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Nickelless
Administrator
USA
5580 Posts |
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NotABigDeal
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2008 : 06:38:33
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Due to space, simple scrap such as sheet metal and old furnaces and such are not practical for me to scrap. I would say it all depends on how much room you have, and what you like. I go for the copper mostly, as I work in the HVAC/R industry and have plenty of access to old a/c coils and indoor coils. #1 copper has to get one of the highest paying scrap prices, that is where the money is. Brass is a good one too....Only my opinion here. I am by no means a large scale scrapper.
Deal |
Live free or die.
Plain and simple.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your council or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2008 : 15:57:54
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The last time I checked, scrap iron was going for a penny a pound, 100 pounds minimum (this was many years ago, the price could have gone up since then.)
Space and your time and trouble determine what you should skip scrapping.
Some are saving lead but unless you have the room for it, you are better off letting someone else do the lead recycling.
Mercury is the overlooked metal, and at one time was recycled, though with the hazards related with mercury it has fallen out of favor among industrial users and recyclers. |
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n/a
deleted
478 Posts |
Posted - 01/30/2008 : 21:24:27
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| Toxic metals like Lead and Mercury. Not worth killing yourself over and should not be handled on a regular basis, especially mercury, without proper training and personal protective equipment. I grew up with a kid who used to collect spent slugs from the local gun range and melt them down for sinkers to sell to fishermen. This was back in the 70's and he got sick from lead fumes/skin absorbtion. It doesn't take much to make you sick and mercury is many times more toxic than lead. FWIW |
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fiatboy
Administrator
912 Posts |
 Posted - 01/30/2008 : 21:58:32
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| So is there a market for mercury? I have a little, but I don't know what to do with it. |
"Bart, it's not about how many stocks you have, it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building." --- Homer Simpson |
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Know Common Cents
Penny Pincher Member
195 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2008 : 22:04:20
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Well, pencil, the price of scrap iron has doubled in my area to 2 cents/pound. Must be inflation rearing its ugly head.
I was helping a friend remodel and he was taking out a huge cast iron laundry tub. We ended up having to use a sledge to get it out. Lots of swearing and frustration, but we finally broke the back of the beast. Thought we had a small treasure as we loaded up the peices into his trailer. We had visions of cold beverages and/or food as a reward for our efforts. We got something like $1.32, which we still split. Not even enought for a Golden Arches burger each, but we learned a much more valuable lesson. Check ahead in advance to see what something might be worth since you may be wasting your time and energy. that's my 66 cents worth of advice. |
Here in Wisconsin, we have some of the highest property and gasoline taxes in the US. We're squeezed so much, I have to make my daughter wear penny boxes for shoes. At least she has an endless supply. |
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NotABigDeal
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2008 : 06:52:29
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quote:
Originally posted by fiatboy
So is there a market for mercury? I have a little, but I don't know what to do with it.
I wonder the same thing. I too have some....Don't know where to ask.
Deal |
Live free or die.
Plain and simple.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your council or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams |
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just carl
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2008 : 08:26:51
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Toxic metals like Lead and Mercury. Not worth killing yourself over and should not be handled on a regular basis, especially mercury, without proper training and personal protective equipment. I grew up with a kid who used to collect spent slugs from the local gun range and melt them down for sinkers to sell to fishermen. This was back in the 70's and he got sick from lead fumes/skin absorbtion. It doesn't take much to make you sick and mercury is many times more toxic than lead. FWIW
This is absolutely rediculous. The only way he could have been hurt by Lead is if he ate the stuff of sucked on the stuff. No one gets sick from handling Lead. Same with Mercury. They experiment with it in chem labs in schools every day. It is only when you get a sufficient amount in your system through ingestion that is will hurt you.
Many, many people collect the slugs at the end of a gun range for recycling to make more bullets. Many, many people find lead in such places, melt Lead-Acid batteries, Lead Sheathed Electrical Cables and melt it down for many purposes and as long as they don't eat the stuff, no problem.
One of the more common uses for Lead today is making of Lead Soldiers. Some even make complete Chess Sets out of Lead. Lead Soldier molds are still being sold every day. Check out PrinceAugust for such molds. I use them every day and have been for well over 50 years. |
Carl |
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wavecrazed
Penny Sorter Member
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2008 : 09:24:47
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| I'm getting 8.25 cents a lb for scrap in FL. CArs are selling for 8.50 a lb. |
scrappin" all over |
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n/a
deleted
478 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2008 : 20:16:20
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To those who think lead fumes can't cause illness, read this:
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or how about Indoor firing ranges and exposure to lead fumes?
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or Mercury and how it makes you sick:
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How might I be exposed to mercury?
