bronze question

The only metals that a scrapper will run across that are magnetic are nickel, cobalt and iron. Bring it to your local yard and have them shoot it with the XRF gun.

Originally Posted by BohemianLush

The only metals that a scrapper will run across that are magnetic are nickel, cobalt and iron. Bring it to your local yard and have them shoot it with the XRF gun.

There are so many different alloys similar to what scrappers call "bronze" or "brass", it would take days to explain them all. With that being said, most yards only buy a few different classifications from the general public: Yellow Brass, Red Brass, Hard Brass. With this being the case, it probably is an alloy with some ferrous content- and I can't imagine the OP's item being large enough to be worth it for the yard to shoot- you would be best in this scenario to haggle with your local yard on the price (obviously, in most cases, the warehouse guy will not have a clue- so, talk to someone with a little clout!).

Originally Posted by CGsEnterprises

There are so many different alloys similar to what scrappers call "bronze" or "brass", it would take days to explain them all. With that being said, most yards only buy a few different classifications from the general public: Yellow Brass, Red Brass, Hard Brass. With this being the case, it probably is an alloy with some ferrous content- and I can't imagine the OP's item being large enough to be worth it for the yard to shoot- you would be best in this scenario to haggle with your local yard on the price (obviously, in most cases, the warehouse guy will not have a clue- so, talk to someone with a little clout!).

Bronze is copper and tin and brass is copper and zinc. Although there might be slight traces of other elements in the composition, brass and bronze must contain these elements. As for not being enough in weight to shoot with the XRF gun...he didn't even mention weights. When one of my customers bring in an item and doesn't know what it is I will shoot it for them no matter the weight. This is a courtsey that any yard worth its weight in salt should do for their customers. Hell, I even told anyone on SMF to send me a small sample along with a self addressed envelope and I will shoot it and send you a copy of the element breakdown. You mentioned haggling over price. I guess as a buyer for the company I would be the person with the "clout" to decide price. I never haggle over price if I don't know what the worth of the material is. That would be like haggling over the price of a car without knowing the make, model and year.

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have assumed the weight of the object...but honestly, most yards making money to buy a gun are more concerned with their corporate accounts. It's pretty cool to know you offer that, but I can tell you, you are one of few that have that kind of time on their hands. As far as the haggling, I guess it depends on the context. If you are in a car lot full of like makes and models, it should be pretty easy to identify the one you are looking at. Either way...it was just my thoughts.