Source / Price for Mild Steel welding rod for Oxy/Acetylene

First thing is, you should open a cash account with your welding supply store. At the ones I deal with in Washington, that immediately gets you about a 33% discount on many items.

Then price elsewhere.

You can certainly get much better price per pound online.

Here are two of my favorite online welding supply houses:

Grant

Too many $$ for that kind of useage. You are talking about 1/4 to 1/2 a pallet per year.

If you have a printout from a couple of online suppliers, take them to your local supplier with the paper folded neatly in your back pocket. Explain that you would like to buy in quantity, perhaps 100 to 200 pounds at a time. And that you would like the best (better) price. And how might the dealer HELP you achieve this?? Maybe with a bulk order? Or he stocks and you pick up? Now given that you are probably buying a LOT of O2 and acetelyne, he should be more than happy to see about accomodating you.

If that still runs to a blank wall, you should indicate that you have gotten quotes from others at a much better price but that you would certainly like to buy local even if it was a bit more. Convienece, local economy, and all that.

And if that doesn't work, thank him for his prior support and indicate you will use other suppliers in the future.

Grant had a couple of suppliers, a year supply > I make sculpture, primarily with oxy/acetylene torch, and a lot of

You might look at Enco

I bought it for GTAW use and it works fine at about 1/3 what my local welding shop was getting.

Regards, Bob

The specific wire you want is RG45

Here it is for $1.50/lb.

If you order in bulk from them you may get it even lower, plus you can arrange a truck freight shipment instead of UPS.

Jud- What do you for O/A?. You must use a lot of that also. Make your own?

-Mike

I do consume a lot of O/A, though I mostly weld the wire on a pretty low flame, so it's not too bad. I didn't figure I could have those shipped any cheaper than I get at the supplier, so I only asked about the rod.

Which, apparently I'm paying too much for. Thanks all for the info, links, and suggestion about approaching my current supplier. That's why this place is great. Much more informative here than on some of the arts groups I participate in.

thanks all !!

Hi jud,

Something else you might try is looking at MIG wire. It should be easy to find in .045 inch size, but should also be available in 1/16 inch and possibly even bigger. Just reel off what ever length you want to use and cut. See this link for Lincoln's catalog on MIG wire for carbon steel:

This site has .045 in up to 500 lb reels/coils:

Just a different thought, idea...

I browsed your website - Nice stuff!

You sold the TV set robot to Rosie o'Donnell?

good on you!

I've found that wire coat hangers work ok for O/A welding if the weld isn't too critical.

Tony

My old Dad told me that was what they used for their Model A's and T's. He said it worked better than rod because it could be hammered smooth afterward.

Steve