A pound of metal per mile......

[Verbane]

What kind of reaction do you get bringing in nuts and bolts to the scrapyard? Do they look at you as if you're "nuts"? Just wondering how you do it.

When I get small pieces I put them in 5 gallon buckets and save them until I pick up a washer or dryer. Then after I strip these machines of their copper wire and electric motors I will load them on my trailer and dump all the 5 gallon buckets I have of small pieces into the washer/dryer drums. It is amazing how much you can dump into a washer drum, and if you fill it up that puppy is extremely heavy.

I keep all the small stuff in plastic bins and scrap it as Prepared steel, pays about 1.5 cents more per pound than shredables. Some yards won't differentiate, so it pays to shop around.

[.02FYI]

I wnt to auction and bought 35 toward end of the sale. After returning with truck as I was in my car and my purchase was loaded with plastic fencing, tiles, water pumps for water features and other misc. The guy wo over paid for his lot left three or four buckets of metal in the form of screws , nuts, bolts, and other misc. I also asked and got permission to remove 7-10 8' long heavy metal something that weighed over 50lbs each . so I think I paid for my purchase in metal collection. Yet it sits on several piles. Do you guys/ gals have to get fingerprinted tfor selling these items. I f so how do you feeel about that. I pesonally am turned off by it and could go further in detail if any was interested in my story.

[CrazyTom]

Each visit to my Mesa yard involves a digital photo of my scrap and myself. If the dollar amount is high enough ( can't remember the exact amount right now ) the vehicle license plate is recorded. All of this is in response to the tweaker crack head meth head losers that ruined it for the rest of us.

I accept it in exchange for the cash. All that I hope for is that some copper thief will barbecue himself on a live wire and do us all a favor.

[CrazyTom]

Did the same route today as last Sunday. Didn't get as much metal this go 'round but a big chunk of chain and a brake pad brought up the average.

Also found a nice new pair of mechanics gloves, about 50 yards apart from each other. They are now in the washing machine!
Got a clad quarter and a zinc penny too.

Tom, your journal entries on this thread are interesting and inspiring. Please continue to pound the roads for many pounds of metal and then tell us all about it.

Thanks for that! I thought it might be a bit mundane but then I knew I would be interested in other metal hounds' finds.

I'm off work on vacation for the week so I'm trying to get in lots of exercise and metal. Today I got plenty of cans, a speaker magnet, wheel weights, lug nuts, bolts and washers, and a large hook from a truck tie down strap (used my pocket knife to cut the remaining strap away). Got a Peter Piper Pizza game token, which probably has more value than a Federal clad coin! Got a crushed doorbell transformer ( which pays the same as electric motors ). Found two heavy duty caster wheels ( had to unbolt the rubber wheels from the steel casters ).

I didn't weigh the lot but I filled two plastic grocery bags.

I also posted in the tracking thread that I went to Wells Fargo and picked up 200 dollars in customer rolled dimes and got 12 "Mercury" silver dimes!

Today was a good day for metal!

[shinnosuke]

Did the same route today as last Sunday. Didn't get as much metal this go 'round but a big chunk of chain and a brake pad brought up the average.

Also found a nice new pair of mechanics gloves, about 50 yards apart from each other. They are now in the washing machine!
Got a clad quarter and a zinc penny too.

Tom, your journal entries on this thread are interesting and inspiring. Please continue to pound the roads for many pounds of metal and then tell us all about it.

Thanks for that! I thought it might be a bit mundane but then I knew I would be interested in other metal hounds' finds.

I'm off work on vacation for the week so I'm trying to get in lots of exercise and metal. Today I got plenty of cans, a speaker magnet, wheel weights, lug nuts, bolts and washers, and a large hook from a truck tie down strap (used my pocket knife to cut the remaining strap away). Got a Peter Piper Pizza game token, which probably has more value than a Federal clad coin! Got a crushed doorbell transformer ( which pays the same as electric motors ). Found two heavy duty caster wheels ( had to unbolt the rubber wheels from the steel casters ).

I didn't weigh the lot but I filled two plastic grocery bags.

I also posted in the tracking thread that I went to Wells Fargo and picked up 200 dollars in customer rolled dimes and got 12 "Mercury" silver dimes!

Today was a good day for metal!

!!!12 silver dimes and all that good metal!!! You should just go on permanent vacation and sort all the time. LOL. Thanks for another good story. Have you ever tried picking up a junk car? I mean legally...Go to the door of a house where a car that obviously hasn't moved in years is parked...Ask the owners if you can just haul it away for them...something I have been thinking about trying. Got to make friends with a wrecker driver first.

[CrazyTom]

Today I decided to weigh individually what I got.

Did a 5 mile run (10 round trip) of a route I haven't taken for a while.

Got 1 lb 13 oz of wheel weights, 2 lb 3 oz of assorted nuts bolts screws washers, 4 lb 5 oz misc other steel, 4 oz aluminum cans.

Average scrap price makes the bag worth about 50 cents. It's a good thing I'm doing this for exercise instead of income!

