WW's 45 cents a pound

[500MAG]

I have been working on my hoard and have a guy offering me WW's at 45 cents a pound. He said he has 200 pounds and gets about 2 to 3 hundred pounds a week. I'm going to go for the 200 pounds to start but wonder if I am paying too much.

[Pieter C. Voss]

You're kidding, right? I suspect you're flaunting your good fortune.

[milrifle]

I'm new to this, so take this with a grain of salt, as I might be paying too much, too. I've smelted 3 batches of wheel weights so far. The first batch, I managed to get for free. I did not weigh them, but I'm guessing about 40-50 lbs. That was in a town 25 miles away where I used to work, but no more, so I don't get up there much anymore. The next batch, I got here locally and paid $.40/lb for 50 lbs. The next batch was another local guy who sold them for $50/bucket. The bucket was an odd size and less than 5 gallons. I didn't weigh them until I got home. It was 101 lbs., so I got a better deal from the $.40/lb guy. Obviously, I need to drive that 25 miles and see if I can score some more freebies.

[I'll Make Mine]

I've got a local tire shop (where I'm a regular repair customer -- the price of driving a car old enough to vote and another old enough to drink) that it getting $35 per 5 gallon bucket, and will sell to me at the same price (I'll be buying a bucket full next payday). I gather that's a bit less than 35 cents a pound, if I don't pull the bail off the bucket trying to lift it when it's full...

[H.Callahan]

Scrap yard here is selling at 50 cents a pound, so you are in good shape compared to prices here. They will let me sit and sort though, so that is probably worth the extra nickel...

[Bill*]

If they were collected recently, there might be a large percentage that aren't lead. That lesser yield changes your price per pound upwards. Will this guy let you cherrypick?

[TXGunNut]

Sounds good to me. I work at a car dealership and 2-300 pounds/yr scrounged there meet my needs. Local scrap yard wants $.88/lb for WW's so your source looks good to me. Jump on it and sort quickly to determine your net yield but I think you'll want to stay on this guy's speed-dial list at least until you have a good stash built up.

[500MAG]

I don't think he will let me cherry pick them. The one good thing is that he is a scrapper, so, I expect he gets other forms of lead. He did mention that he has a boat guy that buys soft lead off of him and asked what I would pay for the soft lead. I told him I would pay the same 45 cents a pound because that is more than the scrap yard pays and he agreed. If things work out like he said, he will be able to provide more than I can use. If so, I will let you guys know so that any local guys can get on board.

[SMCCORD]

I've got a few friends that work in tire stores that trade me wheel weights for pizza, doughnuts, beer and bullets. When I sort the wheel weights all the culls go into an extra bucket that gets sold to the local recycler, which helps pay for doughnuts, pizza and beer.

It's a vicious cycle.:evil:

[500MAG]

Well, picked up the 200 pounds tonite. Most of them are SOWW's. I told him aboI don't use the zinc ww's and he said he would try to sort them for next week. Can you believe it?

[fredj338]

If the bucket is mostly lead, you'll be kicking yourself for not buying it in another year. If they are 90% + lead, I would buy all he had. Yes, the lead ww is getting that scarce. Of course if the world ends as we know it in Dec, they'll be free for the taking off all the abandoned cars.:target_smiley:

[sthwestvictoria]

Here in Victoria, Australia I can purchase a unsorted bucket of WW for $AUD10 from the local tire shop.

This unsorted bucket weighs about 28kg (61 pounds) full - $AUD0.16/pound unsorted

When sorted there is about 22kg (48 pounds) of lead - $AUD0.20/pound clean WW

[Bill*]

Well, picked up the 200 pounds tonite. Most of them are SOWW's. I told him aboI don't use the zinc ww's and he said he would try to sort them for next week. Can you believe it?

Niiiiiiice!

[glowe]

Just got 2 x 5-gal buckets last week. Sorted them the last 2 days. Over 40% were Steel and zinc. Most of the truck ww's were zinc. Sad day, but they were free.

[Defcon-One]

I have a supplier about 45 mile from my home who sells me about 200-300 pounds of wheel weights a month. They are a tire shop.

I showed up last week and grabbed three full 5 gallon buckets (100+ pounds each). He usually charges me $10.00 per bucket. This time he only charged me $5.00 per bucket. I told him that he made a mistake and that it should be $10.00 each. He just said, "Yup, see you next month!"

I took that to mean he is happy to have someone reliable to haul them away for him.

Meanwhile the guy up the street from my wifes office has been selling me 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights for $25.00 each and he just told me he was doubling his price next time.

Wonder where I'll be getting mine. Price is relative to their motivation and what they can get. One guy is happy to get them hauled away. The other guy is always pushing the market to make as much as he can.

45 cents a pound is about what I expect to pay now, but I always try for less! The scrapyard here pays around 35 cents a pound, so I usually have to beat that.

[Freightman]

I

45 cents a pound is about what I expect to pay now, but I always try for less! The scrapyard here pays around 35 cents a pound, so I usually have to beat that.
You are using your gas to get them, if he sells them to a scrap yard he uses his gas and gets less money, not much of an economist is he?

[Defcon-One]

Nope, point well taken. Neither am I, I guess, 'cause I keep buying it!

As long as I can get it, sort it and make it into ingots for no more than $1.00 per pound, I am happy! Of course, I prefer the guy who gives me a $5.00 a bucket deal to haul it away!

[DLCTEX]

The best salvage price in our area (100 miles away) is .35 #. I pay the local tire shop that for wheel weights and sell the zinc and steel ones to the salvage yard.

[jfischer]

How much are you getting for the zinc weights?

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[Arkansas Paul]

Scrap yard here is selling at 50 cents a pound

That's what they're getting here too. They said they have wheel weights and chunks of lead, but not knowing whether the chunks are pure or what, I'm kind of skeptical about them. That's a little steep for wheel weights, since some of the weight is steel clips. I can still find a full 5 gal bucket for around the $40 mark, so I'm lucky here.

[evan price]

The junkyard lets me cherry pick and I grab the 2-oz and heavier weights for $.60 a pound. Recently I got a half bucket there that somebody had taken snips to and cut the clips off for that price. Nice!