Scrap Iron worth gathering up?

[pcolaboy]

There's a place near my home that has literally tons of industrial pieces of iron laying around. This area used to be an old water works that has been defunct for about 40 years. Most of the iron only has surface scaling rust.

Is it worth the trouble to hike into this place and collect for the purpose of selling the scrap? The current property owner would love for me to take it off their site.

Pcolaboy

 

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Go for it

 

[goldinmypan]

I would check out the scrap prices for Iron before I would go to to much trouble. Unless this place has lots of copper or alum. or other higher price metals, it might be more work for the $ than you would be willing to do. Scrap iron is dealt in $/ton rather than per oz.

 

[mech]

Just scrapped an old van (at an iron recycler) and got $4.25 per 100 lbs... which is $85 a ton.

If you have access to a truck (bigger the better) and can haul in several tons at a time then yes it would be worth it.

cheers,

 

[simonds]

Yes there is good money in scrap iron,
I am in the building business, when my work slows down in the winter months, my helper goes to cutting up scrap iron and hauling it to a salvage yard. I think he does better at that than he does working for me doing carpenter work. It is getting harder to find any. If you got an offer on some, it would be wise to go to your local scrap yard and ask what they pay and for what types of metal. You may be surprised at what you might be able to profit from this.

 

[pepperpump]

You should check the prices. Trust me, I do a lot of scrap and iron or steel tends to be more than it is worth. They only pay by the ton. Aluminium and copper is the way to go. Trust me!
Pepperpump

 

[pcolaboy]

Thanks for the replies...yes there are most likely several tons of scrap lying around. Most of it is early 20th century machinery from a sawmill or the old water works. I've already found several pounds of type-setting lead which I understand is hard to come by. I have yet to find any copper...I suspect the area has been picked over already.

In terms of getting this iron out...that's gonna be the tricky part. There is a railroad track and right-of-way between this site and the nearest road. The railroad itself is built up pretty high and would be very difficult to traverse even in my 4X4. The only other option would be to somehow reach the site by boat but this presents another problem due to the very shallow depth of the bay in this area and the fact that the bottom is extremely soft. I could theorectically hike in with a blow torch and cut this stuff up and hike it back out but that would not be worth the effort and would certainly take an eternity.

I'll keep you guys posted and try to post some pics of the area once I take them.

Pcolaboy