I've given up trying to find real low carbon iron rod, tons of it in China but you have to buy tons of it :-)

I need 1005 steel rod 3/16" diameter. Need about 100 feet of it in shippable lengths. I don't get replies from any of the online steel websites, are they stupid or just don't want to deal with small American businesspeople trying to grow their businesses? No wonder China is taking over the world (sorry for the rant.....)

Have you tried Metal Suppliers online?

http://www.suppliersonline.com

They seemingly have everything. And you can request that it be US material, certs, etc...

I get small quantities of the materials that I need from McMaster-Carr
http://www.mcmaster.com/ I get delivery within 2 days of ordering and I believe I have seen the material you are looking for on thier web site.

I hope that this helps,
Bill

Metals Supplier Online is just an RFQ clearing house. I've never gotten any answer from an online RFQ to any steel supplier, they simple do not read submissions from the web or respond to emails. I'll give it a try but their own email address doesn't even work :-)

McMaster has a material they call 1006-1010, some vague inconsistent material that I bought samples of and haven't tried yet. I am shooting for 1005 or lower so it might not work.

Thanks for the suggestions though :-)

Give this place a try - All Metals & Forge. They have 1005 listed on their website and they are out of NJ.

http://www.steelforge.com

I did send them an RFQ but no response from them either, I am sending them a fax tonite, maybe they will respond to that. I think my needs are just too small for any of these companies to deal with, I make very small parts out of this stuff so I simply don't need 300 lbs of anything....

ever tryed 12L14 OR LEADALLOY?

I got some samples, but after some research I think this stuff is the same as 1018 but with lead added for machinability. Lead is a big no no in an audio circuit and I think the ROHS restrictions on shipping to europe wouldn't allow lead alloys, you can't even have lead in solder anymore if you ship to europe....

I sometimes build electromagnets for customers and get 1" rod from carpenter metals for this purpose which they call simply electrical iron. My understanding is that it is very low carbon.

John Hewitt
Custom Research Equipment

Yes they make it, I had a third party quote material from them, they don't make it in 3/16" and a foot of 1/2 inch rod was $150. Thats an insane price for basically a very pure iron rod. I bought a 6 foot bar of even purer iron rectangular about 20x 40mm for $35. Can't really use it unless I can find someone to cut it down into 1/8 thick x 3/16 wide rectangular bar for me, not sure where to even look for someone to do that, I don't think machine shops have stuff to cut bars into strips?

One of the contacts from here has found the material I want in China and I'm waiting for a quote this week. Sad I have to go to China to get any interest in my small business but thats how things apprenlty work in the US these days, no one wants small business work....