How should I separate these items?

Hi all, I want to start off by saying. I'm new to the forum and thanks for any advice you all may be able to provide. I have several questions that I will ask here for input if you're willing and of course I'll ask any potential scrap yard prior to taking my items to them as I'm sure most yards do some things slightly different. Thanks for any advice/knowledge anyone can lend.

I have a salvage type business that's been in operation for many years. With that being said. I have several thousand pounds of various scrap laying around (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 10k lbs of aluminum and another 10k of various cast engine blocks, different types of metal etc. I'm a bit of a pack-rat and haven't scrapped anything in MANY years so I've got quite the accumulation, "never know, I might need a little piece off that one of these days, better keep it" type thing. But I'm looking to expand my operation this year and honestly I've got 3300 square feet of building space that's filled and probably half of it needs to just be scrapped BUT I want to extract every last dollar from it prior to the yard getting it. Meaning I want to completely break everything down myself (for the items that are feasible). Here are the questions.



1. Are cast engine blocks worth stripping down to bare blocks? I have 15 or so and add a few a year (expected to increase with the expansion).
2. Is it worth stripping aluminum pistons all the way down and what are they classified as after doing so? The 2 local yards don't appear to have a classification for pistons on their price sheets.
3. If I decide to scrap some of the priceless treasures I have here. I will buy a dump trailer to haul with (I've been needing one for various things anyway. Hauling firewood, mulch, etc). If I haul say 2000lbs of clean cast aluminum in 1 load. Would I be wrong to attempt to negotiate a higher price than the next guy who hauls in 30lbs and if I wouldn't be out of line to do so. How much of a premium should I expect?

I'm not green to doing business and I've been a wheeler and dealer all my life. I can negotiate with the best of them but I like to be well informed prior to going into a negotiation and scrap classification etc. isn't something that I'm super well versed in. I will try to add a few pictures and maybe that will help aid you folks in giving me advice or answering questions. Please don't hesitate to criticize if you feel it's warranted and don't hesitate to point out or offer advice on a better way to do it or tell me to quit wasting my time and just start piling it all in a trailer and hauling! Suffice to say, FEEL FREE TO SPEAK YOUR MIND!

Sorry fellas, I just realized the pictures would need uploaded to a hosting site prior to being able to post them here. I'll figure out how to do that but in the meantime. The pictures were of milkcrates full of connecting rods which I'm assuming would be what we used to call #1 prepared? Not sure what it's called now days. A picture of a 55 gallon barrel full of aluminum pistons that have been completely stripped of rings, wrist pins etc. So would this be considered cast? Or is there a different category that pistons fall in? and is it worth the 1-2 minutes it takes to completely clean each piston of the rings etc? There's a few thousand pounds of crankshafts. Would it be worth the 15-20 minutes each of pressing off bearings etc?

Originally Posted by DFMarine

Hi all, I want to start off by saying. I'm new to the forum and thanks for any advice you all may be able to provide. I have several questions that I will ask here for input if you're willing and of course I'll ask any potential scrap yard prior to taking my items to them as I'm sure most yards do some things slightly different. Thanks for any advice/knowledge anyone can lend.

I have a salvage type business that's been in operation for many years. With that being said. I have several thousand pounds of various scrap laying around (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 10k lbs of aluminum and another 10k of various cast engine blocks, different types of metal etc. I'm a bit of a pack-rat and haven't scrapped anything in MANY years so I've got quite the accumulation, "never know, I might need a little piece off that one of these days, better keep it" type thing. But I'm looking to expand my operation this year and honestly I've got 3300 square feet of building space that's filled and probably half of it needs to just be scrapped BUT I want to extract every last dollar from it prior to the yard getting it. Meaning I want to completely break everything down myself (for the items that are feasible). Here are the questions.

1. Are cast engine blocks worth stripping down to bare blocks? I have 15 or so and add a few a year (expected to increase with the expansion).
2. Is it worth stripping aluminum pistons all the way down and what are they classified as after doing so? The 2 local yards don't appear to have a classification for pistons on their price sheets.
3. If I decide to scrap some of the priceless treasures I have here. I will buy a dump trailer to haul with (I've been needing one for various things anyway. Hauling firewood, mulch, etc). If I haul say 2000lbs of clean cast aluminum in 1 load. Would I be wrong to attempt to negotiate a higher price than the next guy who hauls in 30lbs and if I wouldn't be out of line to do so. How much of a premium should I expect?

