New from Ontariariario

[mechaform]

Online I’ve had to be either painstakingly exact or extremely vague about where I’m at. Not for privacy reasons, but because thems-from-away aren’t familiar with our idiosyncratic way of treating distances or placenames.I can’t assume that non-Canucks will even recognise “GTA”. Toronto they get, but that’s too specific (and wrong, in my case).

Most UK/European people seem to assume that “near” means within 5km of a town centre. I don’t think twice about driving 50km to get to a specific restaurant for supper, because that’s only half of my daily commute, but that concept blows them away.

Having friends from Kitchener to Kingston can make for some long drives for short visits, lol.

I’m north of Milton, west of Brampton. Once I get my feet wet in here, I’d enjoy meeting up with some local, like-minded souls.

 

[CWret]

Great. That’s plenty close enough of a location description. Having lived in both northern Ontario and in the prairies - I still think that someone living 50 km away is “close-by”.

 

[Susquatch]

Great. That’s plenty close enough of a location description. Having lived in both northern Ontario and in the prairies - I still think that someone living 50 km away is “close-by”.

Me too! In fact, anything under 150km is still closeby. My wife and I routinely drive 150 to Aburg, west end of Windsor, and East end of London.

 

[mechaform]

Welcome Chris
Lots of experiences in this group.
There is getting to be quite a few members in the Kitchener area.
I visit Mississauga, Burlington and Woodstock a couple times a week, if you need something picked up at KBC or another machining vendor, let me know.

Thanks for the offer! KBC, Canadian Bearings, and Metal Supermarkets are a reasonable divergence from my daily commute, so I try to order ahead and pickup during the week. I’ve laid in a decent amount of raw material over the last few months, but I am always short of something nonetheless. I know that Sowa Tools in KW is a good source, and I have yet to visit the relatively new Millbank Country Hardware. Also, Accusize seems to be importing good quality tooling from overseas.

 

[LenVW]

Is that ‘Millbank‘. . . North of Stratford ?
I worked for Central Ontario Metal in Brunner for a few years.
We used to visit Anne Mae’s in Millbank.

 

[mechaform]

Is that ‘Millbank‘. . . North of Stratford ?
I worked for Central Ontario Metal in Brunner for a few years.
We used to visit Anne Mae’s in Millbank.

Yes, that's the town. The hardware store was targetted by thieves twice in one month; they stole over $50k worth of tools. Hope they caught the buggers.
Anna Mae's puts together a heck of a meal.

 

[slow-poke]

You might want to check out the metal recycling places near the airport for material (there are three all within a stone throw). I would drop by every once in a while when I was close. Never know what will be in the bins that day but somedays it's really good; thick aluminum plate, blocks you name it. IIRC you pay the scrap price or something close to it, 1/10 of Metal Supermarket type prices.

 

[mechaform]

You might want to check out the metal recycling places near the airport for material (there are three all within a stone throw). I would drop by every once in a while when I was close. Never know what will be in the bins that day but somedays it's really good; thick aluminum plate, blocks you name it. IIRC you pay the scrap price or something close to it, 1/10 of Metal Supermarket type prices.

I used to go to McKinnon Metals a decade ago, but they have long since moved up to Woodbridge.
I had not thought to go to recyclers as most seem to be geared to commerical clients.

 

[CWret]

You might want to check out the metal recycling places near the airport for material (there are three all within a stone throw). I would drop by every once in a while when I was close. Never know what will be in the bins that day but somedays it's really good; thick aluminum plate, blocks you name it. IIRC you pay the scrap price or something close to it, 1/10 of Metal Supermarket type prices.

Would you mind sharing recycler names? (So I can find them.) I may just give them a visit.

 

[slow-poke]

I don't recall the names, there are several IIRC, Dixie North of 401, East on Brittania. I think Attar was the one I went to most often. Note IIRC you can't exit onto Dixie from 401 when travelling East.

 

[CWret]

It’s about time i made a run to Busy Bee. Since expanding my metal working hobby, I’ve been also stopping in at KBC (along with BB). So now I’ll search out and add some recyclers too.
Thanks @slow-poke