Material question

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I'm just a hobby welder,  looking for scrap steel pieces to practice stick welding.  Where are good places to find inexpensive practice material?   I know scrap yards buy scrap by the pound, do some sell small quantities of decent material?
Reply:Stating your location will help.
Reply:Central VALast edited by cmb77; 02-18-2016 at 02:08 PM.
Reply:The one in Ohio I'm familiar with sells scrap. You wander through, pick out what you want, they weigh it up and you pay by the pound. I think it was 10 or 20 cents per lb last time I was there. They didn't have a lot of mild steel though, mostly stainless, aluminum and exotics. They had some big pieces of mild steel but too big for me to deal with. Another place is Craigslist in the free section or your local Freecycle might occasionally have miscellaneous bits. Old bed frames are good once you grind the surface coating off. Post in the Craigslist Wanted section. Scrap steel doesn't sell for much right now.Last edited by JD1; 02-18-2016 at 02:21 PM.
Reply:Hit up some fab shops in your area. We scrap a ton of stuff that would make excellent practice material, and scrap prices are so low that they might let you pick for free.
Reply:My local metal supplier also does cutting and shearing.  They will often let me pick through their drop bin and get a pile together.  Then, they throw me a number, usually around $10-20.  It's all brand new metal they would have sent to the scrap yard eventually anyway, so win-win.  And when I need full-size stuff, I always go to them.  Helps to keep the relationship going.
Reply:I do one of 4 things for coupons: My brother brings home scrap from his job, I go to a local steel yard that has a "bargain tent" for drops and scrap (although at $1/lb it is not a bargain), I go to a local fabricator that lets me pick their scrap bin and usually charges me between 10 and 20 cents a pound based on eyeballing it (they never weigh anything), or for TIG practice especially I order welding kits from the James F Lincoln foundation. The welding kits are all cold rolled steel and are cut into 2x6 or 3x3 coupons already. The kits are pretty dang cheap if you buy 10 or more. http://www.jflf.org/ProductDetails.a...ductCode=METALMiller Multimatic 255
Reply:Originally Posted by cmb77Central VA
Reply:I was an apprentice at this small fabrication shop and there was always offcuts behind the guillotine that would be put into the bin. Try go to some fab shops and ask them for their offcuts and if they're willing to let you have them.