.............Funny thing you should mention that. I was needing some 12L14. I've normally gone to Klure & Harris in Riverside, CA for structural stuff but they also carry other stuff. They're about 30 miles round trip. I called and they didn't have any. Checking a couple other places in the Yellow Pages that I wasn't familiar with gave me the idea that all anyone carried around here was hot and cold rolled stuff. Box, tubes, flats, sheets and etc. There are a LOT of ornamental steel outfits around, due to the latino population
The last place in the listings before it turned into Stock & Bond Brokers was Cal-Mesa in Yucaipa, Ca. It's kind of a small bedroom community at the east end of the valley, but I figured what the heck and gave them a call. I asked if they had any 12L14 and the guy said sure, what did I need? I asked if they had an 7/8" bar and he said "Sure do". Eureka! I did check On-Line Metals and 7/8" 12' long bars were $34 each and estimated shipping on 2 of'em would be another $34.
I asked the guy how much they were and he said $34 each. I said I only had a pickup and he said they would cut them in half for me, no charge. Getting better by the minute! When I to their place (4.2 miles from my driveway) in the lobby on the phone was James, the guy I'd talked to. We talked a minute or two and he gave me my will call reciept and said to see Carlos out in the building to my left as I went out the door. He also said it was okay if I 'milled around' a bit too
I found Carlos and gave him the paper and said James said it was okay if I milled around a bit to see what they had. Carlos said he'd show me so we walked around and he pointed out where they kept all the tool steels like the S and D series steels, the various 41 and 43 series stuff, 8620, 1045, and then the leaded steels 41L40, 11L44, 12L14, and then the low carbon A36 and such. The other 2 buildings were sheet, box, pierced, expanded ornamental & angle, and then aluminum and cast iron was in the last one!!!!!!!!
I think I was in heaven
Unlike K&H where I'd been going before who toss all the drops and rems into large wooden boxes, this place marks them with a paint pen and they put them into short racks in front of the long racks the full length pieces are in. At K&H they simply sell rems by the pound and really don't know what anything is. At Cal-Mesa they sell the rems by the pound also (different prices for different types) and it's nice to know WHAT you're buying!
Making that last phone call sure paid off, and they sure seem like nice folks to boot.
..............Buckshot