Source for nice stock SS, ground flat?

S

SterlingHammer

Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
49
I recently bought some 440c stock to play with from Mcmaster, knowing it might've been sub-par regarding alloy as it could possibly be from China. I bought it for a project as the handle of a lockback folder, so perfect alloy content wasn't a primary concern.
I don't know that it actually came from China, though no cert came with it, so I suspect it could've come from a variety of places. What really pissed me off was that it was finished after rolling with an industrial sandblaster. Now I have to lap one side of each piece (it's been cut in half) to make it even usable for my application.

Where do you folks order your stock from? I would like stainless steel that is either milled or ground... finished on both sides and truely measuring what it's stated to measure!
I ordered 3/16ths stock, but there are riupples and the pocxked surface to lap flat. By the time I'm done, I will have remove several thousandths from the thickness.
 
These questions would be better answered in the shop talk section forum in the makers section.

In the future order stock that is labeled precision ground, that will save you the trouble.
 
I just got 6' of 19C27 3/16" thick and 1 1/2" wide from Admiral. delivered to the door for less than $100 bucks. Smooth as silk
 
I've used precision ground steel in the past thinking it would save some time. Didn't like it and didn't think it was worth the extra money. My gripe is that the grit used for surface grinding (I'm guessing about 36 grit) is so coarse that it takes as much time or longer to get all the scratches out for a mirror polish. I hand sand on a flat surface from 220 and up for a mirror polish and those last couple of long deep scratches just take forever.

And I did try a couple of different sources. Twas all the same.
 
I just got some hot rolled 154-CM from Admiral Steel. It's really about the best surface finish I've seen. Very little pitting and won't take long at all to clean up. They also cut (sheared) the steel to a specific width for me. I'm very happy with it.

As an aside: I've heard the cold rolled will show a tread-like pattern in the steel when it's finished out. I've not seen it, but I have been careful to get hot rolled.
 
lukus said:
I've used precision ground steel in the past thinking it would save some time. Didn't like it and didn't think it was worth the extra money. My gripe is that the grit used for surface grinding (I'm guessing about 36 grit) is so coarse that it takes as much time or longer to get all the scratches out for a mirror polish. I hand sand on a flat surface from 220 and up for a mirror polish and those last couple of long deep scratches just take forever.
And I did try a couple of different sources. Twas all the same.
Click to expand...
That's what I'm doing, too. It's terrible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top