Been pulling the brass prongs from electrical cords, since learning about it. But some have a silvery shine. What are they made of?
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Been pulling the brass prongs from electrical cords, since learning about it. But some have a silvery shine. What are they made of?
I have noticed that also. I think the silvery prongs are brass, maybe with more nickel in the alloy. Just a guess, though.
Just found out today that the collapsible antenna on older radios and stereos are brass too.
zipper pulls and belt buckles are typically aluminum too.
They are plated brass just like collapsible antennas and some bullet shells. Just throw them in a seperate bucket as the price will be a little lower than clean brass.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisblackcat
Good luck
Jay
I put every small and extension type antenna in with the yellow brass. I'm not talking large roof antenna.Quote:
Originally Posted by rca987
I don't think I've ever seen an aluminum zipper pull or belt buckle, but I've seen lots of brass ones. If you scratch them and the scratch shows a silver color, it's probably die cast, not aluminum. AL is too soft a metal for those uses. Still, any zipper, I'd think brass.
My yard takes it all the same. I asked them one day about the nickel plated brass keys, and they said just throw them in with all the other brass. I dont pull the brass prongs, I just clip them off. I have gotten a few of the plated ones also, and just put them in with the other brass. Check with your yard and use the example of the plated brass keys if they are unsure of what you are talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by jaskelkyz
Yard takes them as brass same as when you have a crome plated sink faucet...
I've noticed some with a black section in the middle. Haven't checked what it is yet. I'm just starting to collect them. Guessing it's that ceramic stuff that takes to a magnet (ferrite?) or maybe just a plastic cover?
Ah geez, I thought those were aluminumQuote:
Originally Posted by rca987
Most zipper pulls are die cast zinc. They are frequently plated with brass though.
That's pretty hardcore if someone were to pull off every little piece of zipper off a pair of pants just to scrap.Quote:
Originally Posted by fiat128
Yea I wouldn't do it but I"ve seen people do stuff like that. I do tend to pick up any peice of non ferrous metal I see when I'm walking across a parking lot. I guess that's how I end up with tire weights in the dryer.
I can't speak for everyone but I try to maximize my scrapping to the full extent. I don't do it full-time so I'm not in a time crunch but pulling prongs seems like a logical thing to do to me. I save nuts and bolts as well. Metal is metal to me. I saw a video on YouTube once about a guy scrapping a TV. He said he threw all the screws and nuts and bolts and stuff into the trash. Blows my mind. Just like people throwing away aluminum cans. Do people really like throwing money away? Because that's what it boils down to. Cans, zippers, cord prongs = money! It all adds up. And yes I take the time to pick up pennies from the parking lot... :)
if you take the time to pick up a penny then you need to pick up the alum can it is worth 2 cents!!!
Haha, good point! That reminds me of my childhood. My younger brother and I would walk down the gravel roads in Missouri with my mom and pick up cans. My dad would follow behind us in our '72 F-100 and pick up the bags. I recently took my wife to do the same thing and she had more fun than I thought she would. She grew up in an upper class family so had never done anything like that before.
Exactly. I don't know how big of an organization I may become but I will likely always be picking up paperclips, bobby pins or bottle caps in parking lots regardless. Yes, even zippers, prongs, antennas...Even those wires that are so tiny you can hardly pinch them. It ALL adds up, no matter how small or big you are.Quote:
Originally Posted by forwardlookguy
My wife says I have a huge grin on my face when I find something metal, even on the tiny things in walmart parking lots. I guess that means I love what I do.
I have been pulling all the prongs off the cords befor I cut em. IDK just seemed so easy, seemed like the logical thang to do for me.
When you pull off the prongs sometimes you get a little bit of wire along with it if you've cut that end of the cord already. I keep screws and whatnot too. Never know if Imma come across something I can fix to resell. Even if I wasn't saving them though I wouldn't throw them in the trash. Just throw them in the mix bucket. It's right next to my trash can anyway. Can't stand seeing people throw away cans. Especially the other day when I seen people throwing cans in the trash while tearing apart an AC to recycle. Why not just grab another bucket?
I guess it would be the same as a thread about flushing money down a toilet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris Kringle
Don't think it is an issue of make or break, just someones preference. Like to strip wire or not, break down motors, ect. I don't think there is anything wrong with having a thread on cord prongs. I was wondering the same thing when preping about 4 trash cans of cords the other day. With gas at $3.78 a gallon I will do what I can to make some extra cash.
I don't think its ''that bad'' but if the OP is like me I'm going to break down until I can't break down any more and so what if they dont weight much - metal is metal and metal is money so why should I strip everything else off something but throw away hundreds of cord prongs that will eventually add up to something? I save them for when I have nothing big to work on for busy work and if it takes me a year to fill a bucket with prongs whats the big deal?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris Kringle
I save them, too and I'm so proud of my brass bucket. It's almost ready to go in. My yard also has the same price for red, yellow, or coated brass. On the big stuff I just take the file to it in one place, but the little stuff like prongs, they don't question. "Ounces make pounds, like pennies make dollars" and I certainly save pennies these days. Esp. ones before '82 !!
Interesting quote, you might be interested in this site,, enjoyQuote:
metal is metal and metal is money
http://www.coinflation.com/
another one here... http://realcent.org/index.php?sid=1f...bac4f70712ca80 also has a scrap metal section. If the admins object it is fine by me if you remove linkQuote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
Funny, this. Last night I read this thread, and just today i scrapped a long duffel bag - a bag for skis i think - and the zipper pulls and zipper are aluminum.Quote:
Originally Posted by newattitude
Zipper pulls are usually zinc or alum...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jillyenator