My Experience With Admiral Steel and Laser Cutting!!

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
Most of you know the problem I had with the first batch of blanks I got from Admiral. Well, I talked to Terry Summers today. He has figured out why the blanks were smaller than what I wanted, and has offered to cut out 25 more blanks and send them to me at no cost. Man, you can't ask more than that from a company!!! I will be doing business with Terry and Admiral for along time to come, and highly recommend them! Nowadays, it seems that once most companies get the $$ they could care less. I sure am happy to be dealing with folks like Terry!! Take care knifenuts! Michael http://www.nebsnow.com/L6steel


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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
 
L6,
Glad they are making a customer happy.

What reason did he give for the blanks being smaller than you wanted?

Had you tried to grind any yet? Any problems?
Thanks

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~~TOM~~
 
L6,
I'm very glad to hear about the happy ending with Admiral Steel. I've done business with them for several years now and have been very happy with the service. I also have a tale with a happy ending to share. A while back I ordered a load of 5160 from Admiral. I was making a Bowie and was on a rather tight schedule to make my promised deadline. On the final hand rubbed finish, I spotted some very tiny little flaws in the steel. The type of flaws I am referring to are usually referred to as "inclusions", and occur at the mill. Often they don't show up until the final finishing. 5160 is notorious for this I am told. Anyway, I started all over on a new one and in the final finish, more little flaws.

I called Admiral Steel and spoke with Terry Summers. I explained my dilema. I told him that my customer would be just as happy with 1084 and wondered if I might make a trade. Terry apologized for the problem I'd had and told me not to worry myself with returning the 5160. Instead he overnighted me 18 feet of 1084, no charge. I made my deadline.

Little problems can occur no matter who we do business with, but in my opinion Admiral is very interested in keeping a good working relationship with their customers, and I appreciate that.

[ Later on... ]
I decided for whatever reason to edit this post and show you guys a pic of a blade that is very similar to the one I was discussing above. This isn't THE one, but one like it.

<img src="http://www.shreve.net/~primos/1084b.jpg" width=348 height=225 border=0 alt="Clip Point Bowie">



[This message has been edited by primos (edited 03-09-2000).]
 
i've been happy with the bg-42 i bought from there. 7', i used 14" so far, but haven't had the blade heat treated yet.
 
Primos, did the inclusions look like crystaline growth, kind of a matrix look??? I have bought three orders of 440c from them and two of the orders has a crystaline look in it. It goes all the way thru the steel, becuase you can see it all thru the hollow grind. I'm going to send Terry a knife made from it so he can figure out whats wrong. He did tell me the mill they used to buy steel from went out of business. Maybe the new one isn't making the steel right.
Shappa, haven't worked one yet. I was waiting to find out what Terry had to say. He said the reason the blanks were small is that I told them I wanted 9" long blanks. I failed to tell him that was the finished size, so his operator thought they were supposed to be cut 9" long. The pattern I sent them was a tracing of my pattern, so it was 9.08" long. The operator saw this and made the entire pattern smaller to make it 9" long.
The next time I have blanks cut out by laser, I will send a pattern that is 3/16" larger all around. That way the laser cut and the clean up will be accounted for.
Terry told me that when they laser cut carbon steels, the edge is super slick, so if you're getting blanks in say 1095 and such, send the size pattern you want.
Take care!! Michael


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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
 
Darrel,
Thanks for the compliment.

L6Steel,
No, the flaws I'm speaking of look like either a very small speck of dust or a tiny little fiber of lint. I tried dusting it off with a cotton cloth and it wouldn't budge. When I looked at it with a magnifier, I could see that it was in the steel. It's not like the blade was littered with flaws. On and eight inch blade there was maybe one little speck or a crescent shaped line maybe a 1/16 of an inch long or less. I might mention that this was the only time I'd had that problem with 5160. I talked with Steve Dunn and Jerry Fisk about it and they both had seen the same thing at one time or another with 5160. I don't think that it has any affect on the performance, it's mainly just an issue of asthetics.
 
That is one gorgeous bowie Primos!! I'll let you guys know what the problem is with this steel as soon as I know. Take care! Michael

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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
 
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