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Partners Capital Units, Liquidation Preference, Value Per Share

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Payments To Acquire Treasury Units

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

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The number of limited partner units issued.

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Amount, after unamortized (discount) premium and debt issuance costs, of long-term debt. Includes, but not limited to, notes payable, bonds payable, debentures, mortgage loans and commercial paper. Excludes capital lease obligations.

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The parent entity's interest in net assets of the subsidiary, expressed as a percentage.

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Amount of increase in noncontrolling interest from subsidiary issuance of equity interests to noncontrolling interest holders.

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Total change in each class of partners' capital accounts during the year due to exchanges and conversions. Partners include general, limited and preferred partners.

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Value of units that were previously issued and have been repurchased during the year.

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The number of units converted into shares of each class of partners' capital account. Units represent shares of ownership of the general, limited, and preferred partners.

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Units that were previously issued and have been repurchased during the year.

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Value of the difference between preference in liquidation and the par or stated values of the preferred shares.

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The number of preferred units outstanding.

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Percentage of subsidiary's or equity method investee's stock owned by parent immediately after all stock transactions.

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CAPITAL AND ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS - Transactions (Details)		1 Months Ended	4 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 23, 2016	Feb. 06, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Oct. 12, 2017 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) shares
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Preferred units issued (in shares) \| shares				25,294,003	26,348,420
Units issued in the acquisition of WFHC noncontrolling interests				$ 20,680,000
Purchases of the Company's common units				13,708,000
Exchange of subsidiary shares to obtain a controlling interest in former equity-method investee				2,334,000
Long-term debt				$ 478,895,000	$ 413,043,000
Series A Preferred Units
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Preferred units outstanding (in shares) \| shares				7,927,288,000	7,952,660
Conversion ratio	0.712
Preferred units issued (in shares) \| shares		2,500,000
Liquidation preference (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 25.00
Value of shares converted		$ 63,500,000
Units issued in the acquisition of WFHC noncontrolling interests (in shares) \| shares				186,271
Series A Preferred Units \| Handy & Harman Ltd. (HNH)
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Conversion ratio			1.484
Preferred units issued (in shares) \| shares			5,400,000
Preferred units issued (in shares) \| shares			112,000,000
Liquidation preference value			$ 135,000,000
Common Units
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Units issued in the acquisition of WFHC noncontrolling interests (in shares) \| shares				185,407
Restricted shares
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Value of shares converted		$ 2,100,000
Steel Excel
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Ownership percentage		100.00%
Handy & Harman Ltd. (HNH)
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Ownership percentage			100.00%
WFHC
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Ownership percentage				100.00%	91.20%
iGo, Inc.
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Exchange of subsidiary shares to obtain a controlling interest in former equity-method investee				$ 5,000,000
Long-term debt				$ 15,000,000
Equity method ownership percentage				80.20%
Ownership percentage				19.80%