A look at life - Any Old Iron? Rag and Bone, Scrap Metal, Recycling

Part of the Look at life series. Showing the process of collecting and recycling scrap metal back in the early 1960s.

[@ianmedium]

This brings back so many memories, the sound of horse hoves and the shout, rag bone, rag bone! And as a boy the dump was a gold mine! My first two pushbikes came from bits I found at the scrappy!

[@benji.B-side]

As kids, we used to swap scrap with the Scrap Man for balloons. He also swapped clothes pegs for scrap.

[@andrewh5457]

@@benji.B-side our rag and bone man gave out goldfish.

[@johnny-p]

We used to play at the dump when we were kids.

[@davidhayes4650]

​@@benji.B-sidegoldfish off ours

[@2394Joseph]

In Manchester in the 1950s the rag and bone man with his horse and cart used to give balloons and also stones that the old wives would use to posh up their front steps with (on the old terraced houses). Some used to give a gold fish in a plastic bag filled with water if you gave him a good load. One of the ragmen was called "Johnny two noses". All ancient history now.

[@andrewh5457]

I remember the goldfish, and plates

[@edix1673]

Back when we had social services to help people and could earn a decent living working in Britain. These guys used to come out with more at the end of the day than many full time workers today. Guarenteed they would be able to head down to the pub once or twice a week for a few pints, which is more than many have today!!

[@villhelm]

It’s nothing to do with social services. It’s to do with mass immigration driving down wages and creating more demand for housing and pressure on infrastructure and the fractional reserve banking system inflating prices and indebting the nation.

[@bumbleo8993]

Wonderful look back to a simpler age. Makes the reality of what we’ve become even more depressing.

[@Dannydawson537]

Couldn’t agree with you more the more simple things are better we feel

[@kelbee8974]

Great video, brings back so many memories of a better time... Thanks for sharing it.

[@londo776]

why was it better?

[@xxx-xw8js]

@@londo776 I can guess 😉

[@villhelm]

No wokeness, no cultural enrichment from ‘diversity’, high trust homogenous society, national pride, strong community bonds, strong family values no surveillance state, better schools, no social media rotting peoples minds, more freedom etc etc etc

[@Userjdjddss]

“That old house wife “ could you imagine if that was said on tv today 🤣😂

[@xr6lad]

These days that old house wife actually still has a meat and two veg and is called Brian at work but Mavis on weekends!

[@larrycantwell1740]

I thought it was Les Dawson 😂

[@freebornjohn2687]

@@xr6lad But do they look so stern and grumpy?

[@1gerard47]

😂my thoughts as well.​@@larrycantwell1740

[@thebadloser]

It must break vintage/classic car enthusiast's hearts watching this!

[@kevwatson7965]

Some of those cars set on fire would be worth thousands now lol 😆

[@highpath4776]

@@kevwatson7965 not really for those, I had opportunity to get some , but had nowhere to store them. With 3 bearing engines they would have got cooked on the motorways. My Dad should have got his older one repaired rather than scrapping it as there was little wrong with it.

[@simonharper4199]

we have loads of people doing this around Cambridge. They dont even disturb you , they just jump over the hedge and help themselves to all my worthless copper

[@howardchambers9679]

Hahahaha!

[@bartonbank2531]

The Romanian totters

[@ORIGINOLINDIVIDUAL]

Copper is the most high value metal of the none precious metals, up to 6.50 a kg for certain grades, Far from worthless 🙂

[@simonharper4199]

i know. ive had many thousands of pounds worth 'liberated' from my garden

[@ORIGINOLINDIVIDUAL]

@@simonharper4199 Maybe you should take better care of it & make it less easy for people to “Liberate”.

[@petercross6960]

I did not know it was called totting. my dad took me along to the scrapyard every day and told me to hide in the wagon where the weighman could not see me (more weight) after unloading the scrap my dad loaded me up with other items that I could carry, such as steel chains that were used to tie down the load. Then I would hide around a corner whilst my dads wagon was weighed again. Result was my weight x2 on the paycheck. My reward? A big smile from my dad and maybe a slice of the steak he then had for his tea. Fond memories

[@killerdinamo08]

Worth your weight in scrap, good way to begin 😄.

