[TheForge] Re: A36 vs 1018

[Mike Spencer]

> With A 36 ,I imagine we are back in the position of smiths of yore
> where each piece of material varies from the last in unknown ways.

As far as I can see, the small buyer of steel is almost always in that
position.  The distribution warehouse has dozens of sizes of bar.
Even if they have a record of the composition of lots received,
nobody wants to look that up for, say, 3 pieces each of 10 or 20
different sizes on a less-that-$1000 order, especially considering
that individual pieces of a given size may have come from various lots
and be mixed in the rack.

I just take it for granted that what I get, when I just order
off-the-rack mild steel stock will probably fall within reasonable
usability specs for structural purposes. But that's all I expect.

I've had stock that forge welded so easily that pieces were
practically jumping out of the rack and hugging other ones.  Some 3/8"
round that water hardened well enough to make poor but usable tools.
I have yet to find an unmelted drill bit embedded in a bar but it
wouldn't surprise me.

Of course, you guys who live in heavily industrialized areas probably
have more choices of where to shop.  All the general steel suppliers
in my area have been borged by Russel. There are a couple of places
that specialize in selling small pieces of almost anything at double
the price -- very handy when I needed a short piece of 1/2" x 2"
bronze flat but not for general steel stock.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^