Unusual Source for Chinese Steel

[Fedwrench]

While web surfing today I visted the Communist News Network (cnn.com) and watched an interesting video piece about how the Chinese are cleaning up all of the old Russian armored vehicle hulks in Afghanistan for scrap steel. You may end up with a little bit of remade Soviet Armor in that next Harbor Freight tool purchase or Autozone brake rotor.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/in...0/bs.rivers.afghan.tank.graveyard.cnn?hpt=Mid

 

[devilphrog]

My best friend's fiancee works for a large container ship company was telling me that the Chinese are packing 40' containers to the brim with scrap metal (mainly steel) and shipping them back to the Far East. Apparently they can't fill up enough containers with our scrap metal for the shipping price they are being charged fast enough. So your HF tools just might be old detroit iron!

 

[boostedgt]

old recycled pittsburgh steel making it into pittsburgh wrenches!

 

[Merkava_4]

I'm wondering how the Chinese are able to go collect old Russian steel out of Afghanistan without getting shot at by the Taliban. I guess the Taliban are cool with the Chinese maybe.

 

[toolnut]

old recycled pittsburgh steel making it into pittsburgh wrenches!

and Bluepoint , Evolv , and any other tool or toolbox made over there......

 

[Teikas Dad]

Hmmmmmm, if my history lessons are correct, didn't Japan buy all the scrap metal they could from us in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack? History going to repeat itself? They're rattling sabers over there now regarding the pending sale of military equipment to Taiwan.

 

[Fedwrench]

I wonder how many Dogbone wrenches they can make out of one T54 hull?

 

[walrus]

I'm wondering how the Chinese are able to go collect old Russian steel out of Afghanistan without getting shot at by the Taliban. I guess the Taliban are cool with the Chinese maybe.

Not sure where the tanks are they are getting but not all of Afghanistan is under siege by the Taliban. Besides they probably know better than to screw with China

 

[fordbroncodave]

lets hope they don't make anything useful out of it or try to

 

[sheslostcontrol]

If we didn't buy so much of their wares they wouldn't be snatching up all this steel. We've created a monster and continue feeding it.

 

[Ed_EOD]

Here is one of the many we came across in Afghanistan. I wonder if it is $50 in cheap tools yet?

 

[xroad]

Not sure where the tanks are they are getting but not all of Afghanistan is under siege by the Taliban. Besides they probably know better than to screw with China

Rules of engagement? What rules of engagement? Unfortunately, this is something we can learn a little bit, not a whole lot, from the Chinese. Just enough to let the terrorist understand. Embrace them with love don't seems to work.

 

[nate379]

Are scrap prices way up again?

The summer before last (2008) we were getting close to $200 a ton for scrap.

I cleaned the garage before moving that winter and hauled about 3000lbs of scrap. I got $7.50

 

[Rigmaster]

Scrap prices are up, but not way up.

I hauled a stripped car a couple of weeks ago and got $3.50 per hundred.

I hauled 2 last week and got $6.50 per hundred.

I've heard that the Chinese are really taking advantage of the relatively low scrap metal prices to buy up all they can get their hands on.

Makes sense to me- they are shipping all their retail goods over here by the container shipload, so the shipping companies would rather sell the container space going back to China cheaply than have them go back empty- so they fill the containers up with whatever they can.

 

[american lockpicker]

Hmmmmmm, if my history lessons are correct, didn't Japan buy all the scrap metal they could from us in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack? History going to repeat itself? They're rattling sabers over there now regarding the pending sale of military equipment to Taiwan.

I was thinking that too. If China declares war on us we are f.............

 

[Bolster]

I'm going off topic but... another odd thing I learned about China is they have almost no wood. They are importing wood to China, to make all kindsa cheap furniture ****.

 

[Art From De Leon]

Not sure where the tanks are they are getting but not all of Afghanistan is under siege by the Taliban. Besides they probably know better than to screw with China

That is what I used to say about the USSR, and why none of the little third world countries would mess with their embassies, or take their citizens hostage, because the Soviets had the mystique of a good chance that they would NOT respond with diplomacy if their interests were jepoardized.

Regarding the quality of Chinese steel, the imported scrap material may be quality, but what kind of garbage do they add to the melt, goat ****, chicken bones, rejected HF tools, street sweepings? They have NO concept of quality, if they lose 10,000, or a hundred thousand of their own, what is that, .0000001 percent of their population. The only reason they try and punish the manufacturer, is because of the loss of face he has caused the government.

When I worked in Tianjin, our yard was right across the 'street' from a ship breaking yard, they would totally dismantle a good size freighter in a couple of months using just a cutting torch and people with huge sledge hammers.

 

[mkdive]

I'm going off topic but... another odd thing I learned about China is they have almost no wood. They are importing wood to China, to make all kindsa cheap furniture ****.

How can a country that large have "almost no wood"....just doesn't compute.

