Scrapping Kinda Sucks

BOOT said:
I'm too big for dumpsters and if they are on private property nevermind. The one i found on the street(public) and grabbed a few things on top of. The cops came n told me to get lost.

FAR too many scrappers, that know the construction CO's or workers take home scrap themselves around here.

I've come across a dozen local scrappers houses. Even the guy who parked close to my door, at the store LOL I'm sure they know where i live as well ;) I was just at the yard the other day for a light run and this one dude was evil eyeing me the whole time.
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For the life of me, I cannot fathom why people are such assholes.
I'm not built that way, and I'm sure you (BOOT) aren't either.
Junk is out there, and I'm sure there is plenty(?) to go around.
I guess for some it's all a dick measuring contest, idk.

If you (BOOT) haven't done it already, put some cameras on your house.
 
Learned two lessons today.

Friday was nice out, got a load in and back early enough to load up for a Saturday run. Saturdays they pay less! Funny don't rem it being that way but been a long time since i scrapped n even back then didn't go on Sat really. Oh well, they need the scrap more than me i guess, -$12. Good thing i wasn't max loaded up or took in good metal. No more Sats for me.

Think another scrapper stole my magnet. Was loaded up high, so couldn't see that side, while I was unloading the other and yard was busy. Shorty after starting i got a box of misc metal that someone set out for scrappers. It had two vehicle flag magnets. Don't even rem the flags or if they still had any. Kept one to use round my prep area and tossed partially broken other in junk car. Later got that tossed one out of it and put on the bed of my truck, right behind the cab. I've checked a lot of stuff, to see if it was worth loading. For example this crumpled gazebo, turns out mostly alum(thx windstorm).

Anyways not the the first magnet taken from my truck. No more leaving them on the bed rail, when going to the scrap yard. I always make sure to have one, incase scrutiny or I myself load something nonferrous by mistake. I'll just keep one on the cab from now on.

Might of been this one dude, he was walking round checking stuff, looking for nonsteel. I had to stop tossing cause he got too close to my pile. Kinda stunt I'd expect from ghetto white trash. Steel from you n flaunt it LOL least that's how the ones I've seen act.
 
BOOT said:
Might of been this one dude, he was walking round checking stuff, looking for nonsteel. I had to stop tossing cause he got too close to my pile.
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Maybe I missed something. :dunno:

How can he steal from you if your truck was weighed on the way in? Id'a ignored him, and let him rummage through the scrap all he wanted.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
Maybe I missed something. :dunno:

How can he steal from you if your truck was weighed on the way in? Id'a ignored him, and let him rummage through the scrap all he wanted.
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I think he may have taken the magnet OFF my truck(my magnet), while i was on the other side(loaded high and couldn't see) and then was using it in front of me to check random stuff.

Or i could be wrong and it still turns up but was pretty sure it was on my truck, per usual.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
Maybe I missed something. :dunno:

How can he steal from you if your truck was weighed on the way in? Id'a ignored him, and let him rummage through the scrap all he wanted.
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To be clear, it was the magnet only! The metal i brought/sold, I'm 99.9% sure was all steel. When he got close to my pile(the pile i was making tossing stuff out of my bed), I had to stop tossing stuff or I'd HIT HIM. He made me pause unloading and wait for him to move, a dick move. And if he had my magnet, then it was a super dick move.
 
Just yesterday a guy i know helped me drag out a car, I've had for prob 25yrs or more. Been meaning to get rid of it forever but i want/need suspension parts, so gotta cut it up and no trailer. So it's gonna have to be smaller pieces, a huge pita!

Bought some good sawzaw blades years ago to do it(good thing anything carbide is gonna be going up).

Thing was sooo full of racoon shit! Literally shoveling it out, before we pulled it all the way up front. Yuck!

