Ryedale Owners!

[Silversound]

I've been seriously considering a Ryedale myself lately - My main motivation is to simply save time, though in terms of the investment itself it doesn't seem to be very cost effective in terms of ROI. However, if the price of copper continues to rise and a larger market materializes for the pennies I may be proven wrong. Any thoughts on this from Ryedale owners? What was your motivation for purchasing?

George

 

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[Cherryman68]

Well I look at it like this.

Shake n bake has found 20,000 wheats alone this year. Not counting the indians key dates and other valuables. .04 a wheat adds up quick and has more than paid for that machine.

In less than a year....

 

[detect4au]

Andy has a new lower cost machine out at $100. I just got mine on Saturday. I don't have plans for the large volume, but a box or two a week. I have run 4 boxes now and it is so much easier than looking at the dates and works really well. It has to be fed one at a time by hand, but a box can be run pretty quick. My kids love to put the cents through it also. If I find that my percentages are good in where I live and copper really goes up, then I will consider getting one of the bigger machines. I can get a picture of my sorter and post it tomorrow.
Cheers,
detect4au

 

[placerman]

IMO if you are into this as anything other than solely as a hobby you need a Ryedale or equivalent machine.

I too resisted getting one. I thought 500 dollars for the entry level machine was wildly expensive and I just had to spend a lot of time thinking to really understand why it was financially worth it to get one.

I think first off here we are talking about PENNIES. It takes a lot of pennies to amount to anything and you really have to go through A LOT of coins to make it start to count.

With that said, a Ryedale will pay for itself after around 12-13 hours of use....

I can tell you its a beautiful sight to see all those sorted copper pennies in the bucket.

I wouldn't wait until copper gets much higher before starting. I would suspect that after copper reaches 4 dollars a pound that Andy will be swamped with orders and there will be a waiting list for his machines.


A few OPINIONS on the Ryedales...


As far as Ryedale machines go, I have had mine for around 3 weeks now and it works almost perfectly.

Pennies are notoriously dirty and the Ryedale seems to jam because of a particularly filthy penny sometimes.

Also I find it runs a little better if I load it slower, as opposed to filling the hopper full.

Cleaning the jams out is not hard at all once you figure it out. Andy recommended some silicon lube once every 100k to make it run better and I will try that soon.

Andy is a super nice guy and he treated this customer very well. I wholeheartedly recommend his company and machines.

 

[jrf30]

My Ryedale paid for itself in about 3 weeks. Totally. My metal detectors took about a 18 months to pay for themselves if i was lucky. NO comparison.

:-)

 

[nyiangelo]

My Ryedale paid for itself in about 3 weeks. Totally. My metal detectors took about a 18 months to pay for themselves if i was lucky. NO comparison.

:-)

Are you saying you had cash in hand in 3 weeks? Or had found that much in copper but haven't sold? The thing that worries me about it is finding a market. Which I guess would be the same with the silver market. But since there is still a ban to melt pennies I would think that would make the market pretty small and not very competitive. How have some of your sales been in the past? Even now?

 

[AGCoinHunter]

Andy has a new lower cost machine out at $100. I just got mine on Saturday. I don't have plans for the large volume, but a box or two a week. I have run 4 boxes now and it is so much easier than looking at the dates and works really well. It has to be fed one at a time by hand, but a box can be run pretty quick. My kids love to put the cents through it also. If I find that my percentages are good in where I live and copper really goes up, then I will consider getting one of the bigger machines. I can get a picture of my sorter and post it tomorrow.
Cheers,
detect4au

Where is the $100 machine? I looked on his page and didnt see one in that price range? I have contemplated getting one of these just because of my disdain for sorting pennies.

 

[LemonThrower]

its an effective machine but you have to go big or go home.

when copper was over 3 bucks a year ago guys on realcent were netting 1.6 cents for coppers. metal content was about 2.2 cents. today you can get 1.4 cents if you are lucky, but that will change.

check out the percentages in your area. i'm in probably the worst area of the country - 15% to 16% copper only. most people are closer to 25%.

you have to be prepared to invest a lot of time using it, getting coins, making dumps, etc. but if you are willing to invest 5-10 hours a week and some upfront time for legwork then yeah it makes a lot of sense.

its only a matter of time before the penny is discontinued and coppers will sell for 4 cents. i figure in about 5 years or less.

