Online and Speedy Metals

Your point is valid overall but just want to point out that 1117 is NOT the same as 1144 Stressproof. Ones low carbon the other medium with special heat treating to make it machine and have great properties.
 
Didn't notice that Asm109. Thanks for pointing that out. I just checked 1.5" x 12" 1144 at Speedy is $15.38.
So Online is more than 100% more expensive.
Didn't compare shipping though.
Edit: Shipping from SPeedy--$18.90. Online--$36.10
Perhaps due to the fact I live closer to Speedy?
 
Some people don’t like the shipping charges, including myself. But, when I think about the hassle, time and gas to drive around versus having it sent to my front door. It’s a no brainer. Also, Amazon sells raw metal materials…Dave
 
I recently placed a larger order from Alro. 4 - 1x6x144 4140HT flat bar and misc 4140QT rod. They smoked anybody else (including freight) except my local vendor, but the only piece they offered me was a master plate to big for me to work with. Cut down to usable size it was more. When I realized I needed a couple smaller pieces (larger bar1x8x10) for two of the parts of the job I priced around, and again Alro was the answer. For the larger order they were a LOT cheaper per pound, but even for the smaller order they weren't bad.

Some other resources:

Admiral Steel:
Knife size thickness bar lengths in a wide variety of tool steel. Both carbon and stainless.

Tool Steel Service of California:
Has a lot of tool steels.

McMaster-Carr:
Has nearly (almost) everything, but for metals they tend to be expensive. You may be able to negotiate better pricing for larger orders, but for small orders they are strictly the price shown. On a positive note McMaster-Carr STOCKS STUFF and it ships quick.

Remington Industrial: My preferred local metal yard stocks the following that I use:
5052 Sheet
6061-T6511 bar
Misc aluminum tube and structural shapes
A36 Tube
A36 and A500 plate
304 round bar
1144 Stressproof (tm) round bar
Your usual array of hot rolled structural
They tend to be better pricing than any of the online sellers on the items they stock. If you buy fill size stock. A band saw saves me a LOT of money. Anything they do not stock is a crap shoot. If its something they stock in another yard or comes from one of their regular mills I can ask for them to have it on their next regular truck and I get it for similar competitive pricing with no freight. I recently foudn they can get 416 and 303 for me competitively as well.

Another local vendor:
Seems to price every piece of metal like its a job his fabrication shop didn't get and he's trying to make up for it.

Now on larger orders of anything it pays to shop around. The local vendors should not be discounted. Often they too will discount on quantity orders. Some more than others. I recently bought some square steel tube from Remington. I bought a dozen pieces (since I'll use it eventually anyway) and I basically got one piece for free. On my 4140 I got the best price shipped halfway across the country from Alro. A while back I needed a large batch of 5052 sheet and plate. Metals to Go had the best price including freight from Maryland to Arizona by nearly half.

One IMPORTANT thing to note:
Each major metal vendor seems to have certain products they sell a lot of of. Those products they tend to be very competitive on. Other things they sell may be quite over priced. No one vendor I have found is good on everything or even most things in modest quantities, and on larger quantities all bets are off. Shop it around.

But, I don't need 12 feet of rod you might say. Well how about if the 6 inch piece you need is $9 and the uncut 12 foot pieces is $100. Come on. If you are a shop you will use it eventually, and if you are a hobbyist you will have more metal to play with. There's a very old saying about being penny wise and pound foolish. The ONLY reason to not buy the larger piece is if you HAVE TO HAVE the small piece and there is no practical way you can afford the full size piece. That's when you got to the scrap yard or call the guys you have made friends with at the local fabrication shops. Still... at the current price of fuel as somebody mentioned its pretty easy to burn up enough gas to cancel any savings from being cheap. Cheap and frugal are not always mutually compatible.
 
Buy the way. I have emailed Speedy Metals twice asking if they can be more competitive on quantity orders. I have yet to receive a response. Before somebody says, "You should call." I've been in business all my life. Quotes come in email, 20 years ago by fax, and not long before that by mail or in person. No hard copy no long term relationship. Verbal quotes often change or get conveniently forgotten. When I was a contractor I followed the same advice. I walked around with a notebook and wrote down what was quoted or estimated, and then wrote down all the things the customer tried to tack on afterwards. Anything over a couple thousand dollars got a signed contract. Period.
 
I'm in the middle of the oil fields and we have lots of machine and fab shops. That said, there are metal suppliers too. I check with them first and then try the online sources. The supplies I use regularly I buy in bulk to save time going to get it. The exotic stuff gets to be a pain due to chasing the best price. My #1 peave is finding the best price and then calling to find they are out of stock or the "shipping & handling" doubles the bottom line.
Then there are the shops I can visit that let me look through their junk bins. There are some really good stuff in those bins!!! I get all I need and a little for my stock up pile. If I need something that they have on hand I usually get it cut or sheared to spec. for cheap. I do try to help them out with sharpening and grinding needs so it's not a one way street.
 
For people around the Twin Cities, there is also Garelic Steel. A few blocks south of Midwest Steel Supply. on 2nd and Broadway.

Ken
 
I used to get odds and ends from Garelick when I had a small mfg company in Minneapolis. It was just across the river from me. Benny Garelick was willing to deal and I usually got a good price from him.
 
I found Speedy Metals to be the best choice for me. The way I buy stuff from them is to buy it in 4 foot lengths and five to six pieces of different sizes at a time. That way, I get a decent shipping charge for the amount of material I buy. If you buy one piece 4 foot long, the shipping cost is almost the same if you buy five pieces of the same length. So far, I've been very satisfied with their service.
 
I buy from a number of companies; DiscountSteel.com,( Minneapolis), is very far priced.My choice for a lot of the time for Alum. is Stoner Aluminum and Brass: Fast and fair on cost of material and shipping. I do buy from Speedy but find the shipping charges fairly high to some other companies for the same item and possibly a greater shipping distance. My 2 cents worth. PS use to live in Minneapolis so it's nice to see some of my old stand-bys being mentioned.
 
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