new spair time scrapper

Hi my name is Josh I'm a union worker who us currently laid off. In my free time I would like to get more into scraping metals. I'm firmiliar with diffrent types of metals and what there worth, however I don't always know where to find thees metals or weather there worth taking apart or "gutting things" to seperate things like copper or brass or cast or aluminum. Right now I have a washer and 2 60 gallon hot water heaters. What is the best or most cost effective way to scrap Therese. Is it worth taking apart? Or scraping whole? Should I be looking at Bringing this kind of stuff to a scrap yard? Or is there other buisnesses who will buy this sorta stuff sucjh an appliance repair place or something in that area of work. Any help or impute is appreciated. Thanks!