Who buys carbide: every way to sell it, compared
Tool makers' buyback programs, scrap yards and specialist buyers all take used carbide, each on its own terms. See them side by side, then get our quote to set beside theirs.
- We pay the shipping from any US state
- Pickup in every city in CA, AZ and NV
- Any form, any amount
- Family owned and operatedWe buy carbide in any form
- Ship it from any stateWe pay the shipping
- Pickup in CA, AZ and NVEvery city in all three
- Paid in cashWhere state law allows it
Carbide buyers compared, side by side
What each kind of buyer asks of you, how it sets a price and how it pays. The program card draws on two tool makers' own US pages, archived between February 2025 and May 2026.
Tool makers' buyback programs
Makers buying used tools back
- Who can sell
- Varies by maker; one limits its online program to its customers
- What it accepts
- Varies; one takes any brand, and both exclude cermets and ceramics
- How the price is set
- The maker's quote, paid on the weight it confirms
- How you are paid
- Varies: net 30, a mailed check, or credit against a future invoice
- Getting it there
- Varies; one has the seller prepay all freight, another collects at an agreed pick-up or collection point
General scrap yards
Buyers of all kinds of scrap metal
- Who can sell
- Sellers with ID; CA, AZ, NV and Ohio laws require it
- What it accepts
- Varies; ask the yard
- How the price is set
- The yard's price, on a scale the state must approve
- How you are paid
- AZ, from $300: mailed check or money order, with exceptions; NV, from $150: check or transfer
- Getting it there
- Varies; ask the yard
Carbide Buyers USA
Family owned and operated
- Who can sell
- Sellers anywhere in the US
- What it accepts
- Carbide in any form and any brand; exotic metals too
- How the price is set
- A quote from your carbide's form, rough weight and photos
- How you are paid
- Cash, where state law allows it
- Getting it there
- Ship from any US state and we pay the shipping, or we pick up in every city in CA, AZ and NV
Sources: Kennametal US carbide recycling page (Internet Archive, Feb 2026); Kennametal carbide recycling terms (Internet Archive, Feb 2025); Sandvik Coromant US recycling page (Internet Archive, Jan 2026); Sandvik Coromant US recycling terms (Internet Archive, May 2026); California Attorney General, Information Bulletin 2025-DLE-12; Arizona Revised Statutes 44-1642; Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 647; Ohio Revised Code chapter 4737; NIST weighing and scales FAQ (updated March 6, 2026).
Numbers worth knowing before you sell
Each figure links to the source it comes from.
Ways to sell carbide, guide by guide
Who buys it, how offers are built, and how shops and families sell it.
Where to sell carbide
Every option near you and by mail, and how we buy: ship from any state or pickup in CA, AZ and NV
Manufacturer buyback programs
What the tool makers' recycling programs take, who can use them and how they pay
Kennametal carbide recycling
How Kennametal's program works, who it suits, and the other ways to sell
Sandvik carbide recycling
Sandvik Coromant's buyback, who can use it, and the other ways to sell
Scrap yard or carbide buyer?
What a general scrap yard does with carbide, and when a specialist makes sense
How buyers price carbide
Tungsten content, the market, hard and soft scrap, and what a buyer deducts
Offer comparison calculator
Put two or three offers side by side and see what each pays after shipping and deductions
Choosing a buyer
The questions to ask before you ship a pound, and the warning signs
Getting paid
Cash, checks and transfers, the ID rules for scrap sales, and the records to keep
Machine shops
Setting up a carbide bin, what to keep separate, and how shops sell it
Estate and shop cleanouts
Clearing out a machinist's tools: finding the carbide and selling it
Which way to sell fits your carbide
Match your lot against each buyer's written terms on four points: the form your carbide is in, how much you have, whose brand it is and where you are. Most of what rules an option in or out sits in those terms, so read them before you pack anything.
Two terms first. Cemented carbide is hard tungsten carbide (WC) held in a tough metal binder such as cobalt, nickel or iron. Hard scrap is solid pieces, such as inserts (the indexable cutting tips clamped into turning and milling tools) and end mills (cutters ground from carbide rod); soft scrap is grinding sludge, sweepings, powders and turnings.
- Form. Sandvik Coromant's US recycling page, as archived in January 2026, accepts all carbide inserts and solid carbide tools, coated or not, but its restrictions on the same page allow only stand-alone inserts and solid round tools, nothing brazed or attached, and no cermet or ceramic inserts. Kennametal's online terms, as archived in February 2025, require carbide free from contaminants, ceramics, cermets and steel, while its US page, as archived in February 2026, also takes soft scrap such as sludge and non-conforming powders. A brazed tool, a carbide tip joined to a steel body by brazing, can rule out a program on its own.
- Amount. Those February 2025 Kennametal terms cap one seller at 3,000 lb in any month online, send larger sellers to a purchasing agent in its metallurgical group, and allow at most 1,000 lb in a single closed metal container. Sandvik's US terms, as archived in May 2026, count solid carbide tools only below 160 mm overall length and 8 kg net weight.
- Brand. Kennametal's February 2025 terms reserve its online program for customers of Kennametal products, not scrap brokers, dealers or agents. Sandvik's May 2026 terms cover used inserts and round tools of any brand.
- Where you are. Kennametal's US page (February 2026 capture) and WIDIA's US page (January 2026 capture) each say their program is offered in the United States, Canada and Germany. Selling to a scrap buyer in Arizona, a sale of $300 or more is, with some exceptions, paid by a check or money order mailed to the address on your ID; in Nevada, a sale of $150 or more is paid only by check or electronic transfer.
