Shows us what you've found? I've never found anything of great value. But over the years have gained a few shovels, miscellaneous hand tools, log chains, etc. Yesterday I found a car bucket seat in a ditch I was cleaning. Today I was cutting a road bank and found this treasure.
Try taking it in for the deposit
Didn't find this from a road side ditch rather behind a 12" thick retainer wall we demo'd on a large arena project back in 2020. I'm old enough to remember the pop tops.
My old man spent about 20 yrs on a grader. I remember as a kid he would bring home at least a hubcap a week. I don't think he ever found to much exciting stuff.
It's amazing what you find when you're maintenance grading. Mostly, it's stuff that fallen off due to rough roads - trim pieces, hubcaps, an occasional light assembly - even brake parts! Pieces of furniture that weren't tied down properly, that fell off and exploded into a hundred pieces as it hit the road! Clothing! Now, there's some interesting finds in that area, and panties and bras are common! It must get hot when you travel, that's l I can gather. I once found a perfect condition 20 tonne jack! It made a nice addition to the workshop. I've found a lot of dunnage (wooden blocks that are normally used under loads), meaning some people don't take much care with the security of items on their truck decks! In fact, lack of load security is a big issue here in Australia. Way too many people are too casual about load security, and roadside signage reminds you "Secure loads make for safe roads!". I've come across star pickets, hay bales, large bolts, complete spare wheel carriers, complete wheels, tyres, buckets, tools - and I even found a complete 2000lb electric winch in a box, once! I advertised for weeks for anyone that had lost an electric winch to come and pick it up, but they obviously never saw my ad! So, I've still got quite a nice 2000lb winch adorning my shop!
When i was hauling alot of scrap to KC i saw alot of load binder cheater pipes the ones that have the strap winch end on them. I wanted one but every time i saw one it was in a bad place to stop one day i saw a red one and was able to stop and get it. Twenty years later i still have it. I have found alot of tools but there always cheap junk.
I was working on a friends potato digger, riding up high, feverously picking rocks and trash from the moving conveyor (they have since bought a wind machine) I noticed this as we ran next to a state road: The first pass (nearest the road) didn't have much "trash" for me to remove, but the next pass in, had more. I can only figure people toss the trash far enough to get into the field.
I lost some thing the other day . I hauled several loads of brush to the city brush place in my f600 but for some reason i had a little left and hauled it in my Dakota. I bought a bigger pocket knife and found out i didnt like carrying it in my pocket but for some reasone i took it with me . I had used it and laid it on the bed side . I drove to the dump then i rememberd it was gone. I hadnt paid alot for it and didnt like it. I hope some one found it and liked it.
close to 40 years ago I was driving on the highway on my way home. I spotted a push broom lying on the side of the road. I stopped and picked it up. i am still using it in the shop all these years later. Around the same time period early spring I was getting my children's bicycles ready for use and the tire pump gave out. We embarked on the 20 minute drive into town when I spotted what looked like a bicycle pump lying on the side of the highway. I turned around and stopped and sure enough it was a good quality new tire pump someone had lost.
I found a stash of marbles once. I was getting a driveway ready to pave, and they were in a little bag
I have a Pepsi machine that used those bottles setting out back its getting pretty bad from setting out side . I need to advertise it and see if anyone wants it before i haul it off for scrap.
I picked up a brand new top quality life jacket in a ditch. The Walmart bag with the receipt for it was laying was nearby. The life vest was too small for me. Walmart exchanged for one that fits. I have an 18 foot Alumacraft boat and the life jacket got a lot of use.
I found a chainsaw once and was able to return it to the original owner. I am in cattle country. Hundreds of thousands of large round bales of hay fed each year. 95% of it is net wrapped. A few of the ranchers on my roads have found the best disposal of the net wrap is to roll it up in a ball and throw it on the truck flatbed. When they get home it's magically gone. Net wrap and graders are not a good combination.......
