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The Holy Grail

C

coyotejake

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
93
Location
Washington state
Yesterday, on 2/13/14, I discovered the Holy Grail of garage guys, shop guys, project guys, tool guys, and machinists everywhere. I found... A SOURCE! There is a guy, about two miles from me, no less, who is the perfect guy in the perfect occupation for any of us to know. He runs a recycling center, and he has THAT mentality, to hate to see useful things getting thrown away. I responded to a CL add he had for a couple cheap vises (I bought a 5" Great Neck in solid condition for $25). It took two minutes to buy a vise, then it took two and a half hours to walk through the yard and shop with him while he showed me all the stuff that he couldn't bear to send off for scrap (which IS how he makes his money, by the way). Solid bars and rounds of matl. for machining projects, power tools that still work, boxes of casters, (sweeet) old riding mowers, a big pile of square tubing, stacks of old hand tool heads (which reminds me, go get the old RR hammer head for $5). I could go on and on! We ended up at the weigh in station, with the last load he had brought in that day still on the scale. He dug thru it with me, and we talked about a 6' rack with a big pile of old metal hanging bins that went with it ($25, by the way). Seriously, this guy just moved to the top of my X-Mas card list (remind me to start a X-Mas card list). Prices were just pulled of the top of his head, spur of the moment. No gouging, no 'trying to make his fortune' off the potential value of everything he has, just an honest guy who hates to see cool old stuff get scrapped when it still has value. Yesterday was the brightest winter day I've ever experienced.
 
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Mooniac

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Messages
113
Location
Wichita, KS
That is great! If I had that nearby I'm sure I'd be stopping by weekly to see what kind of treasure arrived.

A couple years ago I scrapped some true ****, and saw an engine inlet from a small business jet engine lying on a pile of scrap. I tried to buy it for re-purposing as a wall clock or something else cool, but they refused to sell it to me, saying that they had an agreement with the manufacturer that all received items must be destroyed. :( What a waste. I understand their fear that someone might try to sell it as an airworthy aircraft part, but in this case I asked if we could drill holes in it, or cut the mounting interfaces, etc, but no dice.
 
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C

coyotejake

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
93
Location
Washington state
Alright, alright, I give. Greater Wenatchee Recycling of (East) Wenatchee, Wa.
Right next to the airport, for those of you close enough to visit and check it out. I did ask him if there was anything he needed, by the way. His answer? A solid platinum ingot. Yeah, we are going to get along just fine. I'm going back today to pick up an old rail road spike hammer head (for $5), and I've GOT to take a closer look at an old Ford lawn tractor he's got. Hopefully he's got that rack of hanging trays off the scale. Yeah, I'm on a slippery slope, but I think I'm just gonna learn to ski!
 
U

uniballer

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
2,567
Location
bedford, va
coyotejake said:
Yesterday, on 2/13/14, I discovered the Holy Grail of garage guys, shop guys, project guys, tool guys, and machinists everywhere. I found... A SOURCE! There is a guy, about two miles from me, no less, who is the perfect guy in the perfect occupation for any of us to know. He runs a recycling center, and he has THAT mentality, to hate to see useful things getting thrown away. I responded to a CL add he had for a couple cheap vises (I bought a 5" Great Neck in solid condition for $25). It took two minutes to buy a vise, then it took two and a half hours to walk through the yard and shop with him while he showed me all the stuff that he couldn't bear to send off for scrap (which IS how he makes his money, by the way). Solid bars and rounds of matl. for machining projects, power tools that still work, boxes of casters, (sweeet) old riding mowers, a big pile of square tubing, stacks of old hand tool heads (which reminds me, go get the old RR hammer head for $5). I could go on and on! We ended up at the weigh in station, with the last load he had brought in that day still on the scale. He dug thru it with me, and we talked about a 6' rack with a big pile of old metal hanging bins that went with it ($25, by the way). Seriously, this guy just moved to the top of my X-Mas card list (remind me to start a X-Mas card list). Prices were just pulled of the top of his head, spur of the moment. No gouging, no 'trying to make his fortune' off the potential value of everything he has, just an honest guy who hates to see cool old stuff get scrapped when it still has value. Yesterday was the brightest winter day I've ever experienced.
Click to expand...