Eating fish or shellfish contaminated with methylmercury.
Breathing vapors in air from spills, incinerators, and industries that burn mercury-containing fuels.
Release of mercury from dental work and medical treatments.
Breathing contaminated workplace air or skin contact during use in the workplace (dental, health services, chemical, and other industries that use mercury).
Practicing rituals that include mercury.
This stuff is a real toxin and you don't have to LICK IT or EAT IT to get very sick from it. Ever hear of lead paint?
Here is the OSHA index on LEAD.
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Lead overexposure is one of the most common overexposures found in the industry and is a leading cause of workplace illness. Therefore, OSHA has established the reduction of lead exposure to be a high strategic priority. OSHA's five year strategic plan sets a performance goal of a 15% reduction in the average severity of lead exposure or employee blood lead levels in selected industries and workplaces.
It is also a major potential public health risk. In general populations, lead may be present in hazardous concentrations in food, water, and air. Sources include paint, urban dust, and folk remedies. Lead poisoning is the leading environmentally induced illness in children. At greatest risk are children under the age of six because they are undergoing rapid neurological and physical development.
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No82s
Penny Pincher Member
USA
198 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2008 : 23:18:01
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| Agreed lead exposure to children under 6 is not a good thing. However if you believe everything OSHA has to say, you may as well believe everything the Fed has to say..... |
The difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that the pessimist is better informed. |
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n/a
deleted
478 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2008 : 21:49:23
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| Lead is toxic to humans regardless of what OSHA says. It's a fact. Mercury is even more toxic. Handling either with bare hands is harmful to humans. Touching Mercury with bare hands is insane. You have no idea how much of this is in your body until you get a blood test for heavy metals contamination. I know about mercury as I used to work in a coal fired power plant. Coal burning produces arsenic and mercury. Anyone melting down lead bullets for scrap should wear proper respiratory protection and do it outdoors. Mercury is just too toxic for the average guy to save for scrap. It's a classified HAZMAT material and numerous government regulations apply. All I'm saying is don't listen to the cavemen who think nothing in the world will hurt you because Grandpa used it all the time. In colonial times, they made Pewter drinking mugs from LEAD. Lead was also used to transport drinking water via pipes. Smoking menthol cigs was a cure for the common cold in the 50's, etc. |
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just carl
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2008 : 10:28:54
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Agreed lead exposure to children under 6 is not a good thing. However if you believe everything OSHA has to say, you may as well believe everything the Fed has to say.....
Most such articles are published by either uneducated individuals, anti-gun groups, over exagerated organizations that just want to state something and have little knowlecge of what they are saying. For every reference like those mentioned here, there are just as many different opinions somewhere else. My fovorite one here is the Lead Dust at a gun range. H0W does Lead Dust get into the air anyway. The slub, possibly all Lead or Antimony, is solid, not a dust. It enters the trap at the end as a slug, not dust. Just where does the Lead Dust come from? As usual this is just one of the many, many ANTI-GUN NUT stories. The casings are NOT Lead. The powder contains NO LEAD. In most instances the slugs are Copper or Brass coated, NO DUST. This reference is NUTS.
Mercury is handled every day in Chem Labs all across the WORLD. If handled properly and hands washed, no problem. Of course if there is Mercury or just about anything in your fish that can harm you, DON'T EAT FISH.
And that so called report about the dangers of Lead is just one more exagerated report with out statistacle documentation. Lead in the production of Stained Glass. Lead in fishing weights. Pottery. Just how does this get into a person's internal system. Do you eat stained glass? If so, I wouldn't worry about the Lead. Do you eat fishing weights? Do you eat the Lead in the pottery?
As a chemistry teacher in Junior Colleges we use Lead and Mercury all the time. Naturally everyone is instructed to NOT EAT THE STUFF. Also, washing hands is a necessity when handling ANYTHING.
If you eat the fertilizer used for a garden, naturally you would get sick and possibly die. Should we stop using all fertilizers? If you break open a Fluorescent Lamp and eat the powder in side and get sick, should we stop using Fluorescent Lamps? If you go out and lick all the Zinc coated chain link fences in the area and get sick shoud we now make a report that Galvanizing should be abandoned?
If we continue to read and believe everything that may be bad for us we all will eventually stop drinking coffee from Starbucks too.
