1095 grinding difficulty

P

pike3e

Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
184
I purchased two feet of 1095 from texaskife.com to try something different that d2. Today I was going to build a little choil clamp from the steel. I was unable to drill it with the same 1/4 bit and speed that easily drills through d2. I tried to grind it to shape and at lease 5x more sparks came of that with d2 and it took forever to make even a little progress with the 2hp kmg at full speed with a 50 grit belt. Is this normal or do I have a peice that is not annealed properly or some other issue.


Thanks
 
I don't know if it's not been annealed but I can tell you no annealed 1095 I ever had was that tough. It grinds similar to 0-1 in my opinion. I'd give 'em a call and see what's up.
Later,
Iz
 
There are some recent threads that I and Kevin have been in and this problem was mentioned .It hasn't been annealed properly.
 
I ran into the type of problem with 1095 from Admiral Steel. It was labled either CRA, or HRA, but it was certainly not well annealled. I also got a piece from Koval that was just as bad. I ruined two cobalt drill bits trying to get a hole in it.
 
It was probably 1095 - HRA which is half hardened steel. The next time you put a order in for some steel make sure you ask for CRA. :D

Terry
 
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I was drilling pin holes tonight on a piece of 1/8" 1095 and it was quite hard. This was stuff from Admiral and was HR. No more HR for me.

Milt
 
I have bought HR 1095 (not annealed) and didn't see any significant difficulty grinding or drilling into it.

Does (not annealed) HR 1095 mean it's has been heat treated somewhat?
 
wow, i stumbled on this thread randomly and I have the exact same problem. I got some Admiral HR 1095 steel, and I've been trying to file a bevel for roughly 6 hours (over a few days) and I can see almost zero progress. I almost ruined a drill on my press putting the holes through. Is this something with Admiral's 1095? Would O1 be easier to work with? I don't have a belt grinder and I don't want to spend a month putting bevels on :/
 
Steel from Admiral could be anything... random composition, and apparently no recourse.

Of course I'm willing to revise my opinion if they ever deliver the steel I ordered...
 
beta_medic88 said:
wow, i stumbled on this thread randomly and I have the exact same problem. I got some Admiral HR 1095 steel, and I've been trying to file a bevel for roughly 6 hours (over a few days) and I can see almost zero progress. I almost ruined a drill on my press putting the holes through. Is this something with Admiral's 1095? Would O1 be easier to work with? I don't have a belt grinder and I don't want to spend a month putting bevels on :/
Click to expand...

It's probably half hardened or wasn't annealed much at all ! an oops batch !
 
I read that you can do that by throwing it into a bonfire, or something similar, and taking it out after the embers are cool enough (overnight usually)
 
A lot of folks trash Admiral and other large suppliers because the two feet of steel they received isn't ready to make a blade out of.
They are industrial suppliers. The people who order from them (in large quantity) are set up to process the steel as needed to turn it into something else.The metallurgy of the steel is fine ( no car doors), but the steel will not be ready for drilling/filing yet.
When your steel arrives, from any supplier, you should anneal it. This will make it ready to file/drill, and will result in much less chance of warpage later on in HT. If you have no equipment, getting it red hot with a torch and non-magnetic and letting it cool down on a brick will work...sort of. Do that two or three times.

BTW, the best way to make mild steel out of HC steel is to stick it in a bond fire and leave it overnight.Never do this unless you are trying to destroy something

Stacy
 
If all you want to do is grind it and have zirconia belts and a good diamond drill handy, just get it hot and let it cool. If you would like to grind it easily even with AO and keep the drill you use on it, keep then anneal sub-critical. Never let it go nonmagnetic, either soak it at 1275-1300F for a while or cycle it several times from black, to red, to black (yet still magnetic). Remember this tip for any steel over .85% carbon.
 
little thread jack here, where might I find actual information about the difference in hardness between HRA and soemthing like GDA? I got my CPM154 in both HRA and GDA and they seemed to work the same. Only difference I could tell was the GDA was precision ground.
 
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