Take me to the promise land!:beer:
 
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teal95

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2013
Messages
584
Location
Grass Lake, MI
There is a JY by my parents that's like that. I was in Boy Scouts with the owner's sons (most of whom work there) so I've known them forever. I always try to get a price from the owner when no one else is around. I've noticed the prices I get are about half what he charges everyone else. His sons typically will charge me more than their Dad but it's still cheaper than they charge most people. They also do a fair amount of scrapping if I need metal. I miss JY trips this time of year.

steve
 
Z

Zeke

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
17,176
Location
Long Beach CA, the sewer by the sea.
You may think that he doesn't want to just scrap his pile but that's his investment account and it's paying him interest.

There are half a dozen guys that wizz down my alley all week long picking up metal. I can lay out something and it's gone in hours if not minutes. I check out their load as they go by and I've seen some really good stuff. Once I chased one but he got away. He had shelving. I couldn't get in my truck fast enough to see which way he turned.
 
R

Richard Cranium

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
18,552
Location
central Washington
Jake, being you are in the Wenatchee area I hope that you got a lift or two from the tire shop up there that closed or are closing, I see adds almost daily in the Yakima Craigs list about a tire shop closing and selling out. I used to travel for the organization that I work for and used to spend every other week there in the Wenatchee valley. Now I just call R.C. delivery and them take care of that and the rest of my account clear up to the border.
I understand that my favorite fish place has closed? "Harts"....Richie
 
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C

coyotejake

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
93
Location
Washington state
Nice to meet you, Richard. Yes, unfortunately, Hart's has closed. I've no room for a lift, so I don't keep up with the tire shops. Anyway, here's a pic of what I've picked up 'so far'. The 5" Great Neck vise with a cool looking deep blue wrinkle finish, and the $5 rail road hammer head that I went back for this morning. I also bought one of his road signs (for another $5). No pic yet, but Richard you'll recognize it, Sunset Hwy 28. I brought the camera with me, but he looked slammed, so I didn't want to get in his way by taking pics, but I'll try back later. Took another look at the Ford tractor ($150), but behind that is an old school Craftsman rider with the open sided front, and what looks like an alternator being belt driven off the engine. He said he wants to research it first before giving me a price. No problem, that'll give me time to wash the drool out of my shirt. Yeah, I might be in big trouble here. I should probably start taking up a donation.
 

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C

coyotejake

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
93
Location
Washington state
Zeke said:
You may think that he doesn't want to just scrap his pile but that's his investment account and it's paying him interest.

There are half a dozen guys that wizz down my alley all week long picking up metal. I can lay out something and it's gone in hours if not minutes. I check out their load as they go by and I've seen some really good stuff. Once I chased one but he got away. He had shelving. I couldn't get in my truck fast enough to see which way he turned.
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying, and you are probably right, but two and a half hours of talking to this guy tells me he's 'one of us'. You could hear it in his voice as he talked about all his stuff. He even admitted to not having a clue what a number of things are, just that they looked like they might well be of value to someone. I had to suppress laughing at how excited he got, talking about all the 'junk' that he sees people bring in. If I was younger, I'd seriously ask him if I could hire on part time just to be closer to the pickin's.
 
W

wrench409

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
2,559
Location
Over here....
I'd bet there's likely a scrapper like that in a lot of communities. Ask questions when you sell scrap metal, not of just the dealer, but the guy's there selling their scrap. You never know unless you ask.

:beer:
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Big Bad Dad

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Jan 31, 2010
Messages
2,665
Location
Southwest/ Central Va.
We USED to have a local yard like that. The City decided the whole area needed "renovation". Now it is gone, and the lot is empty waiting on tax dollar funded renovation....:dunno:
 
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