A couple years ago, I bought all the metal I used. Now I'm scrounging more than I buy. I have seen a lot of good ideas/finds online, and was thinking about putting together a guide for people like I used to be. Here is what I came up with after work today. If people want to make additions, I'll compile it, and post it online somewhere. Thanks, Jeff.

Raw materials:

Copper:

Grounding wire. Lots of grounding wire, or other large gauge solid wire is pure copper. Handy for alloying with other stuff to make bronze, brass, sterling silver, etc

One source I found recently was the local high school and college, not alot of material but pretty good quality and enough to keep me in practice material. It also allows me to stretch my imagination to reshape it into something I can use, and they were happy to let me scrounge because it was that much less they had to pay somebody to haul off. This is only good if they have an industrial arts program. If you need it they also have pounds of 6013 and 7014 rod stubs 6"s or more long that still have use in them. makes me wonder what exactly they're teaching the kids, because there's alot of good stuff in the local high schools scrap tub.

A place for small diameter rod (3/8" & under) is cemetary dumps where they put the easels from the flower arrangements. I have 4 cemetarys that I can get them from close by.

Another source for the small diameter round stock like Jerry mentioned is election signs.

We've got county elections coming up in a month, so the roadside is covered with 1/8" stock.

Better wait 'til after election day to harvest it, though.

Good replies! I'll add 'em to the doc.

Anyone else?

Jeff

Just a quibble "heat treatable steel"---ALL steel is heat treatable; most of it won't harden but you can anneal, do stress relief, normalize and a bunch of other heat treatments other than hardening.

Now for a scrounding location: check the local ornamental iron fab shop; we had one in OH that *encouraged* us to clean out the scrap bin---they had to pay to haul it off and we were *safe* *polite* and would snarf up several hundred pounds of sq and round stock on a regular basis. Also we sometimes got real WI from damaged fence sections thay had replaced with modern mild steel.

Thomas

Good point. "Quench hardenable steel" more accurate?

And, good addition!

Jeff

It has always seemed rather odd to me that I have never had a blacksmith come by to scrounge any material from me.
I have been in business for 16 years and go thru tons of material per month
stainless,alum,hot roll in plate , tubing,sheet,bar,channel,I beams , round etc.
last year I sold more than 80,000 lbs of scrap metal and an awful lot of it was good material for blacksmithing and I would rather see it go to someone who really needs it rather than a scrap yard.
I sell it to the people looking for scrap somewhat cheaper than what they would pay if they went to the scrap yard
Lots of farmers , construction workers , harry homeowners etc but so far no blacksmiths.
Just seems a little odd
Of course I am a scrounger as well.
wrist pins from dozers or large cat. engines also make good hammers and are usually free for the asking

I've made hardies and handled punches/chisels out of jackhammer bits. I got old/broken ones for free from a place that rented jackhammers; they had buckets full of them. Most automotive shops will give you coi and leaf springs.

Hey Yesteryear, what business are you in that a blacksmith might go ask? And when you mentioned that wrist pins, etc., are free for the asking, where to ask?

One thing I've found around here, New England, is that the scrap yards no longer sell to walk-ins. They get too much $$ by cutting and selling to a shredder. I've still got one near me that does, but he's gone to mostly cars and has just a small stash of non-car metal.

I've also been told that the highway department occasionally scraps out their plow scrapers, which is a good source of abrasion- and impact-resistant steel.

lOOKING FOR SCRAP IN 'JERSEY IS ROUGH. NOT IMPOSSIBLE, BUT ROUGH.
The yards do not allow any scrounging around. Most do not even want to talk to you our have you in the yard other than to drop off. With time & patience I have made some in roads but... To the ones that have been decent, I have made it a point to return with a forged Item(as crude as they may be) or a few cold beverages on a hot day. Both of these are always met with suprise, thankfulness and an invite to come on back!!
Most others though claim the liability is to great and they make their money faster by wholesaling the scrap out not piece mealing and can't be bothered.
It is a real shame!!!

i havent seen anyone mention grader blades. the edges are replaceable and usually free to haul off. i have a couple to play with. George

Marc
I own a machine manufacturing company
Machining / welding / fabrication
As far as the wrist pins I get them from heavy machinery repair shops

If you can get in front of the garbage truck on trash day, you can find some good items.

Another good place to look is just keeping your eyes open as your driving, and be ready to pull over quick. I have found a nice 12 inch crecent wrench, a completly cleaned hot water heater tank, 8ft fiberglass step ladder and numerous other smaller finds just as I go about my normal erands.

When collecting roadkill be sure to be safe, saving a couple of dollars isn't worh spending thousands on car/people repairs.

I haven't had any close encounters; but I would rather walk a ways than panic stop with someone already on my bumper!

Note: always carry gloves in your vehicle and cardboard or a tarp to keep the trunk clean from messy finds.

I keep a red flag in the glovebox just in case i find something long...

Thomas