[TheForge] A36 vs 1018

[Mark A. Pesetsky]

Very informative...Thanks 

Mark 


In our group there is much debate about A-36.  I know from job
experience ( engineer in a tool & die shop) something about a36.  The
fact is that A36 is made from scrap and is junk.  Most of the specs are
max without min. or min. without max. and there are many metals that are
not mentioned  at all that may or may not be present.  Our forgemaster
really dislikes A36, but when a found a a distributor that was willing
to sell 1018 to us at his cost the cost still freaked most of us out (
about 185% of A36 cost).

I have been told that the lead and copper in A36 is what makes it hard
to forgeweld.  These are allowed for ease of machining, but due to the
processing of A36 they are not necessarily evenly distributed.  So some
places will forge weld and maybe 6" down the bar it will not weld at
all.

I had a diemaker  tell me that once they got a piece of A36 that he
could not drill a hole thru.  some other Die maker cut the peice up and
found a piece of coil spring that had never melted at the end of the
attempted hole.  As another example my daughter made her first knife (
letter opener) out of A36.  Being impatent as she always is (
13 yrs old)  when she got it shaped she threw it in the quench tank.
We could not sharpen it (Hrc 68).
A36 is just like that.  It is good enough for most structural uses, but
you can never tell what it will be like.

David Childress
Rocky Forge Blacksmith Guild