Dead Father's Estate has scrap so I'm learning

[ionymous]

My father passed away a few months ago and I've been cleaning out his house.
I've been separating metal from the trash and saving it up. At this point I've got enough for a few trips to the scrap yard.
But I've never been. I've learned enough to know I should absolutely sort my metals, but I haven't yet. I hope to learn some tricks here.
I also hope to learn what to expect from a typical scrap yard. I don't want to drive in there clueless.

[matador]

A typical scrap yard trip isn't too bad. Have everything sorted- if you're dealing with large amounts, I'll put one type of material (Such as aluminum) in the truck bed, and I'll put something else (Such as shred) on a trailer.

Wires are your best friend. On my last trip to the yard, I hauled a 16' trailer of shred, and received about $50 for it. I threw some wire on the back seat of the truck- the pile of wires got me about $30.

I'd talk with the yard first. Kind of see how they want you to do it, and go from there. Categories will vary from yard to yard....

[auminer]

First, sorry for your loss. That's coming for me, and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

It might be a good idea to head over there on a nice cool day & take a sack lunch. Just sit & watch people as they come in & where they go with what. You'll be able to tell pretty soon if & when things slow down, then, you might even try going up & asking one of the employees if you can watch & ask questions while he works. But even just watching will be informative.

[t00nces2]

It depends on how much you have. If you have a lot, my advice would be to load up a pickup full of shred steel. That can be just about anything, from vacuum cleaners (broken down or whole), pots and pans (I separate aluminum from steel, but stainless is about the same as shred at my yard)rusty tractor wheels, engine blocks, appliances. Pretty much anything. Pull plastic and wood and glass from the pile if it comes easy (scrap yards don't like paing for a 4'x6' mirror to get a little steel in a frame, vac hoses are easy to throw in your trash and is worthless to them). I think you will have a little better luck getting access to sell than a walk on for looky watchy asky.

Scrappers are not a delicate bunch. Don't pull up in a Mercedes Benz SUV to bring a load. You will get more respect if you pull up in a truck that they think you are going to scrap until you go about the task of unloading it (Now THAT is a scrapper). Pull in dirty, help unload if allowed (in my yard, the help you get unloading shred is a finger pointing to where they want it unloaded).

There are a few categories I concern myself with; steel, motors and coils, batteries, lead, aluminum, brass and copper. There are more, but I do not do the volume that warrents pulling items apart to get to them. If you are just going to scrap the stuff at you FIL home, I don't see a reason to get all scrap educated. If you are going to be doing this going forward, then the trips you make will be the education for scrapping going forward.

Good luck.

[junkfreak]

Welcome from Maryland. All the knowledge you seek is in old threads. Good luck!
Sorry for your loss.

[ionymous]

I think I'll have an amount to load up a pickup more than I'd feel comfortable, or two more reasonable loads. Though I bet once I'm done sorting it will be consolidated. I really haven't been sorting, just tossing all metal into and onto metal garbage cans.
I don't have a pickup though, all I have is the family minivan, but it has a hitch and access to a cart to pull.
I'll probably stop in a yard with nothing and watch and ask a few questions.