Readily available steels and suppliers in India

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Tehemton

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Hi, I've been reading and learning a lot on this forum for a few months now but I'm posting because I'm really stuck on the very basic task. Procuring steel.
I live in Mumbai, India and I'm having a really hard time finding a supplier for steel. Absolutely nobody seems to know what A2, M2, D2, or O1 is. And if you inquire for even the most basic steels like the 10xx series, they act like you're speaking some alien language.
Can anybody please guide me if they know of any blade worthy steels that aren't an absolute pain to procure in India? I'm all set on the tooling end and the designs; just need the steel to start off.
I do believe that these steels are available here, just being sold under a different/local name. If anybody can point me in the right direction it'd be a great help. Believe me, I've tried everything to my best ability..
 
Awesome! Thanks guys, this nudge is all I needed. I'm new to this and there is so much information out there about the different steels and names that it can sometimes get really overwhelming.
Thanks again, I'll look these up with the local suppliers.
And please don't mind if I trouble you guys on this thread with some other similar doubts.
 
Where are the Damascus makers in your country sourcing their steel? There is a lot of Damascus coming out of India and Pakistan as well. Surely some of those guys would know where to get steel.


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I'm from dadar. I don't suppose you know some dealers in Mumbai, do you?
P. S. I checked out your Instagram, really good craftsmanship out there.
 
I lived in New Delhi for 3 years. Got a chance to travel through many areas of India. One of my all time favorite places to visit was Goa, followed closely by Srinagar and the DSSC in Wellington.

In Mumbai there are a few steel purveyors, however I am not sure if they stock cutlery grade steels. I would check with a representative from MASSMA (http://massma.in/) or Vishal Steel Industries (http://www.vishalsteels.in/). It looks as though Vishal may have silver steel and some alloys available.
 
I did get O1 steel for pretty cheap from a supplier, but the flat stock is a little warped. Could I just anneal it and clamp it in a vice to straighten it? What I mean to ask is does annealed steel have elastic memory.
On a side note I'm getting M2 and D2 steels from a distributor thanks to your help. Which is a better steel in terms of heat treating and machinability. I know that M2 has got a ton of tungsten and vanadium which forms very strong carbides and gives good edge holding/abrasion resistance and very fine grain and is marginally tougher as compared to D2. But if heat treating it properly is going to be a problem or if it rusts really really easy like some of the posts I've read on forums; would that warrant using D2?
I know that the conversation again boils down to what the intended use is, and to that; most of my designs are small 4" edc blades in hot and humid weather of Mumbai, with a couple exceptions which are kitchen knives.
For my larger bushcraft knives I still intend to use the O1 steel because it's quite easy to heat treat and I have it in 1/4 inch stock. Plus from whatever I've read, it comes just below A2 in terms of toughness amongst all the steels I just mentioned. That is if I can somehow straighten it to decent tolerances for a knife.
I would really appreciate some advice here..
 
Got it straightened under a 300 tonne hydraulic press. I can finally begin.
Thank you so much for the help guys. Cheers 🍻
Tehemton.
 
Tehemton said:
Hi, I've been reading and learning a lot on this forum for a few months now but I'm posting because I'm really stuck on the very basic task. Procuring steel.
I live in Mumbai, India and I'm having a really hard time finding a supplier for steel.
Absolutely nobody seems to know what A2, M2, D2, or O1 is.
And if you inquire for even the most basic steels like the 10xx series, they act like you're speaking some alien language.
Can anybody please guide me if they know of any blade worthy steels that aren't an absolute pain to procure in India? I'm all set on the tooling end and the designs; just need the steel to start off.
I do believe that these steels are available here, just being sold under a different/local name. If anybody can point me in the right direction it'd be a great help. Believe me, I've tried everything to my best ability..
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Absolutely it is a foreign language.
Those are USA standards ASME

India is Metric, look up the metric DIN standards for those steels.
 
There is a app called "Knife Steel Compositions" that might help you. It will tell you what the other names for steels are. You also might be able to find something that is easier to find and can make good blades.
 
Thanks for spotting that Natlek. Yes, this is a five year old discussion. I suspect he has found his steel now.
 
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