I've been looking into sources of mild steel, as I am hopefully going to soon be ready to start hitting some hot iron in my workshop.

I found this website, which is very close to my workshop.

http://www.frfletcher.co.uk/stock-materials

For mild steel, what should I be looking for?
I'm not sure what 'extruded' mild steel bar means.

And for costing, what would be a sensible cost, for say 10ft of 10mm thick, round bar?

Thanks in advance!
Hoping to get myself going over the winter and maybe even get some chirstmas presents made for the family.

I just paid £3.80 per 6m length for that stock

Got a quote at £5 + VAT for 6m. For 6m of 10mm round bar.
Thats just one section though, so don't know if I would be able to get that down with a bulk order.

Where do you buy from Greenbeast?

The thing is, its just round the corner from my workshop, so its ideal for transport. I guess I could use them for emergencies.

The best thing go down and meet the guys running the shop see what they have on sale I do not know what they call then in the UK here they call the drops or remnants pieces that were cut off and left by other customers you can usually pick them for a fraction of prime stock. The Guys I deal with call me when they have pieces that they know I use on a regular basics.

Extruded/pulltruded is a forming method that makes one bar at a time, or a gang of bars. This is as opposed to sheared bars that are cut off a larger plate. Extruded/pulltruded allow for many different geometries to be accurately formed including round, half round, I, C, tube, and many other possibilities. Typically this is a rolling process.

For much blacksmith work it matters little which version you get since it will be forged, but sheared is generally not preferred because it has raw edges.

Phil

That order was with these guys:
http://www.industrialmetal.co.uk/

Cheaper than the previous supplier, they'll now be my go to guys.

Bear in mind VAT and delivery (£30) on top of that, so it might be more cost effective for you to just pop round the corner and collect

Thanks Phil and Greenbeast. The info is much appreciated.
Hopefully this weekend I will be moving a load of stuff to my workshop and will be almost ready to go. Can't wait!

Good for you, it's an exciting time.

It certainly is.
Trying to think up some things to make for christmas presents. Thinking of a bottle opener for my Dad.
Just need to learn how now and make all the tools I need to as well.

Bottle openers are great. i did them for father's day presents this year, hook style instead of ring style.

For christmas, I'm doing trivets for some of my family, plus a steel/leather pendant for my sister.

This is non-smithy but I've found all of the blokes have awfully blunt kitchen knives so i'm making up sharpening sets from ceramic rod and some nice oak.

Those are cool ideas. Do you have any photo's of your bottle openers?

This is the only pic i've got at the moment, it's a keyring sized bottle opener that i now carry around with me (6mm round stock).
The father's day present ones were larger, intended for the kitchen drawer and were make of 8mm square stock, the same hook principle applies though

A bottle opener that I make is made from 1/4" sq stock and has a little dragon's head as the opener. I like to upset the end a hammer blow or two and then carve the top part of the face on it with a couple of "teeth" pulled up by a sharp chisel. Then the stock is bent around in a loop (to attach to a keyring or belt---with a thong) and that end is flattened a bit and curved up for the bottom jaw of the dragon and as the catch for the bottle cap.

When made right the dragon leaves two dimples in the top of the cap where he "bites" it.

Thanks Greenbeast. Looks simple and effective!

Thomas - Sounds great. Got any pictures of that?
I think the dragon head may be a bit out of my skill range at the moment though. Might be worth a throw away go and could lead to more presents and maybe even a product.

All of this info is fantastic!

Hi Tom,

Last time I ordered 10mm round which was was last April as I've had a lot of time off, I paid around £4.50 ex vat, this was in Scotland where I had literally no choice about where I got it from, so they were a bit pricey, but.. they delivered for free and had great customer service, which in my mind is worth something. I'm in the same boat as now I've moved to Dorset I'm searching for a new stockist. I have phoned the local fabricators and engineering firms here to ask them where they get their steel and they've all suggested the same local company to me, which says something I think so I'll try them.

Francis has got it right though, speak to your local guys- my local engineering firm (who also is my BOC dealer) has promised me all the spring steel they get as when I popped in to get some Argoshield welding gas they were doing some work on a lorry and had some big springs they were replacing, so I cheekily asked them for the old ones, and they were happy to oblige as they apparently just skip stuff like that.

Would love to see a pic of the dragon head openers!! I need to get busy making stuff for the christmas markets too!!

It's interesting to note the differences in price steel is between locales ... 3/8" (similar to 10mm) round is $4-5(£2-2.50) for 20ft (length all the bars come from) - there's like pennies differences between hot and cold rolled. I however am too cheap to buy the new steel, so I buy used from the outdoor yard, which is not the same as the scrap yard in that it's still fairly organized, it's just they cannot certify the steel and it might be rather rusty. That steel I buy for $0.12/lb.

Sorry no pics from me---I don't even own a cell phone!

Thomas, then you need to tell your wife you would like a digital camera for christmas!! :)

No then I would be spending more time taking pictures of things than doing things!