Old Farm House

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 09:01 AM

I was invited to visit, This old house long ago turned into storage, filled with tractor carburettors made of brass and old magneto's from the 1920's upwards to mid 60's they're in rough condition.

Old tractor shop manuals, complete but in rough condition.

The mags and carbs disassembled with the usable goods sold as parts, shop manuals scanned with OCR ( Optical Character Recognition ) digitizing will clean up the pages.

The contact points from the old magnetos will be made of platinum, clip them short with the least bit of base metal then digest the base metals in nitric acid, I'm left with pure platinum buttons.

Inside the house a complete Pony engine from a John Deere Model R, worth its weight in gold, my host did not want to part with it.

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 10:14 AM

I have a few ideas but also interested in others thoughts on what they would do with the small hoard of treasure.

**hills** · Yesterday, 11:22 AM

I think it all depends on what you are into. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Myself ... i would probably just toss it all in the junk pile with all of the other obsolete stuff and not waste any time with it. ( I live in the moment. )

Someone else might find value in it. Old forgotten items from the past might have great meaning for them. ( Some folks live in the past. It's especially so with the elders that are really getting on in years. They don't have much of a future so they live for the past. )

~ It's the human condition. ~

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by hills

I think it all depends on what you are into. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Myself ... i would probably just toss it all in the junk pile with all of the other obsolete stuff and not waste any time with it. ( I live in the moment. )

Someone else might find value in it. Old forgotten items from the past might have great meaning for them. ( Some folks live in the past. It's especially so with the elders that are really getting on in years. They don't have much of a future so they live for the past. )

~ It's the human condition. ~

Excellent comment Hills, we baby boomers inherited our parents fortunes. Death is inevitable, if the youth have not learned from their elders then history will repeat itself.

I'm an elder AKA senior, most of what I know about scrapping was learned form those now long gone. The good paying trades have schooling then long apprenticeships. Being a successful scrapper does not offer either, and that is what this forum is all about, teaching others the trade, learning from others sharing of their hard earned knowledge.

Just as my father had left me his legacy, my children will benefit from mine when I'm gone.

I almost feel sorry for ya Hills.

**hills** · Yesterday, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by alloy2

I almost feel sorry for ya Hills.

Ahh well ... times change. You either change and adapt accordingly or the world passes you by.

I'm doing okay. Got a full time gig that i like most days. The pay & benefits are good. Almost debt free. Been making 4 car payments a month and am on track to have a 60 month loan paid off in under 18 months.

The scrapping is just a side gig. I don't make much but i sure have fun.

It's not such a bad old life.

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by hills

Ahh well ... times change. You either change and adapt accordingly or the world passes you by.

I'm doing okay. Got a full time gig that i like most days. The pay & benefits are good. Almost debt free. Been making 4 car payments a month and am on track to have a 60 month loan paid off in under 18 months.

The scrapping is just a side gig. I don't make much but i sure have fun.

It's not such a bad old life.

I have always enjoyed the challenge scrapping presents, had fun converting that old RV trailer into a car hauler, making enough cash with it to purchase an electric winch then with the money made from that moving into a truck with a folding crane to which i could now double deck the wrecks.

As you say times change, heavy scrap and discarded vehicles no longer hold my interest.

A comfortable easy chair, jug of wine and the TV remote make my day.

**hills** · Yesterday, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by alloy2

we baby boomers inherited our parents fortunes.

Just as my father had left me his legacy, my children will benefit from mine when I'm gone.

I apologize for cherrrypicking but the subject of generational wealth is an interesting one. It's a bit off topic ... and drifting a bit into politics ... but things seemed to have changed as we've drifted further left of center toward socialism & communism.

The center left folks don't like generational wealth. They would rather see those resources folded back into the collective.

The way it's being done here in Maine is through the healthcare system. Providing healthcare for seniors is horrendously expensive. It gradually erodes their lifetime savings to a point where they have to go on public assistance. Once on public assistance ... the state can lay claim to the beneficiaries estate after they die. For most people ... their life savings are tied up in their homes. That's the generational wealth they would pass on to their children. Once a senior enters a nursing home ... the value of their home is toast within a few years.

They are a little more honest about it in China. The ownership of real estate reverts back to the state when a citizen of that country dies.

Anyhow .... waaay off topic. Maybe you can steer it back to something closer to the subject at hand.

Do you get much platinum out of the contact buttons ? Is nitric acid difficult to source ?

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by hills

Do you get much platinum out of the contact buttons ? Is nitric acid difficult to source ?

Each magneto expect a couple of grams, nitric won't touch it, only the base metals go into solution.

Nitric is available, 5 hour drive from home two others chip in for fuel and buy me lunch for picking up some for they're personal use. We try to use it sparingly. Not much platinum used in e-waste mostly palladium, silver and gold. i do not refine palladium but do keep it from the waste stream by cementing it out with copper after the gold and silver have been recovered.

The real money is in the paper manuals once digitized. Years ago had used OCR on a Lincoln SAE 200 amp portable gasoline welder, I had netted a couple grand from that project.

You have to hit the market fast and hard, once the document has been digitized It wont take long for it to appear on Scribd as a free download.

I'm the one who scanned Hoke's refining precious metals wastes and her companion book testing precious metals, another fellow converted the file into a friendly screen readable file and one that would print both sides of the paper in book form.

**Kemper** · Yesterday, 03:39 PM

Sell those on ebay. They bring more there than you will ever get for scrap.
On another note : My thread got locked. This place has issues.

**hills** · Yesterday, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by Kemper

On another note : My thread got locked. This place has issues.

That one might be on me. Sorry bout that chief.

**alloy2** · Yesterday, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by Kemper

Sell those on ebay. They bring more there than you will ever get for scrap.
On another note : My thread got locked. This place has issues.

These are so badly corroded could not easily remove the contacts, in the beginning was thinking of making a magnetizer to re-energize the magnets then market on an exchange basis.

Living rural is a PITA - Post Office.

If all that happened your thread got locked consider yourself lucky, I can not count the times I've been banned and how many nics I've had over the years. My first forum nic was gustavus.

Maybe Hills can refresh my memory on previous user names i have used in the past.

**Kemper** · Yesterday, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by alloy2

These are so badly corroded could not easily remove the contacts, in the beginning was thinking of making a magnetizer to re-energize the magnets them market on an exchange basis.

Living rural is a PITA - Post Office.

If all that happened your thread got locked consider yourself lucky, I can not count the times I've been banned and how many nics I've had over the years. My first forum nic was gustavus.

Maybe Hills can refresh my memory on previous user names i have used in the past.

People buy them to restore in just about any condition. I sell a lot on ebay if it brings more than scrap. But, I'm set up for it and the post office is close. You can save up to over 50 % on postage with an account set up. That will usually cover all your fees. If you sell something for 40 dollars, you made 40 dollars.