What is mercury worth?

Estate sale, fellow has about 5 lbs of liquid metallic mercury. it was used as adjustable mass/weight in benchrest rifles. Owner/heir is concerned about EPA issues etc. But it has a value somewhere. Do scrap metal dealers buy it? Is there a price/lb?

Reply to
RB
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I see it for sale for about $6/lb, I see it asked for, willing to pay $1.50/lb.

Find a taker for any price, its more of a liability (in the current eco-climate) than an assett.

Googling ' mercury scrap price ' turns up a few listings.

Dave

Reply to
spamTHISbrp

Just beware -- it's hazardous, and he's trying to get rid of it, so by the EPA's logic it's not 'useful scrap' it's 'hazardous waste'. If you accept it from him you're not an amateur 'scrap dealer' you're an 'unlicensed disposal facility'.

In the Portland, Oregon area a homeowner can take that sort of thing to the Metro gov'mint garbage transfer station and they'll deal with it for you, where a commercial enterprise would have to spend a day signing forms.

Then instead of seeing it recycled they put it in a drum and ship it off to a hazardous waste dump in Arlington, OR, where it sits until the drum rusts through (but at least, as a homeowner, you don't have your name on the drum forever more so you can be blamed for following the law 50 years down the road).

I'm so glad I have a wise and benevolent government taking care of me.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Suggest someone bring it to a local HS/college lab. Makes a great class demo: Put it in a clear quart container. Put water in another clear quart container. Have class pass by, each student lifting the quart of water, then merc. Most will not be able to lift the quart of mercury--for two reasons: some simply don't have the strength, but for many, it is so unexpectedly heavy, they think it's actually glued to the counter top, and stop trying.

2# vs. about 28#, more than a 25# barbell plate--not easy to lift off balance or out of position.
Reply to
DrollTroll

You could also check around for your local gold prospecting clubs. Maybe a prospector has a use for it. GPAA can provide you with the name of GPAA clubs in your area. If you have a prospection/metal detector store in your area, check with them.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Chandler

Except 5lbs is a lot less than a quart - and, obviously, weighs only 5 lb, not 28.

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Reply to
clare at snyder dot ontario do

One of the kids WILL lift it, then drop it. That could be a problem.

Thank You, Randy

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Reply to
Randy

Yeah! And if one of them get a hernia who's to blame?

Suggest someone bring it to a local HS/college lab. Makes a great class demo: Put it in a clear quart container. Put water in another clear quart container. Have class pass by, each student lifting the quart of water, then merc. Most will not be able to lift the quart of mercury--for two reasons: some simply don't have the strength, but for many, it is so unexpectedly heavy, they think it's actually glued to the counter top, and stop trying.

2# vs. about 28#, more than a 25# barbell plate--not easy to lift off balance or out of position.
Reply to
Robert Swinney

Suggest someone bring it to a local HS/college lab. Makes a great class demo: Put it in a clear quart container. Put water in another clear quart container. Have class pass by, each student lifting the quart of water, then merc. Most will not be able to lift the quart of mercury--for two reasons: some simply don't have the strength, but for many, it is so unexpectedly heavy, they think it's actually glued to the counter top, and stop trying.

2# vs. about 28#, more than a 25# barbell plate--not easy to lift off balance or out of position.
Reply to
Robert Swinney

Just a guess, but I'll hazard that your density exceeds that of mercury.

Reply to
DrollTroll

Some idiot science teacher in a local middle school sprinkled a small amount of mercury on a lab table to show the kids how the drops roll. That episode cost the school district a few thousand dollars in monitoring and cleanup. If a quart of mercury was dropped, there would be a financial disaster.

Reply to
ATP*

Which of course was a knee-jerk bureaucratic reaction by some asshole.

Of course, the above quart demo would be done with frozen mercury.

Reply to
DrollTroll

That's today's reality, whether you agree with it or not.

Reply to
ATP*

Whatever you do with it, ITS A FELONY! Just kidding, but you need to send it to me. It is useful here in the Mother Lode for gold recovery.

Reply to
Stupendous Man

Make motors, Make mirrors

It is useful in the right hands, causes chills in some if they know, and hasmat.

Martin Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Endowed; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

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Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I still have a little over three pounds of it, which I intend to keep as long as I keep my Hi-Standard Supermatic pistol. Lead builds up in the muzzle brake, and mercury is the only thing that will get it out without damage. I used it in a single-shot rifle in which I shot lead bullets, too, but that one is long gone.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Back when I was a kid, we used a mixture od asbestos and plaster of paris as a modelling "clay".Made all sorts of electrical aparatus with mercury. Some people think I'm crazy - mabee the "mad as a hatter" syndrome from the mercury?????

Yes, the stuff CAN be dangerous - but the world has gone totally overboard - anything that could POSSIBLY hurt us is controlled to the enth degree - while WHAT IS KILLING US is largely unaddressed. (and when "they" get around to addressing whatever that is, they'll go overboard again, as usual)

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Reply to
clare at snyder dot ontario do

The danger of mercury lies primarily with its organic compounds. Liquid, metallic mercury itself is not particularly toxic. The problem, of course, is that letting it out into the environment allows the production of organic compounds.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

I should hope not as they used to mix it with silver and poke it in your teeth.

Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

Reply to
Bruce in Bangkok

If you mean by "I should hope not" that metallic mercury is relatively safe, yes, that's the example often used in explaining it.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

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