[TheForge] Re: Odd size stock

[Jerry Smith]

Bill,

I live in Steel Valley now and have trouble getting
reasonable price steel, in sizes and quantity that
suit my needs. I used to live in the big city with a
major university, several small universities, banking
and insurance companies galor and no heavy industry. I
could get really good braided cable, lots of truck
spring materials and get scrap I Beams now and then.
But then again, land where I used to live was more
than what I paid for my current home.

Jerry

--- Patty Draper/Bill Robertson
<applecrossforge at nettally.com> wrote:

> Mike , A good suggestion but we live in a small town
> that is the State 
> Capitol, full of suits. Along with two universities,
> a junior collage and 
> vocational school, full of young nubile women.  But
> not a factory or 
> fabricator or neighborhood shear operator within
> hundreds of miles.    Bill
> PS Why is it that those of us who make the effort to
> go the extra mile and 
> reach for a higher rung on the ladder are labeled
> with all these unpleasant 
> attributes.  I guess there are the Latanes' and
> there are the.... well 
> ...others....!   (grin)   Bill
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 3:27 PM
> Subject: [TheForge] Re: Odd size stock
> 
> 
> >
> >
> >> I "could" forge it out, but now it has become a
> challenge to find
> >> it.
> >
> > Well then, Bill....
> >
> > If you live in or near any industrial stuff, scout
> around for products
> > made in your area that have components made of
> stock close to the
> > dimensions you're looking for. Then go to the back
> door -- the door
> > where they pile Broken Stuff, take smoke breaks,
> spit and tell dirty
> > jokes -- go to the back door of the company that
> makes it and ask
> > about off-cuts, scrap, rejected product etc.  Talk
> to the lowest guy
> > on the totem pole who has the authority to give
> you what you want.
> >
> > Consider sheet/plate of the desired the thickness,
> from scraps of
> > which you or your friendly neighborhood shear
> owner could cut strips.
> >
> > I admit that this is a less productive strategy
> than it was a
> > couple-three decades ago.  Now many plants have
> chainlink fences,
> > armed guards at the gate if not on the scrap heap,
> locked steel doors
> > everywhere, security badges and a cost accountant
> who has calculated
> > the shareholder value of selling an ounce junk vs.
> putting it in the
> > dumpster.  Don't bother with those places unless
> you have an inside
> > man.  But it might work for you if there happens
> to be a more or less
> > old fashioned biz that uses what you want.
> >
> >>  (Patty thinks I'm being anal).
> >
> > Stubborn, pig-headed and cranky?  Yes. But anal? 
> Nahhh...  :-)
> >
> >
> > - Mike
> >
> > -- 
> > Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia,
> Canada       .~.
> >                                                   
>        /V\
> > mspencer at tallships.ca                             
>        /( )\
> > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                
>        ^^-^^
> > _______________________________________________
> > Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> > theforge mail list group photo site is
> > http://www.photoaccess.com
> > Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> > password:  anvil
> > ___________
> >
> >
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
> 
> 
>