How to make alligators from recycled tires

So Many Tires so little Time!

Published by Amy Lake on Aug 22, 2014 1:26:18 PM

Tires

So often I speak to people who attend storage unit auctions, and their number one complaint is that they end up with Stuff that they have to throw away!!!

Well, my point of view is that you are bidding on and then buying Everything that is in that Unit and it is up to YOU to figure out a new way to use this “Stuff”!

The last few Blogs have been about different uses for everyday things and Today’s Blog is about the most commonly found object in Storage Units – TIRES!!!!

shutterstock/ Worytko Pawel

Round, rubbery, black, dirty, and oily, Tires can appear to be an arch nemesis!

But, some very Artsy Friends of mine have been sending me ideas about how to use Tires creatively, environmentally and just plain cool.

I have included a few ideas and pictures and hope that these ideas get passed on to families with children who would Love a backyard playground paradise, or a city Parks and Recreation Committee who is looking to do the Environmentally Correct thing or a Campground, Beachside park, or a whole subdivision who would embrace using these everyday items and recreate their use into something Incredible!!! Enjoy!!!

1. Tire Planter: This is simply more than amazing!!! Michaels, Target, Walmart all have those little three-legged stools that are unfinished. Just nail an old tire to the top of the stool, put a bucket with dirt in the middle, plant seeds and Voila!!! Coolest Planter Ever!!! And the rubber does NOT disintegrate like plain old plastic. So, you can add a new tire each season or 4 of them together when you change the tires!!!

http://www.hometalk.com/1327861/up-cycled-tire-planter

2. Tire Alligators: This was sent to me months ago. I’m not sure, since I live in Florida, if these were sent to me so that I could put them in my backyard and protect my many cats. But, I think these are an incredibly cool use of tires that any Playground Committee would love to include for their very imaginative children!!!

http://www.hometalk.com/2088986/recycled-tires

3. Tire Ottoman: Not only am I a BIG FAN of Bright colors, but, I adore controversial furniture!!!! A mirror, a glass top, a piece of chopping block or decoupage wood would make this idea the center piece of any room!!!

http://www.hometalk.com/3350461/design-on-a-budget

4. Tire Swing: And of course, how could a list of uses for tires be complete without your standard Tire Swing!!! But, you can make it completely original with just a bit of paint!!

http://www. hometalk.com/1460206/do-you-have-a-tire-not-a-belly-tire-but-a-tire

5. Tire Wall: I don't know about you, but this climbing wall is something that I believe I could even do!!! OKAY Playground People!!! Go to your local auto yard and grab yourself some tires!!!!

http://cdn.designrulz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/recycle-tire-designrulz-19.jpg

6. Office Chair: I absolutely am in LOVE with this idea!!!!! As a short person, I have gone through my fair share of office chairs!!! How cool is this to use as an outdoor patio chair!! It’s all rubber and the rain will just Bounce right off!!

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/0c/51/dd/0c51ddf0dfeaed2c35e520a2a8ef34b0.jpg

7. Tire Palm Tree: Well, What can I say? I live in Florida!!!! These are Perfect!!!!

http://www. lushome.com/30-amazing-ideas-reuse-recycle-old-car-tires-creative-recycled-crafts/77738

8. Tire Sinks: Forget the “Man Cave” thing!!! I think these would be fantastic in my art studio or kids’ bathroom!!! So Clever!

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/ce/a1/dd/cea1ddb7bcb7f63c17ec91eaa9dd8ae1.jpg

And Finally!!!!

9. Tire Elephant: This is beyond Fantastic!!! This is True Art and fits all of my criteria for Upcycle –Recycle and Reuse!!!!

http://www.yanzum.com/recycle-garden-design.html

Good Work One and All!!!

Now let’s see what YOU can do with Tires!!

Post a picture in our comments and we will get it out there for the whole World to see!!

