We buy our materials brand new. There is no guessing about what a material is or buying from scrapyards. This is a professional business, and we feel buying scrap materials is not suitable. Cold Rolled Steel: Our most basic of material is mild steel which we simply refer to as "steel". This is NOT hot rolled steel, which comes from overseas usually from Taiwan, and is commonly used in European and India/Pakistani armories. Hot rolled is a softer and much more inferior product to Cold rolled Steel which is the only mild steel we use. Steel is the least expensive material we use and should only be purchased by those seeking low price. There are many disadvantages to purchasing steel including pitted rust which will destroy the product if not meticulously maintained. Steel is also very much subject to denting with use. Steel is the heaviest of all the materials we use, so the armor will be heaviest if purchased in steel. Marine Grade Stainless Steel: Commonly referred to simply as "stainless steel" in the armor world, this alloy is more correctly called "stainless 304" or "marine grade stainless". Contrary to most beliefs any metal will rust. What sets stainless part is that the rust will be surface only and can be wiped off. Stainless steel will last for years. Its only drawback over spring steel or spring stainless is it is much heavier than either, and is more prone to denting with use. Spring Steel: Commonly referred to as "spring" in the armor market, there are actually two alloys used in armor making. We use the more common 4130. Spring steel is shaped, then cooked to a very high temperature, turning the metal a bright yellow color. This must be done in a metal heat treating oven. Some people use a propane torch in a confined area to reach an approximation of the correct temperature. I do not believe in approximations in a professional business so we use professional machinery. Also, in watching a propane style furnace being used, the most obvious flaw was the product was not the same temperature across the entire piece. The heat treating oven we use actually uses electricity and has a slow buildup to proper temperature which is monitored and controlled to an exact degree. Spring steels most obvious feature when handling it will be the fact is it 1/3 the weight of normal steel. This is because the steel is hardened during the process so that much thinner material can be used. The second thing you will notice with spring steel is it will bend, but then when you release it, it will "spring" back into its original shape. Hence the name. Spring steel is a high carbon steel and will rust the same as mild steel without proper care. Spring Stainless: Spring Stainless is a rather new option in armor making and we personally did not start using this material until about 2009 when we began secretly testing it. We use the 410 stainless alloy. Spring Stainless is shaped, then cooked to a very high temperature, turning the metal a bright yellow color. This must be done in a metal heat treating oven. I know of noone successfully using a propane furnace to reach high enough temps to treat spring stainless. The heat treating oven we use actually uses electricity and has a slow buildup to proper temperature which is monitored and controlled to an exact degree. Spring stainless's most obvious feature when handling it will be the fact is it 1/4 the weight of normal steel, making it the lightest weight products we make. This is because the stainless is hardened during the process so that much thinner material can be used. The second thing you will notice with spring stainless is it will bend, but then when you release it, it will "spring" back into its original shape. Hence the name. Spring stainless is a high carbon stainless steel and will rust in the same manner as normal stainless requiring occasional wiping off of the "bleeding rust" if left in a moist , salty environment. It does not rust in the same manner as steel or spring steel. Due to the cost of materials, the expense of reaching the required temperatures, and the extraordinary amount of time required to clean spring stainless after tempering, this is the most expensive product that we make. |