Have you ever looked at a pile of shit…literally, a  pile of excrement from whatever animal and had a positive idea as to the possibility of what it could be used for? If you’re normal the answer is a definite, “No!” If you’re like me you see something very different than the pile, you see what it was is and will be…  I always find a use for something, anything, as everything has multiple uses.

Today I stopped at Pacific Steel in Lewiston Idaho. It is a fun place filled with so many stories it is impossible to even start to write them. I was there for scrap brass and copper, two of my favorite metals.

For me, Copper is #1. There is absolutely no better metal on this planet than copper. This is followed by the cousins of copper – brass and bronze. Now most would say, “Gold is the best, or silver, or platinum,” but they would be wrong on so many levels I won’t even go there.

It was slim pickings today as the scrap price for metal is down and people are waiting for the prices to go back up, but I always find something and find I did. A piece of copper sheeting and two grades of copper wire. Along with that I found two solid brass lamps.

This is what they ‘looked’ like…

This is what they now look like.

I sawed them up into usable pieces. Inside were large solid steel washers used to fool the consumer into thinking they were buying a very heavy solid brass lamp. Ha! Smart Chinese.

The steel washers will be used in one of my many projects and the two threaded light rods will be used on two lamps I’ll build out of either rock, wood, or both. The brass will now be made into jewelry.

The cost today was ten pounds of brass/$18.50 and three pounds of copper/$9.75. For me just the large steel washers and threaded light rods were worth the cost.

Fun day today indeed. Visited with Sophie an ‘almost’ four-year old and who loved to eat ice cubes out of her soda cup.

The ice which formed during the ice storm last night was truly an adventure to drive on, as was the slush covered highway.

Yes, another good day to live and a great find of junk which is now treasure.

Tonight is a moment of light as the rock softens, what a ride.