Results 1 to 10 of 10

New to scrapping...... have one basic question:

| Scrap Metal Questions and Answers
  1. #1
    Technician77 started this thread.
    SMF Badges of Honor

    Member since
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    4
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    New to scrapping...... have one basic question:

    Hi all...... I was thrilled to find this forum, and thanks to all in advance for any help provided.

    I recently discovered the benefits of scrapping when I was down on my luck financially, and made quite a large chunk of change by hauling in about a year's worth of can's.... the money couldn't have come at a better time.

    Now, I have no real intent of becoming super serious, or attempting to make a full time living out of this, but, the general concensus that I continue to run into, is that "if it's metal, it's worth money"...... so just how accurate is that?

    The reason I'm asking, is that over this weekend, I've done some house renovation, cleaning, etc....... and I've discovered a huge amount of old grills, chairs, aluminum fencing, old signs, and just all sort's of other things that were once buried in my basement. Will scrap yards take things such as that???



    If so, I'm hoping for another potentially good pay off, rather than just throwing all of this stuff out.

    So again, if it's metal, it's worth money? or is that not always the case?


  2. #2
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    19
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 21 Times in 9 Posts
    Metal is always worth money.

    Basic way to start is to grab a magnet and separate the piles into ferrous vs. nonferrous. Ferrous material is anything a magnet will stick to. Granted you have to have a large pile of ferrous metal to make it worth your trip but the beauty is ferrous metal is easy to acccumulate and doesn't require a lot of separation or preparation.

    As for the other materials, I would separate them by type (chairs, grills, fencing, etc etc) then run a quick search on the forums here to see how to break them down. There is a lot of good information here which can help your overall return.


    Cheers.
    Tom

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to tyoon21 for This Post:


  4. #3
    Technician77 started this thread.
    SMF Badges of Honor

    Member since
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    4
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Thank you so very much Tom, I will definately follow your advice to research this forum. Thanks again!

  5. #4
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Jacksonville, NC
    Posts
    4,917
    Thanks
    15,632
    Thanked 5,861 Times in 2,713 Posts
    Follow what tyoon has suggested. One term you should learn is "clean" vs "dirty". An example of "dirty" would be your aluminum chairs with steel rivets. Remove the steel rivets you have "clean" aluminum. The "dirty" price is far lower than the "clean" because some where up the chain someone has to seperate the steel from the aluminum.

    Much more info in the old threads, and welcome to the forum, Mike.
    "Profit begins when you buy NOT when you sell." {quote passed down to me from a wise man}

    Now go beat the copper out of something, Miked

  6. The Following 2 Users say Thank You for This Post by miked:


  7. #5
    Mechanic688's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Warsaw , Ind. In the heart of the lakes, and down the street from the hotel where Al Capone stayed.
    Posts
    9,568
    Thanks
    11,247
    Thanked 10,730 Times in 4,728 Posts
    And out on the main page is the site called Scrap Monster, check them out for sample prices. If your grills are gas then you might have brass valves and maybe cast alum. lids. Your bigger prices will come from copper wire and alum. cast and/or what they call "old sheet".
    P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling.
    If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet.

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to Mechanic688 for This Post:


  9. #6
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Henderson nc
    Posts
    246
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked 66 Times in 46 Posts
    I posted this the other day but it seems appropriate for your question, the other day I was trying to throw away 2 dentist chairs at my local trash dumpster but myself and an older gentleman who works there had such a hard time removing them from the back of a Tahoe so the older guy suggested I take them to the scrap yard(as many cars as I scrap I can't believe I didn't think of it) but anyway I wound up getting $96 for the 2 dentist chairs because they weighed in at 800lbs at .12 per lb.
    “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.”

    Abraham Lincoln
    http://junkcarbuyersraleighnc.com

  10. #7
    Technician77 started this thread.
    SMF Badges of Honor

    Member since
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    4
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Mechanic688... thank you so much, will most certainly have a look at that site....... and Ptscrapper..... I'm starting to really admire stories such as yours...... simply because even though $96.00 isn't going to make you rich..... you made it off of something you didn't buy in the first place, at least I assume you didn't..... and if it's going to be thrown away in the first place, why not make a buck or two for it. I'm really starting to like this as a side project...... I plan on continuing to study the pro's here on this forum, and perhaps I will get better as I go along. Luckily for me, the two guy's that I deal with at my local yard, are super friendly, and always helpful, so combine that, with this forum, and I think it's a win Thanks again for all of the help so far!

  11. #8
    happyscraper's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Feb 2012
    Location
    spring hill,fl
    Posts
    2,864
    Thanks
    350
    Thanked 1,371 Times in 847 Posts
    I started out by taking things apart and asking a lot of questions when I went to the scrap yard. You can max. your money by taking things apart and selling the metals separatly. The hardest thing to learn is the diffrant metals, most scrap yards will help you out with that and also this forum is a source, so keep reading. HO and welcome to the forum.

  12. The Following User Says Thank You to happyscraper for This Post:


  13. #9
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Minneapolis
    Posts
    593
    Thanks
    324
    Thanked 324 Times in 171 Posts
    Read n read some more...its made me cash n can work for ya too..gl man

  14. #10
    SMF Badges of Honor




    Member since
    Mar 2012
    Location
    ks
    Posts
    2,187
    Thanks
    2,513
    Thanked 2,140 Times in 898 Posts
    All metals are indeed worth $$ its just some are more valuable than others, just my 2 cents worth
    Alvord iron and salvage
    3rd generation scrapper and dam proud of it


  15. Similar threads on the Scrap Metal Forum

    1. new to scrapping & have a question
      By HStoverScrapping in forum Introduce yourself
      Replies: 11
      Last Post: 10-08-2012, 04:12 AM
    2. First timer question on scrapping
      By newbie in forum Scrap Metal Questions and Answers
      Replies: 27
      Last Post: 09-08-2011, 12:04 PM
    3. New to Scrapping and have a question
      By pizzaguy55 in forum Scrap Metal Questions and Answers
      Replies: 4
      Last Post: 07-13-2011, 07:49 PM
    4. Scrapping how-to question.
      By Saroro in forum Misc. Metal Recycling
      Replies: 8
      Last Post: 02-16-2011, 11:42 PM
    5. Scrapping Question.
      By Focker in forum Scrap Metal Questions and Answers
      Replies: 5
      Last Post: 02-01-2011, 04:06 PM

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

 
Browse the Most Recent Threads
On SMF In THIS CATEGORY.





OR

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

The Scrap Metal Forum

    The Scrap Metal Forum is the #1 scrap metal recycling community in the world. Here we talk about the scrap metal business, making money, where we connect with other scrappers, scrap yards and more.

SMF on Facebook and Twitter

Twitter Facebook