scrap yard SELLING prices

[oley55]

This is what the scrap yards are paying in JAX:

PRICE PER POUND
Lead
$0.48 - $0.54
Lead Wheel Weights
$0.08 - $0.09

A question for you folks who have bought scrap lead from a scrap yard, what prices are you paying?

Note to self: the $25 I have been paying for a 155# bucket of wheel weights from my tire store seems like an awfully good deal for the tire store and perhaps not so much for me.

Also, I have been contemplating posting an ad on Craigslist for buying roof stacks or other soft lead, but am uncertain what would be both reasonable and/or enticing for the seller.

[farmbif]

ive paid anywhere from 20 cents a pound to a dollar a pound, depends on scrapyard and what your getting

[Winger Ed.]

Like gasoline, wood, all metals, etc. Commodities float up & down every day.

Scrap yards are a 'for profit' business.
What they pay, and what they sell for-- if they can sell to the public at all, are two very different figures.

The yard I used to go to sold stuff- by weight, for about 150% of what they paid for it.
Another local yard at the time thought all his stuff was solid Gold when you wanted to buy it.

Just watch the market, shop around, and make your best deal.

I used to get the Lead roof stacks from Home Depot for free when the manager decided to have a clean up
and there was a few that kids had smashed up too badly for them to sell.

Another source is to let everybody know you're looking for Lead.
I've scrounged it from roofers, Plumbers, and the local independent tire shops.
As the refugees come here from the coast, I've been given, and found at garage sales lots of those
big salt water fishing sinkers. Some of them 2-3 pounds each.

[hpbear101]

I bought a 62lb ingot of lead from my local scrapyard last week, it was $0.15/lb $12 total, Got it all cast into ingots and ready to go.


Tom

[farmbif]

I have a bit of knowledge about the scrap business. there are basically two prices that scrap yard sell for, its known as truck load, usually somewhere around 50000-60000lbs, depends on container or trailer size and if its going overseas or not, and then there is the less than truckload price.
for an example, keep in mind its depending on the size of the scrapyard and the buyers they deal with, a scrap yard will fill lets say for example a 48 foot gondola scrap trailer filled with steel, not white good appliances that's a whole other thing, they layout the money buying from people bringing junk in the yard. the scrap yard might make a gross profit of $100 to a $200.
but if a scrap yard will sell to the public to jokers like me they might be buying lead, paying the public lets say 50 cents a pound and then sell to me to buying only one 55 gallon barrel full for a dollar a pound even though if they can fill a truck they will get 85 cents a pound and if its less than truck load they sell to wholesale buyer they might only get 65 cents a pound. I made these numbers up but I think you get the idea.

but regardless if you have a scrap yard you can deal with and they will sell stuff to you you're lucky. buy what you can and as a yardstick to figure if price it would be nice not to pay more than the current kitco price. even though that is price for clean processed material. and then again you can look at what it would cost from rotometals.

[rockrat]

Selling price is about ten times their buying price. Last stuff I bought (last year)was 75cents/lb, but I am sure its at least a buck a pound now

[BIGOX]

So the last stuff I purchased from a scrap yard was $.50 a lb for scrap lead and $.40 a lb for mixed lead (wheel weights). That was less then a month ago in southern Ca.

[lightman]

None of the scrap yards around here will sell to the public. :mad:

[frkelly74]

I paid $.85 a pound for some lead pipe here. Then I happened to hear them tearing up the street a few houses away from me and got some pipe for free. I like free better.

[ulav8r]

About 2-3 months ago I asked about buying lead when I took soda cans in to sell. They had about 4 lb ingots for $1.50 per pound and "dirty" lead at $1.00.

[bowfin]

The local scrapyard here will not sell lead to the public. Here in the middle of Nebraska, one can still find lead in other places, though.

[BIGOX]

Most of the big scrap yards I've been to do not sell to the public. I have had more luck at small locations but they usually do get much lead in.

[BP Dave]

My local scrapyard has sold lead to the public at the same price for a long time--maybe a decade or more. It has always been $1.50 per pound. They dump all of it in big bins, and they treat all "lead" the same. They usually have good, clean sheet lead that is pretty soft, but on occasion you will also find unused bars and rolls of solder in the bin. And it all sells for $1.50 per pound.

