Jim Wilkins wrote:
(...)

I bought an assortment of gas and TIG rod from my welding supplier to
use as small-diameter shafts and bent shapes. He had steel up to 1/4',
brass and stainless to 3/16".

We are on the same frequency, Jim.
If you happened to mike some leftover scraps of that rod, I would
be pleased to add it to the File.

My favorite scenario goes something like:
I'm sketching away on CAD when I realize that I need .....

There is a psychology experiment that shows most people think of
objects in terms of what they are meant to do, rather than as shapes
and materials that can be modified or used for a different purpose. I
noticed that recently when I snagged some 2-1/2" exhaust pipe cut-offs
before the owner put them out in the trash. A bystander's girlfriend
wondered why on Earth I wanted discarded rubbish, I saw them as
weldable wall thickness and an ID to fit over 2" pipe.

That is exactly my point.
We are surrounded by resources. We are unaware of too many of them.

Exhaust fittings are another local source for tubing although they
aren't accurately round. Aircraft Spruce sells boxes of assorted
chrome-moly tubing cutoffs.

/ Broken Record

If someone wanted to measure the tubing from one of those assortments,
I would love to list those sizes in the File, with a pointer to the
source.

Broken Record/

Someone once mentioned here that blacksmiths go a step further and see
steel as shapeless mass, like modeling clay.

And why not?

(...)

I stuck a defective floppy to a cabinet with a bright red magnet as a
sight gag once, in a government lab. No one ever picked up on it.

You can bet there were many pairs of rolling eyes.

--Winston