[@bobcat8439]

Been junking for decades love this old stuff 👍🛻🚚

[@Fireblade918]

One of my childhood memories is going to scrap yards with my dad for car parts, but what i remember most is the yards all had huge german shepard guard dogs, not to be messed with!

[@laurencetitusoates6328]

And always kept in very poor conditions, always felt very sorry for them, no life for a dog.

[@Fireblade918]

Agree 100%

[@martinpugh1008]

As a child I also went to scrapyards with my dad looking for spare parts for his car such fond and happy memories of us arguing ending with him telling me that he should have left me in the house with my mother

[@RetroReminiscing]

My dad too!! I used to love getting in the car to go with him because back then i remember there were no particular sections for paper...metal...domestic..etc....it just all seemed to be tipped out all over...and i remember finding allsorts ...but one main thing i found that always takes me back in time is a bottle of parma violet smelling perfume that sone one had thrown with random other items.... Going to the tip back then was a great outing for me ha ha ..my dad looking for car parts and me looking for toys , make up and perfume ha ha

[@RetroReminiscing]

@@martinpugh1008 👌

[@tubbytuber1015]

My Grandad was a totter round SE London. He died before I was born unfortunately. He always looked grubby in all the photos I’ve seen of him, even at weddings 😀

[@paulbackhard6315]

Was he horse drawn ?

[@almaxx9680]

@@paulbackhard6315 No but his cart was😲🤣🤣

[@letsgetdigging7418]

@@paulbackhard6315 horses cannot draw, they can’t hold a pencil.🤪

[@ianmaddams9577]

My grandad did the same . He always had grubby looking hands lol

[@ruthbashford3176]

@@almaxx9680 LOL

[@RobsonRoverRepair]

First job was helping gather scrap during the early 90s. But the boss only went to the yard in the rain as he filled the transit with water and had two massive tanks welded in under the flatbed. Soon as off the weighbridge was my job to drain the tanks before we ended up back on it. Was a brilliant setup, free half ton of scrap everytime at least. All drained behind the wheels, when the rain was real heavy we used to split it and go up twice or three times a day. I reckon my boss made thousands outta it a year. I was only innocent we fella at the time so thought I was draining engine water out for recycling lmao.

[@rjs198585]

That's bloody ingenious!

[@martinpugh1008]

Steptoe and son would have been proud of all this

[@robintaylor8450]

I use to love going to the scrap yard with my dad to get second hand parts for the van or to scrap metal good old days

[@porkscratchings5428]

Use to love the old rag and bone man to collect old scrap. Nowadays, you just put it on the street and some street vulture will have it away before you’ve turned your back on it lol

[@PP-ez9hd]

I love these old films ,, I knew him as the rag and bone man

[@WildRover1964]

bit depressing that we were doing better at recycling 50 years ago than we are now. There was much less plastic back then which isn't as recyclable. I remember the rag and bone men as a kid and thought it was all gone but in the last couple of years I've seen a few of them - in vans now, not horse drawn carts and I don't know if you get a balloon in return for your junk anymore

[@justinfacer6332]

Now I know what a Top Totter is. Cheers mate from America

[@JedRichards]

Actual recycling was easier in those days when everything was mostly made out of durable materials like steel and cast iron. Now everything's a mess of plastics, laminates, composite materials and Chineseium alloys.

[@mrm1885]

Chineseium is the worst

[@JohnUk65]

Good old Briton! long gone now!

[@SandrasSpicySpanishSalami]

All those beautiful 30s/40s cars!

[@frankryan2505]

I remember the old tatters getting around in the 90's, still with the horse and cart. Was a lead (roof plumbing) apprentice, their eyes would light up when they saw our daily scrap pile but I knew enough to tell them to keep moving.

[@davidfelix2594]

In the 90's????

[@RetroReminiscing]

Thanks so much for this video...this has given me many flash backs...i remember in the 70's we had a rag and bone man who would shout it out loud going past with his horse and cart and i also remember a little old man who used to go past on his bike shouting out he was near bye if anyone needed their carving knives sharpened...also remember a chimney sweeper on our street in the late 70's! Im loving this video very much.....I have scrap metal people who go past my house today and they play the steptoe and son tune over their microphone..its so comical to hear approaching ha ha Great video! 😃🥰🥰

[@stephengirling7859]

My cooker now identifies as a fridge! How times have changed, for the worse!

