That old anvil at the scrapyard near my place...

I was at the Midvale scrapyard last Tuesday picking up some scrap steel and noticed a big Peter Wright anvil sitting right out in the open. Someone must have dropped it off the week before, because it was already starting to rust on the face. I grabbed it for $40 and saved it, but it got me thinking... how many good tools end up melted down because folks don't know what they're looking at? Has anyone else found a gem like that at a scrapyard before it got tossed?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.paul18d ago

That line about tools getting melted down because people don't know what they're looking at really hits home. I swear half the good steel that ends up at scrapyards could be saved if folks just took a second to look past the rust. Did you grab that anvil before they could weigh it in for scrap?

skylerrobinson18d ago

Funny you ask, I actually talked them into letting me pull it out of the pile before it hit the scale. Told the guy it was gonna be a boat anchor, which was barely a lie since I did use it for a while to hold down a tarp. Paid scrap price for it, maybe 40 bucks, and after a wire wheel and some oil it turned out to be a Fisher. That thing is still in my shop to this day, best impulse buy I ever made. The key is to look friendly and clueless so they don't jack up the price on you. Works almost every time if you catch them on a slow day.

terryk1015d ago

Did you ever find any other hidden gems doing that scrap pile trick?