Sources of useable scrap metal?

Kevin R. Cashen

Kevin R. Cashen

Super Moderator
I am wondering if there are any Michiganders on this forum that know of a scrap yard or business that will sell scrap metal to people? I am not talking about blade steel, I am talking about the structural steel type of stuff that you need when you are building a new forge, a quench tank, framing for equipment or tools, handles for Damascus welding etc… odd and ends that you don’t buy a whole sheet or bar for if you can find a small section of it.

Padnos Iron and Metal used to have a very successful useable scrap sales department but they discontinued it. I did business with them for over 30 years, and today I was told to leave their yard when I stopped to ask if I could trade a pickup load of aluminum for a piece of steel I spotted. Their overreaction convinced me that I will never be going back, even to drop off my scrap; a simple "sorry we can't sell it" would have sufficed.

Then I went to an Alro Store front outlet and got my small sheet of steel for a painful price with the impression that my very presence was an inconvenience. I told my wife that I believe the long-term neurological effects of heavy metal exposure makes anybody who works with metal for a living a serious jerk! She totally agreed…:oops:

Anyhow, does anybody from my part of the country, or anywhere for that matter, know any sources for inexpensive odds and ends of metals? I have never had a situation that has impacted the running of my business harder than this one.
 
Not in your neck of the woods Kevin but I had a similar experience at a scrap yard near me. Yard was sold. The explication I recieved was the new owner citing "INSURANCE REGULATIONS PROHIBIT NON EMPLOYEES FROM ENTERING THE YARD!!". I ended up finding a couple places that sell new steel drops. They charge by the pound. Still no where near as economical as the scrap yard. That's why I haven't build my Press. By the pound for an extra grand I could by one all done. Good luck hope you find somewhere.
 
Kevin, there is an outfit named "white City Metals" in White city , Oregon. Its not too far from me. Check out their website and let me know if you want me to go "eyeball" them.
 
You might check any local machine shops for scrap. If you have something specific you need I can check around here for you. You might also try Craig's list.
 
Kevin - I had a similar exchange with my local recycling shop. I live in a city of around 25,000 people. One recycle shop in town. We do have a very large steel manufacturing facility in town. Most, if not all, of the recycled materials probably end of there. Heck there is a railroad line from the recycle shop to the steel facility. It delivers daily. I know, I wait for the train to pass all the time.

But I digress. One nice summer day, I stopped by in regards to obtaining some brass, copper, mild steel, aluminum. Specifically - round stock for making mosaic pins. I was also looking for an anvil and perhaps some knife making steel, if available.

I spoke to the foreman and told him what I wanted, that I am a knife maker, and what I would use the round stock to make and the request for an anvil. I also inquired about any steel for making knives. I took less than 5 minutes of his time. Probably more like 2 minutes.

Immediately thereafter, he tells me to get out of his business and to never return. Not quite screaming at me, but, animated at full blast. If I ever returned, he would have me arrested. The business was open to the public, I was not concerned about being arrested. But, boy was I ticked off with his attitude. I politely left and have never returned.

I only hope that he will need to use my services, some day. I would very much like to finish our conversation...
 
None of the recycle places around here will let you look and they are in no way interested in selling you anything. I long for the days of the redneck junkyards. We have a couple of you pull it car parts places where you may luck across some steel but not often.
If you have friends in commercial construction or even your DOT you can have luck getting stuff left over from their jobs. Most of my friends know that I blacksmith so they often bring steel and leave it in my office. It’s never knife steel but I have made many a squirrel cooker or steak turner from free steel.
 
I was doing a little out of the box thinking! Every town no matter how large or small has at least 1 metal scrapper, what if you called them and told him what you needed? They could care less all their worried about is the money! And they would probably bring it to you on their way to the scrap yard. Gove um a bit more for what you want. I would think they would love it because they wouldn't have to report it?? Just a thought.
 
Find your local friends who work in manufacturing. Most in my neck of the woods sell their employees stuff like A36 for the scrap price they get paid for it.
 
I'm fortunate here in the Tampa bay area, while I won't go to most scrap yards around here mainly because of getting a flat tire is about a 75% chance I do have one nice red neck place that's pretty big and relatively safe to drive into.
their a little pricey but they have steel in any shape and size you want.
that being said, I'm not above picking up bed frames I find on the side of the road Ha ha. I got a nice stack all cut up for some future projects that don't exist yet.
I wish you luck in finding another place somewhere up there Kevin, some people just plain suck for no obvious reason, I seem to meet a lot of them on a daily basis where I live now, and it only seems to be getting worse here.
 
