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Sourcing Metal | General Discussion

PeterT said:
Back to Sourcing Metal Stock (LOL)....
Would there be any appetite organizing a bulk combined order from one of the larger USA suppliers like below, maybe if some logistics could be worked out? For example
- everyone has a wish list in the que, these would be assembled into an order, spreadsheet easy-peasy
- select a mutually acceptable date, ideally coinciding with the perpetual 10-20% off deals that comes along, maybe a 1-2 times per year spring/fall thing?
- place order, drop ship to favorable USA border depot (it all arrives ~ same time)
- the potentially tricky but not insurmountable bit: a dedicated mule with makes a run to border, reimbursed fuel & expenses etc.
- divide the load back in Calgary, everybody gets their drops of unobtanium bronze, brass, cast iron... etc

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Not a bad idea as long as you factor in the shipping, duty ,exchange rate, and Canadian taxes.
You can order direct from McMaster Carr if needed. Just set up an account under XYZ Machining that's what I did.
 
Susquatch said:
Sounds perfect for me here on the farm. I've only really ever used 6011. And a bit of hard face (no idea what number) for plow points.

Prolly doesn't much matter though. All my welding looks like the mud nest of a barn swallow. Complete with grass and straw.
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6011 is a hi penetration rod not quite as tough as 7018, and spatters a lot. It's usually used as the root pass on pipe welding, the pipe is then capped with 7018. Mine you it does start the arc pretty easily. Next time you use it, warm up in an oven, you'll see a marked difference in the quality of weld, it'll flow much better .
 
Yup, the various dinger fees must be factored for sure.

Re McMaster, we beat this to death in another post. I've confirmed with them nothing has changed in their export policy, but obviously some accounts are getting through as evidenced by a few folks on the forum & including yourself. I've been meaning to give it another go just for the heck of it. On another forum I frequent, some Canucks were recently rejected (with a similar, suitable sounding names) so not sure why some go through & others don't. I'm actually a bit reluctant to even chat too much on the inter-web anymore so as not to compromise anyone who holds the golden keys - as in they review accounts & some lucky lotto recipients will get an unwelcome email, which is what happened in the past. Apparently MCM got their fingers wrapped $ignificantly & that's what triggered the policy.
 
PeterT said:
Yup, the various dinger fees must be factored for sure.

Re McMaster, we beat this to death in another post. I've confirmed with them nothing has changed in their export policy, but obviously some accounts are getting through as evidenced by a few folks on the forum & including yourself. I've been meaning to give it another go just for the heck of it. On another forum I frequent, some Canucks were recently rejected (with a similar, suitable sounding names) so not sure why some go through & others don't. I'm actually a bit reluctant to even chat too much on the inter-web anymore so as not to compromise anyone who holds the golden keys - as in they review accounts & some lucky lotto recipients will get an unwelcome email, which is what happened in the past. Apparently MCM got their fingers wrapped $ignificantly & that's what triggered the policy.
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I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, but I had nothing to loose, all they could say is no.
 
I don't know the full details Susquatch, but I've heard the same story from different people on completely different forums. The Who may have been Customs. What constituted a rules breach, I have no clue. I do know that it was sudden & internal & date exactly coincided when I had an account (with a CRA business name & GST#). They politely informed me that they changed their internal policy & going forward would only ship to larger business accounts & education/institutions. They cited excessive customs processing effort & expense which didn't warrant 'smaller accounts'. Trust me, I/we tried multiple times & methods over the past decade to establish account, many with direct follow-up phone calls. No dice. It wasn't until it came up on this forum past year or so I heard of any success. I don't have the post link handy but you could do a search for the discussion/details.
 
PeterT said:
I don't know the full details Susquatch, but I've heard the same story from different people on completely different forums. The Who may have been Customs. What constituted a rules breach, I have no clue. I do know that it was sudden & internal & date exactly coincided when I had an account (with a CRA business name & GST#). They politely informed me that they changed their internal policy & going forward would only ship to larger business accounts & education/institutions. They cited excessive customs processing effort & expense which didn't warrant 'smaller accounts'. Trust me, I/we tried multiple times & methods over the past decade to establish account, many with direct follow-up phone calls. No dice. It wasn't until it came up on this forum past year or so I heard of any success. I don't have the post link handy but you could do a search for the discussion/details.
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I see. Well, perhaps I can add to that a bit albeit perhaps anecdotally.

