How to sell scrap metal
How To Make Money Scrapping Metal For Beginners - Scrap Metal Tips, What To Look For
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it is scrapped Dima dudes always a very
exciting day for me but this time I hope
that isn't my car this time I figured we
do things a little differently because
it was mentioned to me that while there
is no shortage of scrapping videos on
YouTube it might be fun to do a quick
start just the basics how to guide for
someone who's looking at getting into it
or isn't really sure where to start I
know a lot of people who watch my
channel already have plenty of
experience scrapping and if that's the
case well this is not gonna be anything
you guys don't already know but thanks
for hanging out anyway let's do this
thing
now in order to get started you're gonna
need some tools and I wouldn't suggest
anything less than a magnet a pair of
wire cutters sometimes I prefer these
ones they're a little bulky and to be
honest tin snips like these are the
wrong tool for the job they are gonna go
dull if you use them to cut through wire
all day but when they're sharp they make
things go fast and smooth so I still
prefer them you also need a quality pair
of grips and these ones are my personal
pick I know there's a ton of different
ones on the market but I like these
because they've got a lot of grip a
really wide mouth if you need they
adjust quickly and I didn't think I
would use them as often as they did but
when I lost my first pair I replaced
them immediately I like these ones and a
multi head screwdriver as a bare minimum
there's an upgrade this is the way to go
cordless saves you a lot of effort and
time and be sure to bring it with the
longest Phillips head you've got to
maximize its usefulness I had one and I
lost it because it was so useful I had
it with me all the time anyway
your magnet here is definitely the first
and foremost because that helps to
identify ferrous metals ferrous meaning
containing iron and that is the most
common kind of metal you will find
anywhere you can find mountains of it
rusting all over the place now for any
full-time serious scrap or that rusty
stuff is gonna be the bread and butter
you're gonna find it everywhere and if
you have a truck or a trailer you could
reliably expect to fill it up and get 40
to $100 a load and you can probably do
that twice a day if you just cruise
picking up washers dryers stoves
microwaves
old
computer cases everything that stuff
would go in a shredder built-in and the
nice part about that is you don't need
to worry about cleaning it out please go
ahead leave on all the stickers and the
plastic garbage and the fasteners it
doesn't matter they don't care
same money you might want to remove the
goodies like the copper that's in a
microwave or the stainless steel drum
that'll be in a washing machine but
that's totally up to you if you want to
spend your time doing it you don't have
to I'm sure they'll be happy to pick it
apart after you leave now for me
personally this is all the space I've
got so I don't usually bother with that
stuff the most I've gotten out of a
steel run in this was 40 bucks and I was
focusing on the densest pieces I could
find so talking about heavy bars and bed
frames and I did have some computer
cases and some microwaves but I think it
was bearded diver who suggested this to
me
they were completely full a little bits
of steel so all the screws and little
corners and just junk that was metal I
put them inside the cases so these were
very heavy little metal boxes and 40
bucks is decent so there's really
nothing wrong with that but I certainly
don't focus on steel so much because the
pile gets pretty big pretty fast that's
kind of its value though one more tool
that you might want to be sure to bring
it's a luxury item but it's pretty nice
pair of gloves wouldn't be without it
that's just me now the one piece of
steel grab everytime is these things now
I used to ignore them brake drums and
brake rotors they're cast-iron so the
value is a little higher
anywhere from one to three dollars a
piece so that might not seem like much
but everybody just leaves them lying
around and it does not take long to
build up a big pile of it and when you
find one you usually find two or four so
it's one of the easiest five to ten
dollars you'll make I wouldn't leave
them lying around some other common
places you'll find cast iron which I
don't have any examples right in front
of me are the grills from some barbecues
they've got to be the heavy thick ones
though and old clawfoot bathtubs yeah
that's why they're so heavy most of them
are not made it of course and they're
actually cast-iron covered in
I don't know what they're covered in now
with the ferrous steel into an out of
the way let's talk about the stuff that
a magnet won't stick to this is the
stuff that I focus on because it takes
up a lot less space the next most common
type of scrap you're gonna come across
aluminum and wire let's start with
insulated copper wire that means it's
got the plastic insulation still on
there's basically three categories
insulated copper number one number two
and number three they're graded based on
the percentage of their total weight
your scrap yard is going to get out of
them in actual copper number one being
the best and that a decent rule of thumb
here is if you bend it and it holds that
Bend it's probably some decent number
one solid core now different scrap yards
sometimes have a different
interpretation of what exactly
insulated number one copper wire is so
best just ask them to give you an
example of the smallest stuff they'll