Until Next Time

Keep on Junkin’

Amy

Tags: Updates

How to Build a Playground Out of Recycled Tires – Mother Earth News

You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on sterile, mass-produced recreational equipment. Take Paul Hogan’s advice instead

You could hardly do the tykes and teens in your community a better service than to provide them with a joyful place to sport and cavort. A playground needn’t require scads of expensive prefabricated equipment, either, because you can build a better recreation set than commercial manufacturers offer . . . using discarded auto and truck tires! Millions of the worn-out “road riders” become junked giveaways every year . . . so why not work with your fun-loving youngsters (and recycle a bit of America’s trash in the bargain) to construct your own super-fantastic, whale-of-a-time, free playground?

Please note that I just said you should work WITH the children. I started designing “outdoor rumpus rooms” years ago, and have since helped over 250 communities — from Ottawa to Tennessee — create their own playgrounds. The successes and failures I’ve experienced in these projects have taught me one vitally important lesson: Never build playgrounds without the total involvement of the children who will be using them!

There are several good reasons for “employing” youthful design and construction crews. For one thing, young people should be allowed to help develop their own play space. After all, most adults enjoy laying out a vegetable patch or redesigning their own homes . . . and young folks can have a lot of fun helping to shape their own “environments”, as well. (Remember, too, that one meaning of the word recreation is “the act of building anew”.)

In addition, your pre- and post-pubescent planners will make sure the finished structure is built to “scale”, and that it includes playthings the children themselves will want to use. All too many professionally designed playgrounds go un-enjoyed because they simply don’t appeal to young’uns!

More important, though . . . “offspring architects” may be necessary for a playground’s survival. When outdoor fun sites are designed and put up by adults, children will often “re-create” the parks in the only way they can . . . by destroying them! If these same individuals have their hands in the planning and development of the game ground, however, the juveniles will want to maintain — maybe improve — their structures . . . rather than damage them.

How to Find Used Tires

Once you corral some “constructive” youngsters (this should be an easy task, as most children will be eager to help!), all you’ll lack is your raw material: tires. Fortunately, an almost infinite number of old highway handlers can be had just for the scrounging.

What’s more, big truck or tractor castoffs are just as easy to secure — and “just as free”as are the smaller automobile wheel coverings. In fact, you can even get huge pneumatics (tires that often cost over $10,000 new) delivered to your playground! Simply phone your local quarry, road builder, or state highway department and convince the folks at these business offices to donate their casings to a worthy cause . . . the area’s children.

Remind the firms’ owners that they can take a tax write-off by giving their play objects to your community association or school . . . and probably save a dumping fee, besides. Chances are such business people will like your idea so much they’ll thank you for asking! Then — if you pick a spot or dig a hole for each tire before the big delivery — the donors will likely unload the rejected rubber giants right where you want ’em!

Some “Tired” and True Ideas

After you’ve garnered a collection of large and small tires, you’re ready to let your — and the youngsters’ — imagination run loose. To get you started, I’ll describe for you some structures I’ve built with other playground people. Perhaps our ideas will motivate the “think tanks” in your group . . . then you can invent some really zany recreation ideas and pass them on to me!

Canadian Log Roller. These rubber balance “logs” are child’s play . . . to make and to use! Just drill three equidistant holes through the sides of a bunch of “matching” tires (we’ve strung together as many as 10 of ’em!), and connect the casings with nuts and bolts. Be sure, though, to add extra wide washers on both sides of your hookups to keep the tires from tearing and separating. (In fact, install large washers whenever you bolt “wheel bracelets” together, and always cut drain holes in the lower portions of your casings to allow rainwater to run out.)

Many small fry play with the log by having one person ride inside while two or more children try to roll — and stay on top of — the rubber cylinder. This enjoyable game has only one official rule: When the tot inside hollers “stop”, the others must pause to let the well-spun youngster out.

Tire Tunnels. Just about every child loves to crawl through tunnels, so most playground builders plop a few concrete culverts somewhere on the lot. The huge pipe just doesn’t make as good a tunnel as does a set of large-hole farm tractor tires, though: Precast culverts are a lot of trouble to move into place, and more important — are much less safe than are their softer counterparts. (Which would you rather bump your head against . . . concrete or rubber?)

