Making knives with Elmax...

Brian Avila

Brian Avila

Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Messages
1,286
So I decided that I would take the plunge into working with some stainless. Plans are some s90v and Elmax.

Did my research, talked to some reputable makers about it, ( Phil Wilson ). Have a dewar, liquid nitrogen (LN), foil ( thanks Stan! ), and plates. Now for trying to find the sizes that I want to use...

Does anyone know how to get a hold of some 1/8" thick Elmax? USAknifemaker.com doesn't have it. Where do you guys get it from?

I never seem to search for the right terms on the "google" and can never find it.

Brian
 
So I am by no means an expert, but my recent plunge into stainless has given me the perspective that thinner is better. But I suppose that is largely gated by what type of knife you will be making.
 
tryppyr said:
So I am by no means an expert, but my recent plunge into stainless has given me the perspective that thinner is better. But I suppose that is largely gated by what type of knife you will be making.
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I would agree, it depends on what you want to make. I make hunting and edc knives.

I am approaching it as I would another knife, size, geometry etc, but this time I want to try Elmax and then when I start looking for the thickness I have planned, can't find it.
 
Yeah, looks like the closest they have is a bit thick. I wonder... does Elmax come with mill scale that needs to be removed? I don't see any reference to it being surface ground. Might be you need the extra thickness so that once you are descaled it comes down to 0.125.
 
tryppyr - no idea. I haven't worked wit it before. But that didn't cross my mind yet. Good question...
 
Having said that though, I would buy .14" thick and then that is all out of stock.

I am getting to the point where I don't buy from them anymore. They never have what I want or need in stock and then it takes just over a week to get what I ordered.
 
Bohler-Uddeholm USA will actually sell you the stuff directly, but I am not sue about minimum orders. I was asking them about 50 pounds or more.
 
I usually call and check with Alpha Knife Supply and/or New Jersey Steel Baron first when buying steel, including Elmax. I don't have anything "against" USA, I've just been finding what I need from the other two guys first for the last couple years.

Elmax can be a little tricky to find in certain sizes. I'm hoping that becomes less of an issue as more people keep asking for it, because I really like it.
 
James - I just assume that if they don't have it on their website, AKS or the Baron, that they don't have it. Those guys are the first people that I check first, for everything...
 
TheWeatherman said:
James - I just assume that if they don't have it on their website, AKS or the Baron, that they don't have it. Those guys are the first people that I check first, for everything...
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Don't assume, call 'em during normal business hours. If nothing else you can usually get an idea of when they expect to get more, or beg them to get more :D AKS will also sign you up for regular email updates if you want.

Also, all the Elmax I've bought so far was surface ground, no scale on it. I definitely prefer it that way and will happily pay a few more dollars for it.
 
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