Its been noted that A&A has raised there prices again..... well sometime early next year AT will do so again too......

Earlier this year, mild steel prices increased drastically, with the steel in the higher carbon ranges to follow. The supplier I get my steel from warehouse' a great deal of steel, so I wasn't effected by the increases until about four weeks ago, and then it was a 30% increase. The outside salesman stopped by this last week, and the conversation veered towards the steel market, and I was told to expect about that much more increase in the next few months.

Other costs have likewise gone up, and it takes more time than it did a year ago...

I'm going to try and hold prices until next year, but as the costs add up, there may be no choice sooner..............

Auld Dawg

Oh wow. Is this a normal trend in steel prices or is something affecting the market?

raw materials and energy had a steep price increase over the last year (up to 200 % for some stuff) over the whole board thanks to the industrial rise of China (isn't that nice - not only our workplaces go over there, also everything gets more expensive too because of it).

Industrial demand in China is probably also the reason that oil hit $43 a barrel today. Get used to it.

I know steel is going up. I just purchased 30 ft. of electrical conduit and it has gone up 300% since a year ago!!! So it is not just swords.

Of course that is why we need those Titanium blades :lol:

Cheers
Dave

a coupla months ago I was working a project to scrap out a 220 foot aluminum ship to take advantage of metals prices. china wants a lot. bad news: they are particularly interested in military metals. they will now have the electrical capacity for large scale production of everything, b/c of the Yangtse Dam's completion.

China's gonna be The superpower for the next 40 years.

ps on a sidenote you might find the ship i was destroying to be interesting. it was a 1960s Navy ASW experiment: a 200=+ foot ship that went about 90 miles an hour. there is tons of bandwidth devoted to it. Do a google search on "plainview+ hydrofoil"

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Steel is up and it's hurting, no two ways about it.

However, Although the upswing in China's economy is the main cause, there is a wierd side-benifit, which is too rarely the case.
At least two iron mines in the Midwest have been re-opened, and Mills all over the continent have been adding shifts, a friend of mine in Ontario who works at a place that supplies alloying elements to the industry has added thier 3rd shift back to the program and are calling hundreds of workers back to the floor.

Maybe with some luck even the steel valley will fire up some mothballed lines and get some iron rolling.

Had a visit from my steel rep yesterday. He has been to China twice in the last few years. He said picture the US in late 40's early 50's with capacity, raw material and demand, then add on the fact that wages are about .40 to 1.00 US a day in some areas. He thinks where in for a bumpy ride to say the least.

In our neck of the planet. He said mills and mines are comming back on but that the demand from overseas is for the general types and many mills are specializing in high volume of one or two types of steel. The other types will get made when and if they feel like or someone puts out for a special order. He thinks some boutique steels are probably running off the current supply and after that it may well be gone.

The Chinese are not only buying alot but are also the largest steel producer in the world at the moment. wait till we are arguing over what imported Chinese steel is the best to buy as domestic supplies are gone!

Fun huh

Craig

Does this sound like the Japanese Ford story to anyone else? :\

someone mentioned that china is currently the biggest producer. they are buying up pre-made steel and scrap so they can rapidly industrialize, so that they can make their own steel and won't need to buy any more from us.

those american mills that opened will shut right back down. eight or ten month's ago they were crying for a federal subsidy to bail them out. I think they eventually got it too.

this doesn't just hit swords. building contractors are stockpiling plumbing wiring ,nails and bracketry against rapidly rising costs. this is dramatically increasing building costs in the US.

when will swordmakers develop their own steel? ( apart from the pricey pattern welders)

when will swordmakers develop their own steel?

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Now, taking place already. Initially it was more of a "something ya just gotta do once" thing, the discussions lately have been a lot more serious, from traditional smelting of steels of all kinds from European to Asian, to actually doing really serious small-scale melts of modern-type tools steels. The Steel situation is driving it in part, for sure. I got a furnace running already to do crucible-melts, Ric Furrer has been producing steels of all kinds for some time now, there is a group of us doing a lot of work with Tamahagane up in the woods in Mn, I'm building a Euro-style set-up in my yard at home, and other guys, like Louis Mills, have been making thier own steel for awhile now. This Monday and tuesday I'm going to be talking about the possibility of an induction furnace with some guys too... although thats getting a lot more high-test than maybe we can swing. You never know though, I mean sometime, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, I can still get the stuff I use... but there is that voice in the background saying " yeah but for how long?" Yeah, mills cranking up and folks going back to work... sounds nice, wishfull thinking on my part likely.