manufactured as long 70 or 80 years ago and are still on the road . So NOW who's the big polluter ????

 

I ate a GREEN apple the other day...

I'm such a hippy...

 

Exactly. The tag line 'green' means more to them than than understanding what it truly means.

If something already exists, then it can be more green to keep it going than to replace for the sake of replacing. This can be true for things that just 'are' (like those paper towels, or an old front axle) although it is not always the case for things that require resources to operate (like replacing an old inefficient boiler).

 

LOL I am no dumpster diver. My kid wanted a little piece of plywood to make something so we walked over there and asked for a piece of scrap. The workers were eager to help and along the way we saw what I described.

You might be missing the point. It's not about policing anyone. It is about doing the right thing - not wasting for waste's sake is doing the right thing - hot rodders do the right thing. Not always, but pretty often. And maybe more often than folks who just blindly lease a new vehicle every two years.

 

Exactly.

 

BinderRod, I think you missed the point!! The dumpster was only an example, the point he was making is , rodders are recyclers and responsible citizens of the world in that respect.

 

Should we build our cars out of wood?

 

Many good points. My guess would be that rodders in general try to get maximum performance out of their rig. Tire Pressure, alignment, oil types and quality, exhaust design... never mind all the engine, carb and cam specs! Certainly there's a re-cycling ethic we tend to follow. A number of members are working on mileage based performance here.

 

all good points...but i just don't believe that new green people in charge are going to somehow see us driving in 40-80 year old cars with V-8 engines as being green

 

Follow the money...it's pretty easy to figure out why things are as they are.

 

Squrirrel sumed it all up in a nutshell

 

I know a guy that bought an early 30s Chevy truck for his rod project. It was a rough but complete non running truck. By the time he got the project running the only thing he had used from the entire truck was the cowl. He trash canned everything else! Fenders, doors, cab back, roof, trans, frame, front and rear axles, everything. Yes, he's a card carrying moron.

 

Some would see the situation as the most economical, while others would see it as anti-environmental.

I would see it as a missed opportunity to get some free 2x4's.

I put a 12x14 addition onto my shop building this year and other than screws, nails, and some green treated boards for the bottom edges, I really didn't use anything new. I bought all the steel siding used for $10, I bought a window from my contractor brother for $50 (he had to take it out of someone's new house because they didn't like it), almost all the 2x4s are leftovers, even the sheeting on the roof. You pound out a lot of nails but it's a lot cheaper that way if you have the time. Even my door and door frame are coming from a house remodeling job (haven't gotten that yet, hopefully this week)

I would have just asked your neighbor if I could have all those boards. Because hey, free wood.

 

You can't really be concerned if I throw something away can you? Look at it this way, if I throw it away and a manufacturer has to make new ones, IT'S GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY..

 

Besides, pine makes lousy fire wood, and hard wood is seldom used in construction.

 

If liquid nails and drywall screws had been invented in 1935, Fisher Body Comany would still be in business!

 

Squirrel...

nutshell...

I get it.

 

You hit it right there... They don't see rods as being green because they aren't getting thier pockets lined... New cars, different story. Sure, they create jobs and a rod isn't for everyone but I agree, the general concensous is that we are a bunch of "kids" that never grew up.

 

...

 

Well, after commuting by bike for 10 years, buiding my strawbale shop using TONS of reclaimed or sustainable parts Al Gore needs to kiss my ass! My 54 gets the same mileage as my 00 ranger! fuck green, I gotta go check the venison I am smoking and the peppers growing in the windowsill. Screw the yuppies and hippies.

 

Pine, spruce & fir are the most common framing lumber and are all softwood, they don't burn clean and produce little heat.
Next time you remodel, ask your contractor to reuse the studs and see how much more you pay, not save, to be green. The time spent pulling nails and trying to re-nail dry, splitting lumber will eat up plenty $$$$.

 

The last time I used new 2x4's,I set them in my basement over the weekend and they curled and twisted so bad I couldn't use them.I'll take free STRAIGHT used lumber anytime.What's a few nails to pull? I redid my basement with reclaimed lumber just fine.The only thing to watch for is the really old stuff that is dimensional,it doesnt work to well with the newer stuff.

 

Amen !

 

People tend to not think logically. Around here, if you drive a hybrid you are allowed to drive in the HOV lane even if you are by yourself. But the advantage of a hybrid is in stop-and-go driving, not cruising. So, the logical solution would be to allow vehicles that get better mileage at cruise into that lane. Keep the hybrids out.

This has about as much a chance of flying as a brick. My point is that the obvious, knee-jerk solutions can be wrong, especially if they are made for political reasons (and reasons of convenience are a type of political decision) rather than logic.