For those who use, or intend to use, aluminum for their wet plate work.
Options here in Canada are expensive and limited. Even with expensive USPS shipping to Canada, sheet metal goods are a bargain if bought from a US supplier.
For wet plate work, the two that stand out are Lund Photographics and Main Trophy Supply. I've so far priced 4x5 plates in black aluminum.
Lund has the best cost-per-plate. For 100 4x5 plates, plus shipping, Lund has a slight edge, before (and after) shipping kicks in.
What's interesting about Main Trophy is that you can buy 12x24 sheets and they now sell plate shears, so you can cut your own plates anytime and in any size you want. More economical long-term, probably.
Looking further, 12-inch shears at metalwork suppliers are under $200, (about half the cost of Main Trophy's shears). For the long haul, if wet plate finally sticks with me, I may get shears and buy aluminum in larger sheets.
I know Garrett once mentioned he did this, but I'm unsure what cutting tool he used. I found these (in Canadian pesos): https://www.busybeetools.com/product...cx-series.html
It's also possible to use a circular saw with a blade for aluminum, but I've only seen it, not tried it.
What do you guys do - or what do you plan on doing - for aluminum plates?
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