Light Gauge steel news from the Americas

Compton residents turn their firearms into rebar This week in Compton, California, sheriff deputies kicked off the holiday season Compton-style, with the city's annual Guns for Gifts program. For the next three Saturdays, residents will be able to trade in their firearms – no questions asked - for $50 gift cards to Circuit City, Ralphs, or Toys “R” Us. After the guns are checked to see if they were used in any unsolved crimes, they will be recycled into rebar, deputies told press. Approximately 400 guns were donated last year. The guns will be melted down at a Rancho Cucamonga foundry in July. Everything is better in steel In case your flimsy subway map of the New York subway system just doesn't cut it, you can now buy a stainless steel subway card from British design company Suck UK. The credit card sized steel maps are available for the NYC subways as well as for the London Underground. So if you go on vacation to NY or London and don't want advertise that you are a tourist, grab one of these discrete little maps from the company's website for Euro7.50 plus shipping. Alabama mechanic sells client's car for scrap With scrap prices as high as they are, it is important that you trust your mechanic. In Decatur, Alabama last Monday night Cheryl Humphries found out that her mechanic, who had done good work for her in the past, sold her vehicle to a local scrap yard. After Humphries realized her car was missing from her mechanic's shop, she called police, who found her car damaged Tuesday morning at A&S Metals, missing its wheels, stereo, and gas tank. Luckily, Humphries' car hadn't been crushed yet and she was able to salvage it. Local scrappers Tennessee Valley Recycling told press about a similar incident: "The guy said it was his sister's car. When you're in the scrap business, you don't condone it, but it happens from time to time. It's always going to happen. We're supposed to ask for titles, but we get IDs.” So even if the mechanic down the street did a good job replacing the clutch on your '92 Nissan, perhaps some extra caution should be used before you trust him with your car again, especially during winter when scrap prices start to go up again. One man's trash . . . The bear problem in Truckee Tahoe, CA is no joke, but Nevada County welder James Lester is laughing all the way to the bank with his wildly popular bear-proof steel trash bins. His “Iron Bear” box is 30 inches deep, 48 inches wide, and 44 inches tall, big enough to contain two 32-gallon garbage cans. The boxes are made with 12-gauge to 14-gauge steel, weigh 350 pounds, and come in shades of green and brown. A detachable handle locks the steel door to keep bears from getting into your smelly trash that they are so attracted to. “There's a big potential market,” said Lester, who began carrying his Iron Bear product line a year ago. This must be true because word of his product is traveling fast without any deliberate advertising. The man doesn't even have a website, and already government parks are seeking him out. He told press he is taking orders of 75 boxes per week. The boxes haven't failed yet, and have been tested on bears that weigh up to 300 pounds. Who is next on the list of bears to outsmart? Lester wants to build a box that will keep out Alaskan Grizzlies. And those things are huge.