I'm not green to doing business and I've been a wheeler and dealer all my life. I can negotiate with the best of them but I like to be well informed prior to going into a negotiation and scrap classification etc. isn't something that I'm super well versed in. I will try to add a few pictures and maybe that will help aid you folks in giving me advice or answering questions. Please don't hesitate to criticize if you feel it's warranted and don't hesitate to point out or offer advice on a better way to do it or tell me to quit wasting my time and just start piling it all in a trailer and hauling! Suffice to say, FEEL FREE TO SPEAK YOUR MIND!

Take this with a grain of salt, but my opinion.....

>1. Are cast engine blocks worth stripping down to bare blocks? I have 15 or so and add a few a year (expected to increase with the expansion).
I would think you can just take them in as is most likely and get cast price for them OR at least unprepared iron. Payout is only different by maybe 1 cent per lb. I dont know anything about it, but I have heard people talk of selling and buying cores here... is there an engine "core" market that might get you more than scrap value for these? Maybe, Im not sure.


>2. Is it worth stripping aluminum pistons all the way down and what are they classified as after doing so? The 2 local yards don't appear to have a classification for pistons on their price sheets.
depends on the yard. my local yard would buy them as is as aluminum sheet (the lowest all alum category that they use as a catch all for mixed all aluminum) because they are MOSTLY aluminum. So that would get like $0.25/lb at the moment. Another yard may only give you irony aluminum price for them ($0.10/lb). Take one to your yard and say hey I got a bunch of these is this clean enough to go as aluminum.... see what they say.


>3. If I decide to scrap some of the priceless treasures I have here. I will buy a dump trailer to haul with (I've been needing one for various things anyway. Hauling firewood, mulch, etc). If I haul say 2000lbs of clean cast aluminum in 1 load. Would I be wrong to attempt to negotiate a higher price than the next guy who hauls in 30lbs and if I wouldn't be out of line to do so. How much of a premium should I expect?

You definitely cant like..... haggle with them. They wont do that. Some yards have a "commercial" rate (that is slightly higher than the "public" rate), but again this is all highly dependent on each scrapyard, and even may vary based on the current market/prices per yard. So, this would again be something I would just call or go there and ask.... "Hey I have like 2000lbs of aluminum, you pay any more per lb for that much all at once?"... if they say "no not really", you can perhaps if there IS an amount they pay more for. But again, I have never done this.


Really if you want good or better prices, its all about building a relationship with the yard over time and being friendly and gaining trust. At my local yard they alway give me "unprepped iron" (like $0.065/lb last time i went) even though I tell them its light iron. They know im not trying to screw them and that my load is mixed with some heavier stuff, so they bump me up some. Some random guy they never saw before they run the risk of getting a dryer full of bricks, so pay the lower price.

Obviously if you are trying to just dump all this stuff you wont have time for all that. But the prices are higher now than they have been in years. So I would say dump it all now and enjoy the added space you have.



If it were ME and I had what you say:

"10k lbs of aluminum and another 10k of various cast engine blocks, different types of metal etc."


first id go through it all and see if there is anything that has a resale/higher than scrap value to set aside to sell rather than scrap

next Id go through whats left and take out stuff that is easy to ID and a higher price than ferrous metals

any wires in one pile
any cat batteries another pile
any alternators another pile (these can get wires snipped off if they have them and thrown in the wire pile)
any radiators another pile (this can get further broken down and separated for more value but this is a start for now)

Next I'd get a magnet and separate out whats left touch everything with a magnet (well I wouldnt as I can usually tell most without a magnet by now, but for you grab a magnet),
anything that is magnetic if its thinner than say... 1/8 inch or has lots of non-metal of it, it goes into one pile (for light iron)
if its thicker (or like... an axel or engine or car part of most types) but in another pile for either prepared or unprepared heavy iron

anything that doesnt stick seperate out into whatever it is (brass, coppper, aluminum, stainless)

there is plenty other things to do in there and i dint include everything id do but that would be the jist of it

Thanks kss and JJin. That’s helpful info. As to the blocks in question. They’re cast iron inboard motor blocks. I have hundreds of aluminum outboard blocks but they’ll all be desleeved and sold as clean rather than breakage. KSS, you’re spot on with the comment about checking things for resale value rather than scrapping. This is all stuff that’s a byproduct of my reselling business. It’s either slightly damaged, something that isn’t commonly reused etc. I own a marine salvage business where we predominantly deal with outboard motors. We buy large quantities of them each year to part out as well as repair motors for customers etc. So it’s a multifaceted business with an online reselling presence, a brick and mortar retail shop with both new and used parts as well as a repair service. This generates a rather large amount of predominantly aluminum scrap. Thanks to both of you for your insights and advice. It’s much appreciated!!!

Originally Posted by RichardAaron

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