 

[nyiangelo]

Yeah but what is the market like till the ban is lifted? I curious how many people are selling right now compared to people stockpiling.

 

[Shake-N-Bake]

I will say this... I would not be doing what I am doing without a Ryedale. I am getting a second machine after the first of the year. I would say if you sort any more than 10 boxes a week you need a ryedale. I am selling my coppers right now for 1.4 cents each, it is cheap compared to the melt but I am selling about 50,000 cents a week which is about $200 a week(25 to 30 hours worth of work). Again that is not counting wheats, indian heads, and key dates. BUT you need to know that most wheat pennies are tossed to the zinc side and not the copper side, so it is not a fill the machine and go do something else while it is running. You need to watch the zinc chute for any wheats that get kicked, then hand sort the copper for the wheats that are in the which will be all the 40's and 50's.

Bottom line I would not give up my RYEDALE, EVER!!!!!

Jason

 

[TxTim]

The Ryedale is the most reliable, hard working little machine you will ever own.
It is also fun to the point of addiction.
Copper piles up so fast that I swear it is breeding.
Andy is the best customer service oriented person you could ask for.
If for some reason you don't want it, it retains it's value: 90% + and I doubt you will come across many, if any used.

You can't go wrong.

 

[jrf30]

My Ryedale paid for itself in about 3 weeks. Totally. My metal detectors took about a 18 months to pay for themselves if i was lucky. NO comparison.

:-)

Are you saying you had cash in hand in 3 weeks? Or had found that much in copper but haven't sold? The thing that worries me about it is finding a market. Which I guess would be the same with the silver market. But since there is still a ban to melt pennies I would think that would make the market pretty small and not very competitive. How have some of your sales been in the past? Even now?

I had enough profit saved up in about 3 weeks to pay for it. Just from profit. Did I sell in 3 weeks? No, I waited a few months. Then I sold $50 bags of copper pennies for about $130 average on Ebay. Not bad! That's 2.6 cents per penny. Recently I have seen other bags of $50 selling for about $80, but I"m hoarding at these levels. I could sell and take the profit NOW, so it is not "there is not a market for it though at this time". It's just that I have the room so I'll wait until we hit about $100 a bag again. Or, if I run out of storage room before that time, I'd sell for $80 now too. I sorta hoard then sell then hoard then sell. When I get too much to keep I sell some off. Or if prices are up, like last year, I sold every time I had enough to sell (every two or three days).

And as Jason said, that does not include the wheats or the indians. I have a few wheats that are $9 wheats or $4 wheats, and LOTS of $0.25 wheats. I have sold NONE of those. But that doesn't mean that the Ryedlae didn't give me that in profit. I"m just holding them. But yes, I've sold pennies, even with the ban on melting. I don' tmelt. I only sell to others on ebay. Jason is selling for 1.4 cents per penny now, in BULK. He making about $10 per hour, but before the wheats and indians and all wihtout taxes (i assume) I'm not that agressive. I'll hold and wait until I can get about 2.0 cents again. And anything above 2.5 cents is HIGH in my opinion, which is why I sold OUT last year at 2.6 cents per penny.

As you have seen from other posts, no one that owns one says bad things about it. It is an awesome and WORTHWHILE machine. :-)

John

 

[nyiangelo]

Oh ok. I've just been curious about them. When I wonder over to ebay to look at copper cents I didn't see alot of action. But I agree with you in not hearing people complain about them. Halves take up enough time already, so I doubt I'll hop on that train. thanks

 

[silvercop]

i enjoy my ryedale. the only thing is the jams. alot has to do with the pennies though. if they are dirty, or been in somones cup holder with sticky syrup on them or stuck together it will jam the machine every time. i have a little over 1000.00 dollars in copper pennies in my closet waiting on the copper price to rise.....another thought, i paid more for my md and i use it much less.

