Scrap Steel

[farmerdoug]

I just received word that the auto bundles auctions for scrap steel has jumped over $150/ton for April.  This puts the auto bundles price at between $550-600/ton for the month.  Auto bundles are a monthly auction of scrap from the big car companies.

If you guys have scrap to move you may want to check your dealers to see what they are paying.

[scgargoyle]

Finally- My truck is going up in value! :D :D :D

[roger 4400]

 Do you mean my 1959 Oliver tractor worth near $1,200.....picking up in value.......Have a nice day                           Roger

[farmerdoug]

That is the problem.  The old tractors will soon be worth more for scrap. :

[WDH]

In cleaning up my fathers estate, we sold over $17,000 worth of scrap.  The scrap man that we worked with got much better prices, about 25% more, than the scrap buyers would pay us directly.

We got over 10 cents per pound for the iron and steel, 8 cents for the tin and misc metal, and up to $3.25 per pound for copper. 

[a old timberjack]

i did some last rainy day , i had a pile of crap out back i been looking at for a while , i almost fell over when i brought it to the scrap yard, my wallet felt pretty good that day ;D if i could do that everyday that would be sweet 8)

[Dale Hatfield]

I just received word that the auto bundles auctions for scrap steel has jumped over $150/ton for April.  This puts the auto bundles price at between $550-600/ton for the month.  Auto bundles are a monthly auction of scrap from the big car companies.

If you guys have scrap to move you may want to check your dealers to see what they are paying.

Just checked car scrap price $240 a ton all around . Looks like a good profit on their end.

[Warbird]

Finally- My truck is going up in value! :D :D :D

Mine, too!  I smell retirement!  ;D :D

[johncinquo]

I was out riding around on the quad with the kids this weekend and took a spin through the old "dump grounds" out in the corn fields and apple orchards.  Its almost all cleaned up!  All the old farm equipment, abandoned cars, fuel tanks, implements, unidentifiable machinery is gone.  Guess someone either needed the money or decided it was finally worth it to take it to the scrap yard.  I'm glad to see it get cleaned up finally at least. 

[farmerdoug]

We took in 3000lbs of old batteries today.  They have been piling up for years as for a long time they were only worth 50 cents each or nothing.  I received 20 cents a lb which works out to an average of $10 each.  Some were 80 lb tractor batteries while others were mower tractor batteries.  One less thing to trip over. 8)

[Paul_H]

My dad told me that scrap prices were really good in the late 1930's too.Kids were bringing in scrap metal in little red wagons and making a bit of money.I think he said Japan was buying up all they could get their hands on.
I wonder what the heck they did with all that metal? smiley_dizzy

[Furby]

Seems like I recall reading someplace that they air mailed it back to us a few years later, but I could have that wrong. :
History don't repeat itself, so no biggie there. :-\

[farmerdoug]

Our steel industry is expanding too.  With our dollar being down we can compete with the now not so cheap foreign steel. :  

And after we beat them we can spend more money rebuilding them too. :

[Furby]

Doug, were the batteries weighed with the fluid in them?

[pineywoods]

My dad told me that scrap prices were really good in the late 1930's too.Kids were bringing in scrap metal in little red wagons and making a bit of money.I think he said Japan was buying up all they could get their hands on.
I wonder what the heck they did with all that metal? smiley_dizzy

Those of us old enough to remember the late 30's and early 40's can tell you EXACTLY what they did with it

[Dana]

Pineywoods, I don't think Furby is old enough to remember and he knows. (above post) We may someday see some of our scrap air mailed back, return addressed Korea or China. :(

[farmerdoug]

Furby,  Yes, fluid and dirt and all. ;)  He even took the batteries that were in pieces. :D

Some were dry from being cracked from sitting around over the years.  The scrap guy I deal with is sending out a semi-load with around 40,000lbs later this month.




At the rate we are spending on stuff from China, they will just buy us instead of war. :

[easymoney]

 i do not sell all my scrap metal. i look at a pile of scrap and i might see a sawmill or a fork lift or a tractor. or some other machine i can not buy ready to run. i sold a couple of cars to a scrap dealer a couple of months ago. he reminded me they would have weighed more if i had rolled the windows down and let it rain in them before i carried them to market. he does not seem to mind buying buckets of water or scrap paint as long as they are in an old car or refrigerator or something. just do not carry him any gas tanks unless they are still on the car or covered up so he can not see them.  old propane  tanks have to be in the floor of a car covered up with some innocent looking scrap.

