Hello, I'm new to all of this

Hello everyone... I've recently began doing some scrapping.. I have a small SUV so I obviously dont do a ton of volume but I drove around for an hour last night and managed to sell everything at the yard for $33 which made me pretty happy...

My main question is the guy had me just empy everything out of my car into a huge bin.. he looked at it for all of 2 minutes they weighed it and paid me $33 .. I know it was different kinds of metals.. it wasnt Alot of stuff but how do I make sure I get paid accordingly??

I see other people go there and they just pull their vehicle in on the scale.. a horn blows then they drive across the yard and unload the stuff onto the ground and put the vehicle back on the scale again... and then they walk over and get paid... should I just assume that mixed scrap is just mixed scrap and I should only worry about it if I have something like an air conditioner or appliance with alot of copper in it or brass or something??

Welcome to the forum. You're not likely to make that mistake again. First - never assume anything. If you haul it all in and unload it together, you'll either get "mixed metal" or the value of the lowest value metal applied to the whole load. First get a list (most yards will give you a price sheet) and learn the types of metal they buy. Sort your load into these types - you may have to cut some pieces up and take stuff apart to get the most value. Then have it separated when you take it in. Weigh each type separately. Copper, brass and aluminum are examples of non-ferrous (non-magnetic) and need to be cut from whatever they're part of. For more basic types of metal, see my thread titled "Scrap Metal for Beginners".

It's definitely worth the time to strip down almost everything you get. Put different metals in 5 gallon buckets and save them until you have enough weight to be worth it. Check out some of the other threads, they'll answer any questions you might have.

This place buys just about everything.. if its metal, they want it.. ferrous or non ferrous.. I have all kings of stuff in my vehicle right now... a bed frame, metal baby gate.. some real heavy thick plumbing pipes.. ( like 4" wide ) some heavy folding chairs, parts of an old Gym, a few long barbells... stuff like that.. I'm not sure if with that kind of load.. if mixed metal just isnt my best bet... its probably like 2-300lbs minimum.... if I can get $100 for that I would be happy.... I sold 100lbs of stuff today and got $33 and it was only like 100 lbs of stuff... I had a radial arm saw which was heavy,a kids pedal go cart that was rusty.. 2 dvd players a sink, a bag of copper wire a a 8" piece of copper pipe, a thin piece of that metal strip that would go in a doorway to seal off the carpet seam... and thats it...

The plumbing pipes are likely Cast Iron. The bar bells are likely #1 Iron. Then rest - Light Iron. There was copper in the DVD player, sink might have been Stainless Steel and copper wire & pipe should have been sold separately. There's more, but that's a start.

Ok so you are saying I should empty the stuff into bins based on what kind of metal it is ( if I can figure that out ) The guys at that yard dont seem to be too interested in helping me with that...

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Originally Posted by nyjetsfanx93

Ok so you are saying I should empty the stuff into bins based on what kind of metal it is ( if I can figure that out ) ...

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Yes............

Do you know anyone near you that also scraps? Maybe they could teach you how to recognize whats what. The yard will not divvy up your load and pay you according to what they found.............you have to separate it all yourself..........and you have to have that done before you go to the yard. There have been a few links posted on this forum that could help you with identifying the different kinds of metals..just have to look

The place I've been going to, the guy has been pretty helpful and fair for the most part in my opinion... They take everything without a problem....

This might sound stupid to some of you but the way I see it.. I dont have the ability to do the volume others can since I use a small SUV ( chevy HHR to be exact ) so I'm limited as it is...plus I dont have really any storage since I am an apartment dweller... that said, I have started keeping the brass and copper pieces separate as well as wires... For me Its just easier to fill my vehicle up with stuff, go to the yard and get paid quick and easy... as I get more familiar with everything I will surely expand my operation but for now I look at it like this.. I've spent a total of 8 hour this week driving around picking up items and used 1/3 of a tank of gas ( I get abbour 23 mpg ) so I feel I am making out well ahead...

Here is a good website to bookmark for a beginner. It has pictures of everything that you need to know.

http://www.rockawayrecycling.com/new...terials.aspx#2

It also has current pricing for that location. However, you will need to recognize that those prices are not the same you may get at your place. They will be a good indicator though of what you need to seperate.

I live in an apartment as well, fortunately my folks live close by and allow me to use their garage as my shop. But before that, I would take my stuff apart with my tailgate next to the dumpster, throwing away the trash as I got it and separating stuff in their perspective buckets. Of course the downfall to that was that I was hauling my load around until I dumped it.

thats cool... I think I might consider seeing if my sister would let me do something.. She has an apartment with use of the yard and one whole side of the house.. perhaps if I was to get a couple of Big garbage cans to store some of the scrap I find...

Garbage cans with some holes drilled in them for drainage is the best.