Cheap Metal

[Iplayfarmer]

In response to the occasional and recurring threads about steel prices and sources of cheap metal, I decided to post my most recent metal buying experience.

I replied on a whim to a Craig's List ad from a guy who said he had a bunch of scrap metal for sale to the highest bidder. Most of what he had was the standard useless scrap junk, but I was surprised to find in the pile of stuff some new 2" X 2" X 1/8" angle iron. There were 16 pieces that were 16' long and 11 pieces that were 4' long. Only one peice had even the slightest bend to it. We dickered the price to $25 and he threw in a 5 lug wheel that I wanted for a spare on my trailer.

He was happy. I was very happy. He said that he'd had a lot of calls, but I was the first one who had showed up with cash in hand to actually buy. (He hadn't said anything in the ad about the new steel.) By the time I got there the ad was almost a week old, and he was eager to make a deal.

Don't underestimate the value of free ads.

Anyone have any ideas on usefull things to build from 2" X 2" angle?

 

[donais]

ramp treads, my daughters dairy cow grooming stand, a box frame to put on a pallet to put firewood in.... you got a great deal i just paid .49 cents a pound for 2 8x20x3/8's pieces of plate remnants

 

[jayste]

Great find Farmer! I ran onto a deal a while back. The company I work for uses large machinery to machine metal (machine shop). We got in a pretty good sized horizontal boring machine a while back and the crate was made of channel and angle iron with a thin galvenized metal skin. By the time I found out about it all that was left was the top section (angle iron and skin). In the end I eventually got two and the angle in actually 50mmX50mmX6mm thick. Basically, 2X2X1/4". So far I've made a matching ramp to the one I found on I-40 one day going to work and am now in the process of making a small trailer to pull behind my four wheeler. Pics are below. Since then I also acquired some 2X4 channel as well. Free steel is always a good deal!

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Great find Farmer! I ran onto a deal a while back. The company I work for uses large machinery to machine metal (machine shop). We got in a pretty good sized horizontal boring machine a while back and the crate was made of channel and angle iron with a thin galvenized metal skin. By the time I found out about it all that was left was the top section (angle iron and skin). In the end I eventually got two and the angle in actually 50mmX50mmX6mm thick. Basically, 2X2X1/4". So far I've made a matching ramp to the one I found on I-40 one day going to work and am now in the process of making a small trailer to pull behind my four wheeler. Pics are below. Since then I also acquired some 2X4 channel as well. Free steel is always a good deal!

That trailer is looking like a nice build. There are a lot of projects that make sense if you can get the materials cost down.

 

[charlz]

Not quite as good a deal but I picked up 200+ feet of 1.5 x1.5 x 3/16 angle off craigslist for $50. Had been a crate and some were curved but most was straight.

Seems I always need more storage space in my shop so I welded up some drawer framework for underneath my work bench. Basically two 'squares' with angle 'runners' between them. The drawers, which I made from pine with plywood bottoms, slide in and out on the runners. Not something I would go out and buy new steel for but when you have a pile of it..... I spaced the drawers so that when you pull it out enough for it to start to tip down it hits the runner above and won't fall out.

 

[Kays Supply]

One of my favorite haunts is the motor cycle shops. The crates they are shipped in are really nice box tube, weird shaped channels , round tube and flat sheet. It usually is clean and no rust, if you get it before a rain. The box tube is usually cut out and they charge a small price for it. The rest is just laying in pile buy the dumpster. The base for a large 4 wheeler makes a pretty good start to a small trailer bed. Now that I think of it, it is about time for a run. I am getting low on project material.

 

[PILOON]

Driving with a pal couple of weeks back I called for him to stop.
Under an overpass I spotted what looked like a couple of 2 X 4's.
Naturally both being scroungers we investigated more closely.

Turned out to be 2.5 X 4 inch 1/4 wall hot galvanised tubing used in overpass guard railing. One was 8ft the other 12ft. Just right stock for HD trailer poles!

Those pieces had been there since the overpass was built, perhaps 20 years or more.

You never know when or where you get a great find.

Both he and I have a decent stock pile of bed spring side rails. (Nice handy 1.5 X 1.5 angle stock just over 6ft long!)

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Driving with a pal couple of weeks back I called for him to stop.
Under an overpass I spotted what looked like a couple of 2 X 4's.
Naturally both being scroungers we investigated more closely.

Turned out to be 2.5 X 4 inch 1/4 wall hot galvanised tubing used in overpass guard railing. One was 8ft the other 12ft. Just right stock for HD trailer poles!

Those pieces had been there since the overpass was built, perhaps 20 years or more.

You never know when or where you get a great find.

Both he and I have a decent stock pile of bed spring side rails. (Nice handy 1.5 X 1.5 angle stock just over 6ft long!)

Come to think of it, there's a railroad rail that's been sitting next to the rail spur by where I work now for at least 3 years. I wonder who I'd have to contact in order to claim it as my own.