Score!

[Crusty]

I saw a Craigslist ad for a pile of steel cheap and I made a deal with the guy to buy all that I cared to load for $100. I loaded until I couldn't load any more. I got lots of plate between 1/8" and 1&1/8" thick in some pretty large chunks, strap, bar, standard and heavy wall square tubing, large diameter heavy round tubing, truck coil springs and other stuff I'm forgetting now. I don't know how much it weighs (feels like a ton to me now) but my 5/8T pickup's tires are squatted low and it was mushy driving back home. That bottom piece is a full 4x8 sheet of 5/32".

And he told me to come back if I decided that I wanted more for what I've already paid.



That plate under the square tubing is 1'x5'x1/2" and I'm thinking it might be a good platen for building a metal shaper. I've already got I-beam to use for the frame and heavy square tubing for the ram.



Now I can build more things so that I can build more things and first I'll build a fixture to turn my portaband into a chop saw plus vertical bandsaw.

[Frank S]

Hey Crusty have you been taking notes on some of the ways I acquire things LOL
That is a great score get the truck empty and return quick.

[Crusty]

I thought it was a great score too - that much steel from a scrap yard would have cost at least $400. I learned scrounging from my father but I don't have the resources to take it to your level. It'll be some time before I can unload it because of the pain from loading it so the thought of a second load hasn't even crossed my mind.

ETA: Been thinking recently about going back for more and if I knew there was more angle and tube left I would have already gone back but there's not. When I was loading I was carrying a 100# plate and I stumbled on a rock and the momentum of that heavy plate carried me on down. I landed on my right ribs and the plate landed on my left ribs. The pain in my ribs caused my back muscles to knot in spasms which pulled my vertebrae out of alignment, and the resulting pain all the way from my right ribs around my back to my left ribs meant that I had to use an overhead cabinet to pull myself up out of bed which in turn made my pec muscles too sore to use in a couple of days and the transformation to a painful upper torso was complete. After a week though the pain is easing and I might be up for loading more steel now. I've also been looking at pickup bed mounted hoists and will likely buy one when the next check comes in. Unloading the first load was easier than I expected though. Since I put a 4x8 sheet of 1/8" on the bottom I was able to put a strap on that sheet and anchored it, then eased forward with my pickup and the entire load came out at the same time, to be stored later piecemeal using a heavy dolly.