Good Day at the Scrap Yard

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I went top the scrap yard today. It is a big kids paradise there.
I brought home 275 pounds of 312 stainless pipe and stuff. I am making a 30" gas oven, a vertical damascus forge, a 40" salt pot and a 16" salt pot. The shells are 12" for the forges and 10" for the salt pots. The muffle in the oven is Schedule 80,4" tube. The salt pots are Schedule 120,3.5" pipe (Look at the picture with my hand on the end of the pipe to see how thick that is !).
I also picked up a nice 10-15 gallon stainless tank with a tight fitting lid. It has handles and a drain cock.
Here are some photos of the steel and some more I already had for this project. Everything on these forges will be 312 stainless, even the burner manifold and exhaust manifold.

 

[fitzo]

Nice haul. I'm jealous...they won't let us in scrap yards around here, copping the "insurance liability" plea.

That looks like an old 35L SS "bucket" out of our chem pilot plant, lid and all!! Gotta wonder what it's seen, eh?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

From the odor inside the bucket, I would guess that its last use was boiling crabs. Can't miss the scent of Old Bay Seasoning.
Stacy

BTW, It turns out that the owner of the yard is an old chum of mine. He and I were Scout Leaders together for years. I plan on keeping this friendship active. I saw a slice from an I-beam thicker than I ever saw. The cut was about 24" long,16" wide and 16" tall. The top and bottom were about 2" thick and the web was 3" thick. It says "ANVIL" so loud you can hear it. The yard man said he thinks it is about 600 pounds, and said it was some sort of high grade steel,not just A36. He said you could hard surface it and have one dandy anvil. All for 30 cents a pound (non stainless scrap). Stainless is up to $2/lb. due to the scarp market being so high. That is still pennies on the dollar for some of the things you can find there. The owner said he will give me a different rate that the regular $2. I might have to go back soon.
Stacy

 

[Shoki]

That's freaking cool. I love diggin' around in scrapyards and dumps. I once found a giger counter and a couple bits for a bridgeport in the trunk of a car at the local junkyard. Unfortunately, counter had gotten wet and didn't work but worked well as a coffee-table peice for a while!

 

[J.Marsillo]

The title of this thread warms my heart a little
Nice score on the stainless Stacy :thumbup:

I have the displeasure of bringing my oldsmobile to the scrapyard maybe they take trades,a pile of tool steel and stainless for a heap of $hit

 

[Greg Obach]

wooof

i picked up some 4inch by foot long hex's at the scrap... all high carb.. and i thought i was doing good... ... thinking of making some stump anvils myself

man.. that stainless is a sweet find...

a couple years back there was some stainless beer kegs in the scrap yard... that woulda made a sweet forge... all scooped by the time i got there... darn

love the scrap yard

G