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View Full Version : joys and pitfalls of treasure hunting at the scrapyard



shotstring
09-09-2007, 03:21 AM
After talking with a female that handles all the phone calls at a not-so-local scrap yard (95 mile drive round trip in a gas-gussling Dodge van) she quoted me a price of $.20 lb for lead, of which she claimed they had 2 55 gallon drums filled about 1/4 full, some large pieces and another barrel outside with additional lead scrap.
Took the morning off to drive out and figured I would drive home with 500 or 600 pounds of lead.

After digging through the barrels, most of the stuff was a mix of corroded lead shot, range scrap, pieces of a battery even along with square covered copper wire with the wire still in it - but also corroded. Not impressed. Then I noticed a large square sink that was rather heavy. I know it was heavy as it fell over on my big toe on my right foot. Seemed to be some kind of a lead sink, with stainless small 3/8 inch pipes running through parts of it. The scratch test said it was lead but the gleam of metal says it was also tin. Too light for pure lead - weighted in a 68 pounds. They had four of these pieces. Then I found what looked like a small fat manhole cover of solid lead weighing in at 159 pounds. Add a solid block of lead with a canvas strap attached that weighed 95 pounds and I figured I was off to a good start. I wrestled that stuff over to the scale trying the entire time not to let in roll over me or flatten any limbs - only to find out that the owner comes out and says his girl doesn't remember talking to me or quoting 20 cents a pound. These large items go for 40 cents a pound. She doesn't remember me? I just talked to her an hour ago - and 30 minutes before that where she confirmed the price of 20 cents....and again a week ago where she QUOTED ME THE PRICE OF 20 CENTS A POUND IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! Words do not fully do justice to my sunken spirts as foam and spit started to fleck the corner of my mouth as I looked from the owner to the girl with the same incredulous look of disbelief and what was fast becoming hatred for those having given them birth! I used up 9 gallons of gas at nearly $3.00 a gallon to get here and they are pulling this????

"I don't recall" was the statement coming out time and time again from the girl. If she had said she just made a mistake and misquoted me,I could live with that by lie followed lie.....she had offered me iron at 20 cents a pound....I don't buy iron - no use for iron....oh, well someone else must have quoted you that amount. I was just echoing what you told me, not agreeing to anything...and on and on.
Finally the owner said I could have the small stuff at 20 cents but not the large pieces. I politely emptied my buckets back in his barrels, dropping in lead ingots, bar solder ingots, large truck WW's and all sizes of lead pieces, and just glared at them all as I climbed back in my van and drove off. Principle is principle!

But all this did make one thing perfectly clear. The array of lead to be found at scap yards can indeed be very diverse and confusing. I have no idea what alloy the sinks were made of, what grade the solder bar was, how much arsenic in the shot or how much antimony and what elements contained zinc and copper and which did not. It seems a bit scarey to spend 30 or 40 dollars for something that may be usable or maybe not so much. I would have no clue what my final bullet making alloy was by mixing up a bunch of this stuff. Then, for the plain lead, I would need to find a bunch of linotype which is tough to find and expensive to boot, and mix that with the lead and now you have a cost of $.75 a pound rather than the $.29 a pound I am paying for WW that only need a bit of tin to perform.

I was so much simpler in the days when I had thousands of pounds of hospital lead at our disposal that we mixed with 20% Linotype for an outstanding bullet alloy. It was just cast bullets - no figuring required. Now you have lead pipe with iron fittings - what do you do, bring a saw with you and cut the fittings off so you aren't buying iron you can't use? I don't know how you identify the zinc without getting it home to run tests, but by then you already own it.

What do you guys do? Just make your best guess, even when spending good money for scrap you aren't sure of?

Lloyd Smale
09-09-2007, 05:52 AM
I take a hardness tester with me but its not fool proof either. Im not worried about soft lead as as scarce as lead is getting i can use any lead. Same with babbit or tin. There is a use for all of it. Its the zinc i worry about.

Phil
09-09-2007, 06:02 AM
The "lead" sinks may have been silver. One of the guys I used to shoot with got a really big "lead" sink out of a hospital, this was many years ago. Anyhow, he couldn't melt it down and took some of the pieces to a metallurgist for testing. Found out it was pure silver. Don't have any idea what they would have done with a silver sink in a hospital but for him it was a pretty profitable deal. He sold it for far more than he paid for it.

