The first involves dimensional lumber. I've seen lumber that seems untreated (not green or yellow tinted) that's uncovered/uprotected. Do they ship this only when they don't expect any precipitation or do they just let it get wet if there is precipitation.
The second is about steel. I see steel slabs (5ftx20ftx9in, correct me if that's wrong) that go to a mill to be rolled into thin steel and evetually shipped as coils. In general, does one slab get turned into one coil or does the slab get made into coils made to order?
Perry Babin The first involves dimensional lumber. I've seen lumber that seems untreated (not green or yellow tinted) that's uncovered/uprotected. Do they ship this only when they don't expect any precipitation or do they just let it get wet if there is precipitation. The second is about steel. I see steel slabs (5ftx20ftx9in, correct me if that's wrong) that go to a mill to be rolled into thin steel and evetually shipped as coils. In general, does one slab get turned into one coil or does the slab get made into coils made to order?
I'll take a guess on the steel. We buy corrugated sheet steel for use on ag buildings. Our supplier buys painted coils of sheet steel. Those coils vary in weight a bit. That variance is probably due to differing weights of the feedstock coming in to them.
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Perry BabinThe second is about steel. I see steel slabs (5ftx20ftx9in, correct me if that's wrong) that go to a mill to be rolled into thin steel and evetually shipped as coils. In general, does one slab get turned into one coil or does the slab get made into coils made to order?
Not a steel guy, but, what the heck...
I would opine that all steel coils have been rolled to order at some point. The mill rolling the slabs into coils may have one or more standard thicknesses, with the final thickness achieved at the end customer.
How far one slab will go in the making of the sheet steel (coils) I don't know. One would need to know the weight/cubes of each to figure it out. Based on what I see for traffic through Deshler, I'm guessing it may well be one for one. The slab cars going south to Middletown usually have 3-4 slabs, and the coils coming north are usually 3-4 per car.
One thing to consider is that there are different grades of steel, so even though it appears that all of the slabs going by are the same, there may be differences in their composition.
About the slabs - whilst in Deshler a couple of weeks ago, I "took the temperature" of some of those slabs headed south (I used an infrared 'gun'). They ran from 150° to 200°F.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
NS has an intersting coil car operation from Van Loon, In (off of the old EJE, steel from USX Gary Works) to Fostoria then back west on local L70 to ProTec in Leipsic, Ohio.
According to the Protec website, their plant is a joint USX Kobe Steel finishing facility. I know very little about steel, so i cannot comment on their operations or products.
There is a daily movement from Gary to Leipsic, today's was 30 coil cars inbound. Often there will be well over 50 cars. I have no idea of how the outbound product - for automotive manufacture is shipped. Both CSX and NS serve the facility from looks of OpenRailwayMap.
A similar daily movement is made from East Chicago, In to Rolling Prairie, In - about 50 miles. This is usually about 40 cars daily on a specific train B09.
Ed
MP173 NS has an intersting coil car operation from Van Loon, In (off of the old EJE, steel from USX Gary Works) to Fostoria then back west on local L70 to ProTec in Leipsic, Ohio. According to the Protec website, their plant is a joint USX Kobe Steel finishing facility. I know very little about steel, so i cannot comment on their operations or products. There is a daily movement from Gary to Leipsic, today's was 30 coil cars inbound. Often there will be well over 50 cars. I have no idea of how the outbound product - for automotive manufacture is shipped. Both CSX and NS serve the facility from looks of OpenRailwayMap. A similar daily movement is made from East Chicago, In to Rolling Prairie, In - about 50 miles. This is usually about 40 cars daily on a specific train B09. Ed
tree68 I would opine that all steel coils have been rolled to order at some point. The mill rolling the slabs into coils may have one or more standard thicknesses, with the final thickness achieved at the end customer. One thing to consider is that there are different grades of steel, so even though it appears that all of the slabs going by are the same, there may be differences in their composition.
I'm not a steel expert either, but long years ago spent a couple of years almost full-time buying umpteen different grades/alloys/thicknesses/compositions of the stuff. Finally learned enough to spot some of the errors and omissions in the specifications. Very interesting commodity, to say the least.
You HAVE to be correct that at some point the steel had to be rolled to order. There are so many different combinations of thickness, composition, Rockwell hardness, treatment (cold-rolled, hot-rolled, etc.) for it to not be rolled to order. There was one product that we specified had to be re-rolled railroad rail (for bed frames in correctional institutions, because the re-rolled rail is so hard it is more difficult for the little darlings to take pieces and turn them into shanks).
SALfan1 There was one product that we specified had to be re-rolled railroad rail (for bed frames in correctional institutions, because the re-rolled rail is so hard it is more difficult for the little darlings to take pieces and turn them into shanks).
Well, there's a "whodathunk..."
tree68 SALfan1 There was one product that we specified had to be re-rolled railroad rail (for bed frames in correctional institutions, because the re-rolled rail is so hard it is more difficult for the little darlings to take pieces and turn them into shanks). Well, there's a "whodathunk..."
SALfan1
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