[@xr6lad]

My fridge insists on wearing a frock and being called Mavis on weekends. And every time I come back from the butcher insists I stick my meat in.

[@ajs41]

The rag and bone van just went past our house, playing the famous jingle or whatever you call it.

[@Gunzee]

Off topic but I would always look at the Rank building on Great West road (A4) just before the lucozade sign. It was there until the mid 90s. It's now a screw fix. The muscle man hitting the huge Gong was/is iconic.

[@Brokout]

Wish they never got rid of that Lucozade sign!

[@greenfingersgardener822]

Up north where I once lived, he was known as the Rag & bone man

[@mummyd1990]

Hard working men.

[@duncanself5111]

There's still a couple of guys that do this in my local town, Stowmarket in Suffolk. You can hear them calling out as they do the rounds

[@S-North]

When I was a kid the Rag and bone man would give you a gold fish in a plastic bag for your scrap.

[@xr6lad]

In my town they don’t do tattering any more; it’s all about dogging!

[@broughton90]

I'm a scrap man is Sheffield I love the game I work alone so the money is brilliant wen the prices are up the pay beats any job iv ever had my best week ever was £1100 best day ever £330 you start wen you want finish wen I want brake wen I want how can you not wana be a scrapman?

[@EgoShredder]

Really enjoyed this!

[@ahassen1236]

No health and safety in those days! Sometimes life is better without too many rules. Not all but some.

[@jasusjasus8462]

The video starts in park lane ,Waltham cross ,Hertfordshire. The totters name was Charlie Finch ,a local character that also sold fruit and veg and would swop goldfish for rags ,always had a snotty nose by all accounts.

[@pinkyman5155]

My dad was a rag and bone man, my sister swapped his best overcoat for a goldfish to another totter, he had a hand cart, I would go with him to Ron Bretts in Stratford with all his old tot.

[@Dermot2927]

Thanks, I came here hoping to find out some information about the locations. Beautiful 1960s footage.

[@jasonantigua6825]

@@pinkyman5155 My family knew Ron well! His wife’s name was Betty!

[@pinkyman5155]

@@jasonantigua6825 yes he had a yard in Stratford 👍 my dad did some building work for his house in Essex

[@jasonantigua6825]

@@pinkyman5155 cool

[@craigobrien31]

Horse and cart my farther Jimmy duffy done this for years on his horse daisy, diedgood Friday 2022 r.i.p dad

[@mowvu5380]

this is maybe where the popular series 'how it's made' got their inspiration! amazing. the music, the editing and the professional cringey voiceover haha love it.

[@mileyrogers3911]

Brilliant thanks for sharing 👍🏽

[@TheMattzki]

most of my bikes as a kid were built from these kinds of places you could find some proper gems like vw badges the size of dinner plates off the old split screens......aaaaah the 80's

[@tarquin4592]

Don't see the totters and tatters anymore. We used to call them the old iron man and he would come round the streets with the shouting out of 'old rags, lumber and iron.' Still, at least we have a thriving fly tipping industry!

[@gedhuffadine1873]

I love scrapping

[@Horizon344]

Never heard the term Tatter/Totter, in the 1970's in Surrey they were rag & bone men, on a horse & cart & would ring a bell as they came up the road.

[@mikb5587]

I have the same memories from the North in the 1970's a bell and an illegible shout of that I always presumed was rag n bone.

[@geoffjoffy]

Marvelous video. Cheers.

[@jonbondMPG]

Here in the UK scrap men wonder about again, but they no longer buy the scrap from you, they just take it.

[@patrickrose1221]

Brilliant footage of Ebbw Vale aye : ) Thank you x

[@Hondanissanman]

The great old tottin days 😉 brilliant 👍.

[@scotttait2197]

This is why the classics of today are worth more ... as so many whete scrapped even if repairable

[@Reddoguk]

Any old iron and ringing a small bell is what i heard as a child and the horse shoes.

