Where to buy 0-1 stock?

[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.

[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.

[Johnny Kleso]

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

http://books.google.com/books?id=boK...0steel&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/Mer...ory_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.