Your carbide has a number in Aligarh.
We show you how we get it.
Aligarh's lock industry runs constant drilling, turning and threading across roughly 6,000 registered units. Most buyers quote a flat rate off a WhatsApp photo. We weigh it in front of you, grade it by carbide content, and show the math before you agree to sell.
What actually sets your price
Not a slogan — the three variables that move the number up or down before we ever quote you one.
Solid vs. mixed lots
An indexable insert or solid forming punch is close to pure tungsten carbide and prices near the top of the range. Grinding sludge and mixed floor-sweep from a tool room run lower — we price that as its own lot rather than blending it into your clean material's rate.
The metal holding it together
Cutting-grade carbide typically carries 6–12% cobalt as a binder. Cobalt trades on its own market, so the binder ratio genuinely changes what a lot is worth — a forging die doesn't price the same as a fine finishing insert.
Steel shanks, dies and mountings
Brazed tooling — a carbide tip fixed to a steel shank, die body or holder — gets weighed whole, then separated on-site so the recoverable carbide is priced on its own. We show that split before you agree to a number.
Why the rate changes week to week
Tungsten carbide isn't priced off a fixed scrap-yard rate card. The tungsten in your inserts and dies trades on its own international market, tracked through tungsten concentrate and APT (ammonium paratungstate) prices — the same benchmarks WolfTrack's Indian Tungsten Transaction Price Index follows every week. We reassess our buying rate against that market, not against what a scrap yard down the road is offering.
Know what's in your bin before you WhatsApp
Carbide behaves differently from ordinary steel scrap — here's what to look for, and the common forms we buy.
| Typical density | ~14–15 g/cm³ |
| Feel | Heavier than its size suggests |
| Magnetic response | Weak to slight |
| Colour | Grey to grey-black, matte |
| Common binder | Cobalt, ~6–12% by grade |
- Indexable inserts & tipsHighest per-kg value in a mixed lot.
- Solid carbide rods, drills & end millsFull-carbide, no separation needed.
- Forging & press-tool diesCarbide-tipped punches from Tala Nagri's lock-manufacturing units, typically brazed — separated on-site.
- Brazed tool bits & die insertsSeparated on-site before either portion is weighed.
HSS (High Speed Steel) tool scrap
Not everything worn out in your tool room is carbide. High Speed Steel tooling is a different alloy family entirely — fully magnetic, no tungsten-carbide/cobalt binder — and it's priced against its own tool-steel and alloy content, not the tungsten carbide rate. We buy both, graded and priced separately on the same visit.
- M2General-purpose HSS — drills, taps, milling cutters.
- M35Cobalt-enhanced (~5% Co) for tougher jobs.
- M42High-cobalt (~8% Co), heat resistant.
- T15Tungsten-type, high vanadium, heavy-duty broaches.
- Drill bits, taps & reamersBroken or worn-out sets — most common lot.
- Milling cutters & hobsSolid HSS or carbide-tipped — sorted and priced.
- Lathe & planer tool bitsSolid HSS blanks, ground or unground.
A quick way to tell them apart before you WhatsApp: HSS responds strongly to a magnet and sounds like ordinary steel when tapped; carbide is only weakly magnetic and feels noticeably heavier for its size, with a duller, denser tap. Bring both — we sort and price each on-site.
Where we pick up in Aligarh, and why
Aligarh's scrap base runs from the organized Tala Nagri estate through the old-city lock clusters at Manik Chowk, Sasni Gate and Shah Jamal — each a different scale of the same trade.
Aligarh's largest formal UPSIDC estate, spread across roughly 69 hectares with 871 plots — the older, denser half of the city's flagship lock-manufacturing zone. Units here run lock-body forging, machining, hardening and electroplating lines feeding the export trade.
The newer half of the same UPSIDC estate, about 57 hectares on 406 plots fronting Ramghat Road, where manufacturers run CNC turning, drilling and threading lines for cylindrical locks, padlocks and cam locks — heavy turning/threading work that burns through carbide inserts and HSS bits fast.
The old city's traditional lock trading-cum-manufacturing hub near Madar Gate and Agra Road, where wholesale dealers sit alongside backroom units still lathe-turning, drilling and fitting lock bodies and levers. High volume of small-batch machining means frequent tool changeovers.
A dense residential-cum-industrial pocket on the city's west side, home to numerous small job-work units making godown locks, gate hooks, drawer locks and bicycle locks. Constant drilling and turning across dozens of tiny units adds up to a reliable stream of worn tooling.
A locksmith neighbourhood where thousands of household workshops turn dismantled auto parts and steel scrap into finished locks. Multiplied across the belt, tool wear from cutting and drilling this volume is significant despite the small size of each shop.
An older, well-established UPSIDC estate of about 14 hectares with 130–131 sheds, currently home to 154 operating units in general engineering and hardware fabrication — a dependable, high-occupancy pickup zone given how few plots sit vacant.
Why sell here instead of shipping it out of Aligarh
Carbide scrap is dense and low-volume for its value, which makes an out-of-town dealer's quoted rate look tempting on paper. In practice, three things usually erase that difference: transport cost and risk on a dense material that's easy to shortweight in transit, a re-weighing dispute at the far end with no way to verify it, and the days lost waiting on payment. Weighed and paid on your premises removes all three.
Four steps, one visit
Before you WhatsApp
What's the minimum quantity you buy in Aligarh?
50 kg minimum for pickup in Aligarh. Smaller lots are best shipped directly — ask us on WhatsApp for the courier option.
How is the rate decided on the day?
Off the current tungsten/cobalt market plus your lot's actual grade — weighed and shown to you before you agree, not a flat number quoted off a photo.
Do you pick up, or do I need to ship it?
Free pickup for lots at or above the 50 kg minimum anywhere in Aligarh. Below that, courier to us directly — ask on WhatsApp for the easiest way.
WolfTrack — India's tungsten price desk
If you're buying or trading carbide and tungsten scrap in volume rather than selling it off once, WolfTrack's weekly brief and the Indian Tungsten Transaction Price Index track the market before it moves. Rs 499 per month.
See this week's brief →Carbide Scrap Buyers — Aligarh · Prices are indicative and confirmed on weighing — WhatsApp for today's rate.