Price of steel

[dabar39]

I never have bought any scrap materials but I do know around in my area they are only paying $4.50 per hundred pounds. Something I have also noticed is the price of new has gone up about 30% around here in the last month or two. Dave

[tacmig]

Here's my take. Remember steel is a commodity! And as someone mentioned, the demand in China has grown over 400% in the past decade. American steel is seeing a lot of boat time now-a-days and who ever is willing to take volume is always the front runner. When I first started my shop about 25 years ago I was in the same pan as many of you that are just starting out. However, at that time the squeeze on steel did not exist and although I didn't get the prices as the big boys did, I wasn't at all discouraged from the suppliers who may have charged me a bit more but kept the price affordable as they wanted to turn inventory and make me happy. Now a days I buy 2 and 3 thousand pounds at a time a few times a month for my shop and I get very good prices. But even now, the supply shop which has grown 3 fold still caters to the 500 pound a month guy and dosen't try to put him out of business just because he dosen't blow through steel like the bigger shops. In my opinion this is why the supply shop has grown, small welders have been able to exsist and everyone seems to be happy. Like on this message board around here we just try to help each other out. I'm a medium sized shop and in no way can I compete with the larger shops that do off-shore and high rise work and I'm too big to do the small projects. So how it works around here is like this. I pass on the work that is to big and out of my league to my big friends and for the smaller stuff I do the same and they all do the same for me. It seems to me we have created a type of "supply and demand" system for the supply house and to gouge the little guy would hurt the entire chain. Talk to your fellow welders, prove to them your skills are commercially viable and perhaps they will pass the smaller stuff to you as opposed to just skipping it! Remember them as well when you get asked to do something out of your league! It's not always perfect as there is always some hack that underbids everyone, but they don't seem to last long around here.

Just a thought.

TacMig

[Steve]

A coworker needs some light weight ramps to drive a D9 Cat onto his lowboy. After figuring what he wants and needs, I checked on 40 foot of 3/8 x 3in Al square tubing... 900 bucks. guess he ain't getting no Al ramps.

[welder_one]

my price on steel in arkansas is around .40 cents/ pound. aluminum for me is about.90 cents/ pound. i used to date the sales girl at the steel place (we are still friends). and the plant that i work at buys aluminum around 30 mill runs a month and 50 or more coils a month. so, it goes to prove that if you can buy quantity, you'll get quality service. sad, but true

[alha]

Thanks everyone for the info, and the good advice. Can't remember the name right off the bat, was passing thru Mpls, I think it was somewhere around Washington near 35W if I remember correctly, and saw the place while I was driving by. They looked pretty big, so I called them on my cell on a whim, just to see what it was going for. Looks like I'll keep looking, there's got to be better prices in town for what I'm looking for, and I'm also going to keep my eyes open for scrap in my travels.

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?

[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]

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]

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.