accept as copper one now number two
that's your everyday stuff the
snicklefritz the power cords the little
connective wires inside appliances may
see adapters like all sorts of
everything else that's where that goes
now number three is of course the lowest
of the low we're talking about Christmas
lights bulbs on little plastic bits
stuck on just glow yield out of all of
this now I did a video a little while
back where I experimented with different
types of Christmas lights to see how
much you increase your pay out by the
hour you spend chopping off all of the
bulbs and in short if you're gonna do it
just do the ones with big bulbs it seems
a little counterintuitive but those
you'll get about $7 an hour if you work
fast and so if you've got a big pile of
them and you got nothing going on
personally I'm gonna bring them in just
like this cuz that is all the time I
have in my life for Christmas lights
now that number two stuff the everything
else my yard wants it cleaned like
everything cut off no connectors I'm
gonna have to find a pair of scissors
and get this off because that's not good
enough for them but to give me a good
price in the Latta me pile pretty much
anything I want into the number two pile
as long as it's not coax nobody wants
coaxial do not let it in here number two
pile because your scrap yard will not be
happy
that's the stuff that
TV and old video game systems we're
connect it looks like it's got a nice
solid copper core but that events solid
copper center running through it is
actually a steel wire this is copper
coated worthless don't even pick it up
now outside of those here's a couple of
the types of wire your scrapyard might
pay more for if you keep them separate
the first one cat5 from talking about
ethernet cables you're gonna need to cut
the the ends off of this but the places
that wanna separate will give you a
higher price for it I think it's because
it's got five small strands of very I
don't know why it is but they pay a
little more the other one this BX cable
it's they believe the proper name for it
it's got an aluminum casing on the
outside and the inside is this nice
solid core kind of stuff and that stuff
adds up quick cuz it's heavy
some places will pay more for this
housing wire kind of stuff too and these
kinds of ones that's a high copper
content with an aluminum sheet so
they'll give you a totally different
grade for that as well there is one to
watch out for to keep an eye out or you
might be tricked
see these yeah it looks like a really
nice too thick piece of wire but it's a
little suspicious one because it's super
flexible and - it really doesn't weigh
very much so if you take your snips and
have a look inside you see that silver
Sparkle on there yeah this is aluminum
wire with a copper coating that's
another thing you scrap your doesn't
want you sneaking into the number two
copper insulated bin and honestly unless
you've got a lot of space I would just
put it back even these things here it
look like they've got copper on them
that's copper coated steel also not
worth anything into the Shred if you've
got a shrimp in now if you find a whole
pile of aluminum wire at once I wouldn't
leave it lying around because it is
worth money but takes a while to add up
so unless you've got more space than you
know what to do with or you somehow find
it all the time I wouldn't feel bad
leaving it behind that'll lead us nicely
into the most common scrap metal and
actually the most common metal in the
world aluminum now aluminum is fairly
easy to identify because of three
different reasons the first is it's
extremely light the second is it's
extremely flexible
and the third is it's almost whitish
silver color there's a lot more kinds
than you might think but for scrapping
it's primarily grouped into three
different categories first one we see
here is old aluminum it's really thin
it's probably been hammered or milled
flat somehow it's used on things like
siding baking trays and pots and pans
the fact pots and pans are a really
common source of this stuff doesn't
weigh very much so it does take kind of
a while to add up but fill up a bin and
you'll probably have 10 or 20 bucks
worth and it's super common you will
find it all over the place so it doesn't
take as long as you might catch it now
the next one and the easiest one to get
excited about aluminum extrusion or
extruded aluminum try and ignore the
plastic bits on these aluminum extrusion
is a process in which they take a piece
of aluminum stock and they heat it up
and they force it through a shaped die
so that it comes out the other side in
the shape that they want this somehow
makes it stronger and it's generally a
much purer grade of aluminum so it's
worth a little more
you can tell primarily by looking at the
shape and if you see these machined
edges like they've been cut down and
there's no seams connecting things
together or they have little little
divots or shapes where things will stick
on to them that's aluminum extrusion
most common sources of these will be
fence post hair of getting pieces free
legs will be aluminum extrusion and also
something like this extruded stuffs a
lot denser so it adds up a lot quicker
but you might mistake it for steel if it
wasn't that it was non-magnetic and so
easy to scratch now the other one is
cast aluminum you can tell it's cast
because it's light and it's got a
complicated shape so you'll commonly
find this on waffle iron as well as
barbecues and something like this base
of a saw if you're not sure if it's cast
just hit it with a hammer it's really
brittle oh another point about aluminum
