Where to buy 0-1 stock?

[neil schlosser]

Where do you buy 0-1 for plane blades and such? I found onlinemetals.com, but was curious if there was any other place with better prices.

I'm a pretty serious cheapskate. The plane bodies are coming from scrap steel that I find laying here and there.

[David Weaver]

I don't know if there is too much difference between different places. I buy from mcmaster carr, I doubt it's cheaper, but it's not expensive for steel and it's close to me (takes a day to get it). They also don't play games with shipping, they charge me less for shipping than I could ever pay shipping something myself (even considering commercial UPS rates).

EDIT - just checked, mcmaster's price on a 1/8" x3"x36" piece of O1 is $10 less, I don't know if that's across the board.

All of the O1 i've ever gotten from mcmaster is starrett brand steel, too.

There are scads of places selling precision ground stock online, you can take a typical useful size like that (I consider it useful, at least - good for cutting down into moulding plane irons, small joinery plane irons, small plane sides, etc) and just go from place to place and find the best price. It's one thing I never found it to be worth the time looking for on ebay. There may be cheap deals here or there, but mcmaster is too reasonable and too close for me to waste my time elsewhere.

[george wilson]

Probably Enco is one of the cheapest sources. Victor Machinery is another in Brooklyn,N.Y.,but Enco is hard to beat. The 01 most places sell is English,but I have never had a quality problem with it. I am sure Starrett does not actually make their own steel,either.

[David Weaver]

I would imagine that it's western european origin, hopefully, and starrett grinds/mills it to size. Call me a snot, but I hope it's austrian/swiss/german and not english!

[george wilson]

I've only seen English steel from MSC,Enco,and Victor(except for the antique Brown and Sharp W1 I bought from Victor.) I don't recall getting German steel from anyone. P.S.,I mentioned finding a pallet load of 01 at the junkyard,which I bought a BUNCH of(unfortunately all thick stuff,like 3/4" and similar). It is Simmonds. Must have been around for quite a while. Probably/possibly the result of some warehouse getting rid of material that hadn't sold within a certain time. Our warehouse in Col. Wmsbg. did the same thing,getting rid of hundreds of pounds of steam valves(which they may sorely miss),ALL their motor bearings(the day after they were tossing them,the main air conditioning motor in the administration bldg. burned out its bearings!!!!)

[Bruce Haugen]

You can get O-1, W-1 and A2 from any local Fastenal store.

[David Weaver]

I've only seen English steel from MSC,Enco,and Victor(except for the antique Brown and Sharp W1 I bought from Victor.) I don't recall getting German steel from anyone. P.S.,I mentioned finding a pallet load of 01 at the junkyard,which I bought a BUNCH of(unfortunately all thick stuff,like 3/4" and similar). It is Simmonds. Must have been around for quite a while. Probably/possibly the result of some warehouse getting rid of material that hadn't sold within a certain time. Our warehouse in Col. Wmsbg. did the same thing,getting rid of hundreds of pounds of steam valves(which they may sorely miss),ALL their motor bearings(the day after they were tossing them,the main air conditioning motor in the administration bldg. burned out its bearings!!!!)

I'm never in the right place for all of these discards! You could put that 3/4" steel in the mill and make a 10 pound smoothing plane. :)

(I wouldn't know what to do with 3/4" steel, either)

[Roger Davis IN]

Somebody on here (George, Harry Strasil or Jim Koepke, I think) made the point in an earlier thread that if you sign up for Enco's e-mail notices/catalogs, you will soon get a free shipping coupon. When you are shipping steel, that can be a big deal. I use a lot of O-1 round, and Enco's prices are extermely hard to beat, especially with free shipping. Enco's service used to be lousy, but since MSC bought them it is actually quite good. On several occasions, I've bought 50 or 60 pounds of O-1 and A-2 (the rounds are often on sale, flats very rarely) and used a free shipping deal. The savings that way are huge, and the steel has always been good. Having said that, if you need it now, McMaster is tough to beat and their regular shipping rates are tougher to beat. I think I'm listed as a "business at a residence"; I don't know if that makes any difference or not, but in my experience, nobody ships cheaper or faster than McMaster.

[Johnny Kleso]

I use Enco for all my metals..
If you join there email list you get a free shipping code for a month on orders over $25-$50 and under 100 lbs
You can't beat free shipping on metal :)

enjoy free UPS shipping* on your order of $25 or more!
Simply enter Promo Code: FSCDEC.
This month only........

[David Weaver]

I don't know if that makes any difference or not, but in my experience, nobody ships cheaper or faster than McMaster.

I don't think it does. I'm a residence, and one zone from them, and I often get stuff in a medium flat rate sized box (but by UPS, not USPS) for about $4 or $4.50. bigger stuff is, of course, more, but it's still less than I could send items for and that's not counting the cost of a fresh box and bubble stuff.

[Rob Young]

I'm in the USA. McMaster-Carr has been good when I just wanted a small piece to play with. They also have a wide selection of sizes, materials, etc. Reasonable prices (I think). Enco has good prices and with their shipping deal coupons and whatnot, very economical. But I have found that they don't always have the same selection as McMaster-Carr.

I've purchased a few odds-and-sods from Fastenal and I'm not impressed with them. Cost of material and cost of shipping (when the local outlet didn't have what I needed).

