Mac,

 

thats like walking into a buffet and asking if anyone came to eat. I look at it as selective hoarding. I only keep what I think can be useful. Typically, anything that is over 2" in length I consider to be potentially useful unless its rotted out with rust, or covered in welds and torch slag if it has those it needs to be more than 3" in length.

Mac,

 

thats like walking into a buffet and asking if anyone came to eat. I look at it as selective hoarding. I only keep what I think can be useful. Typically, anything that is over 2" in length I consider to be potentially useful unless its rotted out with rust, or covered in welds and torch slag if it has those it needs to be more than 3" in length.

 

Yeah, smaller than 2-3" is tumbler media and should be saved just in case..

 

Frosty The Lucky.

It took me three years to finally go through my scrap buckets to toss the stuff that was not going to be useful. I recycled less than 1/4 bucket of scrap.

Almost all of us hoard; learning to *selectively* hoard is the trick.  A new smith's error is to want to save *everything* so we get tales of folks collecting more of an item than I've used in 32 years of smithing (and a *bunch* of moves including a 1500 mile one).

 

Some stuff I am perfectly content to "store" at the scrapyard; never a shortage of leaf springs or coil spings there; or RR spikes for that matter.  Having a couple on hand is all I need.

 

Now real WI tends to accumulate at my place...

4" and under is junk for mild steel.  Which I take to one local yard that lets me trade straight across for weight.  Hilariously, the gate keeper swore off the previous 12 pak deal and waves us in with a big smile.  

 

Wrought Iron.....oooooo.

 

WI nibletts of any size is spared and I keeps it unders me pillow. 

 

 

 

 

Also, 

 

"Live by the pile, die by the pile" An old weld shop foreman gave me that one. I don't think he lived near the shop. 

 

 

 

 

Here's some pile porn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "store" at the scrapyard

 

That's the key, right there!  Even if you don't have a scrap yard that will let you pick, you need to realize that some 'found' scraps are not rare and you don't need to secure every single bit that you find.  

 

I'm bad about picking up odd bits of rebar that I find on construction sites.  Doesn't matter the size, most drops are short enough to fit in a car trunk, and I keep telling myself how handy it is for all kinds of disposable uses.  Problem is that I don't seem to ever get around to using the rebar for one of those disposable uses and it keeps piling up.

I quized the Office Manager at one of the local "recycling centers", ... and he claimed it was his Liability Insurance Carrier that insisted on no "retail" sales.  :(

 

 

 

.

I quized the Office Manager at one of the local "recycling centers", ... and he claimed it was his Liability Insurance Carrier that insisted on no "retail" sales.  :(
 
 
 
.

Been that route with those guys. They usually use insurance as a cop-out. Most of them have a contract with some salvage companies that gives them exclusive rights to the scrap...no outside sales. :-(

so i got a shop for $700.00 a month which was $500.00 cheaper then what they were asking for. Sounds great right??

Well with in a block we have harbor fright, napa, hardware, a chocolate factory and......

A SCRAP YARD!!!!!!!

The scrap yard alone probly cost me the $500.00 i save in rent.

 

But i have a dream pile of scrap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!