To make a tire tunnel, dig a big trench and line the ditch with some drainage material (such as gravel or sand). Roll your big rounds in place (drain holes down) and bolt the tires together, using two-inch-diameter (or larger) washers. Then backfill and tamp some dirt in the bottom of your passage to provide a level “floor” and to keep the structure from rolling.

When I help folks build tire tunnels, we’re always careful to pave the inside of the tube with used conveyor belting that we obtain for free from manufacturing companies. We anchor this knee protecting material just outside the tunnel’s ends by nailing it to buried wooden railroad ties or “sunken” pieces of utility pole. Rubber belting also makes a good safety surface for many other playground spots. You can lay it under swings and climbers, or any place where the children might hit a hard surface or perhaps wear the ground away.

Tire Caves. You can also partially bury tires to set up a series of hoop caves. The circular grottoes will give off eerie echoes when a child talks or hollers inside . . . and make some “hilly” climbing for those who’ll want to clamber along the top. The youngsters at the school where these caves are located were responsible for the dens’ fancy paint jobs. Furthermore, the artistic “little folk” don’t just rest on their rubber laurels . . . they redecorate the caverns every year! (By the way, it’s best to use water-based paint on tires. For some reason, oil-based coats have trouble drying!)

Tire Tipi. This casing “conestead” is a lot of fun to build and play on. We make our tipis three or four rounds tall for little tykes, and as big as possible for the “older” people. You can construct spaces between the tire layers by setting metal sleeves and washers on 6- to 12 inch galvanized fastening bolts. The gaps will make the tipi taller, easier to climb. . . and “springier” as well.

A tire tipi can be built by a crew of three people in a few hours. Once the structure is finished . . . each round plays the part of a coil on a giant spring, so the whole apparatus can rock excitingly to and fro like a sailboat in a heavy sea. (And don’t worry about the cone tipping over. I once challenged 10 teenagers to upset a tire tipi, and those strapping adolescents couldn’t do it. Well . . . at least not until they “cheated” by lassoing the top with a long rope and tugging on it for all they were worth!)

TireSandbox. The tractor-tire sandbox is an old idea, but we’ve updated the concept some by cutting off one side of the casing to give the play circle more open space. (A dry-wall cutter — or any sharp razor-type knife — makes a fine tire-trimming tool.) And don’t forget to drill drain holes in the “pneumatic’s” lower side . . . or your sandbox may turn into a quicksand box.

Rubber Alligators. If you’d like to give your playground a touch that every young Tarzan will love, just make a “threadbare” alligator out of an old tractor tire . . . and nail the rubber hide to a low log bench. Young folks can then pull Ally’s tail all day . . . “without getting eaten once”. We used a chain saw to cut out the reptile’s jaws, but that tricky task should only be attempted by someone who’s an expert at handling the dangerous tool.

Tire Climber. It’s easy to build an obstacle-course climber. . . if you erect it one row at a time (nobody could lift the whole thing!). Just remember the old tire rules: Use large washers to keep the rubber from tearing, and always drill drain holes. The children who worked on this climber wanted to “salute America”. . . so they turned their “rubber curtain” into a tire flag!

Miscellaneous Tiretry . The use of tires is limited only by the number available.

I’m not kidding, either! Tires can be stacked into mountains (or hide-and-go-seek mazes) … built into dome-shaped jungle gyms . . . fastened along the sides of posts to make “trees” . . . suspended as bridges . . . “sculpted” into play cars or boats … made into hammocks … laid out as roly-poly walkways . . . and more, more, more! And — as you may have noticed — I haven’t even mentioned tire swings! It would take another whole article to describe the many great designs for rim-riding “swaythings”.

So please, don’t let a lack of funds stop you from helping your youngsters have a great place to play. (And don’t let a surplus of moneys lure you into buying outdoor equipment, either.) Because with a little bit of scrounging — and a lot of inventive young volunteers — you can put together a playground children will never get “tired” of!

