Safety Concerns

Scrapping metals can be a good way to supplement your income for a good bit of work and a little extra money. The last thing you want is your side hustle costing you a trip to the ER and missing time at your day job.

Take your time and be smart. Simple tips we all know but it's always worth repeating:

-Gloves are your friend. Dont go out picking up rusty, trashy, dirty looking metal with your bare hands. Reference the supply list if you need a refresher but be smart. Seriously.

-Watch for electrical components(eg. hot wires, batteries, etc) and other hazards. Don't rip apart your burt up vacuum still plugged into the wall. Don't try and strip the wire off that cord cutting towards your face. And seriously, don't try and lift that 300lb beam by yourself. . . As you can imagine, it's simple things but sometimes you get in too big a hurry and do stupid crap for no good reason.

-A dirty or otherwise messy worksapce invites accidents. Clean up your space. Put your crushed soda cans in their bag or bucket so you don't slip and fall. Wipe up the grease spot from that piece you pulled off your buddies car earlier. . . I hope it's clear, I just need to say it for you to see.

I hope the take away today is simple. Be smart, wear gloves, take your time, think about what your doing and stay relatively tidy. It's a business you get dirty and not a lot of money in it these past few years. Just because it's a dirty business, however, doesn't excuse being an idiot. If you do it, do it right and do it safe.

Precious Metals

Precious Metals

The holy grail of metals, so to speak, is the precious metals. These metals, most you probably know about, are gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. These are the top dollar items. Finding these metals, as you can imagine, is not easy. 

Gold

Gold is very valuable and an excellent metal to pick up, if you can get your hands on it. Jewelry is the best source but don't expect it to be free. Instead, in my e-scrap post, I mentioned that electronics parts like RAM sticks and cell phones are excellent sources to begin looking to collect gold.  You will collect very little per item so the time working to collect it may or may not be worth it depending on how hard you work and how much you can get. 

Silver

Silver, while typically much less valuable than the other metals, is more abundant than the other metals. Silverware, pins, jewelry, old awards, medals, coins, plaques, and some decor items like old candle sticks can be silver or silver plated. Check to make sure it is either ".925" or says "sterling" to assure you have valuable silver.

Platinum

Platinum is another precious metal but less commonly know than gold or silver. Mostly, you would think it as a plating on some jewelry but there are many surprising places to find it. Catalytic converters and electroplates are more common sources. A great and more extensive list can be found here.

Palladium

The largest place palladium is used is in catalytic converters. Palladium is also used in jewelry, in dentistry, watch making, in blood sugar test strips, aircraft spark plugs and in the production of surgical instruments and electrical contacts. Palladium is also used to make professional transverse flutes. The source for this is here.

... Rhodium too

Ok, so rhodium didn't make the short list. It may or may not make it on your list of metals but rhodium is quite rare and has many uses. This rarity and utility means it is expensive and usually alloyed with platinum in catalytic converters or alloyed/plated on jewelry to help prevent corrosion. You won't stumble on a large cache of rhodium but a little work finding it will pay off as the rarity makes it pricey.  

Storage Ideas

Storage Ideas

When it comes to storing your scrap(which can quickly amass to fill a room) storing your scrap and keeping it sorted is a must. Some layer of security is in order as well since people will steal your metal. Some creative solutions I have found out myself and others through a little research.  

Storage Solutions I use

• 5 gallon buckets- These nifty little bucket are frequently deep enough, sturdy enough and easy to label. I use these to hold my sorted out scrap. My labels include copper(clean and coated), iron/steel(ferrous metals), aluminum, tin(exclusively tin cans), and mix metals. I'm not a huge scrapper so these are a cost effective solution for my size.  

• Shed- I am lucky enough to have a shed outside to store my buckets and lock up a lot of my more valuable metals. It also allows me to store large pieces of metal like a muffler or furniture springs around it. I live out in the country so metal theft is not common as neighbors are few and far between. I really care about my copper, aluminum and e-scrap collection as these are valuable so a lock is placed on the shed. "Locks keep honest people out," is the saying I've heard and I'd like ti think there's mostly honest people out there.

