Whether to separate your metals or not, ti's the question. Well, there are several factors involved in making this decision. I would say the top two factors are time versus money.
An example I will use is a riding lawn mower I recently scrapped. I removed all the plastic off it, such as the lights, gas tank, seat, tires, etc., and as many nuts and bolts as I could.
AREN'T NUTS AND BOLTS WEIGHT?
Yes, nuts, bolts and screws (along with washers) are metal weight and you will encounter these items made from various metals, such as steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, maybe even titanium? Never know. So, overall, they are worth taking off, putting them in a bucket and dealing with them later on when the bucket is full.
Plus nuts, bolts and screws always come in handy around the shop or house and there is nothing worse than going to store to buy a pack of 10 for around $2. Plus your gas having to get there. So, I take as many off as I can or have time for, which brings us around to a philosophy I heard from a flea marketer who had all his stuff "priced to sell".
"I'D RATHER MAKE A FAST NICKEL OVER A SLOW DIME"
After stripping the mower of all the non-metals, I eventually got down to the good stuff, the engine and transmission. Aluminum and steel. Here's the problem, how to separate them. When these things are manufactured, some of the aluminum parts have steel parts pressed into them. The aluminum, to save overall engine weight, and the steel parts for strength or high impact function, like an engine crank.
Getting these parts separated takes tools, sometimes special tools, (they're special if you don't have them), and time. This is where you have to evaluate the situation. Do you have both?
If you do not, scrap it as metal and let a shredder sort it out. If you do have both (tools and time) then you can evaluate the final effort you'll make separating the two.
TIME IS MONEY
Time is money, so goes an adage, and is a very precious commodity of life. Aluminum is more valuable than steel, weight for dollar wise, but in some circumstances you can't separate the two, unless one of your tools is a big press! Yes, there is always the BIG sledge hammer and I've tried that. Sometimes the aluminum just bent, other times it busted up into shrapnel. Didn't find all the pieces either. So I lost weight, wound up scrapping the piece as "scrap metal" and in essence, wasted my time. I had scrap metal when I started, an hour later, I STILL had "scrap metal" going across the scales (minus some shrapnel).
So now when I encounter this situation again, I look at it and say: "Should I buy more tools? Or would I just rather make a fast nickel, over a slow dime".
P.S.
I'm saving the tires and rims because I'm starting a welding shop and along with a variety of trailers, I'm going to make hand-trucks also. The big rear tires will go good on a garden trailer.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Experience, The Most Expensive Wisdom
I had an eventful day scrapping this past Saturday. I'm still new at it and am learning from my mistakes, the most expensive way to learn, but maybe the most profitable when it comes to the price of wisdom.
Saturday morning, after delivering 980 pounds of scrap metal ( $112.80), I went to continue salvaging an old motor home. I had already been picking it and have salvaged a nice gas powered generator (haven't looked at wattage size), but I am hoping it will power a small wire feed welder or at least and air compressor for power tools. I had already removed the big aluminum grill off the front as well. The old coach had been parked and unused for around 15 years. It wasn't worth fixing, but still had some value.
I was hoping to keep the small refrigerator for use in my welding shop that I'm starting. Hoping was the key word.
To make a long story a little shorter, I wound up kicking the dang thing out the door! Kinking the compressor line, most likely damaging the use of the refrigerator. But all is not lost, a rag and the gentle working of some pliers may save it from the scrap yard and keep my water, Gatorade and beer cold in my shop.
WHERE I MESSED UP
I messed up by not taking enough water with me to the job site. There was no electricity or water there. Thieves had already stole the power line coming off the pole. After about 3 hours of being there, I ran out of water and Gatorade and was to far into the project to leave the easy work for potential thieves, so I had to finish the job. A couple of hours had passed since I ran out of water and I started feeling nauseous, getting "cotton mouth" and feeling a general sense of dizziness. I had already removed a nice gas stove/oven and a Coleman gas heater, which will be nice for the shop.
But the dang refrigerator was giving me grief. I couldn't get it free and didn't want to ruin the paneling because I want to use it to panel the bare walled shop, or at least a corner of it, where I intend to have my little cafe. (Yes, I'm working on a cool shop, even found an old Coke sign, tell you about that another time.)
After successfully freeing the fridge from it's spot, it wouldn't fit through the side door of the motor home. I had to remove the fridge door. Screws wouldn't come loose. Gently tapping the hinges with a sledge hammer, the screws came out. The next problem was the compressor, it had to be unfastened and then bend it upwards so that it would be on top of the fridge, away from the side.
While I am leaning the fridge on the steps to see if it will now fit, (holding it with one hand, compressor in the other), I lose my grip. Out the door it went, (half way anyways) kinking the compressor line when it slipped out of my hand. I was already experiencing heat exhaustion and knew I was in danger of a heat stroke, so what the heck, put a foot on the fridge and send it out gloriously! I was pissed.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE COPPER PIPE AND WIRE?
