Best prices locally

[Markbo]

Well I have done some investigating at as many scrap yards as I could find in my general area. Best prices so far are 60cents/lb for wheel weights and 90cents/lb for sheet lead. I guess I'll keep hitting all the tire stores I can! :razz:

[Wots]

I'm still paying .43 cents for wheel weights or softer lead.

[Armorer]

I'm still able to get WW from one of the local tire shops, but one of the bigger name stores quit giving them to me. Last time I went hunting for them, it took me about 2.5 hours to get a full bucket. I don't mind the time if I can still get em for free.:D

[Suo Gan]

From what I gather, and I gather a lot. There is no science nor laws governing what scrapers, tire shops, or some yahoo you found on Yahoo wants for their lead. Some want a dollar, some want ten cents, some want to just get rid of it and will pay you to take it. So the best price is what YOU think is fair and that is what ya don't go over. Some recyclers are down right cynical about their lead they presumably sell, why they take offense to someone coming and asking if it is for sale I will never know, but I move on and don't come a callin again. A twenty spot goes a long ways towards that big five gallon bucket...maybe there are some more out back? I take what I can get for free of course, trade one guy home grown tomatoes for lead, but 30-50 cent a pound is fine with me, I buy all I can at that price. When they say 75 cents tell them you got cash and a pickup and they can sell it to you TODAY for .40 cents! You got to play the game! They expect it. Go half of what they want or less. Find out what they pay and work from that. Usually its 10-15 cents.

[fredj338]

If the ww are all lead based, 60c/# is a good price, really. When you look at the 20-40% waist in most new buckets today, that is a bargain. The day s of $20, 5gal buckets are quickly coming to an end as more ww manuf go to non lead.

[Changeling]

Are the BIG truck WW still made from lead or has steel and other metals filtered in there too?

[Suo Gan]

Are the BIG truck WW still made from lead or has steel and other metals filtered in there too?

Well from what I understand, if a tire dealer gets caught putting lead weights back on a vehicle in the state, it means a big fine. This goes for all vehicles. I thought this would be terbibble, but as it turns out all the dealers who were hoarding their lead, got rid of it so that the Gestapo would not call der Fuhrer and seek beaucoup fines when they spotted new lead weights in the shop. I know what you are thinking, California is about belly up because of the housing crisis and crazy unemployment rates, but no they really think now is the time to cinch down on criminal use of lead wheelweights. Its nice to live in a state that is run by a government who is obviously not taking psychotropic drugs...just look at Nancy Palosi...her crazy wild eyed smiles seem to dictate a level headed thinker...don't ya think? BTW, as sad as all this is, and it is, I have had a very good year collecting lead. PS, this is all about money, and making innocent people into criminals to increase the tax rate, and to justify a bloated government bureaucracy. When a liberal starts talking about the environment, it is like a dairy farmer smelling sh*t, they just smell money.

[GabbyM]

Not checked price of lead of late however. Last WW I bought was at 45 cents a pound when 2/6 alloy was $1.35. By the time I melted them down then figure shrinkage to zinc and gas burned I was better with the $1.35 2/6 alloy. WW are simply not worth no $.45 a pound.

I had about 1200 lbs and did a business cost analysis on the venture. $19 for a 20 # propane bottle is a bite and one needs to run off domestic line natural gas to get cost down. For the hobbyist you can justify the gas line if yo also will use it to run your gas cooking grill from.

Shrinkage from zinc was up by 10% from last years load.


Good example of what it's like to buy WW metal is the fellow that runs a shop not seventy yards from my front door. He wont' sell me WW for 35 cents since he looks at ebay and sees WW going for a dollar. So instead he takes them 13 miles up the road to sell them for 6 cents. He is Amish and I'm English . So if he can't put one over on me he is in no mood to do business with me. In his defense. When I was growing up around here in the sixties Amish were dirt poor. Kids only had shoes to wear on Sunday to church poor. They do pretty well anymore and not to many leave the church to venture out into the world. They got smart. You should too and not melt WW for no $3 per hour. All the while sucking in smoke.

If you aren't' making money you may as well be playing. You are not making half minimum wage melting 45 cent WW metal in an 8 quart pot running off bottle gas. WW need to be close to 30 cents or just by ingots and forget it. Prices go up and down like a new years eve ball but you all have a calculator.

[GabbyM]

Sou Gan:
I see you've got ti figured out.

IMO 49 percent of us do and the other 51% are Communist scum. I'm hopping I'm wrong. But I'd bet my life I'm not wrong about the people here in Illinois. I live in Douglas County were the Democrat ticket is half empty since not many want to waste the money to run. But we are an enclave.

In Illinois if you are a Dem you are a Chicago Dem. The party caucus is run my the King Daily and you get to kiss him on the lips.

[Suo Gan]

Gabby, We both live in once great states. I have a lot of roots in Illinois, Chicago area specifically. Still a lot of kin there too. There are lakes, hiways, memorial parks, and big buildings with my families name on them. They were all democrats back then, and I assume they are all democrats now. The funny thing is they are all rich. But like most rich folks, they figure the rules don't apply to them, and if anything they will just get richer.