[Sawyerfortyish]

My uncle told me he's never got as much for aluminum cans as he did the other day. Something like .70 a lb how much is it in you area?

[Furby]

At the rate we are spending on stuff from China, they will just buy us instead of war. :

Don't know if anyone else has seen the new series on The National Geographic Channel: America's Port.
It premiered at the same time as Ax Men this past Sunday night, but it's normal air time is 10 pm Eastern on Monday nights.
Anyways, in the first show they had a crane operator talking about how he's concerned with what he was unloading.
They were unloading 4000 or so containers from Asia and reloading 4000 empty containers.
One of his comments was "air is the United State's biggest export".
Their goal was to get that ship unloaded, reloaded and out of port so there would be enough time for that ship to have a return trip to the US before Christmas....... a month away.

Scary! :-\

[Larry]

80 cents/pound for cans here today.  Copper was $3.00.  The easy arn is all gone.  I've got 600' of winch line on my winch and looking to pull some cars out of the hollars that nobody else can reach.  Just gotta find a strong boy to pull cable.

My neighbor has a firewood yard on the way to the lake campgrounds...he can't find anybody to deliver firewood as all the cutters are arn huntin.  Gonna deliver firewood to him myself in the morning, just to keep him open.

[gary]

Propane tanks will blow up when they are processed at the scrapyard. If you are going to hide them in a load of scrap please make sure that they have a hole in them.Take a valve off ,shoot a hole in them. The few pennies you get for a propane tank aren't worth the life of the people working the shredder. The rumor is that the price of steel is going to go up again in May,by about $50.00 a ton. I am not going to sell any steel until next month unless I run out of room to store it . I have about 100 tons right now,and am processing as much as I can.
The new hot item for scrap is going to be plastic. I am just getting started recycling it. But the problem with it is you can't get enough weight on a truck,maybe 20,000 pounds on a tractor trailer.

[Furby]

Yeah, plastic has a weight problem, but with the right stuff you can get a good load.
When I worked at the factory, they went from regrinding all the plastic, reusing what they could and getting rid of the rest, to dumping it all in the trash.
Then they started to give it away, and then found someone to buy it.
I ended up being the one to weigh and load it for a while and the blow mold rejects were a waste of space, but the purge piles and blow mold trimmings had some good weight to them.
With fuel prices up, it makes it less worthwile. :-\

The other thing they had trouble with recycling was 55 gallon drums.
VERY little weight for the amount of space used.
Again, lots of those were given away and the rest stored until they could find someone to come in and take a truck load.
There had been talk about crushing the steel ones on the spot, but there was no easy way to reduce the size of the plastic ones and that is what they had the most of.

Edit:
America's Port will reair the first two shows starting tonight at 9 pm on the National Geographic Channel for those interested.

[Dave Shepard]

The junkyard guys are supposed to come here on monday to start hauling out old farm stuff. Looks like they are paying around $100/ton for stuff and they do the cutting and trucking. Will be nice to get the place cleaned up, but I see lot's of potential projects being lost. Maybe it's a really good thing this stuff is going. ;)


Dave

[Warren]

I am with Gary on the concealed tanks.  My dad worked in a steel mill. He spent two or three weeks in the hospital and 6 months re-couping when a tank of something exploded in the electric furnace he was shoveling minerals into.  "Fortunately" he was headed away from it at the instant it went off. 

[farmerdoug]

Dave,  I load scrap into a 20 yard dumpster on the farm and get 220/ton(current quote as of today).  I only cut it to make it fit the dumpster and keep it under 8 foot in height.  He hauls it and gives gives me 220/ton.  I know I could get more if I hauled it but the difference is worth the trouble.  At 100/ton I would not even let those guys on the property.  They are paying 250/ton at the yard for long steel and sheet metal around here. :  If you do let those guys at your place you better be there at all times.  If you think timber theft is bad just watch what they will do for scrap.  I personally would not let them on my property.  I would check with the scrap yards in your area about dumpster service and load it yourself.  I am sure even if they charge you for the hauling of the dumpster you would be far better ahead.  And you would not be wondering this fall where those parts for your skidder are now.

