Illinois Steel sources?

K

Kindyr

Joined
Dec 5, 2007
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Hello. I am new to this forum and am looking at making a few knives and swords as an offshoot of my interest in armour and blacksmithing. I built a simple brakedrum forge a couple weeks ago and am looking for projects.

The problem is that the only steel supplier I can find here in springfield serves construction companies. Need a huge steel Girder? they're your guys. Need w-1 steel? all you get is blank stares. So is there anybody on this list who can point me to a good steel supplier near me? I can find internet suppliers, but having a place locally that sells all the steels I can use(spring steel sheet, tool steel for stakes, and stainless steel for swords and knives)

thank you in advance
 
Admiral Steel is in Illinois and a place a *lot* of people order from. They have just about any steel you want. There are plenty of other great suppliers to order from, but if you want someone more local they might fit the bill.
 
Just a thought, and maybe not a huge deal, but if you live in Illinois and order from Admiral Steel, they'll hit you with state sales tax. I live in Illinois, and I order my steel from Crucible, and it gets to me just as quickly as Admiral could get it to me.
 
Your local Fastenal carries oil and water-hardening drill rod for forging.
 
I see that you mention making knives and swords from stainless steel. If you're planning on forging, you're in for a very frustrating experience. For forged knives and swords, I would suggest you stick with the standard carbon steels and tool steels, such as O1, 5160, 1084, 51200 type steels. There aren't too many people forging stainless. I've never tried to forge stainless, so I don't know all of the reasons why it is difficult, but have been told it is difficult to move under the hammer, among other things.

Maybe a Kevin Cashen or mete will chime in on stainless for forging, and the advantages and drawbacks to it.
 
I am aware of the difficulty of forging stainless and it isn't something I'm going to tackle anytime soon. Anything made from stainless would be via stock removal methods

Thank you Fitzo for the recommendation of Fastenal. we have one of those in town, I'll have to check them out.

Thanks everybody for their replies.
.
 
Alright, so I was able to go into Fastenal over lunch and was somewhat able to make sense of some of what I saw.
I found the oil quench drill rod, A36 stock, 1018 stock, 1045 stock, and 304 Stainless.
SO if I'm understanding what I have read, A36 amd 1018 are both mild steels? good for tongs, and basic blacksmith forging.
1045 would be a medium carbon steel, maybe good for stakes? would it be good for things like leather working tools? what about repousse tools?
304 stainless would make an ok knife by stock removal, correct? not top end, but pretty good?
And the drill rod would be a high carbon steel so good for punches, chisels, certainly good for repousse tools.

is that about right?

sorry for all the questions,
 
Oil quench rod is probably O-1 tool steel. Fine for knives, chisels, etc.
1045 will be a low end knife steel, marginal carbon. Brine quench.
304 is austenitic stainless steel. It won't heat treat in a way suitable for a knife. It sees little use by knife makers except occasionally guards.
A36 and 1018 would be fine for general blacksmith stuff.
What kind of "stakes" are you speaking of?

Hope that helps
 
By stakes I'm refering to blacksmithing/armouring stakes. Either used in a hardie on the anvil, clamped in the post vise or stake plate. used to form the metal over, either hot or cold. it would need to take a bit of abuse from heavy hammers being worked over it. does the 1045 weld up ok with a mig welder?

so it sounds like the oil quench is the big winner, though the mild will likely see a lot of time in the forge.
 
Ah, yes, I understand now. Sorry. Yes, they will work decent enough for forming stakes, though the 1018 and A36 will deform eventually. 1045 could be hardened and then tempered back to tough. If you happen to have any contacts who would work with jackhammers, broken bits are an excellent source of scavenged steel for those, too. They can be hardened and tempered and yet incredibly tough. 1045, 1018 and A36 will weld up ok with a MIG.
 
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