melting down

[bufaloeletric]

im thinking of getting into scrapping. id like to try melting down items myself. do scrapyards frown or smile when you show up with an ingot of copper that you have done yourself? whats equipment would i need? are there small smelters available?

 

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[Jason in Enid]

why waste the time and expense? A scrap yard is tossing it in the pile regardless of it's form. You are being paid by weight, not volume.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

I agree with Jason. In fact, melting it down just creates suspicion and will likely get you lower prices. How do they know that your copper ingot is not filled with some cheaper metal (zinc, etc.)? If you hand them a known quantity of some metal in a known form then you are going to get the best prices that way. Melting it down is probably fun but just creates an item of unknown composition that is harder to sell.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

By the way, this is especially true of copper. Pure copper gets the highest price. Give any indication that it might not be pure and the price plummets since they assume that it is just brass. They have to assume the worst in those cases.