Framebuilders - Tubing Id and Storing

I posted this on the Framebuilders List and got some ideas but not yet al the answers that I seek. So here goes for this community:


I am going through a period of reorganization with my tube/braze ons stock. I have collected a lot of different tubes and fittings, some "traditional steel" some Stainless Steel, some high strength steel (Plat OX). Some is still in the well marked bags, some not.

Questions- How does one tell Verus (and the more basic 4230 steels) from the hardened stuff (OX Plat)? I have read of looking for spark against a grinder wheel or how a punch indents but I have tried both and don't yet see the differences.
Of course once you start to file/miter a tube it's nature becomes appherient. I'd like a better fore telling. Plus the many braze ons which are SS are not all separated.

How do you mark tubes? More to point how do you prevent corrosion (oil/wax/coating) and still preserve the markings of gauge and butt transition?

I can guess some answers but whish to hear or your solutions. Andy.

I saw that question, and I have already been through this and despair a little at coming up with a good answer. Other than marking it well when you receive the parts. I have a big stack of boxes I'm making for this, been too lazy to get around to it so far. It's really hard to tell some of this stuff apart. It used to be pretty easy to tell Columbus SL/SP from Reynolds 531 from Ishiwata, but now it's gotten a lot harder.

I tell my TT stuff apart by the wall thickness as I usually don't get any OxPlat thicker than .7 and the Verus is all thicker. Although, there is some Verus HT that has the same walls, but not the same butting that's offered in OxPlat...that's where you'd want to be a guy with a super cool device that measured the butt lengths.

As for identifying Columbus and Reynolds stuff,I have no idea.

My solution for preventing corrosion is easy, move to NM! I have a 20+ year old set of Columbus Air tubes that are still in perfect shape...it's a dry heat;)

Eric- Once again we are at a similiar point in our hobby. I, too, find a need to better orginize my tubes. Instead of by sets as ordered now I want tube diameter to be the first category.


LiveWire- I guess I'm a super cool guy finially! Here in the NE basements can be damp. I just picked up some LPS-3. It seems to not solvent the sharpie too well. For now I'll clean off the very end of a tube, wrap some masking tape around it and mark on that before I coat the rest with the LPS.

I use to keep my braze ones in small cardboard boxes that 35mm slides came in, they in turn were boxed 12 to a larger box. As the collection got wider over time I have had to combine differing types in the same small boxes. Not a problem if hater bosses are with top tube guides, but now I have, maybe, 8 kinds of water bosses or 15 cable guides styles. I'm tired of going through the big boxes (as they slowly fall apart at the seams) just to find out it's the next box that has the large lipped bosses or single bullit stops... So I ordered some plastic orginizor bins from Enco, the king that Wheels uses for their cones or cable assortments. This way i can add to my capicity and keep the bin's form/shape the same in the future. Andy.