"Pecanfan" wrote in message
...
Having never worked with steel in my life (apart from when I made a small
hammer in CDT in school) I'm just trying to prepare myself for the worst
and
have a few questions:-

1. How do you go about drilling big holes in RSJs?

I prefer to buy them with holes pre-drilled, but up to about 1/2", I've
simply used a HSS drill in a heavy duty hand-held electric drill. Take it
slowly and lubricate well, preferably with a purpose-made drilling
lubricant, but a 50/50 paraffin / oil mix works quite well. You do need a
BIG tap wrench to hand tap 1/2" holes in them though.

2. Is it possible to cut RSJs?

The steel fabricators around the corner do it every day, so it must be. I
wouldn't bother to try it myself as it is much easier to buy them cut to
length.

Colin Bignell