Funny part is we set an old gm v6(2.8 efi i think) in the pass seat. Dude had the idea, that we chain it to a tree and as we pass and it removes the engine for us. Worked pretty good and was cool to watch LOL We already folded that door on another tree getting it out :)

Got it dragged up within outlet reach cause I'm sure that gonna need the angle grinder sometimes or corded w/e(maybe air compressor).

I'll of course pick off the better pieces of metal, if i gotta take it apart.

Nows the time to get it done, while I'm scrapping alot.
 
Since you're scrapping
What do you do with electric cords?
I know a better price if bare but is it worth it?
I see DIY strippers on line using razor blades mounted on lumber.
What's your take?
 
M120X said:
Since you're scrapping
What do you do with electric cords?
I know a better price if bare but is it worth it?
I see DIY strippers on line using razor blades mounted on lumber.
What's your take?
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The stiffer multi-strand, solid strand or larger the wire and it's worth it. But honestly i have not stripped any yet. When i have enough to do it for awhile of the same types then I will. Machine set up is suposedly the time consuming part. I bought Vevor $30 wire stripper awhile back off Amazon.

95% of what i get is not worth stripping. I posted a YT vid bout low grade wires in this thread a few pages back i think. Just got some conduit today and half has wire still in it. Some looks like a ok gauge but too floppy and the jacket is more fabricy, so not worth stripping. Still I'll see if i can get a better price for it. Some yards have many categories of wire. Low or higher grades.
 
Sometimes it's not about the scrap.

Met a cool dude tonight, gave me a bit of metal. Hate to sound cheesy but it's nice when someone sees you and takes the effort to give you some metal. Positive vibes are always a plus :)

Awhile back i was having a bad night or week really and late one night, about to call it quits n head home w/o much. This dude surprises me, he saw me going thru some stuff(leftovers from moving) and when taking out his trash, brought me a folding chair. He said it wasn't much(those chairs aren't but I take em), i thanked him and that put me in a good mood :)

I don't try to mislead people or play poor but I don't wanna make them feel off either. I'm kind and grateful for any scrap.

Tho not always ready to talk LOL sometimes I'm just off in my own thoughts, tired and hungry(spaced out).
 
Had my pole barn rebuilt this week. old stuff was aluminum so it should pay to scrap it at 59cents a pound. May try to take all the trim and smaller stuff in tomorrow. They said it would pay better if it was shorter than 4ft so I'l rip the roof up before I take it in. pretty easy to just start a small cut then tear the across the sheet. Planned to maybe reuse the wall metal on the inside of the addition I'm planning when the building permit is approved.
 
Not my week, well in general. Trying to stay positive tho :)

Before i tell today's incident. Yes i should/could have done more at the time. If i had a phone, take pictures for example.

So at the scrap yard today, this dude swings their dump trailer gate into my truck and it gets stuck on my taillight. He then lies bout it and says the wind did it when i watched him. So i hop down from my bed and confront him. Two young guys and an old one.

Been pushing hard this week and just tired as fuck. Got soaked loading this morning in the rain, so wet n miserable. After the old dude with him apologized for him several times, I backed down. Still the young dude wasn't sorry, eh said it but clearly didn't care and had attitude. Wasn't his truck or trailer and I'm not the type to mess with others property, as it was suggested after that i could have dented their truck in return.

The dent didn't upset me, his lying did. It was clear there wasn't enough room for the gate.

Maybe i should of filed a police report, as it tech was an accident. Since part of the trailer attached to the vehicle struck mine. I'm sure the yard will have the video and of course i know it has the person they paid ID.

In the end i got other shit to do with my time. They were lucky I wasn't well rested, to consider my options at the time and do more. I'm not upset really, just feel I should calm down next time and use logic. For example it was a nice truck n trailer and the equipment they dropped off, was deff from like a college. Very large athletic specialized stuff.
 
Shit always pops randomly in my head after the fact. Not even thinking bout the scrap load and it occurs to me i never looked in this muffler(assumed), I got lat night. Another tired mistake, seems it's possible that it was a diesel truck dpf. Never seen one before but i rem it had this funny small metal tube going into it.

