1. New steel is made from dirt. Magnets pluck iron ore from the displaced earth. The resulting rocks are blasted for sixteen hours at temperatures of about 2700 degrees. Then the molten slop is poured into plates about 9 inches thick.
2. All steel alloys come from the same batter. Stainless steel is made by adding nickel and chromium to the mixture. Galvanized is made by ladling zinc onto the surface.
3. American steel is made differently from the rest of the world. Seventy percent of our steel is cooked in Electric Arc Furnaces, which is to say, made from recycled material. The method is kinder to our planet, reducing strip mining and smog pollution.
4. Structural steel, like I-beams, are formed by rollers. A square bar is squeezed, condensing the middle like a girdle and popping the edges out, which become flanges.
5. Recycling of automobiles rakes in $300,000 in coins annually. How much is in your ashtray?
Special thanks to John Packard at Steel Market Update and John Eckstein for their informative seminar at Fabtech 2016 called "How Steel Is Made." Photo Copyright 123rf.