looking for steel in Australia

W

wack

Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Messages
73
hi guys,

just after any recomendations on places to try for 50mm x 3mm x 500mm or 1m (2 inch x 1/8 x 1 foot 10 or 3.3 feet ) in O1 or 1095 in Australia , brisbane

i tried Bohler (none in stock and wern't gunna order any for me - cash sale ) , the local spring places use "super 6" and smorgans gave me a blank look .....

i'm new to this , i'm a matainence boiler maker and just trying to get a start

i'd like to order local, but may have to try texas knife or admiral steel

thanks for your time - wack
 
Hey wack, i'm just south of you and am a boilermaker too. just a word of advice, dont even bother in OZ, we get royaly screwed here for anything, thats just assuming you can find what you want anyway. Give Jantz or one of the other knifemaking joints in the US a go, heaps cheaper and posted here quick as. hope this helps, send me a PM if i can help you further. cheers!:thumbup:
 
The only place I know you can get it from is Admiral. Jason Cutter used to order all of his steel there from what I remember.
 
Wack

It would be a shame to pay for shipping all the way form USA to Oz just to get a bit of steel.

I would try the machine shops and their industry suppliers local to you.
(Where do you buy a drill bit from ?)

O1 is so common for machine shop and tool and die shops - I gotta believe there is some around close by
 
would you settle for some free 1075? if there is a john deere dealer you might get lucky.
SS0032 or N214190 these 2 numbers are stamped on what john deere calls a seperator disc. when they get wore down around 16" they need to be replaced and the old ones are usually thrown away. they are 3/16" thick and rockwell at 56c. the discs cant be cut with a saw so a plasma torch is the way to go, a cutting torch is not the way to go, too much waste. the only other alternative to cutting the steel is a right angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. you grind a groove 1/8" deep and break off the piece you want. you profile the blade the same way.
 
I found a place down in Melbourne that sold precision ground O1 for some folders I was making. It ended up cheaper to get it from Admiral Steel. Doubly so with the way the US dollar against the Aussie dollar at the moment.
 
I am not sure of the grade of steel but I have found it dificult to buy of the common vehicle spring makers. They tend to sell 6 mm minimum. There is a local specialist in Osbourne park western australia. L.A. Boynes they buy it in in huge rolls 50mm wide. Or at least I have benn lead to believe. The problem is they say for a cut off you have to pay for the driver to take id down with the fork lift and set it up to cut and straighten. All too expensive. There is one tame bloke there that is helpfull if you go in to the office he will sometimes check for off cuts.

I think you will find most places are not very interested in the small order.
A few years back a bunch of local makers got together and were buying a couple of thengths at a time and splitting the cost.

I went to buy 1 m a week ago of 60mm x 6mm x 1m the bloke said $25 for the meter. I turned it down you can buy the 6m length for about $45.

When you ring ask for the 6m length price. Take a hack saw with you they will all normally charge the earth to cut it for you.

The other long shot is Keith SPENCER of A.K.C Australasian Knife Collectors.

He has a wide range of Damasteel and stainless he may be able to help. He has a website. I am faily sure he imports the steel but bulk orders cut the shipping. I bought some steel from the US a very helpfull bloke Kelley Couples I forget his company but the postage was far more than the steel.

The exchange rate is better now so that would be some advantage to buy now.
Let me know how you get on. rellery@iinet.net.au
 
If you are after some 1055 or 1075 Karim at the tharwa valley forge has a bunch for sale.
 
wow , thanks guys , i think i got some emails and phone calls to make :D

and theres gunna be some more stupid questions comming :foot:

i been messing around with with some scrap stainless at work as prototypes, for when i get some propper steel

this is one of the better ones , its 50mm x3mm 240mm overall, made out of some 316 i found in the back room :D

aaaah , its gunna be cool to have some tool steel to harden up :D

thanks guys ;)

DSCN03532.jpg
 
Steven Penner said:
Wack

It would be a shame to pay for shipping all the way form USA to Oz just to get a bit of steel.

I would try the machine shops and their industry suppliers local to you.
(Where do you buy a drill bit from ?)

O1 is so common for machine shop and tool and die shops - I gotta believe there is some around close by
Click to expand...

That's what I did, start calling machine shope local to me. Eventually I found one who would offer their local supplier's name. No waiting on mail to get steel!:D
 
Wack that knife is comming on fine. Yes edge holding is important and some good steel to harden and temper will give you a better knife. Just the same if you do put an edge on what you have in the mean time it will work it will just need to be sharpened a bit more often. Remember they made knives from copper and bronze.

If it is going to be a while tracking down steel and getting it shipped. Why not get some practice finishing this one. It will be a bit of muscle memory for the next that is your muscles get used to doing certain jobs and that job becomes relativly easier.

If you don't have smooth files to draw file the blade flat get some emmery on a flat stick or metal flat bar. Start at the back of the blade and draw the sand paper all the way forward and repeat until a nice flat surface. Your future knives will beifit from the practice on the proto types. Same for the handle a little fine tunning. I use emmery paper on a selection of various diamiter wood rods to help get into the curves. All good practice.

Your metal working background is going to make knife making a breaze.

Keep it up you seem to have a knack for it.
 
reg , thanks mate , i am going to finish it up just out of couriosity and i need the practice of course ;) .
its been a bit of a learning curve even on the copple of protos i have done.
bevels and fine work are a bit new . 'cuz at work its usualy grind out the crack, fill it with weld then clean it up ;) .... and things that arn't at 45, 90 or 180 deg or metal full of martinsite, usualy result in a happily challanged boss ..... ha ha ha

i will get some good files and i do have a mate with a cheap 4 x 38 inch linisher . i'm going to get some blue (ziconia?) belts for off the cold cut saw sharpening guy, which should help a little (the 3 x 80 odd inch linisher we have at work died a while back and have been i been roughing out with a 5 inch angle grinder) .


thanks for the help guys , hopefully i'll be posting something nice real soon :cool:
 
Wack you may like to have a look at this site.
http://tharwavalleyforge.com/
he is selling 3mm steel but only 25mm wide he may be able to steer you in the right direction or at least you can make some smaller blades while you look.

The metal for sale is burried away in the knife maker section. $12 a length I have forgoten already I think it was 420mm long.

Another site I have not seen before is www.ausblade.com they have a thread on steel supplies also detailing how hard it is to find plus some technical stuff that may be usefull.
good luck.
 
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