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Scrap metal locations?


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I'm in Western WA, and having a hard time finding a place that sells scrap metal to the public. the one I knew of closed about 10 yrs ago before I got into smithing. Is there an easy way to find locations in a specific area that sell to the public? Or, because of the recycling society that we live it today, am I out of luck on finding a place to buy scrap from?

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Your not out of luck, you just have to find them then ask, usualy in person and not the fromt office types. Take a load of scrap and ask the yard guys they will either say yes, no or direct you to the right person to ask. One yard has a section you can pick over, usualy stuff they dont want to torch or they think deserves a chance at a second life.  Other places have had contracts with the chinease or liability issues (usualy thats a smoke screen for the former) 

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Auto Salvage isn't going to have the stuff I'm looking for, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'll look into Interwest, thanks for that BillyO, that's really not a long drive for me as I Live in Shelton, and work in Olympia.

 

I know the Navy Salvage yard in Bremerton has scrap metal to buy, but I don't think they take scrap, and I'm hoping to get super lucky and get some smithing tools on the cheap if I can find some.

 

Thanks for the help gentlemen.

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My local auto salvage place is a full service junkyard too and as they make their money by people pulling parts they allow folks to wander the piles as well; I just bought 154 pounds of metal off them Saturday.  Old mom&pop places rather than franchised Auto Salvage places are better bets.

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I'm running about 10% on local scrap yards - 90% won't let you scrounge or buy because of "liability" concerns, maybe 10% will, which isn't that bad, but it does take some leg and/or phone work to figure out who will.   We have a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE scrap yard here locally that for years would let anyone on to buy stuff, but they put the smack down on that a couple years ago, much to my dismay.  It HURTS me to drive by there, because it spans both sides of a major highway for blocks and goes on forever....all that rusty gold and I can't touch any of it.        I try to avoid even driving by now... it just hurts too much.  sniff, sigh....

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Same here Spanky, and many times we drive by and see all sorts of cool stuff pushed to the side for the employees. The had the back of an ambulance i wanted sooo badly for a play fort for my son, but they wouldn't even think about it..  "Once it goes in, it's not for sale"

I did find a few garage door companies that were willing to let me grab some various size springs from them.  They make nice round stock once you straighten them out.

 

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  • 1 year later...
On Monday, June 15, 2015 at 9:17 AM, ThorsHammer82 said:

I know the Navy Salvage yard in Bremerton has scrap metal to buy, but I don't think they take scrap, and I'm hoping to get super lucky and get some smithing tools on the cheap if I can find some.

They accept scrap by the truck load!! And they just got in a huge pile of chain that appears to be wrought iron. 

I have scored bucket loads of bearings there, huge chunks of forklift fork, old wrenches, and they'll let you rummage. Granted it's not a huge yard, but they do have constantly revolving inventory, so you can go every day and see something new.

And the guy in the cut up shop is very friendly, and pretty smart when it comes to metal, he keeps a pretty good mental inventory of what's where in the yard and what each piece is, or probably is.

If you're going to sell to them I have heard more negative than positive reviews about they're prices paid for scrap. But buying from them, I have never had a bad experience.

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