2025 has been a year of heavy transitions in the world of high-performance steels.
Earlier this year, Crucible Industries ceased operations, ending a storied chapter in American powdered metallurgy. Their beloved CPM line includes steels like CPM S35-VN, CPM-3V, and MagnaCut is now being produced in partnership between the US based rolling mill Niagara Specialty Metals (NSM) and by Erasteel, a European based manufacturing group.
Intial Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) will be taking place in Sweden. HIP is essentially the powder metal equivalent of a traditional smelt done at a much higher level of precision and technology. The rolling will still be done by NSM in upstate New York. The new product has been active on our shelves for a few months now and we’re very pleased with the consistency and quality across the board…
…Unfortunately, we now face another closure that hits close to home:
Buderus Edelstahl, our German partner of more than 15 years, is set to shut down on October 31st.This one hurts. Buderus has been a backbone of our inventory, supplying a wide range of high-carbon and alloy steels that thousands of makers have relied on. From solo bladesmiths to high-output production teams, Buderus steels helped fuel years of craft and growth.
From W-2 to 80CrV2 to Nitro-V, Buderus produced quality steel for thousands and thousands of us. A lot of us don’t even remember a time where Buderus steel was not readily available from bar to sheet or machined part. Not to mention all the laminates and damascus produced from 1084 and 15N20 over the years. It is certainly not easy to wrap up over a decade of relationships and hard work in a few sentences.
The ellipses mark a pretty sizable chunk that I removed, lest the lede about Buderus get buried. This is a big deal, and I assume that the tariff situation is at least part of the story.
Read the whole thing at NewJerseySteelBaron.com