Inner Tube Follies

Whenever you and your
troops head out on a used tire “scavenger hunt”, be sure to snatch up all
the used inner tubes you find along the way. Many of the deflated
“doughnuts” you discover probably won’t hold air. . . but don’t fret:
Simply select tubes with leaks that can be repaired. Once you fix and inflate
those punctured “air holders”, they’ll provide your young’uns with
hundreds of ways to have fun . . . just as tires do!

Bigger children can, for instance, let off a little
steam — harmlessly — by having inner tube “pillow fights”.. . or by
climbing into truck tubes and trying to roll down a hill. For your younger
charges, just set a “net” of the easily stored inflatables on the
ground. The little tykes will jump at — and all over — this chance to practice
their “trampolining” The tots can also take their storytime rests in
the airy cushions.

Inner tubes are even good for winter games. In
fact, the pneumatic doughnuts make especially great sleds because nobody gets
hurt in a collision!

So haul a passel of “tubes” out to a
playground, then let the youngsters have at ’em! The former tire fillers will
suddenly become bumpers, back stops, safety nets, “giant ring
toss”hoops . . . and more. You’ll be astounded by the clever uses children
can create for these flexible “toys”. Why, one young fellow claimed
that he even played with an inner tube while he was swimming!

Of course, that idea did seem a bit far-fetched . .
. .

Crafts for the garden: Alligator from a tire - catalog of articles on the site

Crocodile from a tire is a frequent resident of the plots. No wonder: the texture of the material for such crafts for the garden is ideal. In fact, convex rhombuses, squares are almost crocodile skin.

Especially such crocodiles like to “settle” near ornamental ponds (or even in them).

Almost always crafts from tires - crocodiles are painted green. Logically: crocodiles are green. But not all. For example, alligators are dark gray, brown or even black. Very serious animals (carnivorous reptiles), impressive.

So if you get a tire from a big vehicle, don't "translate" it to crocodiles - make an alligator. But, in principle, large crafts from the garden in the form of alligators are quite simple to make by connecting several tires. The easiest way is to cut the tire with a saw (with an electric saw, the tire, in general, is cut like butter), and make holes with an electric drill with a large drill. Fasten with tighter wire.

Insert pieces of metal rods (reinforcement) for the legs to hold the body. And in no case do not paint - immediately the status of the alligator crafts for the garden will disappear, and you will face an ordinary crocodile from a tire.

Tire alligators look very natural in the grass, among stones, under trees (by the way, real alligators dig their holes under trees, among the roots).

In nature, adult alligators have different sizes - depending on the species. So, male Chinese alligators have a length of up to 2.2 m, females - 1.4-1.6 m. Their American "relatives" are much larger: males reach a length of 4-4.5 m, females - 2. 5-3 m. Be guided by these indicators when making such original crafts for the garden. You can make a whole family - it will look interesting.

MORE FOR THE GARDEN:

Ideas for the garden: a very interesting lion from bottles

Crafts from plastic bottles: Tree of happiness in the garden

Adorable pied hen and cockerel made of plastic bottles unique: 9002 9002 9002 palm tree

Tire Dolphin

Flowerbed Swan - Easy Creation

Plastic Bottle Crafts: Amazing TreeFancy Plastic Bottle Flower Beds

Plastic Bottle Flowers with Hard Petals

Garden Crafts: Fantastic Chickens!

Garden figures: Funny boar

Golden tire fountain

Garden crafts: super beeGarden decorations from an old trunk

Ornamental tree in the garden

Plastic bottle palm tree: plastic bottle crafts

flower beds

Palm tree from plastic bottles: with BANANA!

Golden snail tire

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Image copyright Christy Kroboth

Christy Kroboth gave up her career as a dental nurse in favor of animals much more toothy than humans. She was the only woman in the alligator catcher course. She tells how this circumstance even more motivated her to demonstrate to everyone that she could jump on an animal many times her size and tightly tie its mouth.

When I first got my license, it was just a hobby for me. I went to work in dentistry, and in my free time I caught alligators.

But I was good at catching them alive, and now this is my full-time job.

I have always been very fond of animals. I think it's from my mom. As children, when we were driving, she always stopped and helped the turtles and ducks across the road. We have always adopted stray cats, dogs and any animal that needed a home.

