1095 CRA vs HR?

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
Is there any difference I need to know about for HR (hot rolled) 1095 and CRA (cold rolled and annealed?) 1095? I want to order some thin stock (3/32") from Admiral and they just have the CRA in that thickness. I have used HR1084 for years and it ruins drill bits like you wouldn't believe. Is CRA better than HR, or will it work for me the same as the 1084 always has?
 
It won't have any scale on it and should be easier on drills although I have never had a problem drilling 1095HR before heat treating. Gib
 
The only problem with the CRA 1095 material is that it does bend easy. Can be a pita if you are doing stock removal. The last batch of HR 1095 I got from admiral was horribly banded. Needed a lot of forge reduction to get a decent consistancy.
 
Chiro75 said:
Is there any difference I need to know about for HR (hot rolled) 1095 and CRA (cold rolled and annealed?) 1095? I want to order some thin stock (3/32") from Admiral and they just have the CRA in that thickness. I have used HR1084 for years and it ruins drill bits like you wouldn't believe. Is CRA better than HR, or will it work for me the same as the 1084 always has?
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I wonder just how many hundreds of threads have been done on just this subject since February, 1999?

Haven't you been reading any posts in the FIVE YEARS you say you've been a knifemaker, and registered on BFC?:rolleyes::barf:
 
Come on now Mike. You know good and well that a lot of us post stuff Just to hear ourselves talk out loud.

Cranky old bastid
 
The last batch of HR 1095 I got from admiral was horribly banded.
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Thanks, Mark (and Gib!). Does banding in steel show up in etching? I've noticed with some knives when I etch them after all is said and done that I'll have lighter gray areas running the long axis of the steel. I've never measured them but I'd have to guess that they're at least 0.5mm across, if not more. Really annoying! Also, is this a surface phenomena, or if grind a little deeper will it remove the band? It seems like they show up most in the ricasso where my steel is still pretty much still full thickness, or along the spine, again, where I haven't removed as much steel. Probably 75% of my 1084 knives have this happen and it really stinks. Or is that caused by banding in the steel?
 
I'd buy 1/8" and plan on grinding it flat to around 3/32". Also look at getting stock from a different place. I'd rather have straight stock and pay a little more. Also it should be anealed before you get it so drilling it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Thanks, Brian. FWIW, I just called Koval's and my big backorder of steel is coming through tomorrow, anyway, so I'll hold off for now. A lot of 1/8" HR 1095 in that batch. I really want 1/16", but I'll probably use precision ground O1 for that, which is pretty reasonably priced as far as I can tell. Thanks for the help!
 
Banding shows up in etching . Tt was so bad on the last batch I recieved that you could just see it running lengthwise on the raw billet.
 
hows the KITH knife coming along?
Also look on MSC. There cheaper on the 0-1 I believe.
McMaster Carr will deliver to businesses and thats where I get my 0-1 from.
 
what was it Mark? Inconsistant metal during cooling or contaminants?
 
Thanks, Mark. I always thought I wasn't cleaning the steel off right or something else weird was going on.

Brian, the KITH knife is done and was sent out on Friday by Priority Mail. I'm dying to share pics, but Shappa hasn't told me he's received it yet. If it's not there today I'm going to freak out!

Mike, to answer your question, when I searched under "1095 CRA HR" in the search page of this forum it yielded one discussion, other than this one, about how soft CRA 1095 is from Admiral. That's not what I needed to know, so I posted this message seeing as I couldn't find another relevant discussion.
 
Mike Hull said:
I wonder just how many hundreds of threads have been done on just this subject since February, 1999?

Haven't you been reading any posts in the FIVE YEARS you say you've been a knifemaker, and registered on BFC?:rolleyes::barf:
Click to expand...

I had no trouble finding info useing the search....broaden your search.
 
LOL, S. Shepherd! The search you recommended (before you edited your post) brought up the same two threads I mentioned: this one and the one about Admiral's dead soft CRA1095. Thanks, anyway, though. I suppose I can search in the Archive, too, but the order of the threads display all messed up on my computer. I can't follow anything when I look things up in the archive???
 
just buy flat ground 1095 and dont worry about it.....you'll learn what you prefer.
 
I hope admiral isn't having those problems still. I just ordered some 1095 from them about an hour ago.
 
Uh oh! It sounds like it's more of a symptom of the cold rolling process vs the hot rolling process, not Admiral itself, right? Did you get CRA or HR? If you get lots of stripes in your blades charge more for them and sell them as some sort of new process! :D
 
The problem is the microstructure.When you have .70% C or more the steel will be very difficult to machine if the microstructure is pearlite..Far easier to machine would be spheroidize annealed. Hot rolled is typically pearlite cold rolled annealed is spheroidized. If you are going to forge it's no problem but if you're going to stock removal you want sheroidized.
 
Mete hit the nail on the head as per the difference and difficulty in working with the two in stock removal.

If you have a decent heat-source, you can do a few normalizing cycles to stress relieve and refine the grain and it will be easy enough to drill. If you have an oven or salt bath, you can do a spheroidal anneal and it will drill like butter.

I just do normalizing cycles because it's plenty soft, and for what I'm doing... going into the austenitizing cycles I'm better off from that state than from a spheroidized anneal.

As far as 1/16" thick material. It's hard to beat precision ground O1. I have not found ANYONE that can beat http://www.Flat-Stock.com for buying O1 from. Nobody. And their service is as good as it gets. :D

-Nick-
 
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