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How do you develop a useful scrap pile ?


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One thing you can't see from the picture is that there are stair step levels on the base; so you can see stuff the same height, say 3' square stock on the first row and 3' round stock on the second row. It repeats halfway back where longer stock is "stocked".  An easy way to duplicate this would be with wood on the base: 2x4", 4x4", 2x4" + 4x4".  My stock is more random length so it doesn't matter as much.

It's like building tong racks; I once found 4 old steel wheelbarrow wheels at the scrapyard; so I locked for stout bases for things with provision for a pipe up the center.  Sourced pipes and cut them to the correct length, mounted them on the base, dropped the axle in the top (or a shaft with a nut on the end if they were axle-less). And you have a rotating tong rack.  (Another fast and simple tong rack is to just get a basketball hoop and mount it to the wall.)

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Having lived at this location for 30 years, I have managed to accumulate a good size resource pile.   A woman I know calls it my "rust garden".  I have quite a bit of good rusty stuff and have to move it now as I want to add on to my garage for a place to keep my new old truck, a 1951 Chevy 4400 flat bed with hoist:-).  As I go through the pile, some will head to the scrap yard I'm sure but some is to good to scrap!

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And to answer Glenns original question, it grew from the road side trash piles,  picking at the dump (which is no longer allowed), the scrapyard and from where I used to work.  A couple of weeks ago, I scored about 15 pieces of 3/4" round each 5'-6' long for .20 cents a pound.  Not sure what i will do with them but when i figure it out, I'll have them on hand.

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I finished my shorts rack Sunday but the site has been so slow I haven't been able to post. I used 6x6 sidewalk drain cut with a torch and welded together with 2x2 angle and a piece of 3/16" on the bottom. All from scrap I had laying around. As to how have I built my pile I visit the scrap yard regularly plus they have special hours every other Saturday where we can go wandering before they start up the equipment. Also some came from other metal workers who had weekend get togethers and yard sales, and a lot came from just asking people "do you want that?"

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  • 2 weeks later...

How do you develop a useful scrap pile ?

In my case it takes time. I just toss everything made of ferrous metal in a pile. Non ferrous metal goes into a separate pile. And small stuff goes into a bucket, which I have to dump out and scrounge through on occasion.   I really need to sort it all out one of these days. ;)

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I invited all my smithing friends over one Saturday and gave it away!   One fellow showed up with a small dump truck; which was great. I'd pick up a piece of scrap and ask him if he wanted it. If he said "yes" I'd throw it in the truck.  If he said "no"; I'd wait till his back was turned and throw it in the truck!

I also shared out the location of my best scrounging sites. No use to me 1500 miles away.  I know it was useful to others because of that "Anvil from a forklift tine"  webpage.  Shoot they even thanked me by name!

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  • 10 months later...

Whenever I have a chance to pick up metal, I categorize it in 4 piles: things I can forge into something new, things I can repurpose, things I can melt down, and things I can restore. I steer clear of cast metals of all types, along with pot metal and thin stuff like mufflers. Old axe heads, hammer heads, and jacks are some of my favorites. I sort it by long and short, tool steel and mild. I have a fairly small pile (maybe a quarter ton), so I remember that that piece is D2, and that one is 1084. I have a big coffee can on the shelf where I put all the little pieces and cutoffs. 

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I have 3 buckets that have become one. I've tried it all and have given up on the prospect of ever separating them. 

To be fair it's my fault. I mixed concrete in them and then after a semi-thorough cleaning, allowed them to dry and then stacked them. Permanently!

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  If they are junk and not used for liquids, drill a small hole in the bottom of each one to help release the suction.  If it's friction, fequently soak them with a water hose while laying on their side.  Those may be a lost cause though.   Sledge hammer???  :)

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If you need storage try a simple rack and with several containers stacked on a slight tilt.  Use the size and  containers you have available.  You may want to drill holes in the bottom of each container so you do not start a mosquito farm.

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Lol, background on my above post.  one time I was looking for cat track pins. Someone had said they make great hammers. So I asked a heavy equipment friend if he had any. He said yes and would drop it off one day. I was sitting in my local coffee shop/office and he called me( before cell phones). He asked if I still wanted the cat track. "Sure", I answered, and he responded he was headed to sell it and I would have to take it all or none,,,  so I did. When I got home I had a mountain of scrap from cat track to engine blocks! Shows to go, if you ask for it, you'd better really want it! But it served me and a few friends well. Especially a wood cutter. Sometimes he got pretty hungary and ended up hauling off all the engine blocks and other misc useless to me stuff over a few years. All's well that ends well.

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Anvil, that is like the surprise my uncle in Florida got when he bought a "box" of chain sight unseen at a govt surplus auction. Forgot how much he paid, but it was well under $100. The box turned out to be a RR box car.................. Luckily he had some time for removal, and was able to sell it off right off the car. He ran an ad, and moved it as fast has he could, and did pretty well in the end.

Glenn,

 that is how I built my smithy walls. Stacked 55 gallon drums 4 high by 4to5 wide staggered.  I now have free standing walls 8'x10' that hold material , and tools. They have withstood 50 mile an hour winds, and I can move them with my forklift if need be.

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I've found that for any smaller size (up to roughly 25 mm) mild steel stock, shipyards, if that's the correct english word, at least the place where that build and repair ships, throws a lot of good usable stock away.

My brother works in one, and I got all of my mild steel from him, completely free.

If you're lucky they might let you take brass, bronze, or high alloy cutoffs too.

 

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  Rail car repair shops are good as well.  I worked at one and I hauled off a treasure trove, with permission.  It led to trouble, though, because they got in a bunch of ballast cars to be repaired and the rock left in them was free for the taking.  I hired a guy with a dump truck and hauled off many, many loads of it and put it on the lane to my house, which was quite long.  Turned out, it was left overs from a repair job of some sort and had thousands of "invisible" welding electrode stubs in it which settled to the bottom and could not be seen.  Flat tires and slow leaks for a long time!  Be careful what you ask for!

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Over the last few years wheeled magnetic bars have become available for cleaning nails, screws, etc. from work sites. I'm betting there are tow behinds available for rent. 

We used to have free access to the scrap bin at the vehicle shops until a fellow working in another camp was discovered to be taking new stuff like tires, even mounted them on his rigs. Put the end to taking anything off the grounds. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

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