Steel I received today

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I recently placed an order for a variety of 4130 tubing with TW metals. I've used them in the past with good success on getting the materials I want, so I stuck with them of course for this order. I specified only US or German tubing when I called in the order, trying to avoid any sub-par tubing since i'm using it to build race car chassis.  The 1" and 1.25" tubing (.049 and .058 wall respectively) were both labeled as being Benteler tubing from Germany. I've had their products before and have no objections to their products. The 1.5 x 0.065 tubing is plymouth promoly, which in my opinion is as good as 4130 tubing gets. However, my 1.75 x 0.095 tubing has no marking on it to identify where it was made. There are actually no markings on it at all...nothing identifying it as being 4130 tubing, nothing stating O.D. and wall thickness, etc...The tubing in question is much darker colored than the Benteler or Plymouth tubing. It's essentially black whereas the Benteler and Plymouth products are standard dull grey / brown tinted. I've emailed my salesperson at TW to try to get information on the material. In previous orders they've shipped data sheets on the tubing with the tubing, but this time, when I have tubing with no identification markings on it, they of course sent no data sheets.Any of you have any guess at where this tubing could be from (perhaps someone else has received some like it before)? And, am I likely to be able to get a good answer as to the origin of the tubing at this point, or am I likely to be left wondering where it came from? Unfortunately, I was not at the shop to receive the tubing, so my helper just eyeballed the quantities and signed off on the ticket. When I got to the shop and started putting the tubing away, I of course noticed how different the 1.75" x .095" looked, and that it had no markings...now i'm concerned that I might have junk tubing.Any thoughts?Thanks
Reply:It's obvious to you, that you didn't get what you ordered and paid for.Presumably you specify your order in writing and they confirm it in writing.Reject the no-name, mystery tubing.This is the seller's problem-not yours and don't make it your problem,even if they whine.This is also a good time to consider other suppliers.Blackbird
Reply:You can easily remove the manufacturer label with acetone or other solvent products on aluminum, your metal supplier is probably a small distributor and does not keep a lot of aluminum in inventory.If you ask for something (as you ask for aluminum made in US or Germany) and he got exactly what you need but not necessary ''US or Germany made'' the supplier probably just didn't care and shipped you what he had in stock!I never saw stock without manufacturer marked, I even think it have obligatory to be marked, if there is a probleme with the material in question they should be able to retrack the manufacturer, as everything's made nowadays!EDIT: just noticed it was STEEL tubing and not aluminum tubes, is it usualy paint marked or stamped in the steel ? because steel is normaly stamped, sometime it can be very very small letters, but should be stamped!Last edited by LayoutMan; 12-20-2012 at 11:42 PM.Calculator > Bevel Square
Reply:I'll get out a drop light and magnifier lens tomorrow and see if I can spot anything on the tubing. Hopefully by then I'll hear something from the supplier on the material as well. Hopefully it will be as spec'd and not require any hassle. If not, we'll see what happens.Thanks for the replies
Reply:Next time ask for mill certsVantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:The last order of 4130 I got in had some black sticks in it and were marked from (I believe) columbia river.
Reply:Originally Posted by DualieNext time ask for mill certs
Reply:Ok, I did find one piece with labeling just legible enough to determine that it is Benteler, Germany tubing as well. It surprised me to see that with how much darker it is than the smaller diameter material.Likewise, TW metals upon my request emailed me copies of the mill certs. for each material shipped to me. As I decipher through all the metric to U.S. measurement unit conversions, all the cert. sheets are looking fine. So, the supplier did meet my specs of only U.S.A. or German made tubing. I feel good about going ahead and using the material now.Thanks for the input!
Reply:Im just curious, i work in a big fab shop but im not at all into working for myself, buying steel for me, i don't work at home and never bought steel, i can understand for some proud US workers to buy american made steel, but what is the point of the German one ? Is there any ''official reports'' on steel from certains countrys can be so bad in quality ?No offense at all in the interest of buying US materials again haha, just curious...Calculator > Bevel Square
Reply:No offense taken. Those are just the two generalized manufacturing countries that are typically stocked by my supplier who are seemingly the most "on top of" their quality control.
Reply:I'm glad you posted this since I was just looking for 4130 chromoly for race car suspension fabrication.  Does TW sell in small quantities to individuals?   How's their shipping costs?
Reply:I buy most of my stuff in 120ft quantities...which by many people's standards is a small quantity. For example, this order was:120ft 1.75 x 0.095  4130120ft 1.25 x 0.0xx 4130120ft 1.5 x  0.0xx 4130and 100ft 1 x 0.0xx 4130In total I only ordered 460ft of tubing I suppose. As far as pricing goes, their prices including freight are significantly lower at the quantities I order than any of the online metal places. I've not seen anyone beat them yet on 4130 pricing for the sizes I buy.