[Budzilla 19]

The two yards I used to buy from, the price was $1 per pound in one place, anything in the lead barrel was that price, ( including a pig of Linotype), second yard was $1 for dirty lead,( they had a 700 pound boat keel, first one I had ever seen) $1.50 for clean lead. Good luck in your searches, guys. If you live in SE Texas, PM me for the addresses of these two yards. ( no, I don’t work either yard, lol)

[fredj338]

They dont sell much lead out here @ scrap yards. Just be aware that the clip ww you get are not likely going to be lead so if they let you sort, great price under 25c / #.

[Omega]

Funny, I just agreed to pay just under $1 a lb from a local scrapyard, sheet and other soft lead. Pick up 100lbs or so on Monday.

[BIGOX]

This Friday I found another 26 lbs of cww about 2.5 lbs ended up being zinc and about 10 lbs of sheet lead all for $.40 a lb. I forgot to ask what they pay for lead. The guy said they don't get much lead throughout the month.

[uscra112]

The O.P.s question was what do they BUY it for. Sometime this fall I'm going to find out what batteries are worth. I've got about a dozen piled out by the barn. Probably not much by our standards.

I've never sold any other kind of lead to a scrapyard. Last time I bought any was about 15 years ago; bought 400 lbs more or less of X-ray room shielding that I paid about $1.25/lb. for, if memory serves. Had to load it myself, too. Took a while to reduce it to ingots, as I didn't have anything but my 20 lb Lyman pot back then. Still don't.

[Dusty Bannister]

Call a few of your local scrap yards to check the prices. You probably will be surprised what they will bring. See if they will buy brass cartridge cases as well. Some prices fluctuate quite a bit.

[BIGOX]

[QUOTE=uscra112;5268188]The O.P.s question was what do they BUY it for.
That was just the beginning of his post his actual question was...
A question for you folks who have bought scrap lead from a scrap yard, what prices are you paying?
I will also plan on scrapping about a dozen car batteries and a few trucks batteries this fall as well.

[dimaprok]

... Last time I bought any was about 15 years ago; bought 400 lbs.... $1.25 a pond

That seems like awful lot of money to pay 15 years ago. 2-3 years I was paying 65 - 70 cents/lb for any type of lead and then it went up to a dollar. I bought bags of hard lead shot, linotype, solder, WW. Now the owner lets me have discount on WW 70 cents/lb but I negotiated a deal to buy all his linotype for $0.70/lb 5 buckets of lead, over 500 pounds. I also bought a pig once, pretty sure it was linotype, tested 24 - 26 bhn. I also found bars that says linotype on it, they are connected but break off easily.

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[frkelly74]

The last car battery I took in was worth $9 to them.

[Omega]

So I went yesterday to get the agreed upon lead, it turned out to be mostly lead sheet with a few pieces of lead pipe thrown in. He had wanted $1 a lb but the lead pipe had a bunch of crud in it and the traps(?) had the lids still on them so he discounted those. In the end it turned out to be .83¢ a lb, which should yield well over 100 lbs of almost pure soft lead once made into ingots. I had been calling a few recycling places around here and none had any for sale, one told me they no longer accept lead, I asked why and he told me in an incredulous tone "because it's hazmat", had to stifle my laughter since last time I was there the whole place was an EPA nightmare. The place that sold me the lead turned out to be a one man operation in a garage size building, which luckily for me hadn't got the memo about the dangerous lead.

[Jim22]

Negotiate. Sellers will ask any price and try to foist zinc or other things on you. I have learned my lesson.

[RogerDat]

Buck a pound has been pretty much the stable scrap yard price for selling me lead for a long time. Have gotten some deals at less for buying a whole roll of sheet lead that a few of us split. Have paid a bit more for some premium alloys such as a barrel of mono type.

On the minus side, they know what forms of lead I will find especially valuable and sometimes charge a touch more. On the plus side they keep an eye out for those forms of lead they know I will be most happy to purchase so I get some good finds. Like organ pipes that are 40% tin. They set aside in a small bin knowing I would buy it all and saving me from digging it out from under a bunch of other lead.

Price tends to be .40 for "hard" or "dirty" lead such as wheel weights. $1.00 for clean lead. Last good sizable score was a few hundred pounds of flywheel lead that tested at 4% Sb and 96% Pb. Sort of COWW's on steroids. I have the tin to bring that all to a nice 3/2/95 alloy like WW's of old.

