Hoard Hoard Hoard.... NOT!!! And this is why...

When prices started to get real bad back in march, I hoarded for 52 days without going to the scrapyard. Bad idea. More and More i would find and people would keep calling me for pick ups. Copper/Wire/Brass are good to save. Easy 30-40 lbs in a five gallon bucket. The way I look at it is, Scrap or Quit.

Not sure if this counts as hoarding but I did a farm cleanup recently and instead of hauling everything to scrap, I hauled it home to sell off piece by piece. By my estimates there was 40 to 50,000 lbs. At $30/ton that’s $600 to $750. I made $1,400 off one piece alone. Then I’ve been parting out a few tractors and vehicles. $20 here, $50 there, where had I scrapped them, it would have literally been pennies. For instance, someone bought a steering pump. Say it weighs 15 lbs. That’s not even 25 cents. Think I ended up selling it for $20. I do that all day, every day.

We all figure out our path. What works for one, may not work for another.

I paid everything off, including the house last year, so all I have are the regular stuff like gas, electric, food, insurance, etc. and it’s all fairly cheap where I live. Now just trying to sock away a bit for retirement.

Do Squirrels Ever Forget Where They Put Their Nuts?

Yep, that's how a lot of trees get started...

Thanks for sharing there blackgold12. Its been a while since I've squirrel hunted but I was always amazed how well they were endowed in the nads department per body size...

Market prices aside, its driven by supply and demand. If everyone hoards, supply drops and demand goes up, prices would get a bit better.
Then everyone cashes in and supply goes up, demand is met and prices would drop or pan out.
Personally there is nothing wrong with hoarding if you can do it. My Yard held out for 3 years with copper (but they had storage space) and bought heaps at low prices
and did well when they picked back up. Steel is not worth hoarding at any price so that kept the ball rolling. i'll hang on to anything that's worth more than 50 cents a kg, until i run out of space. plus no point in making a $100 run unless i'm desperate. Depends what works for you i guess

I have been "stockpiling" copper and brass for 4-6 years. I have over a ton saved (everything included). I call it my "emergency fund". I have a mental checklist when I will sell. When any of these items get "checked" it's time to sell.

Question: Approximately how much would a gaylord box of #2 copper weight?? Or a gaylord of yellow brass? (I doubt I have a Gaylord of brass though.)

Originally Posted by nutpie

I have been "stockpiling" copper and brass for 4-6 years. I have over a ton saved (everything included). I call it my "emergency fund". I have a mental checklist when I will sell. When any of these items get "checked" it's time to sell.

Question: Approximately how much would a gaylord box of #2 copper weight?? Or a gaylord of yellow brass? (I doubt I have a Gaylord of brass though.)

My guess ( whats a 'Gaylord'? ) Is that a fadge would contain about 500 -600 Kgs of Copper #2.
Thats based on my '9 sacks in a fadge @ 55Kgs a sack'. Now a sacks not a full height ( of the width )
So a Cubic gaylord, or fadge, or pallet, would be a bit short of a Ton. Maybe 800-900 Kgs.

What did i win?

48 x 40 x 36” Standard Gaylord Size. 39 cubic feet.

Originally Posted by nutpie

Question: Approximately how much would a gaylord box of #2 copper weight?? Or a gaylord of yellow brass? (I doubt I have a Gaylord of brass though.)

Depends on the sizes of the copper pieces. A full gaylord of copper flake can be almost 5000lbs, a full gaylord of copper granules from wire shredding can be 7000lbs. A full gaylord of #2 pipe can be less than 400lbs. It really does vary dramatically. if you post a picture or two of the kind of stuff I can give a better estimate. For brass too it varies. A full gaylord of small valves is around 4500lbs while an average box of mixed yellow brass stuff is closer to 1800-2200lbs but it can be dramatically lighter, as little as 800-1000lbs if there's a bunch of thin, hollow shapes like brass bowls taking up a lot of space.

Ah ha, i just found out a 'Fadge' is 700D x 700W x 1000H
So, 28 x 28 x 40 inches, thats quite a bit smaller than i thought it was.

A fadge is a polypropylene sack with 4 flaps, one on each side, each one will fold over and cover the whole top of it.
Its actually designed to hold wool & fits in a wool press, thats a double height wooden contraption.
The wools thrown in untill its full, then the lid is put on and a winch pulls the lid down, squashing the wool untill its 1/2 the volume, then somehow the flaps are folded over and fastened with metal hooks.
So with there being a lot of sheep here, a fadge has become a defacto standard sack like container of sorts.




Wool bale is what i know them as in aus....... we get cans full of them all the time from farmers and drunks. they have clip with pointy ends, almost like a broken chain like
to fasten them. im sure if you googled wool bale clips itd come up...

Originally Posted by JJinLV

Depends on the sizes of the copper pieces. A full gaylord of copper flake can be almost 5000lbs, a full gaylord of copper granules from wire shredding can be 7000lbs. A full gaylord of #2 pipe can be less than 400lbs. It really does vary dramatically. if you post a picture or two of the kind of stuff I can give a better estimate. For brass too it varies. A full gaylord of small valves is around 4500lbs while an average box of mixed yellow brass stuff is closer to 1800-2200lbs but it can be dramatically lighter, as little as 800-1000lbs if there's a bunch of thin, hollow shapes like brass bowls taking up a lot of space.

Mostly copper tubing cut to approx 2 ft in length. I have most packed in smaller boxes for easier handling