My brother is a maintenance superindent at a very large Canadian company. They did a crap load of business with McMaster Carr. They were cutoff a few years ago too. I don't remember exactly when. They had a big meeting with the top honchos at MMC and were told that the issue was government related. Something about restricted products (military, overseas companies, Cuba, etc etc) Rather than fix the individual problems, MMC opted to discontinue business with Canadian companies. The end result was my brother moving their business elsewhere.

A few months ago, I was talking to him again and he mentioned some letter punches he had just purchased. I asked him where he got them and he said MMC. So I asked how that was possible. He told me that MMC had fixed their international problems and were slowly and carefully working their way into doing business with Canadian businesses again.

So it all fits.

I may try to create an account under my business and see what happens.
 
I have 6010 for few lifetimes as well as lots of specialty rods such as inconel.

You can get a rod oven cheap on auctions. Main problem is many are big and will take lots of space. You can weld 7000 series without cooking it and a bit "wet" it will simply not be up to specs. I.e. for general "someone spitted some metal chunks on here" welding no need for rod oven. Heck some people shown on youtube you can weld with ... electrodes that were left in water overnight.

I have enough TIG stuff for few lifetimes as well.
 
@Susquatch The rod oven I bought is 4" X 4" X 27" 65 watts, 300 degrees F. It can take 2 lbs of rods (a pretty standard size to buy... I need it for my 7018 rods. THey seem to work a lot better 'pre-dried'.

If you have an old houshold oven, you can restore rods at various temperatures. I wouldn't use it for food after, however. Pic one up off of freeshare and put it into your cavernous barn you own!
 
Susquatch said:
He told me that MMC had fixed their international problems and were slowly and carefully working their way into doing business with Canadian businesses again. So it all fits.
I may try to create an account under my business and see what happens.
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Encouraging! No harm in trying, all they can say is no. Here is one of the more recent discussions
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com

McMaster-Carr

Has anyone ordered from McMaster-Carr? They seem to have some unique items that I've not seen elsewhere. I'm curious about shipping etc.
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com canadianhobbymetalworkers.com
 
I am amazed there are so many stick welders here. I get criticized all the time for using stick, Mig seems to have made it extinct. I do have a Mlller tig for firearms work and other fine fussy work.
 
buckbrush said:
I am amazed there are so many stick welders here. I get criticized all the time for using stick, Mig seems to have made it extinct. I do have a Mlller tig for firearms work and other fine fussy work.
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I have little mig for real light work but for anything heavier than about 1/8" my ac/dc stick welder is the one to be used. I haven't yet gotten into tig but would like to just don't have a pressing "need" yet.
 
buckbrush said:
I am amazed there are so many stick welders here. I get criticized all the time for using stick, Mig seems to have made it extinct. I do have a Mlller tig for firearms work and other fine fussy work.
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I am like @DPittman. I have gas, stick, and MIG, but no TIG yet. Sometimes I think I should have bought TIG instead of MIG. I am also a farmer (think heavy machinery, 1 inch plate, etc) so stick usually rules over MIG.

But unlike @DPittman & most others here, I can't weld worth a crap and never could. So almost anything I have to say about it needs to be heavily discounted (or even ignored).
 
Most of the metal i work with is repurposed stuff that was in the farm junk pile. An old rod weeder will yield a lot of good material. I had a real dilemma this summer when my daughter brought in a scrap dealer to clean up the mess, spread over a huge area with most buried in 4 ft tall grass. I spent 2 week salvaging usable material that i could find. Who needs 100 years of worn out cultivator shovels?
 
6.5 Fan said:
Most of the metal i work with is repurposed stuff that was in the farm junk pile. An old rod weeder will yield a lot of good material. I had a real dilemma this summer when my daughter brought in a scrap dealer to clean up the mess, spread over a huge area with most buried in 4 ft tall grass. I spent 2 week salvaging usable material that i could find. Who needs 100 years of worn out cultivator shovels?
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Boy does that ever sound familiar.

BTW, I've been told that the cost of Cultivator shovels is going through the roof. Used ones might be worth more than you might think.

I'm even thinking about Hardfacing some of mine so they last longer.
 
When we got done with a shovel there wasn't anything left to weld hard facing on. :) Used to do a lot of welding on seed drill boots and rod weeder boots.
 
With Covid border lock downs it can be difficult using a USA shipping address. As an alternative are some drop ship companys that you ship to a US address and they will deliver to your door.
 
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