Where do you get practice scrap cheap?

If it hadn't been mentioned yet, PVC sch-40 plastic pipe is plentiful and cheap to practice working on round tube stock.
 
I started out buying short ends and offcuts from a local metals merchant, but they were still pricey. A while later I found another merchant that had a scrap bin with all the offcuts and short ends they would sell what I could carry by hand for $4, a big improvement, but still it would add up, and most of their stuff is fairly light, good for some projects.

Then a chance meeting with a friend of a friend who ran a steel fabrication shop. They ran a fabrication shop welding up quite large structures using large RSJ I beams etc, also square and round section, heavy walled tubing, angle iron, etc. So after discussing my hobby he offered to let me have anything out of his scrap bin, a large skip, whenever I wanted for the price of a slab of beer once a year, for their Xmas party. I Haven't had to buy steel since then, Brass, aluminium and other metals are a different story.
 
Odd places can lead to metal, farmers are notorious for pushing old machinery off somewhere and letting it rust. If you know any ask if you can cut some material out. It will be rusty but usually free or trade for welding and repair. I once bought an assortment of aluminum round stock that was priced by what fit in medium and large flat rate shipping boxes. It was very cheap and my expectations were low. When it arrived it was all good material of different diameters from 1/4" to 11/4" and cut to the length the box would take. Lots of parts made from that box. A look at ebay today showed some decent prices, $34 for 10 12" pieces of aluminum round from 1/2" to 11/4". Not much cheaper than my local metal supply but no minimum order and no shipping.
 
I have a friend that is a Union Ironworker and he brings me tons of scrape and drops from his job sites....
 
Also car and truck mechanics shops are good. Drive shafts are very high quality steel, fairly hard but can be machined with carbide tips, gives a great finish. HSS will cut it if you go very slow. Rods out of discarded hydraulic cylinders are a good find, just have to get under the chrome. and old pins out of earth moving machinery are generally easy to come by.
 
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