[shinnosuke]

Today I decided to weigh individually what I got.

Did a 5 mile run (10 round trip) of a route I haven't taken for a while.

Got 1 lb 13 oz of wheel weights, 2 lb 3 oz of assorted nuts bolts screws washers, 4 lb 5 oz misc other steel, 4 oz aluminum cans.

Average scrap price makes the bag worth about 50 cents. It's a good thing I'm doing this for exercise instead of income!

I walk for exercise along a railroad track near my apartment. You would be surprised at how many railroad spikes there are just left after the work is done. Probably only worth what, 10 cents/lb? I haven't picked them all up yet because I don't have a good way to carry them home. I think they would rip through my backpack.

[CrazyTom]

I'd grab a couple a day until I get them all!

[CrazyTom]

Today's ride produced about the same results as usual. I took the route that leads to the scrap yard, thinking that it might produce more things that would fall off a vehicle headed there. It also goes right by the St. Vincent DePaul soup kitchen and logically, due to the high hobo count, there were noticeably less aluminum cans.

However, the indigent population does not seem to find any value in steel scrap. I picked some up directly across the street from them as they lined up for food.

Also, I got a very nice Faded Glory olive green shirt, in excellent condition, laying on the street on the way home. Just got it out of the washer and it fit perfectly! No idea what the retail value was but it no doubt out priced the bag of scrap.

Found 2 spoons today in two different places. I've found plenty of flattened forks, spoons, and knifes. I have no idea why they would be on the street. I suspect that children throw them out the window for kicks.

[smalltimeopn]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and the threads! I'm always scanning parking lots and walkways for metal scraps. I have found some interesting things as well but you guys rock! I work as a tech in the printing and copying industry and besides all of the AL drums and rollers, I keep all excess srews and scraps of metal. I think the comment earlier about Americans being "fat, dumb, and happy" is about to change. Keep up the good work!

[CrazyTom]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and the threads! I'm always scanning parking lots and walkways for metal scraps. I have found some interesting things as well but you guys rock! I work as a tech in the printing and copying industry and besides all of the AL drums and rollers, I keep all excess srews and scraps of metal. I think the comment earlier about Americans being "fat, dumb, and happy" is about to change. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for that. Thanks to the bike I won't be one of the fat ones. Once I got a dead battery some slob left in a supermarket parking lot. At the time it was 5 bucks scrap, I've now seen 10 dollars advertised for them.

I keep a plastic bin in the back of the van for cans and other such parking lot flotsam.

At times I ride on a canal bank across from a country club golf course (it almost seems like a moat designed to keep riffraff like myself out). I have a large cardboard box full of golf balls that the duffers launched over the moat. Someday I'll see what I can get for them.

Spring training is here in Arizona. The Cubs play at a field near my house. Standard spoor of a Cub's fan is empty Old Style beer cans......

[maoguinn]

Today I decided to weigh individually what I got.

Did a 5 mile run (10 round trip) of a route I haven't taken for a while.

Got 1 lb 13 oz of wheel weights, 2 lb 3 oz of assorted nuts bolts screws washers, 4 lb 5 oz misc other steel, 4 oz aluminum cans.

Average scrap price makes the bag worth about 50 cents. It's a good thing I'm doing this for exercise instead of income!

I walk for exercise along a railroad track near my apartment. You would be surprised at how many railroad spikes there are just left after the work is done. Probably only worth what, 10 cents/lb? I haven't picked them all up yet because I don't have a good way to carry them home. I think they would rip through my backpack.

Be aware that when you pick up scrap on a railroad that it is private property. My scrapyard will not take railroad material, and says that it is illegal to have it.

[CrazyTom]

Today I decided to weigh individually what I got.

Did a 5 mile run (10 round trip) of a route I haven't taken for a while.

Got 1 lb 13 oz of wheel weights, 2 lb 3 oz of assorted nuts bolts screws washers, 4 lb 5 oz misc other steel, 4 oz aluminum cans.

Average scrap price makes the bag worth about 50 cents. It's a good thing I'm doing this for exercise instead of income!

I walk for exercise along a railroad track near my apartment. You would be surprised at how many railroad spikes there are just left after the work is done. Probably only worth what, 10 cents/lb? I haven't picked them all up yet because I don't have a good way to carry them home. I think they would rip through my backpack.

Be aware that when you pick up scrap on a railroad that it is private property. My scrapyard will not take railroad material, and says that it is illegal to have it.

Good information!!!!

[CrazyTom]

Today I got 7 oz of aluminum cans, 4 lbs 10 oz of steel, 1 lb 7 oz lead wheel weights.

One mile from the house I spied a residential hot water tank in a dumpster behind a supermarket. Went back and
got it in the pick up truck. The last tank I took in like it brought $7.50.

What amazes me about illegal dumpers is that they risk getting caught and fines when for the same
amount of effort they could have got money for it.

[Mossy]

Tom, maybe you can get a better price for lead wheel weights from the muzzle loader and hand loader forums. Maybe a fishing forum, too.

