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CA-ON West Toronto material comparison

Ontario
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Supplies
DaveinGuelph said:
The fellow I spoke to at Golden Triangle said they no longer allow people to come it and look for offcuts. You have to order and pickup, full price.. so.

BUT. I got a quote from Online Metals a while ago and the only thing in my way was the problem of shipping. So thank you for the Shipsy heads up; that's helpful.
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You are going to find that a lot of yards restrict people from wandering thru their inventory.
Liability concerns and safety are the main reasons.

If you get to know the people involved they will allow you in.
 
slow-poke said:
Attar is the best one, there are others close.

On a good day, they have a lot to choose from, 2 foot square plates up to 3/4" thick, blocks, rounds you name it. I found the place many years ago when Metal Supermarket was closed on a Saturday, the guy looked at what I needed and said just take it not worth weighing. They have a rolling bin for each type of metal, more aluminum than anything else probably because of proximity to airport.

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Love this map. Thank you a lots!
 
DaveinGuelph said:
I've been there twice. Great place. They keep all their offcuts on racks separate from the general inventory. And they have a scales for weighing stuff. Open Saturdays too.
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Went to McKinnon a few days ago. Can only second previous sentiments. While I was also quoted $1/lb for steel and $4/lb Al, the friendly staff made a few mistakes to my advantage.

Great offcut racks with brass, aluminum and steel. Bought 40+ lbs mild steel (with three pieces of tool steel thrown in) as well as 20+ lbs of aluminum. Besides feeling obliged to explain at home, I now have a problem; While I think I could do something with most of the aluminum on my 5" lathe, what am I going to do with the steel, let alone the tool steel. I don't own any cutters for the tool steel (unless perhaps if I figure out how to sharpen my carbide inserts) and frankly have no ideas what to do with it. Luckily I managed to refrain from buying any brass - although that would probably have made more sense than the tool steel.


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Manfred said:
I don't own any cutters for the tool steel (unless perhaps if I figure out how to sharpen my carbide inserts) and frankly have no ideas what to do with it. Luckily I managed to refrain from buying any brass - although that would probably have made more sense than the tool steel.
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There are many kinds of tool steel, but almost all you'd commonly encounter will cut just fine with hss when the steel is annealed, which is how it is sold (annealed). btw, they should have told you what kind of tool steel it is, otherwise its mystery metal; you have to know what kind it is to be able to heat treat it properly

When you need tool steel, nothing else will do. Even when you don't need to harden it, it is still superior for some applications as even in the annealed state it is tougher and has greater strength than mild steel.

I always have a good selection of O1 drill rod available so I can make whatever I need (like a small specialty cutter) without delay
 
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I also try to keep some W1(water hardening) or O1(oil hardening) around. This can generly be heated to hardening temputures with a propane hand torch, material size dependent.
I brought some M1, I was not paying attention, needs 2000 degree F. or more for hardening, that project was a waste of time as not set up for those temputures right now.
 
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