On 18 Jan 2008 05:15:56 GMT, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2008-01-18, Dave Hinz wrote:

[ ... ]

On that topic, anyone have a rundown of paint color codes for steel? I
don't know the vendor and last time I looked, I found about 4 different
standards referenced by various sites I found on google. So it's racks
of mystery metal, I'm afraid. For stuff with a spec, I buy to that
spec, of course.

As you've already discovered -- each vendor has its own color
code standards. I could look up the standards for Jorgensen Steel
(because I have one of their older catalogs), but that would be useless
for any other vendor's steel, let alone those from an unknown vendor.

It's a damn same too, I've got a ton or more of nicely marked mystery
metal.

And there is a *lot* of codes to type in, so I won't do it while
I know that it would not do any good.
If you can find out who the original vendor likely was, you want
to get a copy of *their* steel catalog.

TO go with the ton of mystery metal, is a ton of paperwork, some of
which might be a catalog. If they're all from the same vendor (a
reasonable assumption for starters), I'm wondering if spark-testing by
someone who can read sparks would be able to narrow down which vendor's
"red with a brown stripe" this stuff is.

And -- if you get steel from another source, but know what the
steel is, *paint it yourself* to match the catalog you have, so you will
know later what it is.

Seems like a sharpie and actual numbers wouldn't be a bad approach?

If you can't find out -- just get a catalog from your own
vendor, and keep all newly-bought steel in a separated area.

That's what I've been doing for important projects. Mystery-metal is
fine for some things, though, and I can't bear to just toss it...