Quick question: which steel alloy should I buy, and why?

[cazclocker]

You might call S&S Alloys up in Tonganoxie then. They supply Honeywell's top-secret shop up in KC, and keep some epically weird stuff in stock. They can get damn near anything, and are pretty resonable on price.

Wow, that's great! I was unaware of S&S. Got 'em bookmarked now. Thanks!

Absolutely, it'll be a cool project and it never hurts to have multiple options/ tools for the job

Agreed!

Assuming you have a mill, why would you hand file it? Just clamp it in your vise at a 45 degree angle and use an ordinary end mill. You could do both at the same time.

Best,
Kelly

I don't have a milling machine - I used to have a nice LMS bench mill, but had to sell it (and my Rivett 504 lathe) to move cross-country. You're right, if I still had my mill I'd just pop in my 90-degree cutter and ZIP.... done! Unfortunatly, I'll have to hand file. That's okay, I have a very nice set of jeweler's hand files and my filing skills are adequate to the task. Hopefully I'll be acquiring a Sherline mill in 2023!

 

[Shotgun]

Buy? What is this "buy" word you speak of?

If the material isn't in the scrap bin, I move on to the next project.