[@Paperghost]

I remember "Any, any, any, old IRON?" as the totter would amble down our small road. Memories.........

[@deniswoodcock5079]

The man with cooker was not charlie finch but charlie was in the scrap yard,at the time he was the one pushing his horse back and unloading used go there myself with my dad with his horse and cart in50 60 and 70

[@spendtimesavemoneydiy]

Great video 👍🏼

[@robinsonm08]

Excellent video.

[@orlandostead8703]

I remember scrap being collected by horse and cart in west London back in the 70's

[@oz93666]

2:39 The commentator has got it wrong . It's not an electro magnet , it's a permanent magnet ( with an electrical coil around it) . The current is switched on to DROP the iron. The electricity makes a magnetic field which cancels out the permanent magnet. This is a safety feature , if a simple electromagnet was used iron could fall on people if an unexpected power cut happened.

[@mattsan70]

bollox

[@BD-bditw]

You make a very valid point.

[@oz93666]

@@BD-bditw After 'morenormal's' eloquent rebuttal I've been searching this issue ... My original information came from my school physics teacher (50 years ago ), it's something that stuck in my mind , he explained that's how these lifting magnets worked , and it made sense. It seems many workshop lifting magnets and scrap magnets are now strait electromagnets . Perhaps the safer ones were phased out because they would be more expensive

[@BD-bditw]

@@oz93666 After writing my reply to your comment something else dawned on me from the past. There is a type where the iron core is magnetised by means of a pulse - rendering the magnet a 'permanent magnet'. A second pulse through another set of windings demagnetises the core. This gives the benefits of both systems, including the very relevant safety factor. Power cuts are always possible in any system and I have little doubt that, as in your first comment, that any lifting device like this would by law need a 'Fail Safe' system. I'm sure that someone on here can clarify the exact situation.

[@UberAlphaSirus]

@@BD-bditw not really thought about them before. but gausing and degausing seems like hard work. It may just be a magnet sliding on and off the "core" A bit like a magnet base for a machinest dials or mag clamp on a surface grinder works.

[@LabRat6619]

Not a mosque in sight!

[@scribs01]

We used to get a balloon from our rag and bone man if you have him scrap

[@TheDAT9]

Where did it all go WRONG!!!

[@robhamilton638]

Remember when i was a kid you took some clothes out and he give you a baloon for them the rag man long time ago eney old rags he shouted 😂you can take your old clothes somewhere now and get money for them how times have changed

[@jobharath2812]

Amazing, just how we lived in Leeds 🙏🏽🔥❤️

[@oddities-whatnot]

When I was a kid in the 1970s, we used to have this rag and bone man come down our road on his horse and cart. He looked a bit like Alice Cooper or some horror movie hillbilly from the backwoods with his long dark coat and weather beaten leather brimmed hat. He used to shout what sounded like “HEE, HO”. I have no idea what the heck that was. All I know is he was a scary looking figure to us kids back then.

[@Damush1]

This is priceless

[@kdmc40]

In the day the only thing about this service that was environmentally friendly was the chap with the horse. The rest of it was a disaster. The only thing that was recycled was the metal. Items like cars were burned to get rid of the plastics. Engine oil and petrol was just allowed drain out into the soil. Refrigerators were just crushed and the old R12 refrigerant allowed plast off into the atmosphere to do its thing. Some of the sites were so contaminated that they were only fit for covering over and making into carparks!😂

[@roblet5047]

One of those old cars would be worth a fortune today

[@johnmclaughlin1946]

Scrap is loads of fun

[@Dawghome]

I moved here in 1985, and we had a rag n bone man complete with horse up and down this road every few weeks! Then recycling became unfashionable, also electrical shops where you could get most appliances repaired could no longer fund their business! We were force fed into a throw away society', and ur teen kids had extra shame if we wanted to get something repaired which implied that being poor had to be seriously hidden or shamed out of existence, and? Now, shame is piled onto you if you don't at least try to, comply with god knows what sourced, etc, etc. Yeh I'm going to used the audible app, but it won't stop me from still enjoying my paperback books, god some of those have the smell I love! Yes! It's called a book! And back off before I recycle your Ar£3!! "I want to be alone"!! I get it now...😁

[@daffyduk77]

No namby-pamby handcarts / H&S for the two-man lift 0:42 just brute force

[@stephrc6647]

Use to see the rag an bone man in Hartlepool at my granny’s . Horse and cart.

