Where to buy Precision ground Stainless Steel

thartman

thartman

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Apr 4, 2010
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Where do you purchase precision ground stainless steel? I have checked a few sources and was shocked at the price differences out there. The source that I thought would have the best price was charging twice what they did for their regular stock.

Thanks
Tim
 
Indulge me here................. what's the difference between PRECISION ground and SURFACE ground? I'm assuming (perhaps a BIG assumption on my part) that the bars are square, the edges parallel and the thickness pretty consistent over the length of the bar. Is the final finish different? Am I assuming too much here? One is surface ground to 120 grit and precision ground is 320? Explain please...................

Syn
 
Precision ground is ground to precisely the listed thickness with a precision of no more than a few ten thousandths (exact tolerances are listed) variation over the entire bar, surface ground typically means it is ground until uniformly flat

-Page
 
Ok, I'll chime in with a question. If you're making a folding knife, it's super important that the blade and spring be the same thickness. So, if you don't care what the thickness is as long as it's the same, will Aldo's surface ground stock work better than stock with mill scale? I could see where if you cared if the steel was exactly 0.100 inches how PG might be worth it, but if the SG is ground true, shouldn't it work almost as well as PG, and better than mill scale?
 
jkf96a said:
Ok, I'll chime in with a question. If you're making a folding knife, it's super important that the blade and spring be the same thickness. So, if you don't care what the thickness is as long as it's the same, will Aldo's surface ground stock work better than stock with mill scale? I could see where if you cared if the steel was exactly 0.100 inches how PG might be worth it, but if the SG is ground true, shouldn't it work almost as well as PG, and better than mill scale?
Click to expand...

I have three knives on my bench now. All slip joints made from Aldo's surface ground CPM 154 at .109 thick. I don't have a surface grinder so my work is done on a 9" disc to flatten out the steel. That and hand lapping. One of the knives was perfect but the other two required a little work to get flat and true. Without a surface grinder steel that is not at least surface ground would be a lot of work. The piece of steel from Aldo varies in thickness by as much as 60 thousandths.
 
I get most of my steel (stainless or otherwise) from Aldo, and have a standing order that every piece I order be surface ground. This removes the mill scale and is gets it pretty dang close to straight and flat. For a fixed-blade, stock-removal guy like me, that's awesome... it saves me time and belts. Worth every penny.

For a maker building folders, that might not be precise/flat/straight enough. Call and ask.
 
I have gotten tired of spending so much time cleaning the mill scale off of stock and then hand lapping that I decided to go with precision ground material. Maybe I should give surface ground material a try to see if it will meet my needs as a stock removal maker.
 
watercrawl said:
This is what you need!!

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Oh, that's a baby Blanchard. Everything's bigger in Texas :p

commerce06-600w.jpg

"The World's Largest Rotary Surface Grinder - 300 inch Table 144 inches High"

That's Commerce Grinding in Dallas -- one of the best grind shops anywhere. If you ask nicely, they'll give you a tour. :)
 
Cool!! :) I'd love to see tha in operation.

lazlo said:
Oh, that's a baby Blanchard. Everything's bigger in Texas :p

commerce06-600w.jpg

"The World's Largest Rotary Surface Grinder - 300 inch Table 144 inches High"

That's Commerce Grinding in Dallas -- one of the best grind shops anywhere. If you ask nicely, they'll give you a tour. :)
Click to expand...
 
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