I need a good metal supplyer in Portland,OR area

[Cary Falk]

I am getting a welder to putz around the garage with. I will be making mobile bases, lathe tool rests and such. I don't know what to exactly look up in the phone book to get metal. I refuse to pay BORG prices. I tried welding supply and metal but nothing jumped out at me. Does anyone know what to look up in the phone book or better yet does anyone know of a good one in the north Portland, OR/Vancouver area?
Thanks,
Cary

[Greg Peterson]

Try Eastside Steel. (503) 760-6787. Right off 205 at Powell.

[Joe Pelonio]

Try

http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/MSC-storefinder.aspx?MAP=USA&region=OR

and click Portland.

I have used their Seattle area store, and they were reasonable with a great selection.

[Cary Falk]

Thanks guys. I will give them a call and see what they have. Cary

[Justin Grow]

Hmmm. Acme welding is on se 7th and salmon. I've gotten bits and pieces from them. They are very friendly. If they wont sell you some metal, maybe they would offer advice on the best place to purchase.

[David G Baker]

I do not live in Oregon but do some metal working in Michigan. I shop at the metal scrap/salvage yards and have frequent success in my area.

[Cary Falk]

I do not live in Oregon but do some metal working in Michigan. I shop at the metal scrap/salvage yards and have frequent success in my area.

Like a auto salvage yard or is there specifically a metal salvage yard?

[Justin Grow]

Cary, you could go to:
www.calbag.com (http://www.calbag.com)
www.schnitzersteel.com (http://www.schnitzersteel.com)
www.metrometalsnw.com (http://www.metrometalsnw.com)

[David G Baker]

In Michigan some auto salvage yards carry a lot of metal but I have had better luck in salvage yards that focus on picking up metal cuttings from metal fabrication shops. When I lived in Sacramento California there were several that had routes that picked up scrap pipe, short cut off scrap, scrap from sheared plate and I beams that were surplus from the local businesses. This was many years ago and things have changed a lot since then. The price of scrap has really gone up.
I have purchased metal directly from fabrication shops directly. I would call them to see if they would deal with me and many were more than happy to.
Places that take recycled aluminum cans sometimes have other metals for sale.

[Brian Elfert]

My experiences with Metal Supermarkets is they seem to be pretty pricey.

There is a large metal yard here in Minneapolis that has lots of drops. I try to get drops when possible as they only charge by the pound for those. They do charge $5 for a cut so I spend a lot of time finding something as close to the right size as possible. (I tend to have more time than $$ since I worked a salaried job.)

A drop is any piece of metal that has been cut off from the original full length piece.

I suspect most major cities have a place like this.