Another Idea is check with your city's motor pool, mine here has a lot of scrap, including worn out huge hydraulic rams off of garbage trucks, expanded metal from head ache racks and police cars and all kinds of stuff.
All of this scrap goes to a scrapper that puts in a bid annually.
who knows, I would ask, if it is on bid maybe you could beat out that other guy, of course, then you'd be in the scrap business by default....which probably isn't what your looking for.
 
I guess the real shock value here is that this was the main scrap yard in Lansing MI, they had more leftovers from serious industry than almost anywhere in the world. You wouldn't believe all the really cool items I got there over the years. I used to get 3 phases motors scrapped out of GM, that had never been used, for pound scrap prices! I built my rotary phase converter from a 7HP motor, that still had the factory tags on the untouched power leads, that cost me $21. They had a huge warehouse, the size of an aircraft hanger, where they had every metal known to man sorted and setting out on racks. I knew the guys who worked there, they were friendly, and I was like my wife shopping for an afternoon at the mall, just looking at all the great stuff. I would leisurely stack up a pile on the scales, add it all up and then step into the yard guys trailer, where we would have nice chat before I told him how many pounds of what I had. I could load before or after I paid, and nobody cared.

A year and a half later that is all gone. And when I stop my truck in the yard, next to where I unloaded my aluminum, I am approached like I was a thief and told to weigh out and leave. I know every generation blathers on about "the good old days", but I really believe the world is becoming a coarser and nastier place for average, honest people to simply make their way through life.

I have been in touch with the local fab shops for years, but none of them have the goods that place had, and made more money, per pound, off the pieces they sold to me than they did shipping to remelt. It was confirmed to me by a worker there that they made money off the usable sales, and it is a mystery why they shut it down. I called other Padnos outlets in Michigan and I was told that it was a company decision to stop it entirely. It's just sad, I'm sure the good guys there probably lost their jobs when they shut it down. It's just sad.
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
I guess the real shock value here is that this was the main scrap yard in Lansing MI, they had more leftovers from serious industry than almost anywhere in the world. You wouldn't believe all the really cool items I got there over the years. I used to get 3 phases motors scrapped out of GM, that had never been used, for pound scrap prices! I built my rotary phase converter from a 7HP motor, that still had the factory tags on the untouched power leads, that cost me $21. They had a huge warehouse, the size of an aircraft hanger, where they had every metal known to man sorted and setting out on racks. I knew the guys who worked there, they were friendly, and I was like my wife shopping for an afternoon at the mall, just looking at all the great stuff. I would leisurely stack up a pile on the scales, add it all up and then step into the yard guys trailer, where we would have nice chat before I told him how many pounds of what I had. I could load before or after I paid, and nobody cared.

A year and a half later that is all gone. And when I stop my truck in the yard, next to where I unloaded my aluminum, I am approached like I was a thief and told to weigh out and leave. I know every generation blathers on about "the good old days", but I really believe the world is becoming a coarser and nastier place for average, honest people to simply make their way through life.

I have been in touch with the local fab shops for years, but none of them have the goods that place had, and made more money, per pound, off the pieces they sold to me than they did shipping to remelt. It was confirmed to me by a worker there that they made money off the usable sales, and it is a mystery why they shut it down. I called other Padnos outlets in Michigan and I was told that it was a company decision to stop it entirely. It's just sad, I'm sure the good guys there probably lost their jobs when they shut it down. It's just sad.
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I don't normally rag on anyone's profession, but you can probably thank their lawyers for the change. Last place I worked seemed like every time I turned around there was another rule instigated by "legal counsel"
 
I understand what your saying, there's a scrap yards near me that have corporate names on nice fancy signs outside. there's no bartering or chit chat it's "what do you want, were busy here ya know".
I'm afraid the good ol' days are over...at least to me.
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
I guess the real shock value here is that this was the main scrap yard in Lansing MI, they had more leftovers from serious industry than almost anywhere in the world. You wouldn't believe all the really cool items I got there over the years. I used to get 3 phases motors scrapped out of GM, that had never been used, for pound scrap prices! I built my rotary phase converter from a 7HP motor, that still had the factory tags on the untouched power leads, that cost me $21. They had a huge warehouse, the size of an aircraft hanger, where they had every metal known to man sorted and setting out on racks. I knew the guys who worked there, they were friendly, and I was like my wife shopping for an afternoon at the mall, just looking at all the great stuff. I would leisurely stack up a pile on the scales, add it all up and then step into the yard guys trailer, where we would have nice chat before I told him how many pounds of what I had. I could load before or after I paid, and nobody cared.

A year and a half later that is all gone. And when I stop my truck in the yard, next to where I unloaded my aluminum, I am approached like I was a thief and told to weigh out and leave. I know every generation blathers on about "the good old days", but I really believe the world is becoming a coarser and nastier place for average, honest people to simply make their way through life.

