The Shop > Metal Stuff

Scrap yards

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Twinsquirrel:
Thanks guys,

I  will  give my local ones another try armed with an oily set of overalls and a few notes hanging out of my pockets

Will keep you posted.

David

Darren:
But on the other hand, if you see my post in the Lister Engine thread tonight you will see a very nice piece of scrap that was a joy to machine.

An old Ford car hub....

Just give me time to write the post, it'll be up in a bit..... :D

SPiN Racing:
One of the places I use here in town is a boat salvage yard.

If you like stainless and brass and copper.. they are the place to go.

The problem you run into is if the thing you buy has a use other than for the weight of the metal.
then something that is 3 or 5 dollars a pound turns into a 150 dollar part.

cedge:
I made my regular scrap yard rounds this week and ran into a couple of surprises. My "favorite" source has decided to no longer offer brass to the public. He's apparently not buying very much either. His reason was that he can't make any money with it at current prices. Scratch what was once a darned nice resource.

Another of my resources is a scruffy old guy who deals mostly in aluminum, but sometimes has some really nice brass and bronze. This guy is a real stereotypical hillbilly character who, it is said, has been known to express his displeasures with his trusty shootin' iron. To say he's a wee bit touchy would be akin to saying nitro-glycerin is just a wee bit explosive. I spent a bit of time there yesterday and almost pissed him off. He asked what brass was selling for in the city and I mentioned that I had been buying at prices from 80 cents to $1.25 per pound. You could see his blood pressure begin to rise as he told me I was wasting his time and needed to get back to town and buy my damned 80 cent brass.

Like a number of local scrap guys, he bought metal while the prices were at nose bleed levels in hopes of moving it quickly for a profit. When the bottom dropped out of the market, he was stuck with metal he needs to sell at $5.00 per pound to make even a small profit. A bit of empathizing and some sincere commiseration finally got me back in the old guy's good graces and an unexpected invitation to come on back for a visit. "Red" is not a happy scrapper right now.

Today I visited another  scrap yard that has mostly been a dry well since my friendly yard guy was fired. Their prices were always good ($1.25/pound for brass even at the top of the market climb) but they seldom had much of anything usable. I've cultivated a couple of new friendships with the owner's grandson and the scale master by sharing one of my engines and a few polishing tricks with them. The grandson met me with a broad smile today and told me he had something for me to see. What he had was a nice barrel full of grade "A" end cuts of brass, bronze and copper in 3 inch rounds, 2 inch hex, some odds and ends of flat bar and heavy wall tube. He then offered the brass/bronze at 85 cents per and copper at $1.20 per.

I bought a combined 125 pounds, which is now on the shelf and waiting on me to get back in the shop. He still has about 500 pounds, which he is in no hurry to ship. I still plan to go back and buy the 8 inch diameter x 8 long piece  of brass tube he's saving for me.

David...
Having a small steam engine with you will often break the ice quite easily on that first visit.  I can't even begin to express the real value of a couple of boxes of jammie doughnuts.... somewhere along about your second or third visit. Treat those hard working yard guys well and they will take care of you in high style.

Steve

Twinsquirrel:
Wow Cedge, you really seem to have a great relationship with your scrappies, will try again armed with your advice.

Unfortunatley I have no engines to show them anymore, I gave away my 1st engine (the LTD stirling) to an old boy who lives in my village who is suffering from the after effects of a stroke , I kind of miss having it around the place but hopefully he is getting some pleasure out of it.

Darren, I love to re-use stuff and have a great source for old car parts so I will certainly take your advice and try to look inside the old parts and see if there is something inside waiting to be set free.

Cheers

David

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