 

[oldtools]

American destroyed the tanks, the Chinese send them back to America. Snap On tools made by the Chinese with Russian steel and use by American to fix American cars.

 

[X1 Mike]

Originally Posted by Teikas Dad
Hmmmmmm, if my history lessons are correct, didn't Japan buy all the scrap metal they could from us in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack? History going to repeat itself? They're rattling sabers over there now regarding the pending sale of military equipment to Taiwan.

I was thinking that too. If China declares war on us we are f.............

Here is a staggering stat: (or fact or piece of useless trivia)

If at the very moment you were born all the people in China got in a single file line and marched past you they would finish right before your 85th birthday.

24 hours in every day
60 minutes in every hour (60 * 24 = 1440 minute per day)
60 seconds in every minute (60 * 1440 = 86400 seconds per day)
2 seconds for someone to walk past you (86400 / 2 = 43200 walkers per day)
Population of China (1,335,610,000 / 43200 = 30916.898 days for the population to walk past)
30916.898 / 365 days in the year = 84.7 years


p.s. does the smell come from the Russian tanks?

 

[american lockpicker]

How can a country that large have "almost no wood"....just doesn't compute.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...f+wood&rlz=1W1ACEW_enUS338US338&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

 

[quneur]

Hmmmmmm, if my history lessons are correct, didn't Japan buy all the scrap metal they could from us in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack? History going to repeat itself? They're rattling sabers over there now regarding the pending sale of military equipment to Taiwan.

Japan got their steel from occupied lands in China.

 

[X1 Mike]

Japan got their steel from occupied lands in China.

Actually the United States placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel in September of 1940 due to Japan's takeover of northern French Indochina. This embargo is one of the key factors that led to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

[Bolster]

Informative (and terrifying) post, great avatar, hilarious sig line. X1 Mike you are my hero of the week.

Riddle me this. Given that China is the world's manufacturer (try finding ANYTHING not made in China, much less tools), how do they skate by calling themselves "undeveloped" and thus not subject to all the restrictions the rest of the modern world labors under? That just doesn't compute.

Undeveloped, my ***.

Originally Posted by Teikas Dad
Hmmmmmm, if my history lessons are correct, didn't Japan buy all the scrap metal they could from us in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack? History going to repeat itself? They're rattling sabers over there now regarding the pending sale of military equipment to Taiwan.



Here is a staggering stat: (or fact or piece of useless trivia)

If at the very moment you were born all the people in China got in a single file line and marched past you they would finish right before your 85th birthday.

24 hours in every day
60 minutes in every hour (60 * 24 = 1440 minute per day)
60 seconds in every minute (60 * 1440 = 86400 seconds per day)
2 seconds for someone to walk past you (86400 / 2 = 43200 walkers per day)
Population of China (1,335,610,000 / 43200 = 30916.898 days for the population to walk past)
30916.898 / 365 days in the year = 84.7 years


p.s. does the smell come from the Russian tanks?

 

[X1 Mike]

Informative (and terrifying) post, great avatar, hilarious sig line. X1 Mike you are my hero of the week.

Riddle me this. Given that China is the world's manufacturer (try finding ANYTHING not made in China, much less tools), how do they skate by calling themselves "undeveloped" and thus not subject to all the restrictions the rest of the modern world labors under? That just doesn't compute.

Undeveloped, my ***.

Full disclosure: I stole that sig line from an old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, I’m really not that witty.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I was thinking that too. If China declares war on us we are f.............

Yupp..They could lose like 4 soldiers to our 1 and still win the war. I believe it will happen someday. They are also building a navy. I really have considered learning Chinese. Maybe they will give me a job in the masters house, instead of a nasty factory or rice paddie.

 

[Art From De Leon]

Yupp..They could lose like 4 soldiers to our 1 and still win the war. I believe it will happen someday. They are also building a navy. I really have considered learning Chinese. Maybe they will give me a job in the masters house, instead of a nasty factory or rice paddie.

More like 3 or 4 HUNDRED to every 1 of ours.

Do not forget that one of their generals threatened to nuke us, if we continued to interfere with Taiwan.

This is where a "practical demonstration" of our nuclear capabilites, once a year would be useful, although having read the book, The Nuclear Express, the Chicoms are not only more advanced in their nuclear weapon technology, but are fully aware of the designs and weaknesses, of ours. (Thank YOU, clinton). It is questionable whether they have the delivery systems, and re-entry problems down pat.

 

[CamarosRus]

I work at the Port of Seattle loading/unloading the ships from Asia.

Many of the crushed/flattened cars that you have all seen are sent through muti-million dollar shredders that separate all the metals from the "fluff".

40' Containers can only be loaded with the shredded metal, maybe 1/3 full (off the floor) due to approx 30 Ton weight limit on truck to the pier.

Logs are also loaded into otherwise empty containers going back to Asia. Grains (soybean, corn, and wheat also loaded into export containers.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

More like 3 or 4 HUNDRED to every 1 of ours.

