CA-AB Source for cheap/scrap steel near Edmonton?

[studer]

Hey everyone, brand on this forum and new to metal working in general. I am trying to find where would be a good source of cheap/scrap steel in and around the Edmonton-to-Onoway areas, and surrounding. I see some items listed on FB Marketplace as well as Kijiji, but aside from that, where are some of you going for cheap angle iron or square/rectangle tubing, etc? Which scrap yards sell to the public? Maybe this isn't a thing? I'm turning an old RV trailer frame into a flat deck so I will need some metal to use as additional bracing and reinforcement.

Bonus question - where do you go to sell scrap steel? Which places will buy steel from the public and pay a decent rate?

Sorry for the stupid questions, like I said I'm brand new to the world of working with metal and making puddles so I just haven't had to look into this before. Thanks in advance!

 

[trevj]

Check General Recycling on 156St and 121A Ave.

Won't tell ya they sell to the public, but they are still there, so worth a try.

They buy also.

Know what the market rates for stock is before you load up though. Some scrappies tend towards the 'hustler' side and are none to shy about selling used oats at the price of fresh ones, if you catch my meaning...

Loads of metals suppliers in the area, many that will only deal on account, some who have frankly stupid-expensive cut fees, and some that are pretty happy to sell to anyone that walks in.

Metal Supermarkets is like the 7-11 in the biz. They have what you need, and will sell only what you need off of a bar, but their prices are also convenience store prices, so it's worth shopping around! That said, deals can sometimes be got, off their remnants and offcuts piles, I have bought a fair few pieces from various of their stores, and when you need a couple inches, say, of a known alloy, large diameter bar stock, better to be raped on the price of a few inches of it, than to be done over, for a 12 foot stick, that you then need to be able to lift, store, etc.

 

[studer]

Check General Recycling on 156St and 121A Ave.
Won't tell ya they sell to the public, but they are still there, so worth a try.
They buy also.

Thanks. Do you find these guys to give the best rates in general for bringing in scrap? Do you go to different locations based on what rates they give for steel vs aluminum? I had done some searching online and found a place called Empire Metal & Recycling on the west end outside of Henday (saves me going into the actual city). Not sure if they have any sort of reputation on here.

Do these scrap yards (General, Empire, etc) actually sell lengths of angle iron, square tubing, rectangle tubing, etc? Or is it just small couple-foot lengths of whatever that they pull out of their piles of to-be-shredded scrap?

Know what the market rates for stock is before you load up though. Some scrappies tend towards the 'hustler' side and are none to shy about selling used oats at the price of fresh ones, if you catch my meaning...

I honestly don't have the first clue about how to check on current scrap vs new steel rates. I tried searching online but got a bunch of results that contradicted each other.

Metal Supermarkets is like the 7-11 in the biz. They have what you need, and will sell only what you need off of a bar, but their prices are also convenience store prices, so it's worth shopping around!

Thanks. I have been there before, at least the west end location. As you said, the prices seem uncompetitive. But I also don't know what competitive is. I see a few guys on FB Marketplace selling steel at $1/lb. I have no idea if that's a good price or not lol. Maybe scrap yards sell for less, maybe more?

 

[trevj]

Thanks. Do you find these guys to give the best rates in general for bringing in scrap? Do you go to different locations based on what rates they give for steel vs aluminum? I had done some searching online and found a place called Empire Metal & Recycling on the west end outside of Henday (saves me going into the actual city). Not sure if they have any sort of reputation on here.

Do these scrap yards (General, Empire, etc) actually sell lengths of angle iron, square tubing, rectangle tubing, etc? Or is it just small couple-foot lengths of whatever that they pull out of their piles of to-be-shredded scrap?


I honestly don't have the first clue about how to check on current scrap vs new steel rates. I tried searching online but got a bunch of results that contradicted each other.


Thanks. I have been there before, at least the west end location. As you said, the prices seem uncompetitive. But I also don't know what competitive is. I see a few guys on FB Marketplace selling steel at $1/lb. I have no idea if that's a good price or not lol. Maybe scrap yards sell for less, maybe more?

I have not been on the Edmonton scene for some years now. You got my best guess and suggestion, and you are gonna have to do some legwork.

Eventually, you will find some suppliers that you can live with.

Have not sold scrap metal in the past 40+ years, as I either had a use for the stuff, or had friends that would take it off my hands for their own purposes...

 

[140mower]

Thanks. Do you find these guys to give the best rates in general for bringing in scrap? Do you go to different locations based on what rates they give for steel vs aluminum? I had done some searching online and found a place called Empire Metal & Recycling on the west end outside of Henday (saves me going into the actual city). Not sure if they have any sort of reputation on here.

