General stock list

[knoba]

I forgot to mention that I have a half sheet of 18swg zintec hanging around (...damn that rust!). Available from most good motor factors & some bad one's. Personally, I can't be bothered with plate ( > 3mm), unless it was for a specific project, otherwise, I could see it being a depreciating liability in more ways than one.

HTH

 

[English Steve]

I keep a fair amount of handrail material in (about 30m at the mo) because I seem to get through quite a lot of it.
For small flat bar upto about 25x3, I tend to buy a sheet of hot rolled and have it cut at work into whatever width strips I need. Upside is it's about 1/4 the price of proper flat bar, downside is it has a burr on both long edges which has to be removed, and it's best if it's cut with the grain. We don't use small flat bar at work so this method saves me having to go anywhere else and the cutting is free.
I also keep:
round bar in 8, 10, 12, 20 and 25.
sheet/plate offcuts upto 6mm thick (offcuts at our place can be upto 3m long and 500mm wide).
angle upto 80x80x6
box upto 200x200x10 (gate posts)

I am lucky in that anything else I can buy from or through work (with about three days notice if it has to be ordered) and benefit from their bulk pricing.