Why i only think of shit after the fact idk know, well i know. Ignorance is bliss and knowing you made a big $$$ mistake sucks!
 
Also the day before the scrap yard guy messed up the math and gave me $12 instead of $88. I asked him to check it again and he saw the mistake, so not a big deal. But as i tossed the dpf, was chatting with a diff employee bout the trailer incident. Now i know why his eyes got big as i tossed it and he seemed to have a smile after(if i rem right, kinda foggy atm). Prob should find a diff scrap yard. idk I'll sleep on it(hopefully soon). Been having a hard time sleeping longer than 5hrs or taking naps, for over a week now and it's taking a toll. I wanna make one more run to get least $60 to pay a bill due Sat n then I'm taking a day off.
 
Lets see what else

This one dude decided to try n belittle me in front of his GF, for grabbing some items they tossed out. Really wanted to kick his ass but i wished them a good night n left.

Some kid(old enough to drive) saw me find bottles in their trash, hopped out of his truck and asked for them back. He said it was mistake throwing them out but his smile and laughing as he took them to the house told me otherwise. He just wanted to mess with me.

This one dude said he has some scrap and got his number but he keeps telling me to call back another day. I'll prob not call him again and waste my time.

Another recent time i saw a washer tucked behind the cans. So pulled over to adjust my load just down the street. As i was almost done, a suburan drove by and turned around. Thought it was weird, turns out he was a scrapper n went to get the washer before i could. Next time maybe I'll load it on my tailgate, toss a strap on quick and then drive down the road to adjust my load. Very competitive around here.

Not all bad exp. This old lady saw me grabbing a grill Mon night and said she had one i could get but it was out back. But i was kinda pushing it(load) with the grill i was grabbing. Told her i could come back another time, she said the next morning. Turns out she has stage 4 cancer, she offered to pay me becaue i got the girll n some other stuff she wanted gone but I told her the scrap was worth it for me. Also gave her my number and when she finds out if her trash will take this wood cabinet that she also wants gone. I'll bring my dolly n roll it out to the road for her, if they won't I'll prob just take it and put it out for my free bulk item. But why drag it home if they will take it.

Plus the dude I already mentioned that gave me the metal, was glad to have some pos vibes, after some of the BS this week.

Still think i prefer later at night scrapping, less encounters.
 
Went to a new(to me) scrap yard yesterday, seems ok. I'll prob go to them again this week n see how it goes. They pay 3 cents a lb more for rotors than the last place(glad i never took any there). So I'll prob finally get rid of my hoard of those(about 50ish).
 
Tried a new area out last night and did pretty good But i got lucky! Most of it was thx to one guy, who just put his grill out n saw me grabbing it. He then gave me some copper pipe & wire(steel chairs n other bits of steel also, I take anything they want to get rid of if they give me good stuff.)

First find was when i stopped for a few gallons of fuel and saw a low dumpster. So took a chance n asked if i could pull out what i could reach. Got a bit of steel and a auto urinal flush top LOL Not check it entirely yet, I'll let it sit out in the rain for a bit but seems it's mostly brass. Nice chunk of brass that alone, may cover my fuel for the night if i get it cleaned up(apart). Guy in charge told me they'd have some more soon but I was like. I'm sure someone else will get it, I don't make it out this way really much. I thanked them plenty, so hope it didn't sound unappreciative. But it was too soon to say, if I'd even be back the next week and I like to be honest.

Things were pretty meh but got a few good finds at the end, then after grill guy n i was like I'm in the profit zone. Time to call it a win n go home.

IDK if i'll go back yet, kinda far but still worth exploring and learning that area sometime in the future. Saw a few other scrappers but not too many that night.
 
How would you tackle miles and miles of abandoned railroad tracks? Lol. And im mean MILES of it.
 
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