Do you sort scrap to maximize or just throw everything together?
I dont have a lot of experience in scrap metal - only my third year - and have never worked with or for anyone else in this. I just kind of learned on my own and as I went along. Ive always done things like clean radiators by taking the non-aluminum (or brass) stuff off, sort aluminum by sheet, cast and extrusion, take alternators apart for the copper and sort by cast and irony aluminum and anything else I can do to maximize the worth of what Im taking in. I see guys come in with a pickup load of mixed stuff - radiators, tire rims (normally #1 iron), cast iron and light iron all thrown together. Everything is then offloaded in one pile and they are paid for the whole load at the light-iron rate (the lowest of anything they have in the load). Of course, then people at the yard separate the stuff into categories.
I guess my question is - How common is this? Do you take the time and effort to maximize as much as possible or do you just haul it all up in one load and hope to make it up by hauling more loads?
Re: Do you sort scrap to maximize or just throw everything together?
Hello Mick.
I hear what youre saying, cleaning scrap can be a real pain in the arse.
We dont personally clean anything unless its a large clean able load like stainless or HMS steel.
You should figure even with 100 pounds of dirty copper...with solder on it. Its only a .10 maybe .20 cent difference in price. So for every 100 pounds of copper you clean, you can about $10. So for the amount work it actually takes to clean copper, its not really worth it...just bring it in dirty.
However metals like stainless steel is always worth it, its heavy and the difference in price is large. For every 100 pounds of stainless you clean, youll probably make between 50-100 dollars extra.
So it all depends on how big the load is, and what youll actually gain from cleaning the metal. In the end, depending on how you look at it, its all about how much work you have to do to make the money.
Re: Do you sort scrap to maximize or just throw everything together?
Thanks for the reply, Addam. So, would you cut the deck from a lawn mower for the aluminum? Or just let it go with the rest as light iron (.38/lb vs .05/lb). The motor, too would be about .08/lb. How about cutting the screws, etc from an aluminum screens (.12/lb for irony alum vs .51/lb for extrusion)?
Re: Do you sort scrap to maximize or just throw everything together?
I always look at stripping at each individual thing and the current prices. If it is easy enough to do I usually strip irony materials off of copper, brass and aluminum. But if it is going to take me 3 hours to strip something down that I am only going to get an extra $1-2 for its not worth it. Short wire I do not strip as it takes too much time. Gas grills are great. The tops and bottoms are cast aluminum and there are brass and aluminum fittings in them. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes to completely strip one down and I get between $10-15 for each grill. Then I throw the cart out by the curb for the iron scrappers. (I dont have a vehicle big enough to make Iron scrapping worth it.
