Tap Dies

(I have no interest in this firm.)
JerryU

• McMaster

Metrics to #14.

1-800-325-1568 for quote.
Steve

• U.S. Alloys Co.

Also, Grainger and it more or less close competitor, McMaster Carr, are several times larger than anyone else in the business.

While there are reasons why other industrial supply houses exist, there are also reasons why these two are the most successful in their field.

It's hard to beat Grainger's prices but their range is not as complete as MSC or McMaster Carr on many items.

Nobody has a range like McMaster Carr. Just bought about 40 sizes of industrial single end wrenches and crowfoot wrenches. McMC had all the rather odd sizes I needed in stock. Pricing was okay. I was very pleased that they supplied Armstrong, Williams and Proto even though there are lower cost brands in the market that McMC could have shipped.

Suggest checking out these two houses first. Then, using them as a benchmark, go to your favorite local supplier to see if you can do better.

No offense taken my friend. Everyone is in the habit of buying someplace.

You know, people will buy something out the back door if they can find it locally. I do. Companies like mine compete by offering many items that cannot be easily found in one place. We also offer first class technical assistance and stand behind our product with a no questions asked money back gaurantee. (Whether it is our product or someone elses.)

We also have next day service and treat the neighborhood welding shop the same way we treat GM or Cat. (Actually, I get way more satisfaction and respect not to mention customer loyalty from helping out the smaller guy.) We have a web site and independent reps covering much of the U.S.

There are two exceptions I will give you though. We do not carry lesser quality imports for one time useage. We carry only what we honestly feel to be the best product we can find and at the best price we can offer it. We feel through 32 years experience in business, that no one ever regrets buying the best. We also charge freight right up front. We don't hide it in the price of the product. Believe me, you always pay freight in one way or another. You pay for give aways too.

Now, having said all that, I'm going to use something I learned from Fred and say "go ahead and throw those rocks everyone." We will not be the "cheapest" or the most "expensive" in every given instance. Rest assured, we do the best we can. It's how we feed our families around here and we depend on your repeat business.
Steve

PS-Hope the long winded reply made at least some sense:)

You are correct in your assumption that my company specializes in welding. More specifically, repair welding. We do go head to head with companies like Eutectic, Certanium, Nassau, Chronatron, MG, Continental etc. I will also admit that we are a smaller American company in comparison to the European giants like Eutectic or Certanium. We do however, gaurantee our product quality to be at least as good or we take it back.

We are not into the same business as Grainger or McMaster Carr in regard to being all things to all people. We cater to the manufacturer, job shop or farm shop and anything we carry outside of the realm of welding or welding safety is because people have asked us for a certain item regularly. Things like PB Blaster or grinding wheels etc. I personally don't get much of a charge out of selling a drill bit. It's the cast iron welding project or the metallising of a foundry pattern that blows my skirt up.
Thanks for your input,
Steve
P.S. I'm not trying to be smart, but can you rent the stuff you only want to use once?

Many people have gone from the Oxy/Fuel powder torch like the Eutectic Terrodyne 2000 or the Metco 6P type to HVOF or the twin arc system. PTA and PNTA are too pricey for most. The HVOF kerosene gun is impressive too. We may have a small twin arc system very shortly that will compete with the oxy/fuel powder torch in price. It will operate on any CV power source. I'm looking forward to doing some demo's with it.
Steve