Anyone else get frustrated?

3fifty7

3fifty7

Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
3,382
when ordering material ?
I swear I need a dual monitor setup with a dozen windows open and still can't find what I want to order without going through multiple suppliers and having to eat it on shipping every which way. Or maybe I'm still too new to this and haven't figured it out yet, or maybe my GoogleFu just sucks.
Yesterday I wanted to place an order for some 1084, 15N20(1/8") and O1. I could not find one supplier to buy it all from so I have to eat multiple shipping charges. I'm a hobbiest so I'm not ordering a whole lot, a few 48" bars will carry me for a while.
Seems I run into the same problem with handle material, right now I want some 1/4" Kirinite wicked purple & artic blue, 3/8" natural canvas micarta and 1/16" G10 ghost jade. I think I have to place orders from 3 places !
Am I the only one ?!?!
 
Nope, that’s how it is. There’s always a trade off. Shipping sucks. If you go through one place, different materials are a lot more expensive.
It would be nice to have an amazon or Walmart for knife supplies.
 
I'm just a hobbyist, so I just chalk it up to part of the cost of enjoying my hobby. The first time I ordered steel, the shipping cost more than the steel! :eek:

On the plus side, unless you're using a bunch of carbon fiber or premade damascus, the material costs can be just a fraction of what you sell a knife for.
 
I hear ya, I don't love shipping charges but I also don't have a knife supply business near me so I know it's just part of the deal.
I personally like dealing with small businesses because I'm a big believer in small business and usually the customer service is great. The flip side of being small is that they can't carry every last thing in inventory.
 
It's even worse to Canada, the shipping costs more, the brokerage can kill you .

I once paid $6 plus $12 shipping for an OEM lock part from the USA, cheap simple, guaranteed fit.
They shipped it UPS Brown - $45 Brokerage fee on top.
15% tax on that and everything else.

It killed $100 with currency exchange.
 
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Unfortunately that's just part of the game, more often than not. I try to buy a lot of general items from Amazon, or from a large supplier like McMaster-Carr, as this can often cut down on multiple shipping charges, but for specialty items like blade steel, you're usually going to get bit at least a little. USAKnifemaker USED to be one of the better "one stop shops" for anything knife making related, but I've given up even looking on their site anymore as somehow I seem to only need to buy what is already listed as "out of stock" on their page, which seems to be a significant portion of their inventory, last I looked.

You can lessen the impact of shippig by buying larger quantities, but it's hard to find one supplier with every kind of steel all the time. AKS and NJSB do a pretty good job, and if I'm not mistaken, NJSB has all of those steels you were looking for, though maybe not always in the sizes you need. They do tend to charge more than most for shipping, but again, buying more bars will lessen the price per bar for shipping.
 
Crossing that Canadian border goes both ways. Western Gun Parts in Edmonton, charged less than $4 for a ejector stop pin screw, which shipped for a whopping $18. Since it was an obsolete Browning part and they were the only company in the world with one guess what I did.
 
Yes, but NJSB is out of O1 so that's where the quest began. Jantz and AKS are my other go tos but didn't help in this case.
Off to source my handle materials, spread sheet in tow.
 
Not sure if this is what you were implying, but the most frustrating part for me is places (especially USA KM) are always out of stock of half of the suff I'm trying to get, unless I get lucky and they just restocked, which is maybe once lol. Try to buy a good amount of things you plan to use a lot of (pinstock, kydex, steel, handle material, etc.) and then once you have a good base of supplies you "need" to use in order to complete a knife, you can more easily buy "special" items every now and then. Something to keep in mind at least.

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
You can by precision ground O1 from just about any standard steel supplier. I believe a lot of guys get it from McMaster as I personally haven't used O1 since I first started years ago.

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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