This our dump. What should I be grabbing that's fairly quick to get?

I would check the scrap prices b4 you get into it. Usually if there is that much steel at a rural area dump its not a good sign for scrap prices. cause usually the farther away from big cities, the lower the scrap value. i watch 2 guys from Alberta and they have no scrap yards there. they have to pay to get rid of it. well one isnt a scrapper and the other marcel st. jean was a scrapper b4 he moved to Alberta from Sudberry ont. Good luck

I don't care too much about youtube views. I just like making videos as a hobby. It also gives me something to keep my mind busy while doing it. When I was addicted to video games I used to record that too. This is just a way more productive addiction, imho. If something ever came of it then great but I'm not much of an entertainer and forget to turn the camera on a lot. This is just a really interesting place to me and I am always shocked at how few people would actually save their metals here. I always see tons of people throwing out stuff and then driving to town to buy more. I get it, I used to work a lot and didn't want to spend my free time picking through metal piles to sort a dollar worth of copper out but this whole world has opened my eyes to how much stuff gets tossed every day.

I am going to keep looking for tripods on the cheap so I don't have to hold the camera in my hand all the time. It makes a lot of footage not worth showing. I will start with the wire as it's easy to carry snips around and quiet. They have never bothered me but I have heard of them warning people and being a small town where everyone knows each other I don't want them singling me out.

We don't have to pay to get rid of anything. If I scrap a microwave I can take the good stuff and haul the rest right back to the dump and throw it out if I want to. We can dump paint, oil, coolant, whatever in the oil and waste shed, throw out fridges, ac units. All free. Don't ask me why but I suppose the hillbillies were just dumping down backroads and they figured this was the cheapest way to keep the rest of the environment clean(er). They still throw stuff in the woods if the dump isn't open. I think our scrapyards here don't have as many choices when it comes to metal, because when I called a couple of weeks ago to Richmond Steel they told me aluminum was $1.40 per pound and didn't offer any different grades. ABC told me that there's was as low as $.19 per pound but said painted siding was .91 so they have at least two. I'll know better when I go in. Just need to get a free day.

We are about an hour from the AB border and I think the AB scrapyards pay a little better but that's in Grande Prairie. I'm not sure where those guys are.

Yeah, I will take some photos when I go up. I have to get rid of the plastic and crt shellfrom last nights van session so I'll give it a good scan. Do you just take a hacksaw and cut them flush with the tanks and separate later usually? I imagine it would attract attention if you were sitting there with a grinder or sawzall. I grabbed a bbq shell last week that was cast aluminum. Probably ten pounds or so. What do yards pay for batteries usually? I think there's a place in Fort St. John that buys them for like $5 each or something like that but I don't know if they are on par with other places. I guess I can take one to the yard and if it's less than $5 just take it to the other place or hang on to it.

as someone else said, all copper wires and all non ferrous- does not stick to magnet, is worth taking.

Good news. I got a whole van load of stuff to scrap tonight and maybe a few more nights. I'll try to arrange it and get pics at work tonight.

Watched the video real quick. Looks like there were some street signs which are usually aluminum. Washers, dryers and dishwashers have electric motors and all appliances have circuit boards that you can sell to people who test them, sometimes timers and other parts too. Appliances with handles and knobs you can often harvest for those handles and knobs to sell on ebay. Microwaves have good sized transformers. Gas dryers and ovens have brass valves. That place paying C1.40/lb for aluminum is definitely just buying 6063 and 6061 extrusion at that price. That's above end user buy price for cast aluminum.

Is there a place that buys all appliance circuit boards? I didn't realize that was even a thing. I'd love the contact info if you have it. Also, no, the signs were plastic and broken. I have a traffic control company and got excited when I saw them from a distance. I will call about the prices from both places before I go in and I'll tell them what I have so I don't get confused. That was a pretty big price gap.

Originally Posted by wannabescrapper

Is there a place that buys all appliance circuit boards? I didn't realize that was even a thing. I'd love the contact info if you have it

Check the buyer/seller section on this site

wannabescrapper you could really benefit from using the search function to search the older threads as well as reading the scrap basics section and info packet sent when you signed up. Most of us are happy to answer questions from new members but reading the older threads on the same topic will also allow you to see what other people had as follow up questions, allowing you to skip that step.

The video was interesting to watch. Your transfer station is similar to the one i visit here in Maine. There's still a bit of snow on the ground so it's likely to be the slow season. As you mentioned ... there were other scrappers there before you. Chances are that they're slammin' it pretty hard cause money is tight this time of year. There's a lot of competition for what little is there. It makes for slim pickings.

It should ease up once the weather warms. Folks that are otherwise idle with nothing to do but scraping will get back to work. Beautiful days put people in the mood for spring cleaning and they tend to clear out the stuff that's been piling up. Some of it is good is good for the scrapper. (On the other side of it ... winter is the time of lean so people don't throw anything away.) It runs hot and cold so you have to pick your days.

Oddly enough ... your biggest competitors are probably the transfer station attendants. They keep watch during the day and pick out the best stuff just as it's coming off the truck. It's best to keep on good terms with them cause you're both competing for the same thing.

It's a hard thing in a small community where everybody knows everybody. People form a certain picture of you. People gossip. Depending on this or that ... your status in the community can go up or it can go down.

Personally ... i don't concern myself much with all of that status nonsense but i'm also a realist. That "picture" that forms in people's heads can affect job growth and opportunities on your regular job.

As with everything else in business .... presentation is 90% of the game.

Anyhow ... all of that foolishness aside: I watched the video twice. it looks pretty lean