Now everything was out (including the kitchen sink), leaving the copper pipe and wire exposed, which translates to easily stolen if left. Even though the sun was about gone and I was in bad need of water, I couldn't stop, plus I still had to load everything on the truck and trailer.
ALWAYS BE ABLE TO STOP WITHIN THE DISTANCE YOU CAN SEE
Okay, I'm loaded up and ready to go and it is dark now. I'm rolling and got the 2/45 air conditioning on (2 windows down, 45 miles an hour) heading down a winding country road, smoking a cig. I can't see squat. I have prescription sunglasses on and they were as clean as they could get with a sweat drenched towel. I'm driving around a bend in the road, heading towards a river bridge and see a vehicle in front of me and one heading towards me. There was another behind me. The one heading towards me is on the bridge and the one in front of me is approaching the bridge by now. The vehicle approaching us drifts into our lane. I see brake lights in front of me and start slowing down abruptly, to abruptly. I feel a shimmy in the ass end of my truck so I let off the brakes to regain control of the load and look in the rear view mirror to see if the person behind me is slowing down too, know what I mean?
When I look in front of me again something doesn't seem right (I was seriously fatigued from heat) and it takes me a second to figure out what is going on here. Did the person in front of me pull over to the side of the road or is my mind not connecting the dots with reality versus safely stopping and wondering about the person who was tailgating my ass for the last 5-6 miles. I now realize that the vehicle in front of me has come to a complete stop... because they had flipped over!
So I hit the brakes again, feel the ass end of my truck start dancing and to top it off, now some yahoo is the middle of my lane waving his hands! Where he came from, I don't know. I think he was fishing from the bridge and that is why the approaching vehicle had swerved into our lane, causing the person in front of me to swerve onto the side of the road, except there was no side of the road at that point. But anyways, I have the truck tires squalling and I don't seem to be slowing down and to make things worse, I start to jack-knife! (small trailer, no trailer brakes).
JOKERS TO THE LEFT OF ME CLOWNS TO THE RIGHT
Well, at this point, I have 3 choices on what to hit. The (what turns out to be another truck) is back in his lane, but at a complete stop, the yahoo in my lane waving his arms or the flipped over SUV (yes, it was a Ford) all in a row across the road in front of me. Well, lets see. Hmm... I have the choice of hitting two objects that weigh at least 5,000 pounds a piece or someone who only weighs about 175 and this person could easily move out of the way! (yes, by this time I could see everything clearly). The guy who was in the stopped truck WAS half-way out his door, till he heard my tires squalling, I have no idea about the occupants of the SUV, but I am sure they are already rattled, if not seriously injured. (what if there was a baby in there?) Guess what dude, unless you get the fuck out of my way, my Nissan is going to have a new hood ornament!
JUMPING JACK FLASH
Fortunately for all involved, I think the yahoo realized I was doing I could to stop and he jumped out of the way like a tornado had swept him off the bridge. I still hadn't stopped moving yet! (yes, it might all seem slo-mo cause I'm writing this and I've had time to reflect on what happened, but all this went down within a few seconds).
When Mr. Yahoo did one heck of a standing side-ways leap, I let off the brakes and the truck starts to straighten out as I roll by the entire scene doing about 3-5 miles an hour. (so it wouldn't have been to bad on Mr. Yahoo) But then to add to my hysteria, Mr. Yahoo starts yelling at me when I roll by. Like the fact that I didn't run his ass over, or swat someone with the trailer was enough! FUCK YOU ASSHOLE, I yell out the window, put my truck in first gear and head to Taco Bell for a Burrito Supreme (their on sale for 99 cents!) and a large glass of water.
I figured there was enough people around to deal with the injured, but I was not sure if there was cell phone reception at that area. So SOMEONE had to go to town and call the law. After being yelled at by Mr. Yahoo, I volunteered.
SO WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
I learned several things that Saturday.
I learned to look at the label of the cans I'm taking with me to make sure I'm bringing hornet spray, not ant spray. (I didn't mention that experience? blog is long enough).
So what if you come home with an extra jug of water, better than being two jugs shy.
Take an extra towel for final clean up, even if its just for your glasses.
Regardless of how careful you are at taking something apart, if you can't deliver it one working piece, you've wasted your time. (and water!) and you've taken something that would cost about $250.00 at a store and turned it into about $20.00 worth of scrap. (maybe a little more once you separate the metals, but I'm making a point.)
And (to finally finish this blog) you can't always load a truck/trailer ideally, do the best you can. But first and foremost, be able to safely stop within the distance you can see in front of you.
P.S.
