How do you store your scrap?

[Glenn]

I guess the first question would be do you collect scraps of material such as steel, copper, brass, amuminum etc.

IF you do collect scraps, how do you store your scrap till you get enough to take to the scrap yard?

[Jose Gomez]

I keep a few 55 gallon drums in front of the shop for scrap steel. Whenever they get full I load them into the truck with an engine hoist and throw them off at the steel yard (drum and all). I have found this to be less labor intensive than letting it pile up, loading it into the truck one piece at a time going to the yard and unloading it piece by piece. Plus, if you keep the drum covered your scrap dose not get rusty (nice if you frequently find yourself rummaging around the bins for a small piece of "stock") and the drums keep the area around the shop from looking like a recycling center, which helps to keep area scrappers at bay. With the current price of scrap steel, copper, and brass more and more people are finding that any metal left unatended is "Liberated" by roving bands of urban miners. This problem has gotten so bad aroun here that plastic pluming is used instead of copper in new construction because the buildings were being destroyed by scrappers attempting to strip all metals (plumbing and wiring) during the night.

[ThomasPowers]

Take it to the scrap yard????????

Piles of steel on corrugated metal roofing to cut down on weeds, sorted by shape, (rectangular, round, pipe, etc)

Non-ferrous in 5 gal buckets for reuse, casting or rarely sold at the recycling center.

[HWooldridge]

High carbon in one crate - low carbon in another. I usually toss out mild steel that is less than about 5 inches long unless it's an odd shape (like oval section). Short bits of high carbon are very useful for a variety of tools so not much is wasted.

[Dodge]

I can't throw anything away. I have numerous 5 gallonish cat litter and laundry soap buckets and even a couple actual 5 gallon buckets that have a size and shape categorization that I cannot explain because I don't really understand it myself. When ever I cut a piece of material to size, the scrap that is less than 24 or so inches gets stuck in the appropriate bucket. If its less than 6", it generally can be found nearer the bottom of the bucket than longer pieces

[simmonds]

I dont have any scrap! The only time I visit the scrap yard is to get MORE scrap!

[dablacksmith]

it usually ends up in a pile somwhere.... ive got a few boxes layin around and i dig thru it once in a wile to make stuff (tools ect) as far as scrap yard I usually only haul in car parts (minus springs) there... never had enuf scrap to take to a yard and if I did ide probably bring back more than I took...

[LDW]

A fellow in our group says, the amount of scrap you have is controlled by the number of horizontal shelves you have in your shop.

[John McPherson]

Take...TO...the...scrap...yard???

I dumpster dive to get more stuff, and keep it FROM the scrap yard.

[MooseRidge]

I have a wire crate in one corner of the new shop... slowly filling it up with any scrap I make or can salvage....