extrusion there's actually quite a few
different grades of this stuff I went to
one scrapyard and they wanted me to
separate everything there was like four
different bins that they wanted it all
the they wanted
it took forever I don't take aluminum to
that yard anymore because I honestly
don't have time for that stuff
I go to one word that just lets me throw
all of the extrusion into one band gives
me one price it's great there's one
other kind of aluminum that's actually
pretty common that you want yes and
aluminum rim we just take a minute to
appreciate how messed up this one is it
was not me and I have no idea how he did
that OOP I got a little water going on
here aluminum rim is actually an alloy
so it's a different grade and different
price but it's a good price
so grab maybe got oh and most radiators
and cars are also made of aluminum all
of the new ones are and those are a
different grade as well now I find
aluminum to be one of the most important
scrap metals to clean and I'm not
talking about with a brush and soap and
water
I mean removing any of the none of
Lumina bits from it because it's worth
about three times as much this way
something like this piece I'm not really
sure if I'm going to bother cleaning it
or not because it's just got a few of
those scrap yards have a certain
percentage of contaminants that are
allowed in the bins that they sell to
their buyers so if I have a big enough
pile of aluminum and that's just
included in it I might be able to talk
them into just grading it along with the
rest of the stuff I think they told me
5% which is actually kind of a lot the
only problem is aluminum is really light
so just a little bit of steel can put it
over 5%
we'll find out either way I'm not
spending all day taking those off
something like this
these rivets are aluminum not sticking
but that plastic is gonna ruin it now
this PVC can be pretty resilient but if
I can break it off with a hammer that'll
save me a lot of time well work now if
it's really dirty they'll call it
aluminum breakage which is not worth
very much at all but the thing is
aluminum breakage is something that's
has aluminum on it I drove into a
dumpster one time and I found these two
really big aluminum frame windows that
still had all of the wood that they were
built on and around stuck on to them and
I didn't want to spend all day taking
screws and nails
taking that thing apart so I just threw
him my car took him to scrap here the
way they were they didn't like them with
the glass in there so I smashed that out
over a bucket I still got 30 bucks for a
quick run so well lumen breakage isn't
all bad just you just want to make sure
it's heavy enough to make it worth it
now other less common things you should
definitely keep an eye out for because
they are worth a lot more than aluminum
let's talk about copper and brass that
was really loud you're not gonna find
copper very often because everybody's
after because everybody knows it's worth
money but it's easy to identify because
of its color its copper or at patinas
green and it smells like blood it's also
heavy and flexible we use this stuff in
piping because since it's so soft and
flexible it's easy to fuse together but
it also doesn't contaminate water with
rust or anything like that they kind of
switch to plastic for a lot of
applications because it's gotten really
expensive because it's so awesome it's
seriously an amazing metal it doesn't
rust it's really malleable it's got a
really pretty color and it's extremely
conductive so it's just incredibly
useful for so many different things it's
common in microwaves and old tube TVs
but if you're gonna scrap those you're
only gonna get about $4 out of each of
them so honestly I don't really do them
anymore but if you're going to I would
suggest stacking up a whole bunch of
microwaves and doing it really fast the
old tube TVs the good part is not what
you might think it's nothing yoke the
really obvious copper part it's the
copper it's the degaussing cable that
runs around the actual glass on the
inside now copper also has three
different grades there's number two
copper which means it's got contaminants
like solder or paint on it there's
number one copper which is like this one
here it's kind of dirty but it doesn't
have any contaminants on it or even this
one because it does have a green patina
but it's still you know a pure chunk and
then bare bright which really shows the
beauty of this stuff and it has to be
exactly what it sounds like bear and
break the wire fall is the same grid
this stuff number one this stuff they're
bright now this stuff's pretty heavy so
you do want to put the time into
separating your number two from your
number one this solder no good but if
you chop it off right here then that
whole length becomes number one and then
the end it still has solder I don't you
just throw it into the number two I have
a little pipe cutter it's a tool that
you lock on and then turn and turn and
turn and turn but I want to sleep that
takes forever the stuff is soft enough
you can probably if you have a sharp
enough X just chop through it with an
axe on a chopping block but more than
likely just hit it with something heavy
tillis flat and bend it and bend it and
bend it and it'll come right off it's
easy the next one we better talk about
is brass we can find it in all the same
places that they would have used copper
but copper was too soft so things like
this faucet head all the fittings and
threaded parts are brass because copper
be too soft but it's still a copper
tubes on it a lot of the time the silver
bits will be chrome or zinc plated brass
