Price of steel

[lgjhn]

Man, I just went and bought me a piece of 3/16" sheetmetal, a couple of lengths of angle iron and flat stock and it put a BIG hole in $200! I guess they think this stuff is made out of gold or diesel fuel...not sure which...... It's borders on total insanity .

[bigdogjoe62]

steel

CHINA is buying all our steel driving the price thru the roof

[PAddy]

CHINA is buying all our steel driving the price thru the roof

and?


Expect price to stay up until more production comes on line, or demand dies down. And by that I mean, it's time to make friends with the guys at the local scrap yard!

[lgjhn]

According to the local supplier here, prices have actually stabilized a little the past couple of months, but still sky high. He says the same thing: China is buying everything they can get their hands on regardless of price and world production cannot keep up with it. It's just "Economics 101" He's also not too optimistic about the prices going down anytime soon either. He feels that there will another run up in prices here shortly.
The other day, I saw the remanants of an old trailer hauled out to the side of the road for the trash man to pick up. I went to the shop and got my trailer and winch, went back there as quick as I could and loaded it up....my wife was furious for bringing home more "junk". I took the little Miller plasma cutter and got me some pretty good pieces out of it. She was with me today and after she saw the prices I had to pay, she now understands why I grabbed that "junk on the side of the road"....
I probably got over $500 or raw steel out of it.

[joebass]

I just bought 3 4x10, 3/16 plates for 189.00 a piece delivered. Depending on how big a piece of plate you got I;d say find a new supplier.

[wb5jhy]

lgihn

I know what you mean. I hate to use even small pieces of bar stock to practice welding. Thinking back of all the times the shop workers threw away shorts kinda makes one cringe. I feel guilty wasting steel so I only get to practice when I dream up some project to make.

I read your other post. Congrats on ordering the mm210. I have my eye on that machine also. Maybe next year.


tom

[Bulldog]

Hey Guys,
The price of steel and everything else is high. It makes it tough to bid jobs! The only positive thing is that were all in the same boat so when I bid a job my competion is seeing the higher steel prices as well. It comes down to intelligent purchasing.
Bulldog

[GARAGEGADGETS]

Price of steel

Not only is steel prices high, look at the price of mig wire & welding rod.

[admweld]

The price on consumables has also gone up.acetylene went up on me 4 mos. ago.Also am amazed at price hikes.been buying steel myself for my buisness
for 10yrs now and can,t believe the increases in last 2 yrs.
Sure wish china would bring down a few notches.2 mos ago uped my rates
to $75/hr had too to try to compensate for the increases on my end
A $10/HR increase per hour does this seem like to much anyone elses rates
would like to compare different parts of the U.S.A THANKS FOR ANY REPLIES.

[lgjhn]

I just bought 3 4x10, 3/16 plates for 189.00 a piece delivered. Depending on how big a piece of plate you got I;d say find a new supplier.

Was that $189/sheet? Toss in a couple 20' sticks of angle and you're spending about $200.... about what I paid.
If you got all 3 sheets for $189, you got a heckuva deal.

[lgjhn]

A $10/HR increase per hour does this seem like to much anyone elses rates
would like to compare different parts of the U.S.A THANKS FOR ANY REPLIES.

Well, I think its basically supply/demand in your local area and the type of work. If you can still get plenty of work at $75/hr rate in your area, then obviously your rate is ok.

Out here in the middle of nowhere, it's mostly farmers that need a little extra welding done when something breaks, especially during planting and harvest time when they don't have time to stop. $75/hr around here would be too high.... more like $50 or so. It also depends on the job too; If the job is out in the middle of a muddy, wet, snake-infested rice/crawfish field or it's just a broken piece brought to the shop will dictate rate.... . A lot of times, if it's just to re-weld a broken bracket, add a chain hook or something like that, I'll just give em a dollar figure and if they agree, I'll weld it up for em.

[Orion]

Bought 60' of 3" sched.80 and 10' of 4"x4"x1/4" angle $259.00

[Kelly Aitken]

I just bought 40' 1/4'' 2x2 angle, 40' 3/16 2x2 angle, and 20' of 2'' 3/16 wall 2x2'' square tubing. Tore up a $200.00 bill. with the other material that went into this lift table, It almost would have been cheaper to buy one on e-bay but what fun would that have been?

Kelly

[Bulldog]

Hey Guys,
I just got a 1/4" 4'x8' sheet of AR400 along with 40' of 1/8"x2"x2"angle delivered yesterday. $38.00 for the angle and $558.00 for one sheet of AR400. It seems a shame to even cut the AR400.
Bulldog

[Scho]

100' of 4130 1.5"OD Tubing
230' of 1020 DOM 1.75" OD tubing
20' of 1020 DOM 2" OD tubing
100' of 1.5x1.5" square steel tubing
----------------------------------

$1300. I thought that was actually not too bad, but it gouged my wallet.