I’m often asked to describe my business. I typical say that HT Metals is a metal distributor emphasizing custom transformation of metallic raw material. We accomplish this by abrasive waterjet cutting plate and sheet or band saw cutting machine blanks from bar stock. The raw materials we supply are primarily stainless steel, aluminum alloys and specialty steels.

Unlike a typical metal distributors, we don’t have a large warehouse filled with metal of various types and sizes waiting for customers to come and buy. We know where to buy stainless steel at mill depots that have floor stock and that’s where we go because they won’t sell direct to machine shops. Therefore, our stainless pricing is very competitive. We also aggregate purchases of many customers; therefore, we can buy aluminum alloys and other metals at lower prices.

So what type of customers would benefit from a buying relationship with HT Metals?
1. Machine shops, fabricators, and individuals in need of abrasive waterjet machining.
2. Machine shops that machine round and flat stainless steel bar in larger quantities, ie. greater than 200 pounds.
3. Machine shops and fabricators looking for experts in raw material sourcing of a large variety of alloys.

To be fair, I also like to mention which customers we are not likely to help.
1. Machine shops or individuals seeking small quantities of metal. There are a couple of online site that specialize in small quantity metal sales.
2. Individuals looking for plain carbon steel products.
3. Abrasive waterjet machining is not an inexpensive process. The time spent modeling, planning and setting up a “small job” can take more time than a “big job”. Therefore, we have a minimum on waterjet machining depending on how prepared the customer is with their design.