Junkyards again

Didn't want to hijack the thread below.
For many years around here the junkyards for recycling scrap steel allowed us to go on site and pick up scraps of steel, pipe, or whatnots.
These pieces came in handy for special projects and repairs to machinery. We placed our finds on a scale and paid by the pound.
Since about twenty years ago they one by one shut the doors and will only take in (buy) your scrap steel. They will not sell you any scraps.
I have since been guarding my scrap heap more closely and for any project I sometimes agonize 'do I really want to cut this piece of angle iron?'
I now go to iron supply yards to purchase new iron for projects. Are scrap yards in your area still open to 'pick and pay?'

There are no scrap yards around here. At least 80 miles to the closest place where I could sell any.

I also guard my "undesignated inventory" pile, and give a lot of thought before I fire up the torch and cut a piece. I always wonder what else that hunk of iron COULD have been used for.

A friend from California was down in the Valley with me and commented on all the vehicle junk yards. I informed him they were vehicle export yards. I don't see as many now but I use to see caravans of older/damaged cars and pickups being tow-bared south on I 35.

The recycler where I used to sell, did not allow pic and pay. I too say before cutting up something, especially a larger piece, do you really need to cut it from that, gotta be another smaller piece in here somewhere. Worrying that I'll just end up with smaller pieces when I need something bigger. Its really a "GOOD" problem to have, having a junk pie and the skills to fabricate itinto a usable something. gobble

There is one left, that I know of. Haven't been there lately, but the last few times I went there was very little to choose from. All the usable scrap was gone, mostly odd castings, big specialty equipment that had become obsolete or unrepairable.

But they did have a good supply of new stock. Most is rusty, some defect, or bent, but it was cheaper than going to the steel yard, much cheaper than Metal Supermarket.

For years the yard 12 miles away was my second "office".....just wander around and find all the nummies. Owner always puzzled over how much to charge, always reasonable. Changed owners twice, now it"s a one-way yard.

The nearest metal recycler to us is 70 miles away. They also happen to be the closest seller of new steel. They still allow folks to buy scrap, but we don't normally drive that far. I needed to make a run there before winter hit. ....Didn't happen!

Did as you did. I found one that still does but it's " Slim Pickins" (movie actor).

I'm fortunate I have two good friends that own scrap yards about 40 miles apart,I can get any steel I need and usually its free to me.They will also call me when they get in equipment
or tractors they think I'd be interested in buying.

A scrap yard around me won't sell either. I wonder if it has to do with scrap yard not having a merchant's license and the need to collect sales tax.

Annually we have a bridge festival in next county. All vendors are required to have a TML, Temporary merchants license and they have to collect sales tax.

(quoted from post at 14:40:59 11/10/18) Did as you did. I found one that still does but it's " Slim Pickins" (movie actor).

Click to expand...

Mark, did you know Slim Pickins had a brother? They called him Easy Pickins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Pickens[/url]

Back in the day they used trace amounts of lead in steel as a rust inhibitor. In the late 90's early 00's the EPA shut that down. I'm not 100% sure but I'm betting that the bigger yards are being monitored on selling older steel that still may have lead in it. To my understanding it now falls under hazmat rules.

Rick

One new steel yard here has a used steel yard in the back you can buy by the pound. So if you can't find what you are looking in the old you are right there to buy new.

The closest salvage yard to me is in Tonica, il, and that guy would sell you his mother if you had enough money!

I have a soft spot for junkyards, like to think of all the rusted and twisted cars as they once were--driving off the lot brand new. And of course picking through the useable parts as I often did.

A couple of stories: Camping in the high desert near Lone Pine, CA one year, I was driving back through an area called Red Rocks, if I recall. On that same highway was a salvage yard full of some really old rust-free but sun-baked cars. I had to stop. I made up some miscellaneous part I could use for my Honda back home, and the woman had it there and let me take some photographs. She liked fancy hats. That was her thing. In fact, as I was paying for my part, her sister came in with a package just arrived. Yep, another fancy hat. She tried it on and I have to say it sure was fancy!
Fast forward few months, back home out east. I turn on the evening news and what should I see but the woman junkyard owner being profiled in a human-interest piece. I guess a reporter had stopped there and got the same idea to look around. It was a few minutes of talking to her and showing off her fancy hats and looking at the old cars. Funny collision of events--turning on the tv and seeing the place I'd visited on a whim.

Locally there was a junkyard I remember as a kid. On a stretch of Route 1 just south of Baltimore, looked to be a few acres of cars that never seemed to move. Right along the road was a row of medium trucks--IH, delivery vans, box trucks, road tractors. I was mesmerized. The trucks were there for years. As I got into tinkering with old stuff, I went there on three different occasions over a pretty good span of time. They never sold me anything, even though they had the part. There were a few MGBs among all the old cars, and I needed a wheel for a spare. Nope, someone might come along and buy the whole front clip, they said. They weren't gonna fool with no stinkin' wheel. So everything sat, untouched. Last time I drove through the place was gone, just a big grassy expanse where all the old relics waited to be hauled off to the shredder.

I have kin in the Austin area and every time I go down there (I-35) there are caravans of road vehicles and farm equipment. Local auction place here N. of Dallas has half a dozen 18 wheelers up from Mexico for every auction. Makes it hard to get a good deal on old worn out equipment....most of what I have.