How To Buy Steel Like A Pro - STOP! Paying Too Much For Steel. 

Don't forget local fabrication shops. There are no steel suppliers within 60 miles of me, but a local shop makes farm equipment, and sells steel to the public. I always check their discard bin for shorter pieces!

Among the most valuable 10 minutes I've spent attending RU-vid University learning how to weld. I feel more than confident enough to walk into my local steel supplier and fake it 'til I make it. Thanks Doug!

I needed some beefy angle iron a while back, found a 3ft length at a local chain store for $37.50. Called the local steel yard, and was quoted a 20ft joint for $78. The steel yard even offered to cut to my lengths required at no additional costs.

Cold rolled steel is not annealed unless ordered as such. In fabrication this may not matter much but remember that Cold roll is highly stressed internally from the forming process. If Cold roll steel is machined the material will wiggle and squirm as the stresses are relieved. The main result is warping of thin sections cut from thicker plate or bars of steel. Annealing or stress relieving avoids this problem.

All my steel shops sell everything at 20’ length and charge $5 per cut. I bring my cordless cut off wheel and cut them in half in the parking lot.

100% spot on. I asked one of our university's welding instructors where I could buy from a supplier, and he gave me a name before I could even blink. It was that easy. I compared prices with our box store, and the markup was just like you said.

Hey man, you did a really great job with this video. It was really concise. Just bought a welder after years of contemplating. I am a woodworker but I wanted to dabble in metal. I appreciate this information.

30 years ago, I used to work for a local steel supplier in sales. Despite only doing this for four years, I learned a lot and found my aquired knowledge to be very beneficial later on in life for a variety of home projects. Your video remnded me of those old days and found your explsination and presentation to be spot-on. BTW, I still find my old Ryerson and Central Steel & Wire supply catalogs to be very helpful when i need steel. Great video!

Good work! Much needed.

Love this, very helpful!

Thanks for the great info!

Thanks, Doug. My first buy was "whatever is standard for this project"... The guy at the steel supply was nice enough not to roll his eyes but I felt the "Ugh, another noob" vibe. They were cool, tho, and the next time I knew a bit more. Specificity is the name of the game with metal. Thanks for sharing your pro tips, they're invaluable.

The key to cheap steel is live in Australia. Over here you can ask for downgrade (rusty offcuts) if you are really strapped for cash

Dude, thank you. you just summed up so many things i was looking for. i appreciate it.

Awesome video, thanks.

First time I've ever both liked and subscribed based on 1 video. Very well laid out, simple and to the point, easy to understand, ad toward the end.

Excellent video! It's always nice to learn from a professional so that I can talk to other professionals in a language they will understand.

Just what I was looking for, great vid

Thanks for the info. Great video. Keep up the good work.

really good info, thank you !!!

Great info. Been doing metal work for 50+ years as a hobby and to fab stuff for myself and friends. Your info to the 'newbie' was PERFECT! 😍

Thanks Doug. Great information. I have been taking photos of the types of metal I seen to learn what they are with the uses. There is a lot of info to learn. Thanks again.

Once again...great info! Thanks, Doug!!

I needed this - thanks for a great video !!

Really thought this was a cool video. Thanks for the advices. You rock sir!

Thank You for a great video. I learns lot!!

Great video and information. Thanks!

Super helpful video for a newbie like myself. Thanks man!

Dude, that was great. Thanks

The biggest obstacle for hobbyists, or just non commercial buyers, is the steel yard doesn't want to deal with you. Even if they sell to the public, you're considered a nuisance. When I lived in Phoenix, I finally found a supplier that was always cool to me every time I walked in, whether I was buying $30 off the rem racks or needed $300 in material for a project. Since I moved to the Denver area, I can't find a supplier. Even the LWS around here are manned by a-holes. I've been here going on 3 years and haven't welded a single project.

Really informative and correct information. Thank you Sir.

you are a great teacher

Great video, thanks for all the info, very helpful!