40 years ago I took a part time job driving a semi grain truck to KC, 100 miles one way. Was pulling a flat bottom grain trailer. To dump you parked on a huge ramp hoist and it literally lifted the front of the semi with trailer high enough that the grain would slide out the open rear doors. I had to add engine oil before a trip one morning. Had to use my pliers to open the oil container. For some stupid reason I laid the pliers on the expanded metal step at the passenger door of the truck. Went to KC, unloaded, came home. Needed my pliers for some reason and realized they weren't in my pliers holder. Damn it..... Cussing myself out loud realizing what I had done. Walked past the passenger side of the tractor as I was tongue lashing myself and glanced at the step where I had left my pliers. There they were. How the Hell did they make that trip and not get lost.
I want it!!!! I have an old can machine and would love to have a bottle machine!!!! Seriously, unless you are a long ways from me, I want it!!!! I'm 90 miles North of KC on I-35.
Just recalled one from a few years back. About a mile from home while going to breakfast one Sunday morning saw something on the side of the road stopped and went back to find a Garmin GPS just laying there! Never had one so spent a little time playing with it and figured out how to turn it on. It seemed to be working fine and we even used it a bit that day while out for a ride. Finally noticed that there was a setting for go "Home". Clicked on that and decided to see where it took us. Turns out it was just a short distance from where we had found it. Pulled in the drive and knocked on the door. Guy was surprised as he did not even know he had lost it! Seems the night before when he got out of the car in he had left it on the car roof and forgot it was there when he went somewhere the next morning. A couple days latter he stopped by our house with a bottle of wine as a thank-you!
I hauled to a place in Kc that raised the trucks up if you didnt have hopper bottoms. There was a guy that had a long cabover that couldnt get dumped his cab would hit something he wanted some one to hook on to his trailer to dump it.
I made several trips down into Arkansas to chicken farms with that trailer. No lift. Position a slider hole over the pit starting with the front one. When the corn stops you get in the trailer and shovel to the hole. Then pull forward to the next one and repeat. End up shoveling at least 25% of the load......
Best I ever found was a load binder on the on the Hwy just past a traffic light. We were pulling into a parking lot just at the corner and traffic was very light on a Saturday morning. Just a quick dash as the lights changed and score. Cam
Found a cell phone this evening...wasn't in the shop 2 minutes, the damn thing rang, "boss nick". So I answered it, sure enough, the guys boss, checking on his guy that had some dental work done today. He thought I was bs'ing him when I told him, just just found it (going down the road on the lawn mower). Finally convinced him l was legit, gave him my number, he called owners wife, she called me...live less than a mile away. She was here in 5 minutes. Alls well that ends well... Ed
Found a pair of good vise grips on a rough RR crossing near our house, had my Dad’s Initials on them. My dad was a grader operator found lots of stuff, vises, Cresent wrenches, binders etc, the best was a bust of a Canadian PM in stone, this was on gravel road in the sticks
My dad was bad about losing tools . He borrowed a socket off me and left it and his breaker bar on the bumper of his pickup he said o well they didnt cost that much. He said one time on the tools you use alot you need to buy several at one time because they are easy to lose.
Found a standup paddle board new in the box in a ditch along the highway. We saw the box on the way into the city in the morning but didn’t stop . On the way home that evening it was still there so we stopped and found out it was a new paddle board worth several hundred dollars. I had quite a time strapping it to the roof of the suv.
I found a fur coat in a garment bag one day. A real, honest-to-goodness fur coat! I think it was fox fur. I had been sent up to the Manchester batch plant to fix a couple of mixers, and on my way home I saw this bag in the middle of route 7 on Purdy Hill. I turned around and picked it up and pretty near flipped out when I saw what was inside. That evening I called the Manchester PD to report the find and left my phone number. I got a call the next day thanking me, and the lady asked if I could ship it to them and they would reimburse us. We packed it carefully in a heavy box and Dailey’s office sent it out the next morning. They sent back the shipping costs plus extra——and a really nice fur trimmed hat for my wife. Seldom worn but really appreciated.
So ... did you happen to find the guy who lost his marbles?
I found a Sunkist pop bottle the other day. I saw it a half second before I broke it......
I have graded mainly chains and binders and stuff like that on logging roads, one 18mm Snap On end wrench. My eyes were peeled the rest of the day looking for the rest of the set! The best I have found on the highway was a brand new Milwaukee 18 volt drill in the case, asked around but never did find who owned it. My coworker found a big Cat O-Ring kit not far from where I found the drill full of ORF and ORB o-rings, that was worth more than the drill!