Stuff sort of fooled me with how hard it was and how the grain showed when it broke. Thought it might be an even better alloy that 4% Sb.

[Mwilson0173]

.64 to 1.00 per lb in Ky. If you can find it. Iv bought just about all the pure I find in scrap yards near me. Wheel weights from tire shops if they will sell is running now 50$ per bucket. Which is way to high

[Hanzy4200]

I just paid $.25 for WW and $.40 for clean. I scored 3 partial 50/50 bars, about 5 lb of unknown solder, probably 50/50, still on a reel, and a 1 lb pure tin bar.

[Soundguy]

I just found linotype at a scrap yard for a buck fifty a pound. It's outside in a bin.. Very slightly oxidized... I bought 17-18# ( filled a large #10 coffee can ) smelted and cleaned it..got 16# 15oz good lino ingots and just a small pile of dross... Going back with 2 5g buckets tomorrow...

[Lksdmachine]

Called today in my location, 1.00 # for WW. They claim it is true lead WW. I’ll have to go there next week and put some eyes on it to be sure. It seems high now, but like everything these days, I’ll probably kick myself for not getting some in the coming months.

[JedYonkers]

Paid .60 a lb this morning. Mixed lead theres usually some solder mixed in the bin I always grab. There were 3 bags of #9 shot i was tempted to grab but passed.

[Harter66]

The last I bought was about 5 years ago . I paid 30¢/# for 155# of RB and corny ingots with about 25# of 38 WC and 3 10# rolls of 4" flashing .

I don't have a clue any more .

[SoonerEd]

Last week got 196 lbs of WW. I culled 9 lbs of trash, zinc and steel weights from it to get 187 lbs. Price was 20 cents a lb for dirty lead. Sometimes they charge 30 cents but not this time.

Month ago got 450 lbs of lead cast into bullets, sinkers and ingots. So almost no loss / trash. There was 15 lbs of some odd looking almost electrode shaped pieces that are lighter than lead and very hard. Haven't figured out what it is. Paid 65 cents a lb as it was considered clean lead.

[Winger Ed.]

There were 3 bags of #9 shot i was tempted to grab but passed.

I'd go back. All the shot I've picked up was a real hard Lead alloy.
It's a bit of a hassle to stir, and get it into the melt, but makes great rifle boolits.

[Doubles Shooter]

Paid .60 a lb this morning. Mixed lead theres usually some solder mixed in the bin I always grab. There were 3 bags of #9 shot i was tempted to grab but passed.

Around here shot is approaching $50.00/bag. Grab it, sell it, and buy more lead. Sleet shooters love #9

[Doubles Shooter]

Paid .60 a lb this morning. Mixed lead theres usually some solder mixed in the bin I always grab. There were 3 bags of #9 shot i was tempted to grab but passed.

Around here shot is approaching $50.00/bag. Grab it, sell it, and buy more lead. Skeet shooters love #9

[Pete3]

Just bought some - southern Indiana -.40 for mixed wheel weights & .80 for soft lead. Debating to go back for more.

[BIGOX]

Go back for all the wheel weights they have. Then consider buying the soft lead.

[ulav8r]

$1 a pound yesterday for dirty lead. Had 2 barrels about 1/2 full, mixed wheel weights, lead sheath phone cable about 5/8" diameter. May have had other below the surface.

[Soundguy]

Lead sheath.... Nice. I had some that had some low % antimony in it.

[SoonerEd]

For wheel weights I'm paying between 20-30 cents per pound. Last week bought 158 lbs at 25 cents per pound. Running about 10% trash, zinc, steel, etc.


There is a guy that every couple of weeks turns in around 75 pounds of sorted WW with the clips removed to my scrapper. I have a bucket with my name and number and they dump them in the bucket and I go by once a month to pick them up. Since they are sorted with clips removed i have to pay clean lead price of 65 cents. But, it is all lead and almost no dross when smelting. Over the past year I've got around 2,000 lbs of mostly WW from this scapper and mostly paid 10-20 cents but now it's 20-30 cents.

[johnnybar]

Got all of my inventory to last me a long long time from the maintenance crew at the hospital for free when they remodeled the radiology department.