Price of steel

[Dustyhaze75]

so the chinese buy our metal, manufacture products and selling them back to us for 10 times the price, with a bend here and a tack weld there. humm sounds like our wood. they buy our particle board, make furniture and sell it back to us. but hey............ who am I to complain. We supply the crap and I can't even buy a single stick for a fair price in my own country. I'd probly get it cheaper if I imported it from china. is it just me or does it feel like we're being sold out. I have nothing against chinese people, I have everything against our own country's selling our every last resource and leaving it's own people in the dust. so much for the little companys and the little guy. mabey we're not as free as we think. mabey we're all working for china without knowing it..............hummmmm? lol .................
we exaust ancient resources and they create new resources with technology. now you tell me.........who's working for who? if you look at the big picture .............who's going to run out of work first? them or us? so much for the little man, so much for the little man ! ....................we might as well be saying ......so much for the free world, so much for the free world !

[Jim-TX]

My everyday price for small quantities of most any steel is around .56/lb.

That's about like here. Square tubing runs more than flats, etc, but 50-60 cents/pound is close. I bought some 3/4 #9 expanded metal the other day. It was priced by the sheet and not by the pound but figures out about $.67/pound.

[Dustyhaze75]

steel prices

that's crazy !

[calweld]

One question though, probably a pretty basic one, if I get scrap to practice on and can't identify what the steel is, (unlike buying new where they can tell you exactly what you're getting) can there be an issue with using the incorrect rods/filler material, or for the most part is steel steel, stainless stainless and Al Al? I think I remember that at least with Al, there can be some issues with different types, and since I am learning, it might make sense to go with known quantities, so if I have issues with my welds, at least I can eliminate the wrong filler material? Thoughts?

Alha, for practice, it doesn't really matter as far as steel goes, the worst that can happen if say you try to weld an AR or T-1 type steel with 6011 is you'll get a crack right down the center. Anything else you might do, say bend tests, may not be completely valid, but as far as laying weld down, and cutting it open, checking for penetration, porosity, and slag inclusions, with 7018 or better rod, and almost any wire, just practice away.

[Dustyhaze75]

6061-t6

got my 6061-T6 square, round cornered tubing today. Two 20' sticks(1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" thick) cost $154 taxes included. my order of gas lenses, nozzels, insulators and collets got messed up. I got wrong parts, too many parts and missing parts all in the same box. I ordered the missing parts but I'll have to wait another week.

[lars66]

Go a few blocks east of Discount Steel dow n by the old Williams Steel operation and hit the scrap yards.

[Chuck U&R]

alha - Where are you ?
I'm in NC, south of Raleigh.
I'm paying about $.30 for scrap / drops and about $.65 - $ $.75 for new.

I don't see what you 'kind' of steel you're look for either ?

For structural do a circle search from the phone book, call the closest one first.

For fence / railing type stuff search the net, I use King.

For scrap check the recycling yards.