Unusual Steel Facts for Your Next Trivia Night

Even if you’re not a steel enthusiast working for a surplus steel supplier, you must admit that steel is a pretty fascinating metal. Somehow, humans discovered that mixing iron and carbon could produce one of the strongest materials in the world. The result is an industry that employs more than eight million people worldwide, second in size to oil and gas.

In the first paragraph alone, we shared three steel facts that might help you out on the next trivia night. Here are a few other things that you should know.

Earliest Examples of Steel

The oldest known pieces of steel were excavated from a site in Anatolia and are believed to be around 4,000 years old. This wasn’t yet the Iron Age, but humans were creating iron tools. The amount of carbon in the iron varied, but some pieces held enough carbon to be genuine steel. Only later did man start adding the carbon to iron on purpose to create the alloy we used today.

Steel Used for the Golden Gate Bridge

Did you know that the Golden Gate Bridge was constructed using 83,000 tons of structural steel? Of that, 44,000 tons were used in the main towers and 24,000 tons in the suspended structure.

The main cables, which span the top of the bridge across the two towers and are anchored at either end, are made up of 80,000 miles of galvanized steel wire.

The Recyclability of Steel

Steel can be recycled infinitely without losing any of its strength or durability. In most cases, new steel products contain an average of 30% of recycled steel. So, while global production of steel reached 1.8 billion tons in 2020, iron ore consumption has reduced by 35 billion tons, and coal consumption has reduced by 18 billion tons.

Surplus Steel Can Save You Money

Every day, steel for projects large and small goes unused. Some choose to store that steel for later use, facing high costs for maintenance and storage. Others choose to sell that surplus to a surplus supplier, and that supplier then sells the surplus to another buyer who needs that specific product for a new project.

Because there are sometimes aesthetic issues with the surplus steel—and some may not come with MTRs—Less-than-Prime® buyers can save 20% to 40% on their next project.

Believe it or not, we know even more about steel than we shared here. If you have questions or need to find surplus steel for your next project, reach out. With our products spanning ten acres just minutes from downtown Houston, you’re sure to find exactly what you need.