Stocking up on Steel and Other Materials

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Mar 6, 2022
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It would seem like NJSB has decent prices and a good selection, at least as far as high carbon, and stainless but it also looks like shipping is right around $40 no matter what I put in the cart. I assume there would be some math involved to determine how much I need to buy for the price to still be better than Pop's, Jantz, Alpha, Metal Supermarket or USAKM.

Do you normally try to buy from just one supplier? Or the best deal on ABC is from X, and XYZ comes from Y, etc...?
On this note, is it better to keep multiple thicknesses on hand, or just stick with the thicker one that you would use and thin it as necessary?
When making things such as classical folders (minus the big old backpocket knives) does it make sense to order 4" or 6" or even wider, as opposed to ordering 1", 1-1/2", or 2"?

The other things that comes to mind are Brass, Nickel Silver in a thickness appropriate to bolsters. Is there an equivalent to NJSB for such things? I know some of these may do better from jewelry supply places, but I haven't found too many yet.

From what I have been noticing, all the cool kids have given up on brass and nickel silver and moved on to all stainless. Liners, Bolsters, Springs, and Blades. I assume that they are not all the same SS. So how does one choose a SS for a liner/bolster as opposed to blade/spring? I can only assume that it has to do with size availability or cost. But that is just guessing.

Scale/handle materials like micarta must be available in bulk size sheets somewhere, but I have not found them. Suggestions? Is it plausible to actually make one's own micarta? Is it necessary to have the filler like burlap, or can you simply mold clear epoxy with mica's or other pigments?

What kinds of woods are good without pressure pot stabilization? Is simply having a high enough janko score enough?

Where does one get materials like bone (cow femur? giraffe bone?) As well, what about antler/stag/horn and legal ivory like mammoth?
 
The cool kids gave up on brass?!? No one told me! I guess I should be able to deduce my coolness from that...
Sorry, just seems like I am not seeing that nice brass glow in the majority of what I have seen posted lately. Gorgeous, beautiful knives none the less. But just seems that when they list what they have used I keep seeing some kind of Crucible steel, and either 410 or 416 for liners/bolsters. Just an unscientific observation. I could just be hanging out in the wrong places :)
 
The cool kids gave up on brass?!? No one told me! I guess I should be able to deduce my coolness from that...
Not to worry. I haven’t been cool for many years. I’ve been told here that my mosaic pins and brass bolsters are so 70s. Must be lots of folks stuck in the 70s cause I sell knives. LOTS of knives!
 
Hint, get the 24" bars instead of the 36" bars :) They are a good bit less expensive to ship! IIRC it was around $24 to ship several 24" long bars of steel from NJSB vs 38-$40 for the 36" bars.
 
Hint, get the 24" bars instead of the 36" bars :) They are a good bit less expensive to ship! IIRC it was around $24 to ship several 24" long bars of steel from NJSB vs 38-$40 for the 36" bars.
pretty sure I remembered 30" being the cutoff for higher shipping at same weight.
 
Yeah, but most places dont offer 30" cuts. Its usually 18", 24", 36" or 48". Some will cut down longer bars for you too, or order a 4"x12" piece instead of a longer narrow bar, etc. Jantz has a flat steel rate for shipping iirc too?
 
Just make what you like. You can use brass, nickel silver, stainless etc. It all sells.

The fact is stainless stays looking great forever and does not tarnish, the other materials do tarnish. To get them to look new it takes some work.

Most use 416 pins and bolsters and 410 liners.

You can use 300 series, but it is a bear to mill.

A with brass liners and ns bolsters still looks great.
 
For thickness, i think it would depend on equipment and processes? If you forge and have power hammers or presses squishing 10mm down isn't too hard, however if you only do stock removal then grinding 10mm down to say 3mm would be a pain.
If you really want to stock up you can buy full sheets.

Resin needs fillers if you want it to be tough. On it's own it can be rather brittle.

If I wanted a full sheet of micarta or something similar I would reach out to the local supplier and ask if they would help with a big order. The local one here is clearly breaking down bigger sheets.
 
Yeah, but most places dont offer 30" cuts. Its usually 18", 24", 36" or 48". Some will cut down longer bars for you too, or order a 4"x12" piece instead of a longer narrow bar, etc. Jantz has a flat steel rate for shipping iirc too?
I just meant that once something is over 30" the rate goes up regardless of the WEIGHT.

I think Jantz has 2 flat rates, and when you pick the long bar it goes to the higher one.
 
For thickness, i think it would depend on equipment and processes? If you forge and have power hammers or presses squishing 10mm down isn't too hard, however if you only do stock removal then grinding 10mm down to say 3mm would be a pain.
If you really want to stock up you can buy full sheets.

Resin needs fillers if you want it to be tough. On it's own it can be rather brittle.

If I wanted a full sheet of micarta or something similar I would reach out to the local supplier and ask if they would help with a big order. The local one here is clearly breaking down bigger sheets.
I guess knowing what a sheet size is would help. O ciously it is bigger than 2"x6" but is it made in 48x96"? I certainly wouldn't want to deal with that anyway.

I am only doing stock removal so thickness is a potential issue. But sticking to classical folders I can make plenty of patterns with 3/32 or 1/8. And I doubt I need bolster material other than 1/8. Maybe some larger knives might use 1/4" bolster material but that seems big and clunky without seeing it. Liners have been .06 or maybe 3/32 whatever the size the plate brass as hobby lobby is :)

Not sure what sizes are available to me yet in 410 and 416. What I have been seeing I. The all SS ones I have seen look like the liners are much thicker than my brass ones.

To make it worse (or better) I just saw some stuff looked like they used straight up copper for liners and bolsters so that might be worth looking into too.
 
What Adam says. Make what you want. If you build it they will come......
 
So, NJSB will have to wait. I just placed an order at Jantz.
I just got a little bit of stuff, but only $17 shipping:

So I got Nickel Silver in .032 and .125 so I can make liners and bolsters with it
I already have brass in .032
So I picked up some 360 in 1/8" for bolsters

Some more 80crv2 in 3/32

Thought I would give stainless a try so I picked up
1/8" 416 barstock for bolsters
17-4 sheetstock in 0.040

Thought I might give AEB-L a shot but I could only get it in 0.125. I would have preferred 3/32 but maybe i will make some Sunfish. And it is 2" wide so perhaps I can make a larger backpocket knife, or a fixed blade to try out that process.

I picked up the KV250 head spinner, for $14 I am not sure what I am getting, but it will perhaps be something worth playing with.

I picked up some G10 and some kirinite to play with. I wasn't able to get the stardust but I am considering picking up some pen blanks from PSI since they have it. But 3/4 x 3/4 may be a very close fit.
 
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