scrap

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Where are some good places to look for small amounts of heavy iron. I have some ideas for some projects but can't afford to spend money on new stock.I can work with whatever I find, but it has to be cheap.Do places that buy your metal scrap let people like me dig through it and find usable stuff? They should its recycling. Any leads would be much appreciated, I'm in the Atlanta area.
Reply:Check smaller weld/repairs shop.Ya gotta spend money to make money!
Reply:The scrap yard!  My home town has 3 or 4 steel companies, metal building mfg, and a tube mill.  The tube mill sells all their seconds for scrap.  the metal building mfg sells all their old beams, errors for scrap.  The scrap yard will separate the material they can sell and sell it at scrap price.  The company I worked for was good about letting employees use scrap, but not so good for the general public.  When we inventoried all of our materials we had to throw away all of the leftover steel from jobs unless it could be used as a stock size piece.  The metal building Mfg would have a yearly sale sometimes and get rid of all their excess materials at a cheap price.
Reply:Most steel supply yards in larger towns will have a surplus yard.  This is where you can get drops, slightly bent, slightly rusted, or even out of spec material. At SSS in Houston, I pay on average $.35 a pound in the scrap yard vs. $.70+ a pound new. Getting good structural steel in the scrap heap saves a LOT of money.  When I built my hydraulic press, I got a 20' 6" wide flange I beam for scrap prices because it had some dings in it.ChrisLincoln Pro Mig 180TMiller Spectrum 375
Reply:My local junkyard has plenty of scrap steel, aluminum and iron.I just gotta walk around a huge mountain of it and pick it myself, lol.I can't believe I used to buy my steel from depot stores!Junkyards/scrapyards have SO much cool stuff and it's cheap.I can't believe what some people throw away!I have literally spent hours a day walking around picking, it's a real addiction, haha.Lincoln 125HD, yep I'm a big spender.
Reply:Thanks for all the good tips. I have a box/pan brake plan in mind for a build. It'll require some heavy stock, but not much of any one thing. I'll start checking places next week. Thanks again !
Reply:Originally Posted by KnacKMost steel supply yards in larger towns will have a surplus yard.  This is where you can get drops, slightly bent, slightly rusted, or even out of spec material.
Reply:ive been wondering the same thing. Ive also heard that junk yards separate re-usable steel for sale.  Rather use old steel anyways, better chance its US made and wont rot in 5 years. heh.