My appreciation and very belated intro

Most of you have seen me occasionally popping into conversations and contributing my knowledge to this forum. I have come a long way since I first discovered this forum. Its been 3 years since I joined and I still never made a proper intro.



I do road and bridge construction and scrap as a hobby/side job. It all started when I was pulling copper wire and pipe out of the ground digging ponds and ditches. They just threw it away and let me set it aside and take it on my own time.

I discovered this forum when I was researching home smelting. Once I found this place It had me "distracted" from my original purpose. (still haven't done much smelting.) I fell in love with scrapping, It felt like it was what I was supposed to do. It fit my interests and lifestyle perfectly.

This was my first big load from a airport runway job. This was the first big load that got me addicted to scrap. I pulled in about $200 profit after I minus the $80 for a wire stripper.


After reading here for a while, I quickly learned about e waste. I was interested, but never really came across it. Until I put a little effort in and realized e waste was a good addition to my scrap program. I have since made a few business deals and now have a steady supply of e waste.

I am now at the limbo space between, Not having enough time to scrap all that I bring in, and Still making to much money at my normal job to scrap full time... I am working on a business/ website/ bank account/ The works. Seeing where it will go. Maybe someday I will be full time. The goal is to retire early from my normal job and scrap till I die!

I made it a point (with my wife of course) to only spend money on scrap/scrapping/tools/etc.. with money I made from scrapping. I kept it separate from our "real money" (as we call it.) 3 years later... I have a (used) 2003 F-250, A 16' trailer, all the tools I will need and a steady supply of scrap that I pay for. ALL FROM NOTHING.

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT SCRAPPING, I LEARNED HERE! This site has helped me so much and I figured its the least I could do. Showing my appreciation I finally paid for the SMF subscription. For no reason other than saying my thanks. Thanks everyone for all the info too. Much appreciated.

welcome to the forum, please take some time to read through the stickies and threads on this site. Most of your questions have been answered plenty of times already. hehehehe.


I'm on the same path, more or less, with the scrapping/working full time, starting to accumulate more than I can process normally. I am actually starting to get my wife into the eBay side of things, so I'm hoping she can help me out there, so I can continue to spend my time in the garage.

Good job on starting it from nothing. Keep building your wealth slowly and work on keeping it and you'll hit that early retirement goal.

Originally Posted by lousypirate

welcome to the forum, please take some time to read through the stickies and threads on this site. Most of your questions have been answered plenty of times already. hehehehe.

Ill try using the search function next time. Sorry for asking dumb questions

Welcome from Dakota Territory. Happy for your success, please share more of your secrets.

Originally Posted by ParkerFlyer4

Ill try using the search function next time. Sorry for asking dumb questions

pffffffittttttt newbies shessshhhhhhhh

Originally Posted by lousypirate

I'm on the same path, more or less, with the scrapping/working full time, starting to accumulate more than I can process normally. I am actually starting to get my wife into the eBay side of things, so I'm hoping she can help me out there, so I can continue to spend my time in the garage.

work on finding/making more space. I'm considering building a shed or renting a storage unit. Space is my biggest problem right now. I still work a full time job, so I stockpile scrap to be broken down later when work is slow.

I tried getting my wife into ebay. Didn't work. She cant stand dealing with people. I will try to get into it in the near future.