New from near Dallas - 50, female and brand new at this

Hi All!
My name is Cheryl. I live in a small town south of Dallas. I've just decided to learn about scrapping. Considering I couldn't tell you what metal is what, with the exception of maybe an aluminum can, I have a long way to go. I love traveling and being in my truck, and I need to make a little extra cash, and I love buying/selling/bargain hunting, so when I thought of going this route, I knew instantly it was for me. I can see myself thoroughly enjoying this and being successful at it. I'm very excited about it. This forum is awesome! I've been reading for days. Thank you all.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on finding us. The two bits of advice I have for you is read all the old theads, you will be surprised what information will make you money and the second is get a magnet.

Another area you may excell at is picking at yard sales. Anything made of brass is worth money as scrap and much can be resold to be used in the new owners house. The other thing you can do at yard sales is put up unwanted or unsold items for free/cheap to scrap, wires, computers, steel etc. Best of luck in your new adventure, Mike.

Welcome to SMF! Yep, the ol magnet trick, ferrous is magnetic, non ferrous is not ; ) Better than scrap value is always an added plus as well. I once bought a little brass spitoon at a yard sale for a dime, eventually listed it on Ebay in a very fun ad, "be the envy of the whole hootin hollar with your very own solid brass cuspidor! no more unsightly expectorations in the ash bucket!" and so on. That thing sold for $15! lol Excepting ewaste (mostly computers) I've given away far more scrap than I've sold. Came across this site while searching for a place to sell some old computer boards, and stayed around, steadily learning to maximize scrap that was already right here on the farm, then began getting word out ever so slowly, and picking up other scrap from various sources. Now I have a happy little scrap yard out behind the barn. Enjoy! :)

Hi Cheryl!! welcome to SMF , ever been up to Maine??

Thanks for the welcomes! I tested the waters a bit today, but don't really know yet if I did okay. I put just three types of items in the truck (a Saturn hood, some bed rails, and a metal chair frame) and went downtown and hit a salvage yard I looked up online. They called my stuff tin, weighed the truck, had me drive to a spot to unload, weighed me again and paid me 9.90. Tin was going for 8.25 per hundred pounds. The guy who greeted me was really nice and as I was leaving he gave me some magnets. He said if it sticks, it goes to the back and if it doesn't, it goes to the front. Simple as that. There are a few places downtown and I will probably check them all.

I stopped by my storage unit and told the owner I'm going into scrapping and he said he would put stuff to the side for me and call me when he had a load of it. Someone else gave me a four foot mini-fridge to scrap.

Thanks for the yard sales ideas. Funny, I just had one myself and sold a pair of brass candlestick holders for $2.00

No, I've never been to Maine, Submarinepainter.

Going to look up the definition for tin now.

Cheryl

tin is just light metal, long iron(over 3 ft) gets the same price where I'm at. There's a SMF member with a yard in Waxahachie, you might should check that one out too (can't recall the name, I'm sure you'll see them around here : )

Thanks, Bear. I'll do a search for it. Someone told me there is a scrap yard in Red Oak, too. Both Waxahachie and Red Oak would be closer for me.

Found it. HLH&R Metals Recycling. Thanks so much!

yeah! cool :)

Don't forget those construction roll away dumpster and going out the night before trash pick up is always good also don't be shy about calling business's and just tell them your recycling metal so there is less of an impact on our land fills I did this an now I have 5 different accounts 2 with heating and air conditioning which gives me almost 200 a week just in copper

Welcome to the forum. Sounds to me you have found a good scrap yard to start with. You did well for being the first trip to the yard and the advice the man at the yard gave you was right on. Start out slow and learn as you go and soon you'll be making good money. Feel free to ask questions, the only dumb question is one that is not asked. Let us know how you are doing and good luck.

Tin is actually an element used to coat other metal (ie Tin Can) usually to prevent rusting. Some people use the word "tin" to mistakenly refer to what others would call "Light Iron" or sheet metal. You'll see some yards, even, have a category of "Tin". The advice the guy at the yard gave you is not much good, either. You still need to group the ferrous (magnetic) and nonferrous (nonmagnetic) further as #1 and #2 Iron, plus "Torch Material". Then #1, #2 and Scrap Copper. Then there is brass and aluminum. If you just sort by ferrous and nonferrous, they'll pay you for the lowest value in each. For instance, paying you .30/lb (aluminum sheet) for your #1 Copper (should be approx 2.90/lb).

To outdoorburns, happyscraper, and Mick: Thanks for more great information and advice! I just got finished reading your tips on stripping copper wire, Mick. What a time-saver, if I can get it to work. I have a decent pile of wire to strip. I'm thinking after reading so much that I should definitely sort everything and take all the same type of stuff in together, not to mention I'm going to try another yard.

The first time I heard "tin" I was rather insulted. Even though not being a scrapper, I had been to the major yards in Nashville dozens of times, over a period of 20 years, and hadn't had my steel called that before. Buuut!... it's about all they call it here, and I've just gotten used to it I guess. It isn't really a specification, it's more just a term denoting a category

Welcome scrappydoe!! Lots to learn but with so much info here and through perseverance you will learn fast!!

This might help some because they have quite a few pic's with somewhat of a description of it. Good luck, we've got quite a few women on this forum. Makes my day,,,,lol
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