[TheForge] RE: Tool Steel

[Jerry Smith]

Dave,

Most of the bigger companies around me are owned by
foreign companies. The small guys are the bigger
companies, most of the mills are always on the verge
of being shut down for one reason or another. I can go
from Wheeling to Steubinville, and see mills not
running to any capacity as they did 20 years or more
ago. Youngstown was mill town, now the air is clear
because of no major mills operating.

When I was buying larger amounts of steel, I bought
Swedish Steel from the Japanese company that supplies
Honda. My SS was bought a Koval's, which I know it was
Hitachi in origin, but they are gone.

Jerry

--- "David E. Smucker" <davesmucker at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Jerry,  What you see -- and material size you can't
> find is a common problem 
> during times of high demand.  Special size, and the
> small sizes blacksmith 
> like to use tend to leave the market place.  Why,
> because the producers want 
> to run highest volume possible to make the most, and
> this means running just 
> common sizes.
> 
> Another factor, bad times, always seen to proceed
> good times and bad times 
> may force out the smaller specialty suppliers. 
> Sometimes smaller suppliers 
> are family held companies and when the old man dies
> the company dies too. 
> In the late 70's we purchase a special foil shear
> for making multi cuts from 
> a master coil.  This was a several million dollar
> machine, and almost 
> finished when the owner died.  He had given more