Excellent video. Thanks!

Great video glad I found this working on my water feature.

Very informative. Thank you.

The way you relayed this info was easily understandable and comprehensive. Thank you!

Your one of the coolest customers I've ever dealt with bud! You've always been a great guy to deal with, keep up the great work!

Thank you so much for making this! Subscribed!

Great video. I know a lot of people don't know where to go to pick up steel. Until your video I had no idea that the big box stores were selling steel. I've seen some of their smaller stuff but nothing that grabbed my attention. I am very fortunate. One of my closest friend in this world owns a large welding business and has locations across the state. He mostly uses gas welders and they are all stick welders in all of his rotation. I fix his machines and do some welding when it comes to technical things. In return I don't have to buy any metal I don't even need to have my bottles refilled. Whenever I need something I ride to the location that's closest to his in my house. I understand he has ever asked me to do is not take enough steel to build a good size shed. I also was lucky that he used to have a brake machine at the one location. One of his employees had taken the big forklift and nailed it. He did so much damage that it would happen easier to buy a new one. They never used it that much right now get that service from the steel yard. Just like you said you need to ask different steel yards that what I call places that sell steel. I really like your video so much so that I definitely hit the like button and I most definitely hit the subscribe button. I really like how you broke everything down on what to look for when buying steel.

Thanks for the rundown, much appreciated! This video is really well done and to the point. You have a new sub!

Havent seen a cool guy video in a wile ,thank you sir for your time and keep ‘‘em coming

Thanks for the info, I have a project that needs steel or aluminum ( needs testing ), and knowing the pricing helps a lot. My needs are simple, overall, but not being in the business, this video really cemented things in my mind.

This is all information that I already knew, but the way you explained it for people who don't know much about steel was perfect. I've just subscribe cause I'm always trying to learn new techniques in steel works..

Good info, good video!

Nice and well done : ) thanks for the info!

Doug very well said there. Great advice thank you so much. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Very helpful video. Thank you can't wait to see ur next videos. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Making. God bless.

Clark iron and metal, Murfreesboro TN. Scrap is $0.25 per pound and new steel is reasonable. I love them so much.

Great vid. 👍

Very helpful! Thanks for making this! :)

Great video! As a tradesman picking up welding as a hobby I really appreciate it. I know what to ask for when I walk into a HVAC or plumbing supplier but no idea going into a metal supplier.

Great Video Doug , Good Info . I've been Lucky so Far , Yard Sales , Plus trading with Friends ! Always Good too see you Talk Soon Barry!!!

Great information! Thank you

Great information. Thanks for the education.

I had to learn this stuff on my own a couple of years ago building a small cnc milling machine. Good information.

Very good explanation. Not to muddy the waters but.....Pipe is used a lot in general fabrications, not just for liquids and gases. Case in point: most industrial hand rails/guard rails are made from 1-1/4" pipe. It fits the code diameter requirements and is cheaper than tube. Your steel supplier should have it and they will call it "pipe size tube". It will not be coated with lacquer (as is regular pipe) and will also not be threaded on the ends. But it will be sold in 21 foot lengths, where tube is usually sold in 20 foot lengths. And...most "process" piping (such as ink in a printing facility or hydraulic oil in a manufacturing plant will be "plumbed" with tube so that the system can be designed/manufactured to handle the characteristics of the fluid such as the pressure, volume, acidity, etc. that the piping will need to handle. It takes years to pick up on all these quirks of the metals industry. (40 plus years experience here.) Thanks again, good video.

Very helpful knowledge. The last part was a nice finish to the video. I work in new residential AC electrical warehouse and get asked dumb questions as well

Very informative, thanks for the information.

All these years and I never realized tubing is measured OD and Pipe ID. Thinking back it makes sense. Thanks for the tips.

Thank you!

Ty for the video, and yes steel in box stores are very high.

Thank you

🙏🏻 Thank you, love you vids

Great Vid Bro...