In south Texas, where I live, there are a lot of alligators swimming in artificial ponds.

Residents are very afraid that they will eat their children or dogs, but in the last hundred years the alligator has killed only one person, so all this is prejudice.

This type of alligator has lived on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs. They are important to the ecosystem, they control all aquatic life. They are actually very shy animals and don't want to hurt anyone.

But people think they are monsters. They had this image in their head, and when I first noticed it, I thought, "What can I do to change people's perception?"

Image caption,

Christy caught this giant alligator on the golf course

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You can't just go and catch an alligator, they are protected by the state of Texas. You need to get a special license and permission.

I registered for an alligator catcher license with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and completed the course.

I was the only woman in the class, and also the youngest among all the students. First we learned all the rules, laws and regulations, and then our trainer said: "Okay, you passed all the written requirements, now let's start practicing."

I had never touched an alligator before, and for a split second I thought, "I can't do this." I called my mom and said, "Mom, I can't!" And my mother, of course, answered: "Go home quickly, don't do it!"

But something inside me said, "I have to do this - not only for the alligators, but also to prove to these big country boys that I can."

I ran to the pond, grabbed the alligator, rolled its mouth and passed the test. It was one of the happiest moments of my life and this drive didn't last all day.

Image copyright Getty Images

The biggest alligator I ever caught was 4 meters long and weighed over 408 kg. For comparison, I weigh 54 kg.

He was blind, got lost in the parking lot and could not find his way to the water.

We usually catch alligators by grabbing their jaws with both hands. Then, when you feel the moment is right, you remove one hand, take the duct tape out of your pocket, and rewind its mouth. Everything must be done quickly.

That alligator was so big that my hands were too small for its mouth. I tried to call my friends for help, but it was six in the morning and none of my volunteers answered.

I managed to get the local policeman to help me, but he didn't want to grab the alligator's mouth with his hands, which is generally understandable.

Another way to catch an alligator is to try to pin it to the ground by jumping on its back. I got this poor cop to jump on the alligator with me.

The trick is to press down on the alligator with all your weight. But the officer could not, he just seemed to be dancing around him - this is probably what any untrained person would do.

The alligator didn't like this and began to fidget about trying to free himself. I immediately realized that nothing would come of it, so I got up to move away, but the alligator knocked me down with its tail, and I ended up right at its untied mouth.

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Video Caption,

Kristy Krobot and a policeman trying to catch an alligator in the parking lot

We tried to catch this alligator for several hours and were very tired. People began to come to the parking lot, shops opened, so I had to call the wildlife inspector.

I felt very sad because inspectors usually don't catch but kill alligators.

I went to my car and cried because the animal had beaten me. I called the inspector and he said, "Christy, stop crying. I'll come and help you. Don't touch the alligator until I get there."

His words gave me such a boost of energy, I was so happy. I got out of the car with the feeling that I could conquer the world, because help was hurrying to me.

Somehow I managed to approach the alligator and clasp its mouth with one hand, bandaging it with the other. We ran to the store for zip ties and tied the alligator's paws behind its back so that it couldn't escape.

Then the inspector came and said, "I told you not to catch him!"

And I answered: "I'm sorry, but I suddenly felt that I could do it, and I did it!"

We had to borrow a forklift to pick up the alligator and load it into my friend's car.

Potentially dangerous alligators that cannot be released back into the wild are taken to a huge farm with lots of ponds. But if the alligator can be released into the wild, there are several special places where we take it.

Lives in the fresh waters of North America for more than 8 million years
Feeds on fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals
Average weight - 360 kg, average length - 4 m

crawl on the seats and even climb into my front to help me drive. So sometimes we ride with an alligator together and wave to other motorists.

I have noticed that if the car is very cold, the alligators feel calmer. So even when it's the middle of summer in Houston - 36 degrees Celsius and high humidity - I drive in a jacket, gloves, a scarf and wrapped in a blanket, because it's very cold in my car.

But the alligator is well-behaved, and this is the most important thing.

Sometimes they go to the toilet in the car and the smell is not the best, so you have to open the windows and drive on.