The Armour Archive

I want to make some scales. I want to do it with 410 because if you do a bad job cleaning it up after heat treating, it looks a lot like weathered mild steel. And I also don't want to deal with rusting scales.

Problem is, the only place I've found that will sell me 0.025" (~24g) 410 stainless wants... seriously... $1,800 USD for about 7 square feet of it.

McMaster has 0.029", but I'd like to go thinner if possible.
Admiral only goes down to 0.032".

Anyone know any other sources?

So only heat treating is going to do for the project? Just trying to figure what performance at what weight you really need.

It is a pain in the ass sorting through various 410 alloys through google, ain't it? Instantly you find varied bloviation on 410, T410 if that is actually any different... yada yada.

Online Metals sticks you $102.55 for a 24"x36" of .020" 410, $96.96 for 12"x36. Some of this is likely sized for shipping costs, might you suppose? And there's a Create A Custom Size button for a longer 36" sheet (I bet) cut off the roll. They offer .025" also, and thicker.

https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.c ... &top_cat=0

Yeah I forgot to mention onlinemetals... What I don't get is, McMaster is not generally known as the budget option for ANYTHING, and yet they sell 410 sheets for way less than anyone else. I have this idea that if McMaster sells 0.029 for around $9 a square foot, I should be able to find thinner sheet for less than twice what McMaster is charging for thicker sheet....

Yes and no - a lot depends on the demand for the size. If they're making a rail car load of 0.029, it'll be cheaper than a thinner size that they only make one sheet of. Economy of scale and all that.

Try here:
https://www.castlemetals.com/

If you don mind heat treating 17-7ph stainless steel then this surplus company has lots of 0.025" 17-7ph SS for sale cheap.

https://onlinemetalsupply.com/stainless ... ory_page=1

Try Slice of Stainless. I have had good prices from them.

Mark

https://sliceofstainless.com/

Don't see right off where to find pricing.

Craig Nadler wrote:If you don mind heat treating 17-7ph stainless steel then this surplus company has lots of 0.025" 17-7ph SS for sale cheap.

Hey thanks for this tip! It looks like 17-7 is easier to weld but is more difficult to heat treat?
Do you play with it? Do you have heat treat process? 'Cause 410 is pretty dead simple... I usually don't even temper it.