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Thread: Where to buy 0-1 stock?

  1. #1

    Where to buy 0-1 stock?

    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.

  2. #2
    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.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Williamsburg,Va.
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    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.

  4. #4
    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!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Williamsburg,Va.
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    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!!!!)
    Last edited by george wilson; 12-20-2010 at 1:24 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Hutchinson, MN
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    600
    You can get O-1, W-1 and A2 from any local Fastenal store.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    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)

  8. #8
    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.

  9. #9
    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........
    aka rarebear - Hand Planes 101 - RexMill - The Resource

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Davis IN View Post
    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.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Lawrence, KS
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    594
    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).
    Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Williamsburg,Va.
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    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.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    DuBois, PA
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    1,898
    I buy from MSC. Great prices and service.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    98
    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

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Cedar Park, TX - Boulder Creek, CA
    Posts
    832
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    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.

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