Obsessive newbie...loving it all

I'm Chris from Jax, FL. 30 years old and I do custom wood work/interior trim (with a BA in computer programming/analysis). I've ALWAYS been tearing things apart and breaking them down and I love it. It's a stress relief, lol, that can sometimes become stressful because I'm meticulous...EXTREMELY meticulous.



I have been planning to make my first trip to the steel yard, but I keep holding back. I am scrapping stuff that was in a 6 bay garage at the back of my grandparents 3 acre property, where my wife and I live now. My grandfather passed away in 2009. He was like my father. He was a custom home builder for 60+ years. I have a bunch of stuff to scrap but I'm not sure how to get the best out of it. I know wiring and how to separate for best value. I understand how to handle all of that with the reading I've done. It's the Misc stuff I don't know how to handle exactly.

I have a large tiller, an edger, pressure washer, old 20 gallon compressor (motor bad, and tank I reworked as a bladder tank for the shop/garage area), and they don't work. Should I take them apart or scrap as whole? I also have a bunch of assorted plates/pans/pots that are non ferrous metal of some kind (not magnetic. Some old 70's style iron exterior wall decor that's painted. Old dollies...you get the idea. Is it better to take apart everything...down to the very last bolt or is that necessary? Should I sandblast the paint off everything? Like I said...meticulous, OCD...lol. It's been a month and I've already put aside 3 bays of the garage for scrapping/storage.

I plan to keep reading everything I can and I can find the answers. I would love advice and/or direction with it. I'm extremely excited to of found this forum. Since I've already became a hobbyist scrapper at the least, this will be my new home online for a few weeks. I have the feeling I will probably take this further then just a small hobby. I'm already catching myself talking to guys at work about stuff they need removed and slowing down next to washers and dryers put out by the road. Addictive.

Thanks for the advice and comments! I am going to post the full items on craigslist and call some repair shops. When matador mentioned people might need parts, I'm sure they could. They look like they've honestly never been ran, but my grandfather was great at keeping his equipment in top condition. It could be something simple, but honestly I don't need the equipment so I'd rather sell them for $20 a piece than try and fix.

Even though I do custom wood work, I have my BA in computer programming and analysis because I have been a geek since before the 28k modem and I was looking at the profits available for electronics, a lot better then metals right now. I have access and connections to a lot of stock.... company wide downgrades of all electronic hardware, school downgrades, etc... As well as an insane amount of stock already. I just noticed prices for processors and RAM. I haven't thrown away a stick of RAM, HDD, or processor since I was 13. Whats even better is I have 3 yards with the best ratings and word of mouth rep within 5=10 min drive of my house.

I held onto it as more of a geek thing I guess. I still have my first PC build....before Windows had an GUI. I need to go through and see what it what and who would pay what. I checked and the yard that's next to me that takes e-scrap pays for the processors. Doesn't say a year or speed. I've kept probably 85% of every tech piece I've ever owned. Start out because I grew up less then poor and I used to work my a$$ off for everything and when I would upgrade or it would become obsolete, I couldn't bare to let it go. Plus as I became more aware of environmental impacts of just trashing electronics I didn't want that either.