52100 Ball Bearing source?

David Loukides

David Loukides

Joined
Mar 17, 2006
Messages
1,363
Hi Guys,
Who are the suppliers of 1.00" or larger 52100 Balls? I had a week of forging integrals up at New England School of Metal work and I wanted to try some at home.
THANKS.
 
Dave- You would be far better off buying raw, roundstock 52100 from a proven supplier. FAR BETTER.

I brought home nearly 1,000# of bearing material from a job that was all Timken, and was even told by a Timken guy that it was 52100. Since I'm nit-picky I sent samples in for testing--- It was NOT 52100. Rather a new, somewhat exotic alloy that is improved for bearings, but not for a knife. I had all sorts of problems with forging it the same way I forge 52100. It is actually a good steel ("compositionally" speaking) for things like hawks and forging tools... but not so much for knives.

Also, you can find raw 52100 at much more reasonable prices than you will be able to order processed, brand-new bearings for!
 
http://www.mcmaster.com/#chrome-steel-balls/=9azbb1

Then click the link E52100 on the bottom




Material Bearing-Quality Aircraft-Grade E52100 Alloy Steel
Alloy E52100
Finish/Coating Reflective
Shape Balls
Diameter 1"
1" 9528K33 13.05 per Pack of 10

These 83 products match your selections
Diameter
3/64" 9528K122 $7.69 per Pack of 100
1/16" 9528K51 5.68 per Pack of 100
5/64" 9528K123 8.37 per Pack of 100
1/12" 9528K52 5.70 per Pack of 100
3/32" 9528K34 4.24 per Pack of 100
7/64" 9528K124 9.91 per Pack of 100
1/8" 9528K11 2.82 per Pack of 100
9/64" 9528K93 4.46 per Pack of 100
5/32" 9528K12 3.09 per Pack of 100
11/64" 9528K94 5.37 per Pack of 100
3/16" 9528K13 3.12 per Pack of 100
7/32" 9528K14 3.64 per Pack of 100
1/4" 9528K15 4.24 per Pack of 100
17/64" 9528K95 7.95 per Pack of 100
9/32" 9528K16 5.43 per Pack of 100
5/16" 9528K17 5.57 per Pack of 100
11/32" 9528K18 8.30 per Pack of 100
3/8" 9528K19 9.58 per Pack of 100
13/32" 9528K21 11.40 per Pack of 100
7/16" 9528K22 12.18 per Pack of 100
15/32" 9528K23 14.44 per Pack of 100
1/2" 9528K24 14.01 per Pack of 100
17/32" 9528K35 11.11 per Pack of 50
9/16" 9528K25 11.79 per Pack of 50
19/32" 9528K36 13.56 per Pack of 50
5/8" 9528K26 14.36 per Pack of 50
21/32" 9528K27 14.55 per Pack of 50
11/16" 9528K28 9.28 per Pack of 25
23/32" 9528K37 10.48 per Pack of 25
3/4" 9528K29 11.82 per Pack of 25
25/32" 9528K31 14.25 per Pack of 25
13/16" 9528K38 12.32 per Pack of 20
7/8" 9528K32 14.44 per Pack of 20
15/16" 9528K39 14.70 per Pack of 15
1" 9528K33 13.05 per Pack of 10
1-1/16" 9528K41 10.80 per Pack of 5
1-1/8" 9528K42 12.14 per Pack of 5
1-3/16" 9528K43 14.61 per Pack of 5
1-1/4" 9528K44 14.59 per Pack of 5
1-5/16" 9528K61 14.54 per Pack of 4
1-3/8" 9528K62 14.61 per Pack of 3
1-7/16" 9528K63 13.64 per Pack of 2
1-1/2" 9528K64 5.34 Each
1-9/16" 9528K125 10.54 Each
1-5/8" 9528K65 10.80 Each
1-11/16" 9528K126 12.69 Each
1-3/4" 9528K66 13.47 Each
1-7/8" 9528K67 18.53 Each
2" 9528K71 19.38 Each
2-1/8" 9528K87 39.95 Each
2-1/4" 9528K73 56.70 Each
2-3/8" 9528K74 69.81 Each
2-1/2" 9528K72 89.78 Each
2-5/8" 9528K88 97.39 Each
2-3/4" 9528K92 106.61 Each
3" 9528K75 112.47 Each
3-1/4" 9528K127 118.91 Each
3-1/2" 9528K128 160.52 Each
4" 9528K131 223.15 Each
4-1/2" 9528K132 306.05 Each
 
large bearings are very expensive, because lots of effort goes into assuring that they are almost perfectly spherical, and smooth. if you were to use them for making Damascus it would be worth is because ball bearings, and powdered steel make a cool pattern, but for plain forgeing round stock would be cheaper.

Edited to add: well it looks like they are not actually that expensive:foot:
 
Forgot to ask... any reason you don't just use W1 or W2? 52100 makes a great blade if you have the means to heat-treat it, but it's a lot harder to move under the hammer and not as forgiving in the heat as the W series.

Just ask'n :)

And I still think round stock is a better option anyway as you will be nearly unlimited in what you can make with it compared to the definitive dimensions of a single ball bearing. :)
 
Thanks Guy's,
Nick I want to make a couple of knives and have the ball next to them as a novelty. If I make more than 2 or 3 I would be surprised.
 
...AND you just got home from working with Christoph Deringer, didn't you? Isn' that what he uses for his integrals? Too cool, man...
 
Christoph also uses 1" round stock. Had the pleasure of sitting next to him at the Blade show one year. I have access to 4" to 6.5" round forged bars. I will pass them on for cost. A 4" bar is about 150lbs so i would have to cut it up a bit to ship it out. I have used it once and it worked great. I got a few off ebay for a couple bucks s piece. You can also call the bearing mfg and ask for seconds or used bearings.
 
Thanks for the offer Chuck,
It was more for the effect of having the ball bearing next to the knife so I will be giving MSC a call.
 
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