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Carl |
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n/a
deleted
478 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2008 : 19:31:46
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As a chemistry teacher in Junior College, you might want to start by brushing up on your spelling. I Doubt you are who you say you are but since this is such an important topic, I will continue to debate you. FACT: You don't have to EAT toxic materials to have them enter your body. They can enter via LUNGS, SKIN, OPEN CUTS, MUCUS MEMBRANE, etc. Melting lead sinkers produces FUMES. Shooting firearms indoors without proper ventilation is toxic. Below is an article from GUN TESTS magazine (hardly anti-gun) about the hazards of lead and how it can slowly KILL you. I have some asbestos for you Carl. You don't have to eat it and I know over a dozen people who died a horrible death from it so please spare the forum your "nothing can hurt you unless you eat it" diatribe. This will be my last post on this very serious subject. Thanks.
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Preventing Lead Poisoning On The Shooting Range
Little do you know, but this insidious heavy metal found in ranges everywhere may be slowly killing you.
I was about eleven years old when I first heard about lead poisoning.
My dad and I were pouring lead to serve as the nose cone for a rocket we were making. While we were heating the lead, my Dad remarked that we needed to be careful to avoid lead poisoning. Like many know-it-all adolescents I responded, “Don’t be silly, Dad. The only way to get lead poisoning is to get shot.” My Dad only smiled, but why shouldn’t I have thought that? I grew up watching one Western after another on television, and I’d heard more than one gunslinger remark after a shoot-out, “He died of lead poisoning.”
My Dad was right to be concerned about the potential health hazard—and that was in the 1960s when the health risks associated with lead poisoning were only beginning to be appreciated. In the last thirty years, lead poisoning has emerged as a significant national health problem. In 1992, the Office of Management and Budget allocated $41 million for lead-screening programs. Despite these programs, few of the estimated 800,000 Americans who enjoy competitive shooting are aware of the health risk posed by lead.
Brief Overview of Lead
Lead is the heaviest and softest of the common metals. The United States mines more lead than any other country, most of it in the state of Missouri. The United States also refines more lead than any other country and consumes about 22 percent of the world’s production of refined lead. Most of the lead produced today is used in electric storage batteries. Other uses include leaded glass, protective coverings for electrical cables, some paint pigments and cosmetics, lead-glazed ceramics, and, of course, bullets.
Overview of Lead Poisoning
Lead poisoning was recognized in ancient Rome, where lead was used in water pipes, wine processing, and tableware. Some conjecture that the lead-related problems of sterility, miscarriage, and dementia contributed to the decline of the Roman empire. Today, lead poisoning is an epidemic problem, affecting at least 2 percent of American children, where the source of lead is thought to be lead-containing paint from pre-1960 homes. Affected children are at risk for learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Even modest lead exposure in children lowers the IQ, impairs memory and reaction time, and affects the ability to concentrate. Lead exposure in adults can result in anemia, high blood pressure, infertility, decreased resistance to infection, kidney damage, gout, and neurological abnormalities including hearing loss, seizures, balance problems, wrist or foot drop, and dementia. Severe lead poisoning can lead to coma and death. The early symptoms of lead poisoning include headache, dizziness, tiredness, poor appetite, sleep disturbance, achy joints, nausea, abdominal pain, and constipation.
Measurement of Lead in the Air
Air lead is measured by collecting lead in filter papers attached to a pump that forces air through the filter. The lead is reported as the micrograms of lead per cubic meter (mg/m3). The OSHA recommendation for the maximal acceptable level of lead in the air we breathe is 50 mg/m3. By comparison, the air lead in major American cities averages about 0.2 mg/m3.
 Lead Exposure At the Shooting Range
Sources of lead during shooting include:
• The primer compound, which is made of about 50 percent lead-containing compounds;
• The effect of the hot propellant gases on the base of the lead bullet;
• Friction of the bullet against the barrel wall; and
• Fragmentation of the bullet against the target and backstop.
After the bullet leaves the muzzle of a handgun, the lead-containing gases naturally stream forward, unless they are diverted by wind or ventilation-created air currents. In a handgun with a compensator, the lead-containing gases stream in the direction of the compensator vents as well as out the muzzle. In an automatic pistol, as the slide returns to eject the spent case, some lead-containing gases are directed back toward the shooter. Fragmentation of the bullet against the target and backstop results in significant lead dispersal.
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Edited by - n/a on 02/27/2008 19:37:50 |
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moboman
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2555 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2008 : 22:02:25
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| Carl, My high school chem teacher told me, mercury had to mix with something to make it toxic. That mercury wouldnt mess you up all on its own. Is there any truth to this? |
"99% of all lawyers give the rest of them a bad name" 
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NotABigDeal
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2008 : 06:28:21
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The guy who gave my CCW test has to limit his time on the range because of the high lead content in his blood. Doctors orders. Not trying to say one is right and one is wrong, just posting my personal experience....
Deal |
Live free or die.
Plain and simple.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your council or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams |
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Any scrap metal NOT worth collecting?
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