Tour of Niagara Specialty Metals

[Matthew Gregory]

I had a great opportunity to take a tour of Niagara Specialty Metals this week. Bob Shabala, the company president, took time out of his schedule to meet with me.
Here's Bob's take on what they'll offer:
Starting in January, Niagara Specialty Metals will be #######d to sell CPM brand steel. We have several orders placed for S30-V, 154-CM, CPM 154-CM, 3-V, 15-V, S90-V as well as a new grade called CPM S35VN (CPM S20-VN). We have hot rolled Crucible sheet for years on a conversion basis, now we are going to buy and sell the steel directly. We also currently stock and sell 440-C and D-2. We have also hired Scott Devanna and Frank Cox to help support our sales and to develop new grades.
We will stock many sizes for quick deliveries. Currently we stock 440-C and D-2 to finish at .063", .093", .125", .156" and .187". The current minimum order is $50 but that may increase to $75. We will consult with Frank and Scott on what thicknesses to stock in the CPM grades and 154-CM and pricing will be posted on the website.

We will roll orders to size in quantities as small as 1 to 2 sheets. Our niche throughout the years has been custom sizes of small batches. In fact, the average order we take is around 300 pounds. Our best price is for any order over 500 pounds. We do not melt steel and I'm sorry if the website gives that impression. We buy slabs directly from the mill and roll that into sheet or plate. All of our slab is melted and produced in the USA. We currently buy from Crucible, Latrobe Specialty Steel, Carpenter Technologies, American Stainless and we are considering Universal Stainless. We do not stock W2 currently. You may want to check with Latrobe Specialty Steel.
The first CPM product should be available in January. We expect to receive our first slabs from Crucible in December and it normally takes 4 to 6 weeks to make it into sheet. We are going to try to shorten the lead time to help fill the demand for these grades.

Upon arriving around 9PM, we entered into the 'small' rolling mill area, where the guys were working on a batch of 440C sheets:



A shot of the sheet coming from furnace #2:



With incredible speed and dexterity, they wrangle the 1900 degree sheet onto a cart and race it to the rolling mill, where its fed in, rolled out, lifted over the top roller and fed back in again. My camera had trouble keeping up with them, as they waste no time in this procedure:







The 'little' rolling mill uses a 1,250 horsepower motor!!

[Matthew Gregory]

After every roll, the sheet is checked for proper thickness in a variety of locations across the steel with a micrometer:



In order to keep track of so many things happening at once, there's a digital display that details the procedure schedule in real time - this way, and with several other systems in place, no mistakes are made:



After the desired thickness is achieved, the sheet is brought to a series of flattening rollers, and once again mic'd for accuracy.



Some of the sheet might get sheared, but it all will be annealed in their own custom annealing furnaces:



Here's a pic of Matt Edson standing in front of one of many annealing furnaces:



A big pile of plate ready to be sent as-is, or further rolled down depending upon the customer's needs:



The 'Timesaver'... a surface grinder that uses belts 39" wide!!! And you thought 2"x72" were pricey!!!!!



These machines were all over the facility, as well as lots of bandsaws. Big ones...







...and now for the amazingly awesomely cool part....

[Matthew Gregory]

Steel. LOTS of steel. STEEL STEEL STEEL.

STEEL!











Most of these bars are 11 feet long by 11 inch square. There's CPMS30V, CPM3V, CPM154CM, CurForgeV, M4, CPMS90V, D2, you name it. (I felt like Chunk from The Goonies... "They got Rocky Road, and Chocolate Eruption...")

These are shots of barstock that's already been prepped for customers (already sold - rats!):







They also have waterjetting and laserjetting capabilities on-site:



Here's a shot of a blank they cut:



Thanks to the gang I NSM for letting us get in the way, and hang out a bit. I'm going back to see the big stuff broken down, just not sure when... I'll post pics of that, as well.

The entire crew at NSM seemed to be looking forward to our interest in their company, and they were genuinely good guys. My guess is they're going to be an enormous boon to the knifemaking community.

Thanks again, Bob!

[Ray Rogers]

Very educational, thanks, Mr purple! I think you're right, Niagra Specialty could be very useful to us ....

[AcridSaint]

Everywhere I go, I keep seeing this Matt Gregory fellow talking about some fancy steel in fancy New York...

I want to know if you took home one of those blocks of 3V