Other storage solutions

• Yard- If you live "way out there", your large yard away from your neighbors can serve you just as well. Just throw down a tarp or put up some markers and you can sort out large quantities of metal. 

• Totes- Old plastic totes that used to store toys when you were a kid are also great items to sort out your metals. They are large and are good enough for a few pounds of metal. Just be careful, they can be brittle and break if you throw too much in them.

• Rooms or closets- Use an empty room or closet to store your metals(preferably in some kind of container). This is primarily the solution if you live in a more residential type setting and have limited or no outdoor space. 

Concluding, many solutions are available to the storage of your scrap metal. This tentative list is but a few of the dozens of options you have. Check and see which of them is right for you.   

To Sell or Scrap?

To Sell or to Scrap?

Most scrap items, like appliances, I have mentioned before have intrinsic value in the form of their metal bits and pieces. They also have extrinsic value in the form of their functionality, like a microwave heating up food or drink placed inside of it. The extrinsic value is also slightly but wholly(unless it's retail priced) reflexive of the labor and overhead involved in making the item a functional and valued piece. The intrinsic value is, no more and no less, the market value of the metal to a scrap yard. The disparity in price is when you must decide, to sell or to scrap? 

To help answer this question, I have created a few guidelines to at least try and help you decide which is easiest and best for you.

When to Sell

Starting off when to sell, I'll define what I mean. Scrapping and selling are actually similar but different. Selling will be the item, say an old refrigerator, is taken in to a pawn shop or sold to a relative/neighbor/friend/etc. in working condition for its extrinsic value. I say working condition because it is far more valuable when it is working. Here are a few guidelines to check off when selling vs. scraping:

•  Value: Is the item worth the effort to fix it, if it is broken? Will the effort justify the money and time? Unless it works alright, the answer here, yes or no, will answer sell or scrap.

• Demand: Does someone already want it and you can fix it up for a quick flip or is "everyone" into a newer, better, cheaper alternative? The menagerie of small and large appliances at your local pawn shop may help you answer if you can sell that old fridge and the internet will help give you a starting price.

   

Scrapping

Scrapping an item, like a fridge, is taking it to either a scrap yard or selling the METAL for its market value to another person. This is the intrinsic value. The condition of the item is ineffectual to the price. A few things to consider for scrapping are:

•  Condition: An item that is in crappy condition, beat up, rusted and not working is more than likely scrap. Look at the item and ask yourself, would you buy that? Can it be fixed up quick and cheap? That is your answer to sell or scrap. 

• Transport: Can you easily transport the item effectively and safely to the scrap yard or to whomever wants it? This is important as safety and proper transport is an all important factor when scrapping. 

I hope this brief piece helps you with a few considerations in deciding whether to sell or scrap.

Metal Theft

Metal Theft

There are few things out there that are more egregious than the theft of metal. The cast goes beyond the simple cost of the metal itself. There is frequently collateral damage. 

  Some examples of the true cost of metal theft.

The theft of copper cables off of train rails. The BBC reports, from the UK, that if even an inch of copper cable gets stolen, this causes massive train delays and thousands upon thousands of pounds(dollars) of damages for just a few pounds(dollars) in rewards.

Another story from CNBC documents how some thieves in the US are stealing copper cables from electrical stations, residential homes, and even from a construction site. Reportedly, copper theft is a $1 billion business in the US.(That's a ton of money.)

The point being...

The point being, metal theft carries a larger cost than the material itself. The melting down of copper wiring, for example, means the wire not only has to be bought again, but someone has to pay to make it again, pay to rebuy it, pay to transport it, pay to have someone reinstall the wiring and pay to test to make sure that the wiring is safe. This is another reason why I insist on only breaking down broken or antiquated items. They served their purpose and/or are now useless.  

Again, do not steal metal. It is expensive and nets very little money. Across the country(in the US), metal theft laws are getting updated to make selling stolen metal harder and carry harsher punishment.