Let's be straight up about rust - it happens.
Nothing in the world of steel is more frustrating than dealing with rust. You gotta scrub it, clean it, wipe it, scrub it some more, and if you're lucky - it wont flash rust again in an hour. We get it. Rust sucks.
We go to great lengths to provide the best prepped and ready to weld metal as it comes out of the bag.
HOWEVER - we can't stop rust. If you pull a steel part out of the bag and wait a few minutes to weld it, we can't guarantee it will not rust - nor will we guarantee it.
We can't control nature.
Our steel is cleaned, cut, prepped and bagged in a dry environment. We guarantee the part will not have rust present when it goes into the packaging. Our metal rejection rate is high and we take pride in knowing what arrives at your door is ready to weld as it comes out of the bag.
Let's talk about our packaging
- We spend more on heavy duty packaging (the bag that holds the metal)
- Metal is heavy and has sharp edges
- Shipping is less than perfect
- Everyone knows someone who knows someone who saw a post about someone else who had a careless shipping carrier who saw the Fed-Ex guy throw a TV over the wall when he had a bad day and it was during the holiday season and it happened to be the most precious package the receiver ever ordered and they really needed it and..... (you get the point - shipping is less than reliable)
Less than reliable shipping carriers combined with heavy metal with sharp edges means that no matter how tight we pack a box with metal (which we do very well), we can't prevent the bags from tearing open. It's virtually impossible.
If a bag gets torn, poked, scraped, ripped, dropped, mishandled, breathed on wrong, or suffers any kind of damages that break the seal of the bag - we can't do anything about it.
That means that if the package was sent sealed and packed tight, suffered some abuse from the carrier, tore the bag open and the whole package went through the rain, or experienced a 100% humidity climate in a beach town, it might have rust and we will not cover it.
Oil keeps it clean and dirty
If you have ever purchased new steel from your local supplier, you'll see it has an oil on it which needs to be cleaned before you electrically glue it all together. Oil keeps the rust off (clean). Our efforts to keep you from having to spend all your weld time wiping down metal means we clean it for you. That means there is little to no protection remaining on the steel. That's why we put it in a sealed bag.
If you remove the steel from the bag - you need to weld it before it rusts. If you are in a humid climate, a moist climate, or a climate with a lot of salinity in the air - you need to weld right after you take the metal out of the bag.
More about cleaning metal...
In addition to prepping the metal for you (i.e. removing the oil), we do not guarantee it is "perfectly clean" when you take it out of the bag. You might have to give it a quick wipe down with some acetone or methanol (or whatever cleaner you prefer) before you weld it. That's just the nature of welding prep. We will not guarantee that the metal is perfect for your experience since your "perfect" is based on your opinion and intent of use - even if the metal is only for practice.
What are we saying here?
We guarantee the metal that we put in the bag and ship to you is prepped and ready according to our standards when it goes into the packaging. Our metal and weldable kits do not sit on the shelf for long. In fact, we use the FIFO system (First in- First out) like in the grocery industry. There is no rust or corrosion on our metal when it leaves our warehouse. We guarantee it! We can't control what happens to the metal once it leaves our warehouse.
If you find rust or corrosion on your metal - we cant do anything about it. Our metal is ready to weld as we bag it according to what we would weld it at as we would receive it. If your opinion differs, or something happened to your packaging that clearly caused rust or corrosion, we can't fix it. Proper preparation is mandatory for a good weld and while we try to keep it perfect when it arrives, we can't control it.
It's rare you should find a problem - but it happens....