Very informative and well-organized. Thank you for sharing. 👍

Helpful!

This was awesome.

EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!! I’m a newb just learning. Now, I just need to rewatch it a couple times and TAKE NOTES!!!! Thanks again!

Thanks for this useful info.

searched hours for this and found you i appreciate what you shared here

Thanks! Didn't know about the rusting difference with hot & cold rolled.

Hey, thanks! Very helpful.

Thank you for the great video.

So helpful thank you!!! Subscribed.

Excellent information and great presentation.

Thanks!

Very helpful. 👍

Very informative Doug, keep putting new content up and your channel will grow... I will continue to “like” and look forward to more.

I am fortunate to live near a major metal supplier has an "outlet" warehouse with a huge selection of alloys, shapes and sizes. Good info Doug.

Good info

Cold rolled is formed cold, there as the hot rolled is shaped when hot nothing to do with annealing or heat treatment, heat treatment is post processing after forming process.

so nice to get real information. too many years is faking my way through it. perhaps a video on all the places one can find cheap or free metal.

Been years (30) just got a welder. Thanks for the update. Glad they are not calling it stock anymore.

I get my stuff at work, we build garbage containers of every shape and size. I can get a veriaty of cut offs of all kinds of different steel at a bit more than what they get for scrap SWEET 😎

Also you have extruded tubing and welded, so one will have a seem inside (as the outside will be ground smooth), so if you want sliding pards you don't want this seem inside, as it's a pain to remove

This man is the metal Jesus. Thank you very much for the info!

Good stuff Sir

Some recycling companies will keep remnants and sell to the public per pound. Most fab shops I know will always use drops down the road so they don't really discount prices.

Useful information Doug 👍 👍

Very good video thanks. Same thing applies to nuts and bolts : )

As a machinist I have heard and used the word stock many times to describe what was wanted even by some metal suppliers. IE: 3/4 round stock, hex stock, square stock... that us common for solid material and like you said pipe or tubing for those needs. Nice video but you might want to mention the different types/grades of mild steels and other metals as well as annealed/normalized or hardened. There is a lot of different types and it can get confusing especially for someone that is newer to metal work. Thanks for sharing this info 👍

Thanks for the valuable information Doug. I'm an Old guy (67) about to start Hobby welding and was surprised when I got to the Big-Box Store and saw the costs of Angle and Square pieces... There is a Metal Scrap Yard less than 2 miles from me and I will be checking with them to see if they sell their scraps to Private buyers. I've also been buying small metal objects from thrift stores to cut up myself for some practice or Project pieces... Thanks again-- Jake

Industrial metal supply in SD and OC has a geed selection of cutoffs and scrap for DIY fabricators.

This is one of the best informative videos I’ve seen on RU-vid! Awesome content, it is really helping for my bus build project!

Great presentation! Box stores can be a cheaper source if you look into the Electrical department. They have round tubing EMT and conduit in 10 foot lengths in a variety of diameters if you don't use it for pipe. The conduit ends are straight threaded, not tapered, and will leak, the wall thickness is less. Its still very useful and they have pre bent 45 and 90 degree pieces available. In the same rack is steel Uni Strut and 10 foot lengths of 1/2'' Allthread that is much cheaper than the 3 foot lengths.

Truth. I bought like a 4 or 5’ piece of steel at Lowe’s to practice welding (hey, I was in a rush). Then I took it to work and spent 20 minutes cutting it into welding practice coupons. I just got done placing an order for 12 feet bar of flat stainless, cut into 24 blanks for not a whole heck of a lot more. They’ll call me when it’s ready to pick up.

All to often they have minimums that the home fabricator will never meet!

There's a great little steel supplier in my city that is also a salvage buyer/scrapyard. They sell new uncut pieces as well as random scrap.

Shout out to Rose Metal Products in Springfield MO keeping me stocked with steel for my projects at a reasonable price! They also brake/fab longer pieces of sheetmetal when I need it!

This is a very efficient video.