Used to scrap looking back into it.

If you are hurting for money, and are trying to maximize profit, then YES taking things apart get your more money, at the expense of your time. But if you got time, but no money, then yes take it apart. Its best to just run the numbers of time/vs profit to see if it is usually worth it.



Here are some examples.... say you have a lamp, that is 10lb, if you just take that in as is, as light iron, you may get $0.03/lb, so $0.30 for that item.

Now say you take 30 seconds and clip the cord off, and 30 seconds and unscrew a piece that holds the lampshade on, that is brass.

Say the cord is 1/2lb @ $0.50/lb, and the brass is 1/3lb @ 1.30/lb. Now youve gone from $0.30 to $0.96, for 1 min of work. So that 1 min got you $0.66 extra, extrapolated out, thats $39.60 and hour.... so probably worth your time to do.




Now lets take another example. Say you have an electric motor that is 20lbs. You can sell it whole as is for $0.10/lb, which is $2

Or lets say you take out the angle grinder and grind it in half, and then angle grind out all the copper. Say that takes 30mins, and uses up 1 grinding wheel, and gets you 3lbs of copper.

The 3lbs of copper get you $6, the remaining 17lbs goes as light iron @0.03/lb getting you and additional $0.51.

So now you have done 30 mins of work for $4.51 extra.... however it also used up a grinding wheel, which are $1 a peice, so now you are down to $3.51 additional money for 30mins of work, or $7.02 an hour..... is that worth it? For some people maybe, for others maybe not.


These are all examples but just give you an idea of how it can play out. If you scrap long enough you'll just get a knack for if something is worth it to take apart or not based on prices and past experience, without running these numbers or putting much more thought into it other than just looking at something.