I have been in touch with the local fab shops for years, but none of them have the goods that place had, and made more money, per pound, off the pieces they sold to me than they did shipping to remelt. It was confirmed to me by a worker there that they made money off the usable sales, and it is a mystery why they shut it down. I called other Padnos outlets in Michigan and I was told that it was a company decision to stop it entirely. It's just sad, I'm sure the good guys there probably lost their jobs when they shut it down. It's just sad.
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Dang... wish I had known about that place before. Sounds like it would have been worth a 3 hour drive.
 
Sean Jones said:
I don't normally rag on anyone's profession, but you can probably thank their lawyers for the change. Last place I worked seemed like every time I turned around there was another rule instigated by "legal counsel"
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Sean I almost posted the exact same message then it dawned on me that a lawyer has never sued anyone. Behind every frivolous stupid lawsuit there is a money grubbing "I want something for nothing" individual... There are good lawyers and there are bad lawyers but everything they do good or bad is started by someone else. (No, I am not a lawyer by the way)
 
Another example of how all good things must come to an end was my propane supplier. For years I did business with a local Mom and Pop place. They were the kind of place that if a farmer’s finances were tight one month they would say “Hey Ted, we know your good for it, we’ll catch you next month” and yes, they knew their customers names. When the guys would come to fill my pig they would often come into the shop to see what I was working on and chat for a while. They set my pig and plumbed it all in for free and with no charge for the tank, because “we just want to sell you propane” they said.

Then one day a truck showed up with a new name on the side and the trouble began. Mom and Pop had sold out to one of the big Propane companies for a well-deserved retirement. Shortly after, I got a bill for more than propane. I was now customer #XXXX, and was being informed that I was not using enough LP in a given number of months and that I would be charged a fee for using their tank if I couldn’t get it filled more often. The gal at the office was very apologetic, and said she was ready to quit because of the number life-long, loyal, customers the new owners were driving away, and she had to deal with it.

She did get my fee waived, but a few months later I got a notice that I would not be able to get any more propane until I had a line inspection, for which they would need access to the inside of my shop- a far cry from the guys who would want to chat about what I was working on that day. I knew no good could come from a supplier demanding access to the inside of my shop, and I was right. One of the first questions I was asked was if the forges and salt baths were UL listed, and I was told I couldn’t have regulators on their lines that allowed the pressures that I run.

I was so furious that after draining the pig I called them and told them I wanted all their stuff off my property ASAP. But after I hung up, something occurred to me… I called them back and asked what the fee was for removing their equipment, sure enough- they charged a $70 removal fee! I told them to cancel that, they were not to set foot on my property again, and later that day I pulled into their parking lot with their pig, lines and regulators on a trailer and told them I wanted their stuff of my trailer. Then I made them sign a paper showing that I delivered their junk to them at their facility and there would be no further fees.

We talk about the good old days, but there really were good old days when people you did business with were friends, and you were happy to work with them and give them your money. When businesses would rather build a relationship that would benefit you both for a lifetime, rather than use you for all the cash they could extort from you before it drove you to close your doors.

Oh, and by the way, I just noticed that Production Tool Supply in Lansing just closed their doors… I guess I really don’t have much reason to go to Lansing anymore. Welcome to 2020 folks.
 
Kevin, there's a decent legitimate scrap yard about 4 miles from me. I just gave them a call and they said they still welcome people stopping by and scavenging. He said he's got a "decent supply" of steel sheet, plate and bar. They just weigh it up when you're done and charge the going rate.

There are also a few machine and fab shops locally that probably have some scrap.
 
All big corporations do or want is to make the most money they can possibly make. Screw Customer Service, your name, what you do etc... BOTTOM LINE is all that matters to them! The pencil pushers that probably know nothing about the product their selling are the ones that make the rules! It all comes down to charts and graphs not service!! Just larger earnings and yearly bonuses for the top brass and share holders! I just left a company like this! Having a conscious and corporate profit don't work!!
 
Gliden07 said:
All big corporations do or want is to make the most money they can possibly make. Screw Customer Service, your name, what you do etc... BOTTOM LINE is all that matters to them! The pencil pushers that probably know nothing about the product their selling are the ones that make the rules! It all comes down to charts and graphs not service!! Just larger earnings and yearly bonuses for the top brass and share holders! I just left a company like this! Having a conscious and corporate profit don't work!!
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Yes but the dumb thing is that it is not even a smart business model- a lifetime of satisfied return customers, or a year of two of obscene profit that kills the market. I think of it more as a mindset than a corporation vs. individual thing, because I have seen small business, and even some knifemakers with the same approach. It is just a more fatal business model for the little guy.
 
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