as well but you're gonna have to get
that layer off before you can really
tell um you might use a file you might
use a saw but when I'm in the field
I just grind it on a piece of pavement
and oh look see that golden yellow got
ourselves a piece of brass now brass is
another one of those ones that you
really want to clean meaning taking off
all of the steel and plastic and
whatever isn't brass because it's worth
about three times as much when you do
stuff like this unfortunately can be
really really difficult to take apart so
a lot of the time well I just leave it
in a pile because it hurts my feelings
bringing it in the way it is and getting
almost no money for it knowing that it's
worth quite a bit more now for me taking
those things apart a scroll saw would be
a dream come true because then you could
just saw straight through the difficult
threaded in parts and it would fall
right apart so if you have access to one
of those well go you it's also pretty
common for door handles but unless it
was a big heavy piece like this I find
them too much of a pain to take apart
and you will want to do the magnet test
on the hardware as well because often
times those are breasts other places
you'll find brass these plugs they go in
as dirty brass but they do add up and
even the ones that don't look like
they're brass if you do a scrape test on
them you'll find that these are just
coated with something to make them
silver and more visually appealing
they're still brass a lot of decorative
house wares are brass or brass in
disguise
even this candle holder is in fact brass
that sexy white brass is one of my
favorites it's extremely common if you
know where to look for it and it's worth
a lot because it's basically copper in
disguise it's an alloy of copper and
nickel I think it's a nickel
so well copper is worth over 2 bucks a
pound brass isn't far behind it about a
buck and a half
but brass wins over copper in the where
they use it it's generally in big heavy
chunks so that stuff adds up quick all
we want to get good at finding an
identifying brass like on car radiators
the way they used to make them they used
to be made out of big chunks of brass
and copper those are money if you can
find one you'll need to do a scratch
test to identify them notice generally
something that old they'll just look
completely black on all the brass parts
and the copper all look like this really
muddy green but you'll be happy when you
do find one trust me they're out there
oh speaking of big chunky things that
add up fast lead you don't want to find
you some lead yes I'm talking about lead
acid batteries you can identify them
pretty easily cuz it'll say right on it
lead acid battery it's exactly what it
sounds like it's a battery made out of
lead and acid something to do with the
way electricity works go ask a bee I
don't know you'll also find that acid
batteries built-in things like these
portable chargers anything that needs to
carry power with it Entebbe it's got a
battery might be led you should check
but these things are really heavy they
add up quick and people throw them out
all the time so keep an eye out for them
and check a few different scrap yards to
find the best price because if anyone's
giving you less than 30 cents you're
probably getting ripped off that's
Canadian I don't know about you guys
down in the steeps other sources of
bling a leaded glass window it's not
just a fancy name this one's frozen to
the floor I'd show you but it's a sheet
of lead they used to use those on roofs
and doors and it's a fire proofing kind
of a thing
lead is pretty easy to identify because
it's really heavy but it's also really
really soft
of course wheel weights you know the
thing that the balance your tires with
and then the even rarer metals then
those are actually more common than you
might think the platinum silver and gold
yes we're talking about a waste now I
got to say Canada is a little behind the
ball on this one people down to the
States you guys have way more places to
bring them in it seems like every scrap
yard down there is accepting low mid and
high grade circuit boards so call around
cuz you might have someone local and
that would be a lot easier you'll find
this stuff all the time
I'm talking about computers laptops cell
phones to be honest I don't have a heck
of a lot of experience with that stuff
because I've never sold any of it but
dumpster Marcus seems to be all over
that game and following his advice I've
been stacking up motherboards Ram
Goldfinger cards video card some sound
cards and hard drives and cell phones so
those are the ones I'm stacking in a bin
and someday I'll sell them there's a guy
that contacted me who was out in Ontario
and apparently he's buying them and
there might even be one in Vancouver now
I'm not sure so even as a Canadian save
them somebody wants those I'm gonna do a
video of that upcoming when I get around
to it don't rush me now the other thing
you're gonna find when you're scrapping
these electronics is more copper but you
choose your own adventure on that one
things like these electric motors these
things are also electric motors so just
throw those in a pile then while you're
picking apart circuit boards you're also
gonna find this kind of stuff these are
also copper bearing motors but they're
very small even these ones which seem to
have a high amount of copper on them
I've picked them apart before and like
had all the copper floss that comes out
of them in my opinion I wouldn't bother
maybe if you had buckets and buckets of
them and you had a hammer oil to throw
them into yeah this one's up to you guys