[Robarons]

Thanks tom for your daily stories! I hoped for this thread to be a hot topic and it turns out it was.

Another question for Tom is that do you live in a deposit state for cans and bottles? You always seem them here in Michigan (.10 per can/bottle) and was wondering how much they actually turn per a trip.

[CrazyTom]

As far as I know Arizona has no deposits. Now that you mention it, when I was a kid I lived in Pennsylvania
and I remember 2 cents per small bottle and 5 cents for a big one. I would take my wagon door to door
asking people for their bottles. The grocery store man must have dreaded the clinking sound my wagon made
as I approached. Of course, I blew most of it in his candy aisle.

The lead is 10 cents a pound at the scrap yard. I usually wait until I have over 10 pounds of them and they
then go in with everything else I collected. I once saw a guy with a tire store uniform turning in buckets of them.
It would probably take a year's worth to make it worth selling them to anyone else, but I'll check it out!

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

As far as I know Arizona has no deposits. Now that you mention it, when I was a kid I lived in Pennsylvania
and I remember 2 cents per small bottle and 5 cents for a big one. I would take my wagon door to door
asking people for their bottles. The grocery store man must have dreaded the clinking sound my wagon made
as I approached. Of course, I blew most of it in his candy aisle.

The lead is 10 cents a pound at the scrap yard. I usually wait until I have over 10 pounds of them and they
then go in with everything else I collected. I once saw a guy with a tire store uniform turning in buckets of them.
It would probably take a year's worth to make it worth selling them to anyone else, but I'll check it out!

I sell all the lead I find to friend who makes his own fishing tackle. He gets it alot cheaper from...sometimes I'll take some of his stuff in trade. So, you might place an ad in craigslist for a lure/tackle builder...I sure it'll pay more than 10 cents a lb.

[CrazyTom]

Today's haul was 1 pound 2 oz aluminum cans (half came from a short diversion to a canal fishin' spot), 11 oz lead tire weights,
2 pounds of nuts and bolts (one bolt alone was 13 oz), 5 pounds 3 oz of assorted other steel (in that amount was a large Master pad lock, a broken bike chain, and a flattened Coleman fuel canister), one brass key, and two zinc pennies.

Got another 75 dollars in dimes from Wells Fargo and got one silver Roosie.

[marhjan]

Be aware that when you pick up scrap on a railroad that it is private property. My scrapyard will not take railroad material, and says that it is illegal to have it.[/quote]


+1 - be VERY careful picking up Railroad scrap. It's a good way to get hassled unless you have documentation for it. Technically you could goto jail, tho if it's just a few spikes etc the scrapyard guys would just give you a hard time and not take it - so basically just a waste of time.

[CrazyTom]

Took all my scrap in today and got 118 dollars.

Out of that the road steel was about 10 bucks, got 7 bucks for all the aluminum cans.

Things must have changed because this time I got 35 cents a pound for the lead wheel weights (14 pounds).

[Robarons]

You must do a lot of stopping on your bike. Once in a VERY grand while I will ride my bike on the side of the road. Were semi- country/suburbs so there are no sidewalks or trails, so if you wanna get around your riding on the shoulder of the roads. They are you typical 45/55 MPH roads that are pretty busy. My mind set is to keep a quick pace so I can get off the death trap, the shoulders here are gravel and with cars wizzing past by at 60 MPH I dont wanna be on the road longer then I have to. All in the meantime there are LOTS of nuts and bolts and small metal things. This stuff never gets picked or cleaned off the road, the shoulder is pretty mush gravel and sharp things.

Do you have the luxury of going slow to pick this stuff up? Seems like you would be better off walking and picking everything up. Also with you making $10 in road scrap, would that be 100 pounds or so? That is quite impressive!

[CrazyTom]

99% of the time I'm on the sidewalk, average posted speeds are 35-45 mph. Unfortunately there is a lot of stopping but I'm out for the fresh air and exercise so I don't mind. I never venture to capture road metal until all the traffic has passed.

The road scrap does not go in until I have enough of other things to make it worth while. Road scraps alone would take about six months to make enough for it's own trip. My guesstimation is that I'm getting 25-40 pounds a week depending on my work schedule. I usually have enough other scrap to make a load every other week.

I take the same route every Sunday and it is always replenished with new scrap. Today I got a brass padlock, a brake pad, a piece of rebar, and the usual cans and bolts etc. The brass lock would be the "high dollar" item in the bunch.

I have been keeping the scrap yard receipts so I can track things. It took almost 3 months to get 14 pounds of lead wheel weights.

[CrazyTom]

Getting back to work this week was a bummer. Only got one good ride in today and one short one during the week.

Both rides total haul was 1 pound aluminum cans, 14 oz lead wheel weights, 7 pounds 2 oz steel.

[CrazyTom]

The Sunday route never fails to produce. Steel was 4 pounds 11 oz (part of the weight was a clutch from a car AC system).
4 oz lead wheel weights, 12 oz aluminum cans, 2 oz copper, 1 oz aluminum.

One zinc penny, one clad dime, one nickel. The nickel is now safely in the nickel hoard.