Where do you get practice scrap cheap?

MattM said:
You said , " you can get a ton...for under $100" and you got 50lbs for "something like $110.00". Did I miss something?
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Wasn't saying I spent under $100, just that it was possible to get a lot for a good price. Lets not get hung up on the details :)
 
I get a lot my of materials from my Union Ironworker friends for free..... They collect drops and scrap for me..... The Union has the best scraps!
 
Even I can't get a ton of aluminum scrap for "under $100.00".

I have a friend who has an auto repair shop. He gives me truck and auto axles.
 
I am in the process of repairing a wood stove. Had to replace the firebox, which is four interlocking pieces of cast iron - the old one was overfed by a previous owner and got warped.

Out of curiosity, I chucked one of the damaged firebox pieces into an electrolysis bath for a couple hours. When it came out and got a good rubbing with steel wool, it looked just like the new cast iron pieces (albeit misshapen). I now have about twenty or thirty pounds of cast iron to use for bases, toolposts, etc.

If you live in an area with a lot of wood stoves, it might be worth checking with a specialist in wood stove repair/refurbishing to see if they have any old or damaged parts they are planning to sell for scrap.
 
I found a good source of cast iron from early 1950’s craftsman table saws. I know some will say its a sin to do but they’re only worth $40 to the right person. The late 50’s to 60’s models were a lot thinner cast iron and not worth tearing apart for their cast iron.

ThinWoodsman said:
I am in the process of repairing a wood stove. Had to replace the firebox, which is four interlocking pieces of cast iron - the old one was overfed by a previous owner and got warped.

Out of curiosity, I chucked one of the damaged firebox pieces into an electrolysis bath for a couple hours. When it came out and got a good rubbing with steel wool, it looked just like the new cast iron pieces (albeit misshapen). I now have about twenty or thirty pounds of cast iron to use for bases, toolposts, etc.

If you live in an area with a lot of wood stoves, it might be worth checking with a specialist in wood stove repair/refurbishing to see if they have any old or damaged parts they are planning to sell for scrap.
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Did alittle tune up on a friends zero turn mower. In return when he came to pick the mower up these were in the back of the truck for me. Two 10' lengths of 3" 316 stainless pipe. He also said he has some 1 1/2" for me it was just on the bottom. So having good friends with scrap and bartering work good.
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Two sources for aluminum, both are by-products of manufacturing:

Discs of cast tooling plate

Various rectangular drops of molding grade alloy:

S&S has only the drops listed, and explain why on their website.

The folks with the Fortal have a wide range of sizes, and pricing is a little better if you skip their eBay store and buy direct. Email them for the stock listing, it's a well organized Excel spreadsheet.

Hope this is of some help.
Thomcat
 
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Got an email from onlinemetals.com when they were doing their Black Monday sale last week. I poked around a bit and saw that they have value packs, which I never noticed before. If you select the 'View All Types' option for a particular metal (brass, steel, aluminum, etc), the very last two options are Value Packs. The Protobox items there are grab bags - about a buck a pound for cold roll, two bucks a pound for aluminum.

I picked up a couple of ten-pound protoboxes (cold roll, aluminum), half-expecting them to be a bunch of thin flats. They arrived yesterday and actually contain a decent selection of material: some flats, some angle iron, some round, some tube. Plenty of good, thick, bulky pieces which are usually kinda pricey to obtain on their own.

Not junkyard cheap, sure. And of course the shipping still costs ya. But a couple of these could get you started for, what, fifty bucks? A hundred if you include brass and some drill rod? Something to keep in mind for those starting out with only the stock at the local hardware store to draw from.
 
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