[TheForge] the theft of metal public

[Andrew Vida]

I have lately noticed an uptick in the circulation of photos showing the 
charred remains of these super-geniuses who attempt to remove 
high-voltage lines for the copper.  Latest showed what appeared as two 
charred corpses, supposedly the result of attempting to rip a 13Kv line 
from its connection.

Stupid, as seems apparent, indeed cannot be fixed.


On 4/17/15, 12:46 PM, Ries Niemi wrote:
> It has been less of an issue here- but it does happen in the US as well.
> Mostly either aluminum or copper/bronze, as they are worth the most per pound.
> Where I live, we have pretty honest scrap guys- they require photo ID, and any amount over 25 bucks they write a check, not cash.
> I have gotten calls from the police before, saying that material of mine was stolen from the yard of my waterjet cutters business. The scrap yard called the cops, the cops caught the guys, based on the paper trail. I even got the metal back.
>
> I, personally, have not had problems with scrappers- my public work is all either galvanized steel or stainless, and I am pretty handy with the Hilti epoxy and big anchor bolts, often welding the nuts on.
> But it could happen.
>
> ries
>
>