Scrapping makes you smarter

3 years ago I had to change the drive belt on my lawn runner, I could not really figure it but after taking most of it apart I did it . I remember saying i dread doing that again
well I had to fix it last year and this week had no choice already . so i went to it .
and guess what - I took battery out with battery holding plate , and darn but my new found experience of taking apart almost any thing that walks and talks - had me looking at it way different. I took a base ball bat and used it as a lever to set pulley in position, then a chunk short steel to hold pulley in position like a wedge . I then slipped on the belt total time 6 min.
No question the dismantling of scrap creates better ability to trouble shoot and I'd like honorable mention to better math skills from the scale in associating weight to $$ - I now know what different metals are,
from sight - weight - color - ability to bend or feel - also seeing what I scrap, actually does before i scrap it, is another whole new mind blowing thing in itself .
In no way has scraping caused me to be brain dead as other jobs can cause .

I'd have to agree. If I get something new to me to scrap, rather than just throw it on the pile, I'll disassemble it. Not only do you learn how to dismantle it in the future, but you might uncover other higher value metals inside.

I have always been told I am very good at quick math but then again the only math I know is dollars, tons, pounds, cubic feet. I can pretty much break down anything as long as it has to do with those four things. Other then that stick an algebra question in front of me and it would take me days to figure it out. The funny thing is I make more $$$ then everyone I went to school with and always considered school just an obstacle that was in my way to full time scrap processing. I completely blame this on my dad because he took me around to his job sites and scrap yards at such a young age that all I ever wanted to do was spend my summer tearing stuff up and cutting stuff with a torch. I had zero interest in anything in school except history. Don't look at it as a negative look at it as a positive. Some people were born to do specific things in life and I found my calling at such a young age that I soaked it up like a sponge. I wish there was more for me to learn but I think I have reached my pinnacle seeing how no piece of scrap no matter how big or small or what the removal takes I can get it done with unheard of quickness. The sad part is when I am not at the yard or a manufacturing plant I feel lost. I think I am the only person in america that can't wait to go to wake up and go to work and get it started. At the end of the day I don't want to leave either.

You need a vacation PSP! Take a long stroll along a distant beach, listen to the waves come rolling in, watching the ships go by, wondering how many tons they'd be, and how long to scrap. whoops! maybe go to the mountains, watch the campfire awhile :)

Its called dedication and honor PSP..I bet u sleep less than 6 hours a day just like myself. Too much to accomplish

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Originally Posted by PistoneScrapProcessing

I think I am the only person in america that can't wait to go to wake up and go to work and get it started. At the end of the day I don't want to leave either.

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I got my first computer when I was 7... a TRaSh-80 CoCo. I got all the books my dad would let me get and started to learn how to program basic. When I got my Tandy 1000, I learned how to install boards and hard drives, memory, etc. I probably did everything wrong at least once just to see what would happen. I was hooked. I'm 38 now and still enjoy getting up at 7am to go to work on and fix computers, networks, and servers. I could build and tear down a pc blindfolded. I love looking at chips that say '1985' and thinking "I remember when this came out..." I come home and work on websites, databases, or whatever project I'm into at the time (lately ewaste has taken over the apartment all sorted in boxes). I sometimes even dream about work (ex-wife used to say I'd jump up in the middle of the night asking about a project or computer that I had been working on recently - I was still sleeping!). :)

You're not the only person that can't wait to get started in the morning, but we are a rare breed... isn't that a great feeling!!?!! Although it pissed off my ex, and I know my fiancee can get frustrated at times because I know what I want to do and I very much enjoy doing it and get paid for doing it!

Business never sleeps and rarely do I, wake up @ 7 go to work wrenching til 530 go home eat dinner and hang out with the fam and get scrapping til 1 am usually. Monday thru Friday except Tuesday, its a hard schedule to keep but so worth it

In my short time scrapping full-time, I've learned more about maintenance, heavy equipment, using a torch and the value of hard work than i ever did in school. I have also learned more about materials and metallurgy, which ties into my degrees. However in school, I learned quite a few abstract tools. In some silly way my mental toolbox has only grown (and faster than i expected) since i started scrapping.