Do not forget that one of their generals threatened to nuke us, if we continued to interfere with Taiwan.

This is where a "practical demonstration" of our nuclear capabilites, once a year would be useful, although having read the book, The Nuclear Express, the Chicoms are not only more advanced in their nuclear weapon technology, but are fully aware of the designs and weaknesses, of ours. (Thank YOU, clinton). It is questionable whether they have the delivery systems, and re-entry problems down pat.

If they have like 1.3 billion people and we have 250 million, if all Chinese and americans fought, it would be roughly 5 to 1. If 1 in 5 of their people survived they would outnumber us as we stand now.

 

[devilphrog]

40' Containers can only be loaded with the shredded metal, maybe 1/3 full (off the floor) due to approx 30 Ton weight limit on truck to the pier.

Does this mean that they can pretty much fill a 20 footer all the way up because they can support more weight? My buddies fiancee deals with flat racks now so I don't know how well she is in the loop on scrap metal in containers now.

 

[Art From De Leon]

If they have like 1.3 billion people and we have 250 million, if all Chinese and americans fought, it would be roughly 5 to 1. If 1 in 5 of their people survived they would outnumber us as we stand now.

I used the source of choice that the The New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN rely on, i.e., I pulled the number out of thin air.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Here you go devilphrog:

The maximum gross mass for a 20 ft (6.1 m) dry cargo container is 30,480 kg, and for a 40-ft (including the 2.87 m (9 ft 6 in) high cube container), it is 34,000 kg. Allowing for the tare mass of the container, the maximum payload mass is therefore reduced to approximately 28,380 kg for 20 ft (6.1 m), and 30,100 kg for 40 ft (12 m) containers.[10]

 

[Bolster]

If they have like 1.3 billion people and we have 250 million, if all Chinese and americans fought, it would be roughly 5 to 1. If 1 in 5 of their people survived they would outnumber us as we stand now.

Ha ha, "if...all Americans fought." That'll be the day. The great American pussification programme is just about complete, and the Oprafied American public has no stomach for a fight. Now, if it's a race to embrace your inner victim, then we might just have a chance.

NOTE: My perspective is as a resident of Barbara Boxer-land (California). Other states may still have spines, so I'm not speaking for the other 49. But don't expect the citizenry of California to do any more than wave white and rainbow flags in welcome.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Ha ha, "if...all Americans fought." That'll be the day. The great American pussification programme is just about complete, and the Oprafied American public has no stomach for a fight. Now, if it's a race to embrace your inner victim, then we might just have a chance.

NOTE: My perspective is as a resident of Barbara Boxer-land (California). Other states may still have spines, so I'm not speaking for the other 49. But don't expect the citizenry of California to do any more than wave white and rainbow flags in welcome.

Haha....You are right. At least half of this country would "French Up."

So you don't think Pelosi and Reid would saddle up and lead us into battle? I think Pelosi would hop on her plane and spend her typical $1,000 a week in booze (curtesy of us taxpayers of course), and fly off to Paris.

 

[chadster1]

Haha....You are right. At least half of this country would "French Up."

So you don't think Pelosi and Reid would saddle up and lead us into battle? I think Pelosi would hop on her plane and spend her typical $1,000 a week in booze (curtesy of us taxpayers of course), and fly off to Paris.

I think the only thing that would get people in this country to fight would be to cut off government benefits. Of course, then it would just be rioting in the streets and destroying their own neighborhoods.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I think the only thing that would get people in this country to fight would be to cut off government benefits. Of course, then it would just be rioting in the streets and destroying their own neighborhoods.

Very funny, but sadly very true.

 

[autoace]

I don't know if it is 100% true, but I heard the Cash for Clunkers program was devised by China. They did not want to trade for anymore Federal Reserve promisary notes, and wanted steel instead.

 

[Az Scooter]

Short economics lesson.

China is manufacturing goods.
The US is buying goods.
If the US dollar tanks, so does the Chinese economy
If the US dollar soars, so does the Chinese economy.
If the US becomes totally subject to the Chinese, we have to use Chinese currency, at the Chinese value.
If we use the Chinese currency, at the Chinese value, their economy will totally tank.
Thus, that means that the success of China, is nearly totally dependent on getting US dollars, because, we are the only ones out buying the cheap trinkets and trash that they manufacture.
If everyone in the US committed right now to buying nothing but American made goods, we would quickly drive Walmart out of business, because they would have few viable products to sell, and totally destroy the Chinese economy, driving their politico's into poverty. Of course, the rank and file would be able to maintain their current obscenely low standard of living, because it is a communist regime, after all.

 

[american lockpicker]

We need protectionist laws to protect us from China.

 

[X1 Mike]

Shorter economics lesson:

If the BRIC nations ever decide to get serious about becoming a formal trading association, we are all screwed.

BRIC =

Brazil
Russia
India
China

These 4 countries all have economies that are growing by leaps and bounds. They also represent 40% of the worlds population and 25% of the land area.

Scared yet?