Harvesting Brass

Those brass relief valves on hot water thanks or any other small brass valves and taps for that matter.

I smack them with a hammer, they break off that the treaded portion that is screwed into the tank, you loose the same amount of brass had you cut them off with a sawzall or grinder.

No need for cordless tools or expensive abrasive blades.

My favorite tool is an Estwing claw hammer, Use the head to remove brass valves, the claw if swung right removes screws from the backing of electric ranges, washers and dryers.

From the electric appliances I'm after the silver contacts from the rheostats and timers, plus any wiring that comes out easy.

I do not take appliances as scrap, only remove the goods I want form those discarded at the local landfills and whatever happens to be at the scrap yard I cannibalize.

Out of courtesy I leave he wire untouched from any appliances at the scrap yard.

Regards
Gustavus

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Originally Posted by gustavus

Those brass relief valves on hot water thanks or any other small brass valves and taps for that matter.

I smack them with a hammer, they break off that the treaded portion that is screwed into the tank, you loose the same amount of brass had you cut them off with a sawzall or grinder.

No need for cordless tools or expensive abrasive blades.

My favorite tool is an Estwing claw hammer, Use the head to remove brass valves, the claw if swung right removes screws from the backing of electric ranges, washers and dryers.

From the electric appliances I'm after the silver contacts from the rheostats and timers, plus any wiring that comes out easy.

I do not take appliances as scrap, only remove the goods I want form those discarded at the local landfills and whatever happens to be at the scrap yard I cannibalize.

Out of courtesy I leave he wire untouched from any appliances at the scrap yard.

Regards
Gustavus

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Im glad your landfill allows that. Ours doesnt allow any scavenging period.

O man...Copper and Brass...We had 2 or 3 pounds of brass go for 2$ the other day a pound. copper was 2.67. I LOVE these metals..anything I scrap now I look all over the place for copper as I will now be trying to save it till the end of the month or something...Or hell maybe ill save it for a whole year now. Turn in 500 pounds of it haha!

SS Sinks have a TON of copper and Good amount of Brass. I can never get the brass off of a water heater without a Sawsall
it just does not want to budge ever. I try and cut at a crazy angle so as not to lose that much brass but yeah You will always end up with shavings if you have to cut..

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Originally Posted by Junkernaut

SS Sinks have a TON of copper and Good amount of Brass. I can never get the brass off of a water heater without a Sawsall

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Home Depot or Lowes, and buy a hand held sledge hammer. Hit is side ways 2 possibly 3 times real good, and viola. Save your saw blades for more important things.

Are you using a pipe wrench?

Or try this. I can't remember what the pipe size is, but screw in a piece of pipe and use that as a wrench to twist it off.

I love brass as a sideline, I don't get much so I don't take it into account in my $.
Then when I do have enough to fill a small sack or container I go thru it & clean it up & sell it, brass was getting a great price for a while but has dropped a lot in the last 3 weeks.
I'll just keep saving until the price gets up again, curtain rails, taps, bearings, electrical & household stuff.

To get the brass nuts off copper pipe I bash them flat & the rotate the pipe 90deg & smash it again & it breaks into a few pieces & falls away.
I found a large bucket of brass street water main valves once under a fence/hedge, the workers must have put it aside as they were doing their work & forgot about it. Easy $$$.

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the workers must have put it aside as they were doing their work & forgot about it.

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And I'm sure that you ran after them as they were driving away to make sure they didn't forget it,,,,roflmao

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

And I'm sure that you ran after them as they were driving away to make sure they didn't forget it,,,,roflmao

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Nah, I could see the bucket one night, a hedge was covering it & a few days later it was still there.
The water mains work was done & finished.
So I'm thinking 'nice plastic bucket I could fill with something' & kick it..
And it doesn't move..... Worth a second look.....
$$$!

Do you get the sound of a slot machine hitting the jackpot in your head when you find stuff like that. I know I do.