Do these scrap yards (General, Empire, etc) actually sell lengths of angle iron, square tubing, rectangle tubing, etc? Or is it just small couple-foot lengths of whatever that they pull out of their piles of to-be-shredded scrap?


I honestly don't have the first clue about how to check on current scrap vs new steel appliances rates. I tried searching online but got a bunch of results that contradicted each other.


Thanks. I have been there before, at least the west end location. As you said, the prices seem uncompetitive. But I also don't know what competitive is. I see a few guys on FB Marketplace selling steel at $1/lb. I have no idea if that's a good price or not lol. Maybe scrap yards sell for less, maybe more?

As a hobby type, I doubt one would generate enough scrap to worry about the price paid, it's more like who's closest to save fuel and time expenses.... That is my experience so far anyway.......

 

[trevj]

As a hobby type, I doubt one would generate enough scrap to worry about the price paid, it's more like who's closest to save fuel and time expenses.... That is my experience so far anyway.......

When I was living in Moose Jaw, I found that driving and especially phoning around the various suppliers, made a huge difference. 40 minute or so drive to Regina, about ten bucks round trip back then. MUCH cheaper to take the road trip, and add another stop to the inevitable list of places you needed to go, than to pay for freight and handling, or Postage...

Some of the suppliers were not interested in cash sales, wanted Account Only customers. Some had stupid high prices per cut, on top...

And, I found a supplier that wanted about a third of what the next lowest priced one wanted for the stick of alloy steel I wanted, and asked me if I needed it cut up to any particular length at no charge... Shop around!

 

[140mower]

When I was living in Moose Jaw, I found that driving and especially phoning around the various suppliers, made a huge difference. 40 minute or so drive to Regina, about ten bucks round trip back then. MUCH cheaper to take the road trip, and add another stop to the inevitable list of places you needed to go, than to pay for freight and handling, or Postage...

Some of the suppliers were not interested in cash sales, wanted Account Only customers. Some had stupid high prices per cut, on top...

And, I found a supplier that wanted about a third of what the next lowest priced one wanted for the stick of alloy steel I wanted, and asked me if I needed it cut up to any particular length at no charge... Shop around!

I was more thinking about the selling versus the buying..... Through various connections, I rarely buy stock, but that does confine me to working with what I have on hand, and some projects get to wait.
I still don't think many hobbiests are going to generate enough scrap to travel far with it....

 

[combustable herbage]

I recently took in mine probably around a years worth, 6lbs of al at 0.15/lb for $0.90 shreddable steel 30 lbs at .075/lb for $2.24 and 20 lbs of cast rotors and drums at 0.14/lb for $2.79 for a juicy $5.95 half coming from rotors and half from swarf. I wish I would have had time to head over to metal supermarket and find out what a kings ransom like that would get me out of the cut off bins perhaps a sliver of aluminum I could machine into a nice coaster.

 

[trevj]

I was more thinking about the selling versus the buying..... Through various connections, I rarely buy stock, but that does confine me to working with what I have on hand, and some projects get to wait.
I still don't think many hobbiests are going to generate enough scrap to travel far with it....

My last 12 years working were in some pretty easy pickings for scrounging up stuff that either I, or my friends could use, so I gave away a PILE of small pieces of aluminum, plexiglass, and pretty much every other 'hobby' supplies raw material you can think of.

And before that, the scrap yards had not all been sucked in to the vortex of Legal Liabilities worries, so there were still a few decent places that you could walk around and cherry pick goodies from, like the one place I found on the South Shore of Montreal, that had some pretty good stocks of aircraft aluminum and known alloy steels!

 

[studer]

I recently took in mine probably around a years worth, 6lbs of al at 0.15/lb for $0.90 shreddable steel 30 lbs at .075/lb for $2.24 and 20 lbs of cast rotors and drums at 0.14/lb for $2.79 for a juicy $5.95 half coming from rotors and half from swarf. I wish I would have had time to head over to metal supermarket and find out what a kings ransom like that would get me out of the cut off bins perhaps a sliver of aluminum I could machine into a nice coaster.

Haha well I hope to have more than that. I have an entire 26ft RV worth of aluminum - siding, roof, etc. I have a few old exhaust systems, some fenders, most of a Honda Accord, a few cats, some old rusted steel framing that came with this place when we bought it, some other stuff I'm forgetting. Also a bunch of old wiring that I should get rid of. I need to find a super cheap truck box trailer or something to start using as a metal bin so that I don't always have my actual utility trailer full of scrap lol

 

[studer]

As a hobby type, I doubt one would generate enough scrap to worry about the price paid, it's more like who's closest to save fuel and time expenses.... That is my experience so far anyway.......

