Where to buy 2.5 metre lengths of studding?

I've found some at WDS Ltd. but they don't do 2.5 metre long stainless and I'd really prefer stainless if I can find it.

try TLC-Direct

Brilliant, thank you. I don't know why my search didn't find that.

The TLC price is only 10% of that, but probably not stainless.

In the 1970's, a little after the repairs had been done to York Minster Tower we had a very entertaining talk at work from a guy from GKN, who had supplied the fixings. I forget the details, but IIRC it was 1 inch

This was only part of the talk, we had a special interest in fasteners at the time because they were rusting away in Magnox Power Stations.

Just for the record, now that suppliers have been found, when I needed long lengths of stainless studding years ago, I found some ship's chandlers in Liverpool that kept large stocks. I've no idea if they are still there, but it was quite an interesting place. Hidden amongst all the common things like bulk loo rolls etc., there were quite a few bits and pieces that, presumably, were aimed at ships engineers, or good to have for a bodge repair at sea.

Were the Magnox fasteners made from stainless steel, yet still rusting?

No, they were mostly very boring low carbon and low alloy. The problem was that, rather than forming a somewhat protective oxide as had been anticipated (giving a parabolic growth rate) an unexpected phenomenon known as breakaway corrosion occurred which meant the films grew linearly with time.

This article by three of my old colleagues talks a bit about it.

Very interesting. It's a shame the research was only done after the horse had bolted, so to speak.

Buy couplers & join em together?