And please do not put tanks or other exposive items into scrap without ventilating them somehow.  People are killed each year from this tricks.

[Ironwood]

Dave,

That's only 5 cent per pound, I would hold off OR do it yourself, if you can..  According to Farmerdog he is getting 11 cent with a dumpster. I have "some" iron around that was part of the wrought iron buy, and was not wrought. I am going to either sell it as fence, or if the scrap get high enough scrap it AGAIN ( I bought it from a scrap yard). I have something like 32,000 lbs. Your not losing your value like if it were wood laying around outside in the weather. I not a betting man, but if it were me I'de "hold"

Ironwood

[farmerdoug]

Reid,

Even if the guys were paying you 11 cents a pound would you let them come in and scrap from your place?  Unless it was a total cleanup or you were going to stand there watch them, you would never know what they hauled off while you were busy.  From the sounds of Dave's place it is a treasure trove of usable metal, but to a scrap guy it is just more scrap. :  I beleive your place would probably be the same.

[Dave Shepard]

They are buying by the piece, this is my fathers deal, not mine. It's his junk anyway. The people buying the scrap are "auto recyclers" not really scrap yard people. They walked around out back and put price tags on stuff. Old choppers are $200 each, and a couple of old pickups as well. My father will be here, they won't have free run of the place. The $100 a ton price was just a guess. Thinking back on it, I picked one of them up with the Kubota, so probably not more than 3000 lbs. I was trying to get a container here a month ago, and was told I would probably get about $200/ton, but I don't have time to mess with torching junk to fit in a container. I had one junkyard rat wanted to buy my sisters Jeep. It's too rusty for a sticker, but the mechanicals are excellent. He would only give us $150, but then was bragging to someone that he was going to sell the engine trans for $1500 and get $200 for the scrap leftover. I don't have anything against someone making a living, but I've no use for weasels.


Dave

[Furby]

If there are any catalytic converters on any of the cars, I'd pull them off first. ;)
A fellow I work with is getting up to $250 each for them.
He can buy a vehicle for a couple hundred bucks, haul it home and the cat. alone will cover most/all of his costs.

The news had a a piece on last night or the night before where thieves are sliding under cars with battery operated reciprocating saws and taking the cats in a couple of minutes with no one noticing.
Side streets and even store parking lots are fair game. >:(

[gary]

Only certain types of catalytic converters are bringing that 250 each, but most will bring you at least $50.00 each. We just cut 3500 of them open for the materials inside
them. We get $100.00 a pound for it like that.

[Furby]

Care to list the types that are bringing more ???
I have a few laying around here that need to go in and I'd like some idea. ;)

[thecfarm]

Toyoto,forerunner.My step son lost one with a battery sawsall.Left the forerunner at a park and ride by the freeway,came back after work and sounded like a race car.Seems like these converters go through it about 3 times instead of once like most.Have more of whatever in it than the others,3 times as much.

[DouginUtah]

We are having spring clean-up days. The sign says NO Batteries. Four were sitting beside the dumpster. I took them home. Big heavy deep cycle batteries.

Are they worth anything nowadays?

[farmerdoug]

Doug,

I just sold 3000 lbs of batteries for 20 cents a pound last Monday.

Farmerdoug

[Dana]

Seems like these converters go through it about 3 times instead of once like most.Have more of whatever in it than the others,3 times as much.

I am pretty sure the material that is in the converters is Platnium. (sp)

[Dave Shepard]

Worked on pulling out the last of the junk that the junkers bought this afternoon. Round 1 went well, so they get a round 2. ;) Some of the stuff was pretty well sunkin the ground and put up quite a fight, but with a tractor on front and my Kubota pushing, we won the battles, although, not without a few scars: 




None of my welds broke, just need a new rod, might be time to engineer that top clamp I've always wanted. :D


Dave

[dancan]

Only certain types of catalytic converters are bringing that 250 each, but most will bring you at least $50.00 each. We just cut 3500 of them open for the materials inside
them. We get $100.00 a pound for it like that.

so how do you cut them ?