Easter trip: also a supply run

'Supply' in this case meaning steel. One type in particular. I use 3/16" square stock to make the roasting forks I did the post on the making of, and it's hard to find. Oh, it can be ordered from a couple of places as key stock; but only in 12" lengths. And since it takes 30" to make one of the long ones, that doesn't work too well. And gets expensive.

I used to get it from a salvage yard here in town in 12' lengths. That's enough to make four long ones and one shorter from the 24" piece left. Then that place closed. I finally found another place that sometimes carried it, and for the same price. Until now. Just before Medieval Fair I needed some and found out that a: the stuff they now had was 10' sticks, b: the price had gone up and c: they were, after my buy, out of it. And may or may not get more.

So I had asked one of the folks I'd be staying with to, if he had time, call some steel suppliers in his area and see if it was available. Lo and behold, he found one. So while down there went by and bought 20 sticks for the price I used to get up here. And then...

I asked the guy if they could cut it, he said sure and went out to see "If I have that many in stock". I figured cut them at the 60" mark, that'd give me 20 5' pieces and 20 7' pieces, much easier to put in the truck(no, I did not like the idea of driving down the highway with seven feet of steel bar bobbing up and down behind me). Then he came back in & said "It's ready". "You already cut it?" "Yeah". He had cut it all in half instead of asking me how long I wanted it cut. It was still a better price, but dammit! Each of the pieces would give me two 30" pieces with 12" left over, not long enough to use for much.

I mentioned to the guy carrying it out that I wished the guy had asked for size before cutting, and he stopped and asked if it was a problem. I said yes, and explained why. He (who turned out to be the owner) said to wait a minute and went back in. Came out a couple of minutes later with a question, and I clarified what I used the stuff for. He said to wait while he did some more figuring and went back in. Friend and I discussed this, and decided maybe he was going to give me a discount on the stuff. After about five minutes he came out with a short bundle and said "Twenty two-foot pieces, will that take care of it?" He'd cut up a little over three sticks to make up for the error. I stammered something along the lines of "Very well! Thank you!" and we loaded up and left.

So at this point I can recommend Metal Supermarkets in Fort Worth. Any business can make a mistake; it's how they handle it that counts. And they handled it well.