I'm not sure if it is worth it.

The end result will be just as strong as if I had bought brand new PFC 150 cut to the right length and paid $400.

Even though I don't count my time in any of my house building work, I'm starting to wonder if I could have made much quicker progress by buying new steel.

Saturday - I spent the entire day creating good, clean, square faces on the ends of the steels so that I could do some high quality butt welding.

In the end I created six lengths of steel waiting to be welded in to 3 x 4.1 m lengths.

Sunday

I intended to spend the day welding.

There is a fire ban in effect today, but considering that I am working inside an enclosed structure I believe that welding will be safe.

Just to be sure, I spent the entire morning raking up and mulching all leaves on the other side of the enclosure wall and cutting back much of the vines growing up the wall.

Finally, around 1.00 pm I was able to make a start on my welding.

I am clamping PFC150 beams against both axes of the pieces I am welding to prevent bowing.

Also I am allowing 20 minutes cooling time after each major weld.

By late evening I had finished two out of the three lengths.

I am achieving absolutely zero bowing in the vertical axis (the important one) and maybe 4 mm of bow on the horizonatal axis (which I can overcome as I bolt the beams down on to the stud frames).

Hopefully I can complete the third one during the week while taking breaks from work.