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Drops, stubs and blanks: what sets the carbide rod scrap price
There is no one carbide rod scrap price we can print, because each lot of rod, drops and blanks is quoted from your photos, the form it is in and about how much it weighs. Here is where rod comes from, how to check a bar is carbide, and how to keep it clean before you send us the lot.
From pressed powder to a ground rod
Carbide rod starts as a powder mix, not a bar of metal. ITIA, the tungsten industry association, says cylindrical parts and parts long for their diameter are formed by extrusion, with waxes added so the mix flows through the die. Other shapes are pressed; NTP says the dried mix is pressed into the general shape of the final item, held together by paraffin or a similar agent and soft enough to machine.
Sintering at 1,350 to 1,550 degrees C then closes the pores and burns off that temporary binder (NTP). What comes out is a blank: a hard, dense rod, strip or block still to be ground with diamond wheels. A preform is a blank sintered close to its finished shape; ITIA notes that the nearer a part sinters to its final geometry, the less has to be ground away.
ITIA's own example: a rod may be ground into a metal cutting drill or an end mill. So rod scrap is often the same carbide as a box of worn end mills and drills, caught earlier.
Sources: ITIA, Cemented carbides (June 2010 newsletter excerpt); NTP, Report on Carcinogens background document for hard metals (2010); ITIA, recycling newsletter excerpt (May 2018).
The pieces a tool room throws in the rod bucket
Most rod scrap is what is left after a bar is cut into tool lengths, plus blanks that never became tools:
- Drops: the short end of a bar, too short for another tool.
- Cut-offs: slices and stubs from cutting rod to length.
- Broken pieces: rods and blanks that snapped in handling or grinding.
- Unused blanks and preforms: shelf stock that came out undersize or was never needed.
USGS calls this hard scrap: solid pieces such as off-spec parts and cemented carbide parts. Grinding sludge, swarf and powder are soft scrap, and ITIA says most soft scrap goes through chemical conversion, so keep the rod bucket and the sludge pail apart.
Sources: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028, tungsten recycling; ITIA, recycling newsletter excerpt (August 2019).
Carbide, steel or tungsten heavy alloy: a weight check you can do with calipers
A carbide rod feels heavy in the hand because it is. The figures below come from government and lab sources; each is a density in grams per cubic centimetre.
| Material | Density (g/cm3) |
|---|---|
| Tungsten carbide itself (NTP; NIST model value) | 15.6 to 15.68 |
| Carbide, 3.7% cobalt binder (measured grade) | 15.17 |
| Carbide, 6.0% cobalt binder (measured grade) | 14.91 |
| Carbide, about 19% cobalt (ORNL part) | 13.1 |
| Steel-cutting P grades with added carbides (NTP table) | 8.5 to 13.4 |
| Tungsten heavy alloy, sintered (typical; ITIA gives up to 18.5) | 16 to 18.5 |
| Tungsten metal (ITIA; NIST) | 19.25 to 19.30 |
| 1020 and 4340 steel (MIT table) | 7.8 |
To use it on a round rod, measure diameter and length in centimetres, work out the volume (3.1416 x radius x radius x length) and divide the weight in grams by it. A rod 10 mm across and 100 mm long is 7.85 cm3: about 117 g in 6% cobalt carbide, about 61 g in steel, and about 126 to 145 g in heavy alloy.
So carbide weighs roughly twice the same steel bar and a little less than heavy alloy, which is mostly tungsten with nickel and iron or nickel and copper. Two cautions: steel-cutting grades in the NTP table go as light as 8.5, so a light reading does not rule carbide out, and ASTM, whose B311 method measures carbide density by water displacement, warns that density alone cannot evaluate a carbide grade. Use it to sort, then tell us what you found. We buy tungsten and heavy alloy too.
Sources: NTP, Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; NIST Ceramic Data Portal, tungsten carbide; OSTI 2376169 (2023 manuscript), grade densities; ORNL manuscript on OSTI 1607097; NTP background document for hard metals (2010), Table 1-1; Materials (Basel) 2020, tungsten heavy alloy (PMC7288021); Materials (Basel) 2021, tungsten heavy alloy composition (PMC8037632); ITIA Newsletter, December 2007; ITIA, properties of tungsten; NIST X-ray mass attenuation table (element densities); MIT 3.11 metals table (1999); ASTM B311-22.
Keep the rod bucket dry, clean and carbide only
USGS says the zinc process, which turns hard scrap back into powder, is not a purification process, so careful sorting and removing oil, solder and coatings is essential. A 2021 paper on tungsten recycling by Zeiler and co-authors calls scrap quality the most important prerequisite and says pre-sorting by the user raises recycling efficiency. In a tool room that means:
- Wipe off grinding oil and coolant and let wet pieces dry.
- Keep high-speed steel rod and blanks out; the same paper shows HSS scrap and blanks going to an HSS smelter. We buy high-speed steel too, in its own bag.
- Leave long bars and broken pieces as they are. Grinding carbide makes cobalt-bearing dust, NTP notes, and there is no need to cut anything to size.
Rod is dense, so a small box gets heavy quickly; our shipping page covers packing it.
Sources: USGS Open-File Report 01-349 (1998 data); Zeiler et al. 2021, Tungsten recycling (open access, ITIA copy); NTP, Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide.
Getting a quote on scrap carbide rod
Open the quote form, pick Rods & blanks, give a rough weight and add a few photos: the whole lot, and a close-up of some ends with a tape measure in the shot. Email works too, at help@carbidebuyersusa.com, or call (877) 899-5778.
Ship it from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or, in any city in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we come to you and pick it up (see pickup areas). We are a family owned and operated business and pay cash where state law allows; the scrap metal law guide explains what each state asks of a seller.
Common questions
Why won't you list a carbide rod scrap price per pound?
No single number would be true for your lot. Rod differs in binder, cleanliness and what is mixed in, and the tungsten market moves. Send photos and a weight through the quote form and we quote that lot.
Do you buy carbide blanks that were never used?
Yes. We buy carbide in any form, and a shelf of unused blanks, preforms or undersize stock is carbide like any other. Keep them in their own bag if you can.
How do I tell a carbide rod from a tungsten heavy alloy bar?
Work out the density with the weight check above. Carbide lands around 13 to 15.2 grams per cubic centimetre, heavy alloy around 16 to 18.5. If yours sits near the line, photograph it and tell us; we buy both.
More for sellers
End mills, drills and reamers
Solid carbide end mills, drills, reamers and burs
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Tungsten and heavy alloy
Pure tungsten and tungsten heavy alloy
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How to identify carbide
Telling carbide from steel and HSS in a toolbox
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Sorting carbide scrap
What to keep together, what to separate, and why
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Ship your carbide
Packing heavy carbide so it arrives in one piece
Learn moreReady to sell your carbide?
Send a few photos and a rough weight. From any state, you ship it and we cover the shipping; in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we drive out to you.