And if by chance you have to cross a narrow bridge at night, beware of the Yahoo family and the others trying to dodge them. And that all translates to being able to stop safely.
Saturday morning, after delivering 980 pounds of scrap metal ( $112.80), I went to continue salvaging an old motor home. I had already been picking it and have salvaged a nice gas powered generator (haven't looked at wattage size), but I am hoping it will power a small wire feed welder or at least and air compressor for power tools. I had already removed the big aluminum grill off the front as well. The old coach had been parked and unused for around 15 years. It wasn't worth fixing, but still had some value.
I was hoping to keep the small refrigerator for use in my welding shop that I'm starting. Hoping was the key word.
To make a long story a little shorter, I wound up kicking the dang thing out the door! Kinking the compressor line, most likely damaging the use of the refrigerator. But all is not lost, a rag and the gentle working of some pliers may save it from the scrap yard and keep my water, Gatorade and beer cold in my shop.
WHERE I MESSED UP
I messed up by not taking enough water with me to the job site. There was no electricity or water there. Thieves had already stole the power line coming off the pole. After about 3 hours of being there, I ran out of water and Gatorade and was to far into the project to leave the easy work for potential thieves, so I had to finish the job. A couple of hours had passed since I ran out of water and I started feeling nauseous, getting "cotton mouth" and feeling a general sense of dizziness. I had already removed a nice gas stove/oven and a Coleman gas heater, which will be nice for the shop.
But the dang refrigerator was giving me grief. I couldn't get it free and didn't want to ruin the paneling because I want to use it to panel the bare walled shop, or at least a corner of it, where I intend to have my little cafe. (Yes, I'm working on a cool shop, even found an old Coke sign, tell you about that another time.)
After successfully freeing the fridge from it's spot, it wouldn't fit through the side door of the motor home. I had to remove the fridge door. Screws wouldn't come loose. Gently tapping the hinges with a sledge hammer, the screws came out. The next problem was the compressor, it had to be unfastened and then bend it upwards so that it would be on top of the fridge, away from the side.
While I am leaning the fridge on the steps to see if it will now fit, (holding it with one hand, compressor in the other), I lose my grip. Out the door it went, (half way anyways) kinking the compressor line when it slipped out of my hand. I was already experiencing heat exhaustion and knew I was in danger of a heat stroke, so what the heck, put a foot on the fridge and send it out gloriously! I was pissed.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE COPPER PIPE AND WIRE?
Now everything was out (including the kitchen sink), leaving the copper pipe and wire exposed, which translates to easily stolen if left. Even though the sun was about gone and I was in bad need of water, I couldn't stop, plus I still had to load everything on the truck and trailer.
ALWAYS BE ABLE TO STOP WITHIN THE DISTANCE YOU CAN SEE
Okay, I'm loaded up and ready to go and it is dark now. I'm rolling and got the 2/45 air conditioning on (2 windows down, 45 miles an hour) heading down a winding country road, smoking a cig. I can't see squat. I have prescription sunglasses on and they were as clean as they could get with a sweat drenched towel. I'm driving around a bend in the road, heading towards a river bridge and see a vehicle in front of me and one heading towards me. There was another behind me. The one heading towards me is on the bridge and the one in front of me is approaching the bridge by now. The vehicle approaching us drifts into our lane. I see brake lights in front of me and start slowing down abruptly, to abruptly. I feel a shimmy in the ass end of my truck so I let off the brakes to regain control of the load and look in the rear view mirror to see if the person behind me is slowing down too, know what I mean?
When I look in front of me again something doesn't seem right (I was seriously fatigued from heat) and it takes me a second to figure out what is going on here. Did the person in front of me pull over to the side of the road or is my mind not connecting the dots with reality versus safely stopping and wondering about the person who was tailgating my ass for the last 5-6 miles. I now realize that the vehicle in front of me has come to a complete stop... because they had flipped over!
So I hit the brakes again, feel the ass end of my truck start dancing and to top it off, now some yahoo is the middle of my lane waving his hands! Where he came from, I don't know. I think he was fishing from the bridge and that is why the approaching vehicle had swerved into our lane, causing the person in front of me to swerve onto the side of the road, except there was no side of the road at that point. But anyways, I have the truck tires squalling and I don't seem to be slowing down and to make things worse, I start to jack-knife! (small trailer, no trailer brakes).
JOKERS TO THE LEFT OF ME CLOWNS TO THE RIGHT
Well, at this point, I have 3 choices on what to hit. The (what turns out to be another truck) is back in his lane, but at a complete stop, the yahoo in my lane waving his arms or the flipped over SUV (yes, it was a Ford) all in a row across the road in front of me. Well, lets see. Hmm... I have the choice of hitting two objects that weigh at least 5,000 pounds a piece or someone who only weighs about 175 and this person could easily move out of the way! (yes, by this time I could see everything clearly). The guy who was in the stopped truck WAS half-way out his door, till he heard my tires squalling, I have no idea about the occupants of the SUV, but I am sure they are already rattled, if not seriously injured. (what if there was a baby in there?) Guess what dude, unless you get the fuck out of my way, my Nissan is going to have a new hood ornament!