Payment terms differ as much as the acceptance rules. Kennametal's February 2025 terms set net 30 days, make Kennametal's weight final and have the seller prepay all freight, deducting any shipping Kennametal pays from the final payment. Sandvik Coromant's January 2026 US page describes getting an RRA purchase order number and a price-per-pound quote before you ship, then a purchase order with the confirmed weight and a check mailed against your invoice. Its May 2026 US terms describe another process: orders through an online platform, Sandvik AB as the buyer, an invoice only after Sandvik collects the tools at the agreed pick-up point, and payment due 30 days from receipt of an undisputed, properly issued invoice, or a credit against a future Sandvik invoice. The two captures differ, so ask Sandvik Coromant which one applies to you. Other tool makers may run programs too; ask them or your distributor.
Two or three offers are worth getting because the price per pound is only part of what you take home. A deduction is anything a buyer subtracts from the gross, such as shipping it paid on your behalf or material it rejects, and Kennametal's February 2025 terms let it reject any part of a shipment for any reason and pay nothing for what it rejects. Enter each offer in the offer comparison calculator to see what it pays after shipping and deductions, and read choosing a carbide buyer for what to ask each one first.
Sources: Sandvik Coromant US recycling page (Internet Archive, Jan 2026); Sandvik Coromant US recycling terms (Internet Archive, May 2026); Kennametal carbide recycling terms (Internet Archive, Feb 2025); Kennametal US carbide recycling page (Internet Archive, Feb 2026); WIDIA US carbide recycling page (Internet Archive, Jan 2026); ITIA, Cemented carbides: a success story; ITIA, Recycling of tungsten, part 1; ITIA, Recycling of tungsten, part 2; Arizona Revised Statutes 44-1642; Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 647.
How we buy carbide: you ship it, or we pick it up
We buy scrap carbide in any form and any brand, by either of two routes. From anywhere in the US, you ship it to us and we pay the shipping. Sellers in California, Arizona and Nevada have a second choice: we come to them and pick it up, in any city across those three states.
Both routes start with the same quote request: tell us what form the carbide is in and about how much it weighs, and send a few photos through the quote form, by email to help@carbidebuyersusa.com, or call us. Inserts, end mills, drills, rods, brazed tools and grinding sludge are all carbide we buy, and we also buy exotic metals and alloys.
We pay cash where state law allows it. Arizona's scrap law, with some exceptions, bars a dealer from paying on site for a sale of $300 or more and has it mail a check or money order instead, and Nevada's requires a check or electronic transfer for a sale of $150 or more, so in those cases we pay the way the law requires.
Weigh our offer exactly as you would any other: what it accepts, what getting the carbide to us costs you, and how it pays. Where to sell carbide lays out both of our routes beside every other option, and our quote is one more line to put in the calculator next to the rest.
Sources: Arizona Revised Statutes 44-1642; Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 647.
Two ways to sell us your carbide
Ship it
- Send the form with a weight and a few photos.
- Get our quote.
- Ship it to us. We pay the shipping.
We pick it up
- Send the form with a weight and a few photos.
- Get our quote.
- We come to you, in any city in the three states, and pay you in cash where state law allows.
Where we buy
- California, Arizona and Nevada: we come to you, in every city.
- Every other state: ship it to us and we pay the shipping.
Questions people ask
Who buys used carbide?
Three kinds of buyer take it: tool makers that run buyback programs, general scrap yards that buy metal by weight, and specialist carbide buyers and scrap traders. A buyback program is a tool maker's own scheme for buying used carbide back for recycling. Each kind of buyer sets its own rules on who can sell, what it accepts and how it pays, which is why the cards above are worth reading before you choose.
Do scrap yards buy carbide?
It varies by yard, so call and ask whether a yard buys carbide and how it grades it before you load anything. In California, Arizona, Nevada and Ohio, state law has the buyer record your ID, and NIST says a commercial scale needs state inspection and approval before use. Scrap yard or carbide buyer? explains how the two differ.
Can I sell carbide back to the company that made the tools?
Sometimes. Some tool makers publish buyback programs, and their written terms, as archived in 2025 and 2026, vary: one limits its online program to its own customers, another takes inserts and round tools of any brand, and the US terms documented on this site refuse cermet and ceramic inserts. Other makers may run programs too, so ask them or your distributor. The guide to manufacturer buyback programs sets out each documented program's terms with its date.
How is hard carbide scrap different from soft scrap?
Hard scrap is solid carbide: inserts, end mills, drills, rods, dies and wear parts. Soft scrap is the loose material, such as grinding sludge, sweepings, powders and turnings. Most soft scrap goes through chemical recycling, so keep the two apart and describe each one when you ask for a quote.
Do you pay cash for carbide?
Yes, where state law allows it. Arizona and Nevada limit cash for scrap metal at set amounts and above, and in those cases we pay by the method the law requires. Getting paid covers payment methods, the ID rules for scrap sales and the records worth keeping.
Do you buy carbide from outside California, Arizona and Nevada?
Yes. Sellers anywhere in the US can ship carbide to us, and we pay the shipping. Pickup, where we come to you, covers every city in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Have carbide to sell?
Tell us what form it is in and about how much it weighs, and add a few photos. Ship it from any state and we pay the shipping, or we pick up anywhere in California, Arizona and Nevada.