[@RossKempOnYourMum01]

This is very reminiscent of the film Brave Little Toaster

[@shrory]

I remember my sister saving my life, stopping my mother from killing me, after giving the Rag and Bone man, my best jumper for a balloon

[@roseleenday7300]

Good old days

[@marksparkes1]

Not a stupid crash hat or yellow jacket in sight. Wonderful.

[@xr6lad]

Well you have to admit finding a store that sold those in the horses size was more difficult back then.

[@jinnxish]

What a great program) (

[@elitedavidhorne8494]

Closest thing we have now are the guys that come round and steal your catalytic converters.

[@livelyone8192]

They used to come by my house bk in day, " any old iron" with a horn!!✨✌️

[@xr6lad]

I’ve never seen an iron with a horn. I’ve seen them with steamers!

[@livelyone8192]

@@xr6lad give ya that 1,

[@xr6lad]

@@livelyone8192 🤣🤣

[@digede28]

I bet people will kick themselves looking at those lovely classic cars???

[@davidvasey5065]

Mate. I would die to be a scrapman

[@iamcarbonandotherbits.8039]

Vintage car enthusiasts must be crying in their sump oil watching this.

[@schauhan2764]

Lovely Jubely 😁

[@dumbass3770]

I still scrap mainly copper and aluminum. Pays okay I call it my bonus 😜

[@Void-uj7jd]

My neighbour always shouts out of the window telling him to shut the fuck up everytime he comes round.

[@stevetaylor1904]

When things used to work

[@blameusa7082]

Almost 8x more people on the planet since this was made.... imagine the iron now

[@Sol-Cutta]

Wish this was longer

[@jcs0984]

That's what she said

[@xr6lad]

If you wind it back to the start it can be!

[@raytoop3704]

We called them rag and bone men

[@johnroddy8756]

The good old days. Those cars would be worth money now

[@rbxrockettrio8650]

Nah no one wants cars that old. Most of the people that were kids and their dad had one one of those cars are dead or too old.

[@highpath4776]

@@rbxrockettrio8650 surprised they were in complete condition, most were raced at the stock car nights twice a week first !

[@pinkyman5155]

" Any ol rags a lumber"

[@CraigTom-so2vt]

And now it's cheaper to send it abroad on ships then rebuy it from abroad and bring back on ships. So foreign works are booming while British steel works are dying, catastrophic for the UK

[@sicks6six]

When the tatter came round I'd take his horse a carrot and I'd get a balloon. He stopped coming about 1969 I reckon then a young guy with a flat bed Ford replaced him. I didn't take him no carrots and I was a bit old for balloons by now.

[@lorrelhardy6275]

Still popular in Bradford tatting on horse and cart

[@brianharris7243]

My uncle started out totting and ended up well off!

[@combrogi]

Now Ebbw vale steel works is long gone along with all the coal mines. No wonder the valleys are so poor.

[@patricksullivan7854]

All the weighting. Very carefully. All taxed of course.

[@jeffovery9054]

Original recyclists!stone for the step, sometimes a goldfish,made tracker bikes from 'scrap'?,no brakes!

[@josephturner4047]

My family heritage.

[@peternufc1981]

My uncle did this all his life

[@mrs6968]

My god that looks like a fun job to get paid for just picking up a heavy solid block to drop and watch things smash!!!!!

[@daffyduk77]

When the totter's weighed the second time, what if the hoss has, you know, lightened its own load a little :-) - bet he feeds it Ex-Lax before going there 🙂

[@christianvancara8255]

Lots of hard Graft & its true where theres Muck there s Money? My 1950s cast iron Cooker is worth its weight in Gold.... We all need a way to get by😜

[@jonglewongle3438]

At least in those days they had either the brains or the candour to tell you where the stuff ultimately and finally went rather than the half-told stories which you'd more often than not get these days.