now the couple more exotic once we've
got to talk about before this video is
complete let's start with stainless
steel this one you'll actually find more
often than you might think identifying
it can be a bit of a headache but your
handy dandy magnet is your best bet here
it's not magnetic but it's also a lot
heavier than aluminum odds are it's
stainless you can find that a lot of
different places like backsplashes or
faces of appliances in kitchens or
something like a water fountain which
has to be strong but also not rust it
can be difficult to identify because
sometimes even stainless is magnetic
that's because there's different grades
of it and I looked this up I'm not a nun
expert on this sort of stuff but
apparently it has more to do with the
crystalline structure I mean if it was
simply a matter of whether the stuff and
it was magnetic it would still be
magnetic because it's still made out of
steel now apparently the surest way to
determine whether it's stainless steel
or just regular steel is the spark test
this means you
grinder or something that'll make it
spark and the length and color of the
sparks will tell you now I don't have a
big enough operation to have those tools
hook up and like do the smart test on
things all the time so for me the most
reliable way of identifying it and this
is actually true of a lot of metals is
just thinking about it I'm thinking
about its application see stainless
steel is gonna be used somewhere where
they can't have it rust but it needs to
be really strong
so with that in mind if it's not copper
or brass and it's too heavy to be
aluminium it's probably stainless if
it's been sitting out for a while you
can also just look for rust spots on it
because it won't have any now I've used
to just ignore the stuff cuz I couldn't
find a yard that would give me a decent
price but once I found one now I
definitely stack it up because the thing
is it's worth about the same amount as
aluminium weight wise but it's a lot
heavier so it adds up really quick
definitely don't pass it up now the two
other exotics one would be a catalytic
converter I don't have any right now I
sold all of mine but they contain
platinum palladium and rhodium it
depends on who made them and how old
they are as to what they're worth but
they go anywhere from like a little bit
to a whole bunch so I'll put a couple
pictures over here and if you see the
honeycomb pattern on the inside of where
the exhaust flows through that's where
all the magic happens that's really good
stuff is so you'll know when you see it
don't leave them lying around your yard
or they will walk away last one I wanted
to mention you're probably not going to
find any of these but the carbide tip
drills these things they're used in
mining that's mostly steel but the
valuable part are these little nubbins
on there that's carbide and it's worth
about $10 a pound and these things are
covered in it now that is not something
most people run across in their
day-to-day lives but there you go that's
pretty much it for the basics I think
the only metals you might find out in
that are magnesium and nickel but you
probably won't find those even in
nickels they're actually mostly made out
of zinc and if I may be so bold as to
make suggestion maybe don't scrap air
conditioners refrigerators and water
coolers because you only get four to
eight dollars in total out of any one of
them and I don't think it's worth
releasing all that free
into the atmosphere and degrading the
ozone layer that's just my opinion
that's why I stopped scrapping them
there are professionals out there who
can reclaim the freon gas and reuse it
and it's actually a valuable resource
but the one that I you lost his job and
I don't know where to find another one
so now if anybody watching this has any
suggestions please add it to the
comments down below because I know
there's stuff I left out and this sort
of industry is different in different
regions otherwise definitely read the
comments because that's where some of
the best information is I don't know
everything but I learn a lot from the
other people who are watching this
channel oh well you're here let's talk
about stripping wire I got a piece I'll
show you how I do it alright so dead
simple just a big knife slice an edge
off like that so you got something to
work with
hold it facing the other way get the
knife into the edge that you just cut
off yeah this definitely works better
when it's straight hold it on an extreme
angle so the blade itself is just
touching the copper and then you can
kind of just pull it through then just
peel that off it's so bad really it's a
lot better with sharp knife now I only
do that with stuff that's generally
thicker than a pencil this gauge right
here this is definitely worth the time
it takes to strip it but if you were
gonna do that
I would suggest a wire stripper Uber's
immediate up a wire strip it he seems
really happy with so um I'll put a link
to that as well as the video actually
check out the description because I'll
put a link to the some of the tools that
I mentioned and any relevant video I've
done a couple in the past and then you
might want to check out over zum-zum
wire stripping one so more information
in the description and down in the
comments and if you enjoyed this video
and you think someone else will get some
value out of it
then please click the like button
because otherwise it disappears into the
abyss that's how this works
either way happy scrapping and whatever
your scrapping leave it better than you
found it keep doing the thing
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