A sad story and what do you use drill rod for?

Ultradog MN

Well-known Member
Location
Twin Cities
There was a small industrial supply company went out of business about 10 miles from me. A health/exercise outfit bought it out for the building. They were getting rid of all the stock. Just throwing it in the dumpster. Literally, Tons of new stock.
Pallets of welding rod/wire, hundreds of types of specialty bolts, nuts, screws, fasteners. Boxes and boxes of new bulk band saw blade. Too many items to even mention. 4 guys throwing everything into rolling bins then dumping it all into the dumpster.
It was the most depressing thing I have ever seen.
The workers were saving boxes of brass and stainless fasteners for scrap. One guy had his poor Camry loaded to the gills.
I happen to be the friend of a friend of the new owner. He called me to see if I wanted to come and see. I asked if I could have my scrapper buddy Donald come. He said sure.
Got there and was told to take whatever you want. Anything. Everything.
To see it all just wasted was too overwhelming.
You cant take it all. Not a tenth, not a hundredth of it.
I hauled half a pickup load out of there.
I brought about 400 lbs of new, unopened welding rod, 17 rolls new flux core welding wire, and a bunch of bandsaw blade straight to a small auction house near me.
Maybe get a little $ when it sells at their next auction.
Kept some for trading or to give away to friends.
Anyway, I got a lot of free stuff but overall the whole story makes me more sad than happy. In a way I wish I hadn't even gone...
But my question:
One of the things I took was this round stock. It was in a rack that said Drill Rod. Bunch of sizes. Mostly fractional. Some metric.
There was no other provenance on it.
None.
I took a bunch of it. 75 lbs?
But
I don't know what to do with it now.
Will keep a few pieces/sizes. Try turning some to see how it machines.
Maybe make go cart axles? Dunno.
I just know it is expensive.
Hate to see it made into yard art.
Worse yet, go to scrap.
Would sell most of it but with no provenance, who would buy it?
Assuming it really is drill rod what can I use it for?
Thanks for reading this.


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The waste in this country has long been a sore subject with me. Most companies would rather see it scrapped than let someone get use out of it. Seen a fixture at the scrap yard with a new 8 three jaw chuck on it, but since it came from the big factory here you can't buy it at any price. Our local waste management center (landfill) and runs articles in the paper about how they're saving the world by recycling. But you better not get caught picking up something in the iron pile or its a $100 fine. I'm sure my recycling plan (put something back to use) is more efficient than theirs.
 
I've seen the same thing too many times, Ultradog--sometimes I was able to get some stuff for my own use and others it just went for scrap, or, even worse, right into the landfill. Be warned--'drill rod' is one of those terms that can mean one thing to one person and something else to another, but most commonly it's probably going to be simple O1 steel. Good stuff, and useful for a whole raft of purposes--you can even make drills from it!--but not as strong as the more exotic alloys.
 
Drill rod is great stuff, machines easily and then hardens really well. You can make shafts and punches and chisels and just about anything you can think of. There are 2 types-oil hardening and water hardening. Make what you want and then heat it up and dunk it and it gets hard. You will have to do some research as how hot to heat it before quinching it. If I had been there I would have gotten it all. It is expensive.
 
I hear you! I often wonder how those that love recycling think those people are nuts to put money in old junk tractors when actually we are really just recycling everything. On the flip side I dont know how the manufactures feel about us recyling their old tractors. Yes the parts create and income, but not as much income as selling us a new tractor. Waste Waste Waste. Call me a penny pincher but I tryo to make things last!
 
I would love to have that drill rod. I can always find a use for round stock. You did good on that haul. And I'm like you I hate to see material like that go to the scrapers.
 
I have bought stuff from a place that buys old inventory and resells it. Has to be in good condition and resalable of course. I bought seals from them at reduced prices, new in the box. Had to Google to remember the name. Radwell. A bunch of others came up also including some that bought metal inventory.
 
That really is a sad story. Hate to see wasted supplies like that, happens way too often.

Drill rod comes in many forms. Some is already hard or can be hardened but if it's going to be heat treated be sure to keep the tag that says what alloy it is, the heat treat process is different for different alloys.

What's great about it, most is OD ground to exact size or it's a few thou big so it can be turned down to a common size. Typical cold rolled 1018 is under size and not true round.
 
Hard to make sense of why they didn't have an auctioneer sell it. This type common pratice doesn't at all alighn with what we are told about importance of conservation and re-cycling. It's mostly due to businesses being so successful they have no need to look for ways of boosting profit. The part about prefering to destroy rather than pass it on to someone else is just from deep seated human nature. Wild animals usually guard their food until they have their fill but don't hang around to fight once satisfied. I have to say wild because domesticated dogs often pick up the habit of bossing food they don't even want.
I've asked multiple plumbers to buy old water heaters and boilers. First thing they want to know is what I plan doing with them. After hearing I'll profit from repourposing them they say no then sell them to scarpyard. I've offered to estimate weight and pay what scrap yards pay but still no go. IFtheir time is worth half what they bill,they lose money hauling them to scrap yard.
When you stop to think about it,this is mild compared to morbid things humans sometimes do to one another for little or no reasons.
 


I have noticed on the news and talking to people that since this sickness thing started that help has been kind of hard to find. It could be that the new building owner or his remodeling contractor called many places to try to get the stuff moved but kept getting the same answer: "We can't get there for x months because we are so far behind". "We can't hire any help". So the new owner has a construction schedule and a date when he has to be open and start paying the mortgage. How long can he keep looking for someone to come and remove the inventory?
 
Was the prior owner deceased or in poor health? It is usually up to the seller to sell off inventory and clear out the contents of a property when it is sold.
 

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