 

[AGCoinHunter]

I will say this... I would not be doing what I am doing without a Ryedale. I am getting a second machine after the first of the year. I would say if you sort any more than 10 boxes a week you need a ryedale. I am selling my coppers right now for 1.4 cents each, it is cheap compared to the melt but I am selling about 50,000 cents a week which is about $200 a week(25 to 30 hours worth of work). Again that is not counting wheats, indian heads, and key dates. BUT you need to know that most wheat pennies are tossed to the zinc side and not the copper side, so it is not a fill the machine and go do something else while it is running. You need to watch the zinc chute for any wheats that get kicked, then hand sort the copper for the wheats that are in the which will be all the 40's and 50's.

Bottom line I would not give up my RYEDALE, EVER!!!!!

Jason

So there is a difference between early wheats and 40's and 50's? Does this thing sort by weight or composition? Anyone understand the inner workings of this machine?

 

[Rich Hartford]

Shake,

Everytime I read one of your Rydale finds I'm tempted to get one. I can't do anything half assed so I'd be loading up that machine like a madman.
Your finds are spectacular ! The only thing that's holding me back is TIME.
HH

Rich

 

[Shake-N-Bake]

I will say this... I would not be doing what I am doing without a Ryedale. I am getting a second machine after the first of the year. I would say if you sort any more than 10 boxes a week you need a ryedale. I am selling my coppers right now for 1.4 cents each, it is cheap compared to the melt but I am selling about 50,000 cents a week which is about $200 a week(25 to 30 hours worth of work). Again that is not counting wheats, indian heads, and key dates. BUT you need to know that most wheat pennies are tossed to the zinc side and not the copper side, so it is not a fill the machine and go do something else while it is running. You need to watch the zinc chute for any wheats that get kicked, then hand sort the copper for the wheats that are in the which will be all the 40's and 50's.

Bottom line I would not give up my RYEDALE, EVER!!!!!

Jason

So there is a difference between early wheats and 40's and 50's? Does this thing sort by weight or composition? Anyone understand the inner workings of this machine?

The machine actually works by matching the electro-matic field of the penny. You need to place a copper penny in the validator of the machine. For some reason I have had the best luck with a 1970 BU penny. As for the wheats, yes there is different compition, they have changed through-out the years. For example 1909-1942 is a bronze alloy, 1943 is zinc coated steel, 1944-1946 is shell case brass, 1947-1958 is a bronze alloy. They call the pennies copper because that is the largest percent of metal in the coin.

Hope this helps.

And to second TxTim and JRF30 I have never heard anyone saying they will get rid of their Ryedale becuase they dont like it. Keep it clean and use a lot of Dri-slide and fill it with lots of pennies and wach it go... And yes Andy (the inventor) is an awesome guy to deal with.

Good Luck,
Jason

 

[LemonThrower]

pre-1940 pennies are a lot more rare and accordingly fetch more money.

in terms of finding coins, there are some different search strategies.

basically, you put a copper penny in the machine and it compares each coin to your sample. if its a match it goes down one slot, if its not a match (e.g. zinc) it goes to another slot.

so in the copper pile you also have most of the wheats.

older wheats and indians have a sufficiently different metalic signature that they get rejected into the zinc pile.

now, you can adjust the machine and use different techniques etc. but most people just let the few good ones go into the zinc pile and do a quick scan before returning to the bank, and do a shake sort of the coppers for wheats. that is the fastest way to go. of course, the numismatists my do a second sort of the zinc pile to accept zinc and sort anything that is not zinc, like an indian.

if you do bagged pennies instead of boxes, you'll also get a good number of dimes in the zinc pile.

 

[AGCoinHunter]

Just put in an order with Ryedale for their newest product. detect4au alerted me about it and I emailed Andy this morning. $109 for the "Accomplice". I think this will fit my sorting volume nicely. Never really was interested in pennies but I am going to give it a shot for a while. Have started to like the indian heads as of late and going to try my hand at pennies along with all my other side projects...

 

[Shake-N-Bake]

Just put in an order with Ryedale for their newest product. detect4au alerted me about it and I emailed Andy this morning. $109 for the "Accomplice". I think this will fit my sorting volume nicely. Never really was interested in pennies but I am going to give it a shot for a while. Have started to like the indian heads as of late and going to try my hand at pennies along with all my other side projects...

You will soon be ordering a $400 machine. A ryedale is a disease that you just cant fight it. You will have new enjoyment out of searching. It completely rejuvenated me when I got my Ryedale.

Good Luck and welcome to the ever growing Ryedale club.

Jason