[TheForge] Tool Steel hard to find

[mrscherm at aol.com]

W1 (1095) and all of the water hardening tool steels are very hard to 
find, and will most likely disappear in the near future as most 
companies have switched to safer materials like the air hardening 
grades. Bethlehem was the largest US maker of W1 followed by Crucible 
and Carpenter, Beth is gone, and the other two no longer make it except 
in full heat lots for specific customers. We blacksmiths dont use 
enough of any metal to merit a service center keeping it in stock for 
us and the availably of tool steels will continue to shrink as has the 
cold heading industry and forging industry are quickly disappearing in 
the US. There is however a pretty good supply still available in oil 
and air hardening grades, and O1 and O2 will work for most applications 
where W1 was used in the past, and the worry over breaking the tool in 
hardening is much reduced.
Michael/Boston



-----Original Message-----
From: Phil <mobjak at yahoo.com>
To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 06:26:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Tool Steel

I'm looking for water hardening, not oil.

thanks though

--- schade at acegroup.cc wrote:

> http://www.imsmetals.com/ shows 1-1/2" x 36" square
> O1.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 8, 2005, at 7:18 AM, Phil wrote:
>
> > I'm looking for some 1.5" square tool steel,
> something
> > like W1, 1080 or 1095. I've checked with Burgon
> and
> > Southern tool steel, no luck. Anyone have a
> > suggestion? I'd like to get about 6 feet.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> >
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