This is true to a point, but I am a bit over an hour from a major city so everything is a drive. Most of the industrial action is 1.5 hours away, where I think most of the scrap yards are. So an extra 10-15 minutes drive to get to the right place seems negligible if I have a trailer full of scrap?

 

[140mower]

This is true to a point, but I am a bit over an hour from a major city so everything is a drive. Most of the industrial action is 1.5 hours away, where I think most of the scrap yards are. So an extra 10-15 minutes drive to get to the right place seems negligible if I have a trailer full of scrap?

I am more than 2 hours from a scrap dealer. My last load had four dead lathes, two engines, ( 1 v8, 1 straight 6) a 5 spd transmission, and a pile of other stuff, the single axle dump truck was full, and it barely covered fuel. Might have worked differently if everything was sorted and in different loads, but who has that kind of time? I can't remember exactly, but it was a little under $200. However, had I taken it to the dump, they would have charged me close to the same, so, if I look at it that way, I got almost $400, but you really need to do Trump math to get those numbers....

 

[Susquatch]

but you really need to do Trump math to get those numbers....

There are several ways to look at this. The scrap value is good for crap. I am only 8 minutes from the nearest scrap yard. I bring them my swarf but they really don't even want it even though I sort it separately.

I do it but only for one reason. It's the responsible thing to do. If I had to drive an hour, it prolly wouldn't happen.

 

[Ironman]

I am more than 2 hours from a scrap dealer. My last load had four dead lathes, two engines, ( 1 v8, 1 straight 6) a 5 spd transmission, and a pile of other stuff, the single axle dump truck was full, and it barely covered fuel. Might have worked differently if everything was sorted and in different loads, but who has that kind of time? I can't remember exactly, but it was a little under $200. However, had I taken it to the dump, they would have charged me close to the same, so, if I look at it that way, I got almost $400, but you really need to do Trump math to get those numbers....

The problem there is BC. Which is why all rural property I drive by is full of old cars and farm scrap.
I don't know why, but dealers there pay much less for scrap than any other place. I remember cleaning up my dad's place near Penticton and out of 4- 30 ft trailer loads with a total of 25 cars, and a dump bin so loaded with steel that they had to hire a second forklift to help unload it, I netted $950 after fuel. There is a local steel smelter in Penticton, they can't claim freight costs, and the carbon tax was only a gleam in a Liberals eye at the time.
The same loads in Alberta would have netted me 3900 at the time, I took the scale stubs in to Blackfoot Metals to check.

 

[Ironman]

One common mistake that kills a lot of small people taking in scrap is not understanding the industry and pricing. It is not all about weight. You can have a tractor trailer load of #1 select steel worth $360/ton, and throw on a frig and cloths dryer. Your load just went to $28/ton. White goods are the kiss of death.
Not separating Cast from steel, downgrades the load to steel price. One piece of steel over 5 ft in a load of #1 knock the whole load down to oversize price.

And always phone ahead, describe your load, and get your price quote.

 

[140mower]

One common mistake that kills a lot of small people taking in scrap is not understanding the industry and pricing. It is not all about weight. You can have a tractor trailer load of #1 select steel worth $360/ton, and throw on a frig and cloths dryer. Your load just went to $28/ton. White goods are the kiss of death.
Not separating Cast from steel, downgrades the load to steel price. One piece of steel over 5 ft in a load of #1 knock the whole load down to oversize price.

And always phone ahead, describe your load, and get your price quote.

Agreed completely, but once in a while a deep cleanse is necessary and by doing the fancy math, it was worth doing it on a day I was doing nothing else. In my mind, selling scrap to fuel this hobby is much like an earlier plan I had of drinking all the beer I wanted and retiring on the cans...... You should have seen the smile on my face when they doubled in value to 10 cents......

 

[MigSizzle]

Just stumbled across this thread. I’ve bought material from General Scrap before but only plate and bar, they won’t let you pick through the pile.

Did anyone else find a good place?

 

[Ironman]

I think you have to have a bit of a relationship with the crew or yard boss. I bought a reel with 800ft of #1 Teck 90 armored cable for 1100 bucks off them, but I was hauling in loads all the time then. I have bought 30" steel pipe from the General Scrap yard by the Imperial refinery, but I don't know whether they do that today.