One person’s scrap is another person’s art. Mondays and Tuesdays are great days to go to the scrap yard. I love starting off my week at D.H. Griffin’s on Hightop Rd. in Greensboro.  I don’t see scrap metal as garbage; I see it as shapes lines and forms that can be combined and integrated to create meaningful pieces of art. The key is to visualize the layering of the scrap to help create the work.   For me, its like clicking the imaginary mouse on the sprocket and dragging it over to the hoops and sprinkling a little pipe in there, weld it together, and call it art. Buy allowing the forms to inspire me it takes away the pressure of conceiving the work from a blank page and has increased my productivity. Plus it is an economics issue; the less money you put into materials the more you get to keep on the labor side. It keeps your overall costs of the work down and allows you to sell your work at a more affordable rate, which can encourage sales.

            A few tips to know before going to the scrap yard. First, always bring cash. Checks are frowned upon and they do not accept credit and debit. Scrap yards make their money moving metal. Buy low, sell high, and sell fast. I have been there to drop off metal to sell and came back the next day and my metal was squashed into neat 4’ x 4’ cubes ready to load on trains to get their money.  Cash talks at yard sales. There is definite room for negotiations at yard sales where you buy random steel. Remember no matter how much they ask, it is still cheaper than buying it new. However, in the weight room there is no room for bargaining, this is a separate building where you buy your metal by the pound. It is designated for coppers, aluminum, stainless steels, and other unique boutique metals. In this area you better know what you need, or go to yard sales. Last time I bought stainless it was a $1.50 a pound, and stainless is not light.

 Second, never where nice clothes and shoes; scrap yards are dirty and muddy places by nature. Griffin’s is huge; it has to be well over 10 football fields, so be prepared to walk. I also believe that there is a strong correlation between how nice you look and what they will charge you.  Case in point, it was an average day for good finds at Griffins when off by the pipe racks were two fellows dressed in Buda garbs looking at various size pipes. The first thing I thought was “Kenny’s going to make some money on them.” Kenny is the yard sales man; he has a good eye for rookies, and must be respected. My buddy DJ, who frequents there often, recommends wearing the clothes you worked in yesterday.

Third, don’t be afraid to get dirty; some of the best finds requires searching through mountains of metal and taking apart larger objects to get the parts that you need. So bring some tools. You will need a wrench some screw drivers, rope, gloves and a tape measure. You never know when you might need to dismantle something, measure it to make sure it will work and then lug it through rough terrain to get to your vehicle. Concentrate on things you can physically carry and be prepared for a work out. Junkyards are not for the weak. The rope is for securing objects to your vehicle. On this note, my buddy DJ recommends making sure you bring a spare a tire, because scrap yards are littered with tire popping metal shards, so watch where you drive.

Fourth, be as vague as possible when describing your finds to the yard sales person. Your knowledge and enthusiasm adds value to your stuff in their mind, and value will cost you. His job is to get as much money as he can for the scrap. The more detailed your description, the more it most be worth to you. They don’t care what you are going to do with it, so don’t waste your time telling them about this amazing piece you are going to be making with their stuff.  It is a straight up business transaction, so make it quick and simple. When asked what you have, my buddy DJ recommends using “just some metal and plastic”, and go from there.

Last but not least, have fun and be safe. Think about all the sweet art your going to build. Get your art on and your tetanus shots updated.