[george wilson]

I think you will pay a premium price from fastenal. They are good if you need a box of fasteners in a hurry(we have a local store),but I don't think their prices will be real low. Maybe you save the shipping??? That would help.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I buy from MSC. Great prices and service.

[Joshua Clark]

I agree with Tony- I buy Starrett 0-1 flat bar stock from MSC. If you subscribe to their email newsletter you'll frequently find coupons for 25-40% off list prices. Their list prices are already _much_ lower than my local metal yard charges for tool steel.

Josh

[Wes Grass]

I think you will pay a premium price from fastenal.

I checked them out when I was shopping for bandsaw blades. Their prices were well above the 'list' prices at Spectrum Supply, which actually sells them for less than list. The prices for raw blade stock at Fastenal were absurd as well. I figured I'd buy a 100 foot roll of the narrower stuff and weld them up myself. But not at $600 a roll, or whatever it was. I about choked.

[Ron Brese]

Neil,

In an attempt to save money you may waste some. Especially if you intend to make irons from this material. All 0-1 is not created equal. Only buy material that guarantees the carbon content. For instance Enco carries two different grades. The Starret 0-1 guarantees carbon content in a range I believe that is .89 to .99 percent carbon, whereas the cheaper variety states a standard make up of .79 to .89. If you get steel thats on the lower end of that range the irons will be less than satisfactory. I buy Presco 0-1 that claims a typical make up of 1.13 percent carbon. Now that's high carbon. I've had very god results with the irons made from this material.

Ron

[george wilson]

I'll have to look into that,Ron,since 01 is defined as having at least .90% carbon. I don't understand how they could be offering carbon at .79-.89 and still be calling it 01. You must have had experience with this,though.

P.S. I have googled around,and Presco lists their 01 at .85-1.00% carbon. Exactly where are you seeing Presco at 1.13% ? Now,I am curious. If it starts at .85%,it could be that low,and could still be in the range of all other 01's. Only Starrett states flatly .90% carbon. I'm wondering if any of them can regulate their carbon very close???

USA made in Enco says carbon= .80-.95%. Starrett says .90%. Presco says .85-1.00%.

[Ron Brese]

George,

I agree that it shouldn't be called 0-1 if it's lower than .90 percent carbon. Presco claims a typical analysis shows 1.13 of course that's not guaranteed but at least there's a good chance it's going to be on the high end. I'm also wondering how then can regulate the carbon content. It probably bears some research. I do think one needs to be wary of the import stuff.

Ron

[Johnny Kleso]

Found a nice Google book on heat treating while checking on the subject

http://books.google.com/books?id=boKzK-u2MoIC&pg=PA513&lpg=PA513&dq=carbon+content+of+01+tool+steel&source=bl&ots=_KvlKgW1xC&sig=ExUTtsFShJVuVuIyoIhcyesHtl0&hl=en&ei=FNkQTc-uGYT48Aa-mP2NDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=carbon%20content%20of%2001%20tool%20steel&f=false

Here is a place to buy Presco @ about $10 less than ENCO for 1/4 x 2 x 36 on size 01
http://www.flat-stock.com/~store/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=T&Category_Code=PMGFS

Not sure what shipping cost...

[David Woodruff]

Ditto Enco or MSC, hard to beat the prices & service. Phone in the order before lunch and it arrives next day. Best variety of steels and alloys I am aware without great expense.

[Larry Williams]

...I've had very god results with the irons made from this material.

Ron

I could use some "god results." Are you sure this isn't the same stuff Cosman was peddling here? :eek:

[Ron Brese]

could use some "god results." Are you sure this isn't the same stuff Cosman was peddling here?

Larry I think we could all use some "GOD" results but Cosman gets his results with A2 (grin)

I'm just not an A2 kinda guy!!!

Ron

[neil schlosser]

I had a chance to check out MSC. Their site is a little unclear. Is all of their O1 stock from Starrett?

Appreciate the insight on getting the material from different places. I didn't think about variations in carbon content.

[David Weaver]

Larry, that comment didn't go unappreciated :D

[george wilson]

As far as I know,MSC sells both Starrett and English imported 01.

[Metod Alif]

http://www.amtektool.com/gfs.html
I came across this page a few days ago. No experience with it.
Best wishes,
Metod

[neil schlosser]

Good prices at amtek, but it looks they don't tell you the shipping charges until after ordering.

I checked with a somewhat local steel yard today, and they want $120 for a 18" piece of 3/16x3. Right now, I'm thinking that I'll be going with Enco.

[Mark Baldwin III]

Wow, Neil! That's about 4x what McMaster charges!!!
Locally, we have Speedy Metals. Depending on current rates, sometimes they can be a lot cheaper than some of the other places. I like them because I can go and pick stuff up, it's real good for pieces that would be expensive to ship.

[Gary Curtis]

Ron Hock who sells blades and irons said his most reliable source is France. Perhaps a note to him on his website might get him to name a wholesaler of steel. Hock goes through quite a lot of it in a year.

[Johnny Kleso]

Yeah maybe they have free shippping from France :)

Last time I talked with Ron Hock he said the blade maker was very good...
Ron was kind enough to send me a free blade and cap iron a few years ago..
I still have not tried it :(

That reminds me I need to do some planing and write a review on it :)