What is Secondary Steel?
Mills ultimately produce prime steel with certification about the steel's integrity. That is always their goal. While producing prime steel, mills make mistakes. Product can be off gauge or not quite straight or flat. Tubing and pipe can have mid-welds, splits and windows. Product could be cut for a customer at the wrong specifications and what is custom cut for a customer can leave usable short pieces. Steel sitting in a warehouse too long can have what is called warehouse rust or can simply have become an overstocked item. Tubing and pipe can have splinter welds or zipper welds. Both are structurally sound but not very pretty. I am sure I left out many other reasons.
While secondary steel is not prime with mill certifications it is still very good for many of our uses. If you job does not require mill certification secondary steel can be the right choice. If you are cutting smaller pieces, rust is not a problem, or you simply want to save a lot of money in material costs look at secondary steel.
We choose our secondary materials carefully. If you are going to have too much waste it is not worth the savings. We try to match the right product to the customer. We want repeat business and a happy customer will come back.
