How do you store your metal stock?

[Glenn]

How do you store your working stock? 20 foot sections, 10 foot sections and how do you stack it so it is out of the way but still available when needed?

[yesteryearforge]

steel rack in 10 ft sections , on the floor where i dont usually walk / actually i dont have much of a turnover in metal stock because im always in the house on this @#$%%$# computer
Mike

[Ten Hammers]

10-12 ' on a hanging rack on wall. Sheet is stowed leaning up next to an old refrigerator. I also have a small rack on the back of the welding table for short pieces. Actually I leave a few things 20' sometimes but small rod only or perhaps 1/8 x 1 bar. BTW there is steel stored out behind the shop. Three 55 gallon barrels are the props. 20 ft square, angle and few other things.

[HWooldridge]

20 foot sticks going down one wall on a rack about 7 feet tall. Unfortunately, I have to lift over my lathe and the TIG to get pieces on or off the rack so I leave large stock on the floor or have one of my sons help me if the stick is too big.

[skunkriv]

20 ft lengths in a rack down one wall of open fronted lean-to off the shop. The drawing of the lean-to on the taxman's website says it's 24 ft long but they hang outside a foot :-) The rack is in 4 tiers with a couple dozen spaces divided off with short vertical pieces of 5/16 round. Anything over 7-9 ft goes back on this rack on top of the rrest in that slot. Easy to drag full lengths out (depending on what's parked where), do a 180 turn and go to the chopsaw in the shop. The torch will also reach this rack for cutting of just what's needed of larger stock.

Also in the lean-to I have a vertical rack just 3 ft wide divided in six places, three for pieces up to eight foot and six for pieces up to three ft.

Anything much under three feet stays in the shop stood up in a couple of cut off heavy fire extinguishers. I clean these out once a year, divide the stock into two or three bundles and donate it at a hammer-in. The variety of stock will make someone who never gets any new stock VERY happy and these bundles bring pretty good money.

Sheet metal is leaned against one wall in the lean-to, meticulously sorted by the system of whatever I used last in front and whatever I will need the next time stored behind everything else. When I buy 18 and 20 guage I have it sheared into 4'X8" strips. Much easier for me to handle and doesn't really cause any more waste.

And then there is the stock stored wherever it falls on the chopsaw table, the stock that can float around the coal in the forge for months on end. The stock that rattles around in the back of the truck. The stock stored on the floor of the van that I only use once a year anymore for going to the state fair. The outside rack for oddball stuff and other treasures. And the pile of stuff (good stuff not scrap) that accumulates outside the back walk in door on the lean-to. And an outside pile along one wall of the shop of heavy pipe, angle etc that a little rust won't hurt.

Not always sure what I have or how much is left but I always know where to look!

[Nolano]

5 foot lengths, as my only transport for bringing it home is a small Honda or Toyota, and 10ft lengths just dont work. I calculated it, and if I'm careful, I an get perfect lengths for everything I like to make out of 5 foot pieces.

[metalmaster1766]

my work shop is so unorganized, i just lay stock where ever there is room. i hope to have a small addition added on this summer so i can better organize and clean things up a bit. untill then i will continue to step over things in my way

Ron Smith

P.S. i hope to see some good ideas on this subject so i can store material in a good way when i get the addition finished

[Rantalin]

I believe someone on this site had this setup, although I could be mistaken. Use some section of PVC pipe and just drop your bar stock in. Obviously, the stock can't be shorter than the PVC, so you'll need different lengths of pipe for different size stock. Longer stock in the back, shorter stuff up front, so it would be stepped. You could make some type of frame for the pipe so its all arranged neatly, and not just free standing. It would also help if the entire setup was tilted a bit forward to allow you to more easily remove the stock.

[Mills]

I made some stock supports for high up on the wall 20 ft lengths go next to the ceiling and up to 14 ft lengths are about head high. The chop saw is on sa shelf below that. Anything under 8 ft will go between garage doors. less than 2 feet in an old steel mop bucket and scraps in a steel 5 gal pail. I use the steel so that when I cut off a piece I can get it in there and not worry about anything burning.

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

Leaned up against the walls in a somewhat sorted and organized fashion inside an old grain bin. I also am looking at building a lean-to off the west end of the shop and installing a proper rack. I just need to figure out how to secure it, because some of the neighbors around my parents place (where the shop is) are somewhat socialist in that they believe that everything belongs to everyone....
-Aaron @ the SCF