cor-ten plate steel

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Has anyone ever used this Cor-ten steel plate for anything?If so what are the charaistics? TIA. Chris
Reply:I have been interested in using this for welded sculptures, but have not used yet.  Here are some references I  found:  http://www.aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?id=7725    http://www.intlsteel.com/PDFs/weather.pdf Weathering Steel (USS COR-TEN&#174 uses alloying elements such as copper, chromium, silicon and nickel to enhance the atmospheric corrosion resistance of the steel.  The addition of these elements also results in a high strength steel that typically exhibits a 50 ksi minimum yield strength.  ASTM A606 Type 4 is usually specified for this product.  USS COR-TEN® is a registered trademark of United States Steel
Reply:I used it on a 48 foot steel work boat about 20 years ago. It is more expensive than mild steel. It is stiffer (harder to bend around a hull), but is supposed to last at least 3 times longer than mild steel in a corrosive environment. We needed stability in the boat so we used it in the superstructure and for the main deck. We did most of the welding with 7018 rod. But also used 6011 because we had a lot laying around. To save weight up high we used 10 gauge corten instead of 3/16th mild steel. Most unpainted steel cross country powerline towers are made of corten or triten. It gets a light coat of rust but does not flake off sheets of rust like mild steel. 1/4 inch is probably good for at least 50 years in a non saltwater spray location.