JUMPING JACK FLASH
Fortunately for all involved, I think the yahoo realized I was doing I could to stop and he jumped out of the way like a tornado had swept him off the bridge. I still hadn't stopped moving yet! (yes, it might all seem slo-mo cause I'm writing this and I've had time to reflect on what happened, but all this went down within a few seconds).
When Mr. Yahoo did one heck of a standing side-ways leap, I let off the brakes and the truck starts to straighten out as I roll by the entire scene doing about 3-5 miles an hour. (so it wouldn't have been to bad on Mr. Yahoo) But then to add to my hysteria, Mr. Yahoo starts yelling at me when I roll by. Like the fact that I didn't run his ass over, or swat someone with the trailer was enough! FUCK YOU ASSHOLE, I yell out the window, put my truck in first gear and head to Taco Bell for a Burrito Supreme (their on sale for 99 cents!) and a large glass of water.
I figured there was enough people around to deal with the injured, but I was not sure if there was cell phone reception at that area. So SOMEONE had to go to town and call the law. After being yelled at by Mr. Yahoo, I volunteered.
SO WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
I learned several things that Saturday.
I learned to look at the label of the cans I'm taking with me to make sure I'm bringing hornet spray, not ant spray. (I didn't mention that experience? blog is long enough).
So what if you come home with an extra jug of water, better than being two jugs shy.
Take an extra towel for final clean up, even if its just for your glasses.
Regardless of how careful you are at taking something apart, if you can't deliver it one working piece, you've wasted your time. (and water!) and you've taken something that would cost about $250.00 at a store and turned it into about $20.00 worth of scrap. (maybe a little more once you separate the metals, but I'm making a point.)
And (to finally finish this blog) you can't always load a truck/trailer ideally, do the best you can. But first and foremost, be able to safely stop within the distance you can see in front of you.
P.S.
And if by chance you have to cross a narrow bridge at night, beware of the Yahoo family and the others trying to dodge them. And that all translates to being able to stop safely.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Don't Forget Your Hornet & Wasp Spray
Was scrapping yesterday and got attacked by an angry hornet. I had filled my truck and trailer full of scrap and was doing a walk-around gathering up my tools, my last path being under an old porch, which I had been traversing for the past few hours.
All of a sudden a red hornet came out of a porch rafter, (like a ninja in waiting), swooped by my face, flew back up into the air (at this point, everything went in slow-mo) and came at me like a demon thrown out of heaven with his ass on fire! I duck and started to run (in slow-mo), but no luck. The red-ass'd demon spawn gets tangled in my hair! ...at this point I know I'm intercoursed... I don't even have my gloves on.
Got stung. My head is tender from the top side, down to my left ear. Hopefully this incident will remind me NOT to forget my wasp/hornet spray. I just don't like to keep a pressurized can in my truck tool box or in the cab during the summer. I'm always afraid it might become a bomb!
Okay, have to unload and start separating the different metals. I have copper, brass, aluminum, steel and some cast iron. And to be honest with you, I hate to scrap one of the pieces, it's an old-timey lumber mill saw. I see the potential in it for a interesting piece of art, if not, as a nostalgic piece. But then, I have to consider thieves... who scrap.
All of a sudden a red hornet came out of a porch rafter, (like a ninja in waiting), swooped by my face, flew back up into the air (at this point, everything went in slow-mo) and came at me like a demon thrown out of heaven with his ass on fire! I duck and started to run (in slow-mo), but no luck. The red-ass'd demon spawn gets tangled in my hair! ...at this point I know I'm intercoursed... I don't even have my gloves on.
Got stung. My head is tender from the top side, down to my left ear. Hopefully this incident will remind me NOT to forget my wasp/hornet spray. I just don't like to keep a pressurized can in my truck tool box or in the cab during the summer. I'm always afraid it might become a bomb!
Okay, have to unload and start separating the different metals. I have copper, brass, aluminum, steel and some cast iron. And to be honest with you, I hate to scrap one of the pieces, it's an old-timey lumber mill saw. I see the potential in it for a interesting piece of art, if not, as a nostalgic piece. But then, I have to consider thieves... who scrap.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Starting a Site About Scrap Metal
I'm starting a site about "scrapping metal", the scrap metal recycling industry. I am anxious to tell of my experiences and share some insight with you about "scrapping", but I will have to either write another post or update this one later. Right now, I'm going out to make some money!
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