Ideas for Making Money On The Road

[Every Road Leads Home]

What would you folks thing of knifesmithing for road-friendly income? I've an interest and the physical ability. I can make a tiny forge out of an old brake drum, and a stump anvil is only four inches square and weights ~25 lbs. Two hammers, a small bench with a vice and an assortment of files- all the tools can be packed into a reasonably small area. If I get a roof bin, I could store what I need up there when on the move.

As to fuel- I can make forge-quality charcoal with fallen branches, a campfire and an old paint tin, and any railroad will offer up any amount of steel spikes that can be forged into handy knives and even small hatchets.

It can also be a sharpening service for all sorts of edged gear- I can sharpen axes and chainsaws easy, and I can do extremely fine sharpening on kitchen blades.

Camp out on public land somewhere out of the way and just put hammer to steel all day. Do it near a lake or river and have a line in the water for my meals. Sounds rather like heaven to me.

Railroad spikes don't make very good knives because they don't contain much carbon.  Carbon being what makes a steel hard.   They normally contain either .12% carbon or .30% carbon and the ideal range for a good knife is .85% to 1.5%.  3-5 times higher than railroad spikes contain.  Therefore, they won't hold an edge very good.  That being said, almost every  new knife maker dabbles with rail road spikes when first starting out and they can and do make some artistic pieces from them.  Back in my cabinet shop days me and a few of the other guys there got into knife making after work and I messed around with it for a few years.  I often thought it would be cool to make and sell knives on the road.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Chimes need to be tuned when they're made and each of us has a different key that our brain likes. Listening to chimes that are discordant or made of the wrong material hurts my ears too but a good set of wind chimes in the right key tinkling softly in the breeze is my third most favorite sound after wolves howling and loons calling.

Loons calling is my personal favorite........spent many a summer nights growing up fly fishing in Maine to the calls of Loons.  Second to that is rain on a tin roof.  Van roofs work just as well.

 

[highdesertranger]

knife making sounds really cool, a member here does it. a little heads up about the railroad spikes, they are on the forbidden list at the metal recycler in fact everything that has to do with railroads. it seems the railroad is cracking down on people stealing their stuff. highdesertranger

 

[darude]

hmm someone could probily get into home remodeling or something of that nature. since your not paying rent or a house payments then you could under bid the other person and get the contract

 

[GotSmart]

hmm someone could probily get into home remodeling or something of that nature. since your not paying rent or a house payments then you could under bid the other person and get the contract

In many markets if you do not have a local contractor's license, you can be arrested.  Way too many fly by night scam artists have ruined things for honest people.

 

[Fivealive]

I have no workable suggestion for how to advertise the hosting or get customers, but this place offers a reseller service similar to what the OP described.  Unlimited space, bandwidth, domains for 22/month.


http://www.hosting24.com/reseller.php

 

[hoodoo]

I'm just embarking on a year-long work camping odyssey. A CLM job in the Mt Hood National Forest as a campground host (no cell coverage, the only thing they provide is water and a campsite; vault toilets); it's primitive, but it looks beautiful. 4 months of 30 hours a week at $9.25 an hour plus the site. I'll post about it after I get a sense. Then the Beet harvest in ND, then Amazon in Tennessee for 3 months more or less. All these I learned about at the 2 RTRs I attended.

This is my first year full-timing, so I felt I should ensure income until I get a feel for things; I haven't had time to blog or write much, but that's a goal. I see some members have published books and earn pretty well from them.  I like the idea of a book earning for me (if it sells, of course), so with the  time in the national forest I plan to give it a try.

I have no idea about the Beet Harvest or Amazon, other than it's hard work but pays pretty well. But that will have been 9 months of grunt work, so I would love to find some other things. Xmas tree work sounds good. I'll try to come up with something. I also met Eugene at the last RTR, who busks (performs music in public places), I am working toward doing that next year as well. We'll see.

Can't thank Bob enough for his advice and support for this life!

 

[Canine]

Plenty of temporary work where we are in W.Yellowstone.Most jobs provide housing or a full hook up.Many of the resorts,dude ranches,etc also provide all meals.Expect around $2000 a month including tips.Good Luck.

 

[gcal]

Just saw a guy collecting cans out of our dumpster. He makes the rounds every day, so what we throw away endes up at a recycler instead of a landfill. As long as we are here, we will be putting our cans in a separate bag and leaving them next to the dumpster. I think I will have a Coke right now.

 

[Queen]

Just saw a guy collecting cans out of our dumpster. He makes the rounds every day, so what we throw away endes up at a recycler instead of a landfill. As long as we are here, we will be putting our cans in a separate bag and leaving them next to the dumpster. I think I will have a Coke right now.

I'm a big supporter of dumpster diving, people throw away some ridiculous stuff... but be aware it's illegal in some jurisdictions.  

Some places consider the contents of the dumpster as the property of the entity paying for the trash service, taking contents is theft.  I think the laws exist in order to cut liability in case someone is injured while diving the dumpster.

All in all, pretty sad state of affairs when someone can't go through garbage to eat, recycle, or find cans.

 

[sushidog]

I worked for a grocery store chain in California that suffered a huge lawsuit from the relatives of a homeless man who ate from one of our dumpsters and died as a result. Thereafter we were required to spray the contents with a foul smelling purple substance to taint the contents marking them unfit for human consumption. The dumpsters had signage to that effect too (both in English and Spanish.) It's sad, but if we didn't do it we would expose ourselves to expensive lawsuits. We even were forced to stop giving or stale bread to homeless shelters to avoid litigation after a similar lawsuit involving an old homeless drunk choking and dying on some stale bread. What we need is tort reform and good Samaritan laws to protect those who want to do the right thing but are afraid of getting sued.

Chip

 

[Snowbunny]

"What we need is tort reform and good Samaritan laws to protect those who want to do the right thing but are afraid of getting sued."

Years ago, in a land far away, farmers routinely left a remnant of the crops in the fields for the destitute to glean. Nomads traveling through would work for their food by harvesting the leftovers. I read about two women who benefited greatly. And one of them even found her future husband in doing this!
How sad to know we find it hard to give leftovers away. In the 1980s, I worked for a larger hotel chain as a kitchen worker. The amount of food that was thrown away was astonishing....especially from the Sunday Brunch! Some of the Asian employees would take the spinach stems and other throwaway parts of fresh vegetables for their soups at home, with the chef's blessing. They would leave work with garbage bags full of this to feed their families. All of this was fine until some creep employee stole a box of steaks off a delivery truck which caused a company change of policy regarding leaving work with leftovers. Of course, company morale also took a dive after that happened.
:s

 

[akrvbob]

I've deleted the posts on the homeless, because they are off topic.

Let me say this again for those who have a hard time with the concept:

Any thread that contains the philosophy of
"They are all ...."

Will be deleted. It doesn't matter who "they" are. An example:

The homeless are all lazy and just won't work.
Mexicans are all lazy and just won't work.
Blacks are all lazy and just won't work.
Pollocks are all lazy and just won't work.

Just because insulting some groups is popular right now, does not mean I'll let you do it. Keep your hate to yourself.

Any further comments on this will be deleted.
Bob