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I Forge Iron

Where is the best place to buy steel


Seth Lancaster

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Good day, 

I have been making knives as a hobby to make a little bit of money, but I have always used materials like saw blades and things like that for my knives. I am wanting to get into making some out of stainless steel, as there have been a few who have asked for that. Now that leads me to the question of what steel would be best, I am wanting a not too expensive, but fairly good quality steel which is not too hard to machine. I work with very few tools, and my belt sander is only a hand belt sander mounted upside-down. For my customers it is a selling point, as they want to support the small guy.

Thanks for your input!

Seth Lancaster

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There are a number of threads on the forum about where to buy steels of all varieties, as well as which are best for particular applications. Search those out and read them, before the curmudgeons start in on you for asking questions they've answered a dozen times already!

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Most stainless steels require rather stringent heat treat to get the best from their alloys.  Do you plan to send them out for heat treating? (they tend also to be a pain to work; especially with minimal tooling!)

The New Jersey Steel Baron is the source for a lot of knifemakers I know; I met him at Quad-State one year myself.  I tend to stock up on materials at places like quad-state when I can find a great deal and then coast as long as I can in between.   Admiral Steel has a knifemakers section too.

 

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I have purchased steel from both NJSB and Admiral steel,  The service from both providers was excellent. 

In the case of the 1084 I ordered from NJSB, the stuff was fully annealed, and was a dream to work with, pretty much turned me off of working with anything " recycled " for stock removal processes. 

I have not taken the 5160 I ordered from Admiral steel for a test drive yet, but will be doing some work with it this weekend , I ordered 20 feet of it, they shipped me three 7 foot long sections via UPS, So they sent me a foot for free. 

I would recommend both vendors, I always check NJSB first, but if they dont have in stock what I am looking for, I check Admiral. 

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Thanks guys! I just placed an order with NJSB! I only got a small amount for now just to see how I like it. I do my own heat treating for the most part, I may send some off, though I I don't know yet. I will be making some still from saw-blades and I have some planer blades and etc. Thanks again everyone! 

Seth Lancaster

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