Sell Your Carbide Scrap in Cedar Lake, Indiana

Carbide inserts

Used and worn lathe and mill inserts from trade shops — any brand, any grade, loose or in drums.

End mills and drills

Solid carbide end mills, drills, reamers, and taps from mechanical and fabrication work — dull, broken, or chipped, they all count.

Brazed tooling

Brazed carbide lathe bits, saws, and wear tooling from contractors and repair work — sorted honestly, never lumped in with steel.

Carbide-tipped saw blades

Worn carbide-tipped circular saw blades from framing, remodeling, and demo work — the tips are real carbide and they add up fast.

Tungsten heavy alloy

Heavy-alloy parts like boring bars and counterweights — XRF-verified and graded by tungsten content.

See everything we buy and how the process works at Sell Carbide Scrap, and read our plain-English market breakdown at Scrap Carbide Prices.

Carbide in Cedar Lake does not come from factories — it comes from trucks. Electricians drilling through masonry, HVAC crews cutting ductwork, mechanical contractors boring holes for conduit, remodelers tearing through nails and screws with their saw blades. Every job dulls carbide, and the worn blades, bits, and hole saws end up in the bottom of a gang box or a five-gallon bucket in the garage. Most of it gets thrown out or rides along in a scrap run where nobody grades it.

Here is what most tradesmen never hear: those carbide tips and spent bits are worth real money when they are sorted and graded properly. I am a newcomer to this trade who treats every seller like a long-term partner, and I will look at what your crew has worn out and tell you straight what it grades as. Save the bucket for a few jobs, text me a photo, and I will give you today’s number — then you will know what to keep saving the next time the gang box fills up.

Here is the honest difference between me and the general scrap yard down the road. A general yard buys carbide as just another metal — it gets blended into a mixed load and paid at a blended rate that drags your carbide down to the level of cheap mixed metal. They do not sort grades, because sorting carbide properly is its own job.

I do one thing: I buy carbide, and I grade it with an XRF analyzer that reads the metal’s actual composition in seconds. Carbide-tipped blades, brazed tooling, and solid carbide each carry different value, so each gets its own number — today’s number for that grade, not an average dragged down by whatever else was in the load. That is why contractors call a specialist instead of letting their worn tooling ride out with the steel.

When you text 312-880-8174, I answer — Sonny, the owner of Ironcrest Industrial Surplus. There is no call center, no broker in the middle, and no trainee learning on your material. I run the XRF test, I make the offer, and I am the one who shows up on the pickup run.

Tradesmen talk to each other, and my name travels on the quality of the last deal. If I grade your carbide straight and pay fast, you tell the next crew. That is the whole business plan, and it is why sellers across Northwest Indiana keep my number in their phones.

Do you buy tungsten carbide scrap in Cedar Lake, Indiana?

Yes — from electrical, HVAC, mechanical, and remodeling contractors in Cedar Lake and the south Lake County lake communities. Carbide-tipped saw blades, drill bits, brazed tooling, hole saws, and wear parts — any quantity.

How do I get today’s number?

Text a photo of your material to 312-880-8174 and I will tell you what grade it is and today’s number — fast, no games. My price is published right on this page: a firm $18–$20 a pound for clean, sorted tungsten carbide inserts, end mills, and drills. The national buyer boards pay $8–$15 a pound — scrap yards are not paying a fair price, and I pay way more than the national average. You watch the digital scale, and you are paid within 24–48 hours.

Do you pick up carbide in Cedar Lake?

Yes, on our scheduled pickup runs across Northwest Indiana — send photos and I will tell you when I can be there. Small lots can mail in with a prepaid label instead.

How is carbide graded?

With an XRF analyzer — a handheld scanner that reads the metal’s composition in seconds. That tells us the grade, and each grade gets today’s number for that grade. No blending, no guessing.

How do I know my tooling is real carbide?

Real carbide is heavy for its size — it feels wrong in your hand, roughly twice the weight of steel. A magnet test helps, since most carbide is only slightly magnetic. Our guide How to Spot Real Tungsten Carbide walks through the checks. When in doubt, text a photo — I will tell you straight.

Based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, we buy carbide scrap across Northwest Indiana, including Crown Point, St. John, and Lowell. See all service areas.