Cheers,

Phil

arkypete
09-09-2007, 07:13 AM
I've not been exploring in the scrap yard for a number of years, I bought a lot back then and I'm still working with it.
But
I found some treasures, babbit, 50/50 bar soldier, a large bundle of what appears to be soldier except it's hard as a mother- in- laws heart, buckets of WWs already in ingots. I've moved that lead twice from house to house.
Jim

imashooter2
09-09-2007, 07:27 AM
I was last at a yard a month and a half ago. They gave me $1.50 for cartridge brass and asked 60 cent a pound for WW. I passed on the WW, but that is what current lead prices are doing to the market. I can see you being pissed by the principle of the thing, but the 40 cents a pound wasn't out of line.

All that said, I'm hoping my source for free range scrap holds up...

shotstring
09-09-2007, 04:58 PM
I agree with you shooter2, 40 cents isn't a bad price with today's market. The way this one was handled just really burned me up. It had to for me to pass up the small stuff at .20.....lol. The scrap yard next to it has an entire 55 gallon bucket full of lead sheet at .40 lb, but I can't figure out a place to get Linotype to fix it up. Ebay prices have gotten pretty extreme.

Is lead alloyed often with zinc or aluminum or copper? Is there a way to put a drop of some chemical on the item to show if it contains elements of a certain metal, like they do with gold?
I would hate to drag a few hundred pounds home with me, only to find I had purchased another boat anchor...or several.

melw
09-09-2007, 07:38 PM
.40 a pound I would like to find that here. The scrap yard here is $1.25 last time I looked. I can under stand you being pissed about that. I would have looked else where.
Good luck.
Mel W.

Goatlips
09-10-2007, 12:20 AM
Shotstring,

I hate being cheated pricewise too, it happens too often. But:

"Seemed to be some kind of a lead sink, with stainless small 3/8 inch pipes running through parts of it. "

Could these have been the elusive pure tin "Beer Coils" I've been hearing about for years but never seen?

Goatlips

Razor
09-10-2007, 01:05 AM
Hi Fellas..
Past lurker...current nub and first time posting..
I plan on pestering everyone here from time to time..
So, my 295 pounds of clip-on ww at $.15 @ was a good find ? [smilie=1:
$44.25..big spender me, told her to keep the chg fm $45...
5 hours today got me 90 lbs of "cupcake" ingots.
still got ~140 lbs to go...

Cherokee
09-10-2007, 01:31 PM
Welcome Razor !! Sounds like you had a good fine, better get as much as you can at that price :mrgreen: :castmine:

shotstring
09-10-2007, 02:59 PM
Good to hear there are some good deals in the Puget Sound area. My wife and I are retiring there in 3 or 4 years so I know what a lucky man you are to live up in that neck of the woods. And now to find that they have lead too.....

Razor
09-10-2007, 09:59 PM
Appreciate the welcoming fellas...
I definately plan on going back..
Found another source today.. Tire store.. $20 per 5 gal bucket...
The gal at the first place mentioned that the guys from the rifle club range (a mile up the road) recycle their brass there...HMMMM! It was getting on to closing time, so I didn't pursue it, but guess what I may be doing this coming Sat.?
SHOTSTRING....
where might you be retiring at.? decided yet ??

Razor

dakotashooter2
09-10-2007, 10:54 PM
You forgot the #1 rule with dealing with the "junkyard dog"... Flash the cash. A roll of cash pulled then put back in the pocket often turns the tide. They will haggle and act tough but FEW will turn down hard cash if it is in your hand especially if the offer is still reasonable. After all if they sell it to any other source there will likely be a"record" of the transaction meaning they will have to pay taxes on the income.

:castmine:

shotstring
09-11-2007, 03:16 PM
Razor, we have 3 acres about 10 miles from Belfair, along the Tehuya river. It adjoins my sisters 7 acres, so actually it is almost like having 10 acres. We have the septic system and well connection already in - just need to add a double wide mobile and build a workshop now.

You are right Dakotashooter...but I wasn't thinking clear enough to flash my wad of cash! By the way, are you really in Dakota? I grew up in Sioux Falls South Dakota.