Ryan McFarland

I decided a few days ago that on Sunday i would go to the landfill and pay $5 to do some salvaging.  I had to go to the pool a few times to let a plumber in to work on the boiler and then see the results of his inspection.  After doing that i headed to the dump.  One of the first things that i saw was this bicycle.

I’m not sure why someone cut two bike frames and then duct taped them together.  You would think that if they had the tools to cut steel and aluminum that they also could have drilled through and bolted the pieces together.  I ignored the bike until a while later when i decided to collect all the aluminum that i could find to try and make my $5 back.  I got $.40 a pound for aluminum when i went to Juneau and sold scrap.  If i could find 12 and a half pounds of aluminum i could call the trip a wash.  Here is most of the scrap that i came up with.

I didn’t want to work too hard for the scrap.  Another guy was there cutting cords and pulling aluminum wheels off of scrap vehicles so i pulled the things that take a bit of work with a relatively low payoff.  For instance, there are 6 bicycle rims there.  I brought a pair of bolt cutters and snipped the spokes where they cross (so i have to make half as many cuts as there are spokes).  I had to remove some tires too.  That’s quite a bit of work for perhaps a pound of metal (I have not weighed any so i don’t know how much to expect.

The bicycle frame is also aluminum but the fork and the crankset have to be removed.  Some of the brake parts will also be scrapped.  You can see the rear triangle of a GT bike frame that i pulled from the duct taped bike.  The straight pieces were from a window frame.  The most weight comes from the other big pieces - cast aluminum from a chop saw.  They require some cleaning too.

I came across two Razor scooters and chucked them in the back of my car.  Turns out that the front “fork” on both of them was bent so i ended up taking them apart for the aluminum.  The deck, upright pipe and handlebars were fairly easy to remove from the steel hingebetween the deck and upright.

I got a bit of assorted stuff like the the shovel.  I have found useable tools almost every trip i have ever made to the dump.  I don’t have any of this type of shovel so it will be nice to have it as an option.  A commercial door closer - no idea what i’ll use that for… yet.  The metal Christmas tree bowl is holding some parts for a garage door.  I might need those when i enclose our carport.  The “0″ “REG” and “1″ things are spiral bound and flip to use for showing the price of things on display.  They are made of plastic so shouldn’t have even been in the metal pile.  The tin box says Dremel on it but i’ll find something else to store in it since i like my Dremel case.  I found four brand new “Property of the United States” metal signs.  Three of them say “All persons are prohibited under penalty of the Law from committing damage.” And one sign says “All persons are prohibited under penalty of the Law from committing trespass.”  Also in the picture are two wheels i pulled from another scooter.

The first thing i loaded in the car were these metal signs that i pulled off of an old cigarette dispensing rack for Old Gold regular and king size.  I didn’t bring drill bits with me so i couldn’t remove the one rivet holding the “Don’t run short… buy a carton” piece off so i used my bolt cutters to trim away as much of the display as possible.  The “Remember… courtesy is our policy!” was on the back side that would have faced the employee.  On either side were the smaller ads for Kent cigarettes.

I also picked up a chair.  I cut the arms off of it on the spot with my new cordless reciprocating saw.  I’ll reupholster it somehow and it will end up either deck furniture, an office chair or the aluminum base will fetch a few dollars.

One last thing that i picked up - a display rack for Astroturf door mats.  It’s on casters so i’ll definitely be keeping the base because i love to be able to roll things around.  Right now i’m using it to store my collection of aluminum scrap.

This was also in the metal pile - a giant sheet of sponge.  The deck boards are 2×6s.  Ollie liked lying on it.

Selling scrap metal in Juneau

Originally uploaded by zieak

Right off the ferry in Juneau we stopped by Auke Bay Cans where they bought the scrap copper and aluminum I brought. We had to sort my pipe and wire but otherwise just dumped the boxes into plastic garbage cans and weighed them. She cut me a check for just over $77. Less than a half hour from when we drove off the ferry we were pulling out of their driveway.

Checked bags full of copper

Originally uploaded by zieak

Yesterday afternoon Kevin and I stripped wire and piled up the copper and brass that i’ve been collecting. We loaded two bags using the bathroom scale to make sure we didn’t have over 50 pounds in either. You can check two bags and carry on one and Kevin packed everything he brought in a carry-on.

We checked him in for the flight and one bag weighed 47 pounds and the other 38. The TSA employyes grabbed them off the scale and when the woman opened the first for inspection I saw her reach in and heard the copper pipes rattle. She looked over her shoulder with a very confused look and said “you guys!” I laughed out loud. She asked if we were making a still and I laughed some more. Then I told her it’s worth up to $3 per pound and she looked at the bag and said we had 47 pounds worth.

it was a great idea to haul that back… Thanks Kevin!