Making Tool Steel

Bearing races are made from either a carburizing grade (usually SAE 8620) or a through-hardening high-carbon steel (SAE 52100, which is 1.00% chromium and 1% [100 points] carbon). 52100 will harden up nicely for cutting tools. It's a good clean steel and it's quite strong.

However, for the record, I doubt if it will cut one bit better or last more than slightly longer than carburized low-carbon steel. Like plain-carbon steels, its tempering temperatures are quite low, so it won't take any heat in cutting without going soft. The chromium content may increase the wear resistance somewhat.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress
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The main hobby machinist was patterned after a real hobby machinist, who at that time lived on Nantucket. (He actually just moved to Maine in the last year.)

They also have as a resource a sail-powered Coast Guard training ship, which proves to be an invaluable resource, and the massive forests on the mainland to serve as materials for building more sailing ships.

I won't bother to give away too much, as the story continues beyond that single book.

In any case -- it is a wonderful read for anyone in this newsgroup.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols
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Read the book! It is an excellent read, and I don't want to give away too much of what is done there.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

I'll be looking for that book next visit to Borders.

Tool steel is merely carbon steel harder than the material it must cut for long enough to do the job at cutting speed that doesn't overheat it. Any steel can be made thus hard in a charcoal fire, case-hardened with bone meal in a muffle. The result can be harder and sharper than HSS tooling. It's LSS, works just fine.

High Speed Steel can take more heat than tool steel so it can take higher speed and feed. But high speed is not necessary to make goods. High speed in 1200 BC? How fast could they pedal or crank?

>
Reply to
Don Foreman

Thanks for the links, Tom.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

I fully agree. Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Actually accomplished quite satisfactorily by any source of carbon, it need not be bone meal. In commercial operations, it's often done with atmosphere, simply by providing too much fuel. For pack hardening, carbonized peach pits are often used.

The result can be harder

If you've never tried carbon steel for machining, especially if you're running reasonably modern machines, you'll never know the frustration that comes with its use. Once you're used to the performance level of HSS, it's nearly impossible to revert to lesser cutting tools. It seems so unnatural to cut so slowly------but then perhaps for many of the home shop types, that isn't a problem. Having worked in industry, it drives me nuts! I own a 1-1/8" carbon steel drill, purchased for a buck at a flea market. Absolutely worthless for anything but non-ferrous use.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Right, but man has known how to make carbon steel for hundreds of years, long before machines went any faster than one could turn a crank by hand or with oxen.

Reply to
Don Foreman

SNip

OK just what is the name of this book?

...lew...

Reply to
Lew Hartswick

The one exception to this might be carbon steel hand taps. Since they rarely get hot, they wear as well as the more expensive HSS ones.

Mark

Reply to
M

A short history of HSS:

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Stellite came quite a time later:
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Tom

Tom

Reply to
Tom

That's Steve Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time".

Most of what Steve writes is good -- although most of it isn't nearly as technically oriented. His real interest is history, especially military history, and it comes out in a lot of alternate universe stories.

I had dinner one time with him and Harry Turtledove and we got off on these history and alternate history themes -- and what a rat Roger Zelazny was for not finishing the "Amber" series. It was a fascinating dinner, especially since unbeknownst to Steve and Harry, Roger Zelazny was sitting one table over.

If you like "Island", you'd probably also like Eric Flint's "1632", "1633" and "1634" The Galileo Affair" about a West Virginia coal mining town tossed back into Germany in the middle of the 30 Years War.

Have you every considered what a modern boring machine would do for the accuracy and power of 17th Century cannon? Or how to build an airplane out of what's just lying around?

--RC

Reply to
Rick Cook

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