Originally Posted by
Nermal
You sure about that? Making one's own steel would be quite an undertaking, especially for a small company. Even Buck Knives and all the custom makers buy their stock.
This is something that the ABUS rep pitched to the bike shop I went to; I immediately told the bike shop that steel is a very complex thing, and started going on about metallurgy and different grades of steel I've played with and like for various applications, and the role of various alloying materials. The security concerns for locks are varied by type of lock, and thus the material requirements will change. Chains? As hard as you can get. U-Locks? Hard, but malleable and ductile to resist cracking under leverage (bottle jack). Braid cable? Laughable; the softest, most ductile steel you can get, minimal malleability, for this, and it'll still cut easy.
Making your own steel is a good way to make crap steel. Unless your business is selling high-grade steel, you should be buying high-grade steel.