Merry Christmas to me!!

Today while at my parents place my dad gave me an envelope with a hand drawn map inside. It took me a min and him explaining to figure what out what the hell was going on. It was a treasure map!!! (So to speak)lol He drew out a map of the country neighborhood, labeling all the neighbors houses with numbers. I had five guesses to figure out where the scrap was. Luckily he gave me more guesses because it took me till the eleventh to get it, lol.

A neighboring property was sold a while back to a very large farming outfit. The farming outfit had the house and 2 barns burned by the fire department, which leaves just a bunch of misc ruble. Dad talked to the farming outfit and they are gonna bulldoze what is left into a hole so they can connect 2 fields. They said feel free to go over there and take anything I want except for a swather that they own, and a flatbed trailer.

Me and dad went over there and checked it out today. I'm guessing there has to be at least 1-2 tons of stuff laying around. Things I noticed was:



The framing of an old rail car they had as a shed
Old water heater
2 appliances that are unburnt
2 ac units
riding lawn mower
wood stove in the now open basement
couple vehicle rims
old compressor pump
piping EVERYWHERE, including some heavy water main pipes

and 2 things we are gonna check on

a snow blower that is unburnt but old
and an old hand well pump that isn't stuck, but missing the handle

Good thing I'm a farm boy and have loader tractors available to use, cause some of that stuff I don't have a chance of lifting. My dads gonna call the farming outfit and confirm everything in the next day or 2. I'm gonna have him put a bug in their ear that if they get another place like this locally, to give me a call.

I'm really looking forward to getting to work on this. I can only imagine what could be buried underneath some of piles of concrete. I didn't take any pics while I was out there, but I will next time I'm out there. Stay tuned and I will update when I have something to add.

Congratulations. Sounds like you have a pretty special Dad.

Thanks!! I love my dad. He supports me the best he can in anything I do.

Lol, thats such a fun way to get some scrap! You dad sounds like a great guy

Thanks everyone for the positive words. It's kind of funny that about 5 years ago dad chewed my butt for bringing a caprice wagon and a ford taurus home for 150 bucks. Now I'm sitting on 11 vehicles, 20 some appliances and about 3-4 pickup loads of misc scrap and he's trying to find me more. All I had to do was convince him of the money that can be made.

Got out to the site today for about an hour before work. Started sorting out the sheet metal from the rest out of the old rail car. Figure I'm gonna do as much of the sorting as I can before I start hauling it in. Not in any big hurry. A lot of pieces are gonna end up being brought home and cut to maximize profit. Here is a few pics I took while out there. This is before I did anything. Everything is kinda spread out, but oh well. You take what you can get.

Looks like money to me !! Have fun !

Nice find! Days like this make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. =)

Originally Posted by imyourgirl

Nice find! Days like this make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. =)

That they do!!




Went back out today and got one of the old barns sorted out. The fire in that building must not have been as hot as the others. I actually found copper wire worth keeping. Not much, but enough. Also found a hole in the concrete floor. Luckily I found it with my eyes before my feet. It was covered by a little of the concrete rubble, probably about 3ft deep. Wouldn't have killed me, but may have hurt a little. Finding that serves as a reminder that when doing any scrapping adventure, SAFETY FIRST!!!. No matter how small the job. Another cool find while I was out there. Found an old snowmobile frame. No engine, seat, or plastic. Thought it was kind of funny that I walked about 10 ft away from it the other day and never seen it. Them tall weeds can hide anything I guess, lol.

Went out to the site this last weekend and loaded up a trailer load of misc steel from the railroad car.





So far I've hauled in 280 lbs of tin for 14 bucks. Not much but it's a start. Right now I'm working on cutting up the heavier steel to size. The yard I go to has unprepared and prepared prices. Prepared is under 3ft x 18" dimensions and at least 1/8" thick. Unprepared is anything steel mixed. There is a 50$ per ton difference, So I'm cutting it up.

Yeah, the price is low. I know it is. There is one other place nearby that I'm gonna call before I haul another load of tin in. Otherwise I don't have much for options locally. The nearest place besides the 2 is about 45 minutes away. For what little tin I do have, it wouldn't be worth the drive.

Room isn't an issue, because I have access to many acres if needed. With this current find I'm working on I don't want to sit on it. I'm looking to get it hauled in soon as I get it sorted. I already have a variety of things on the property that are being gathered until the time is right. I appreciate the input though Mike.