hardness of annealed steel

M

manassas dragon

Joined
Dec 3, 2009
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just curious. any idea about the rockwell hardness of annealed 1095, 5160,0-1,etc?

thanx

so much to learn- another thing. how many knives did it take for you pros
to get to where your grind lines were acceptably precise?
 
1095 annealed flat stock hard an RC hardness of about ~30 depending on who annealed it. Don't let the numbers fool you though. It still tougher than any other material you'll ever have to cut through :p I've heard tool steel is a LOT harder to cut than plain jane carbon steels though.
 
I think the difficulty of cutting different blade steels is a little bit exagerrated, for our purposes. Of course 10xx is easier to cut and grind than D2. But in the small sizes we usually use for knives it means a difference of a couple minutes to cut a chunk off the bar and get it close to shape.

Now if you're doing everything with a rusty old hacksaw, or chopping up a big sheet for 25 blanks, heck yeah you're going to notice a big difference.

My only point is, if you want to try tool steels, don't be intimidated.
 
I haven't specifically tested cutting, other than with a metal cutting bandsaw, but both
titanium and aluminum bronze are a good deal harder to file than annealed high carbon
steel.
 
BChou-E29 said:
That's me, hacksaw + elbow grease :o
Click to expand...

This should be a no brainer, but use good high speed steel blades on your hacksaw. Also, it is much better to get a free hacksaw frame and a $10 blade than a $10 frame and a free blade. My original blade would barely cut through mild steel from Lowes, while my HSS bimetal blades cut pretty much anything I've tried steel wise.
 
Me2 is right on all counts. Rusty ol' generic hacksaw blade, and new bimetal-blade is like two different worlds.

Don't forget the tried and true "connect-the-dots" method, if you have some kind of electric drill handy. Get a good HSS 1/4" bit and drill holes along your intended cut/around your profile. Whack a small divot for each hole with a center punch, it helps you keep the bit from wobbling around as you start and helps keep the bit sharp longer. Then connect the holes with your fancy new hacksaw blade.

It sounds like more work, but for less than $20 a good bit, blade and center-punch will save a lot of elbow grease and time.
 
mcmaster-carr shows the rockwell if you click on the (blue) catalog icon on the right side of the screen of a product. Here's a link to the 5160 page- http://www.mcmaster.com/#grade-5160-steel/=8mxc5x

I can tell you that o-1 is MUCH easier to work than 5160. The 5160 comes in at about 30 rc and it will ruin a hacksaw blade very quickly. O-1 is a little more expensive, but it is easy to work with a hacksaw and files, and it usually comes surface groud. Here's a link to a great tool steel supplier. Good prices. http://amtektool.thomasnet.com/category/precision-ground-flat-stock

Good luck!
 
Are you sure the 5160 is annealed? Most I've seen is either spring tempered (old springs oddly enough) or hot rolled. Hot rolled will have all kinds of issues if you try to hacksaw through it. Nice spheroidized (annealed) O1 that's surface ground gets rid of all the issues.
 
I definitely agree about precision-ground, annealed O1. It comes nice and straight, no mill-scale to mess with, and is a dream to grind and drill. Just so happens to make darn good blades, too! I think it's worth every penny.
 
This is probably a good place and time to add a note about hack saws and blades.....
Get a "High Tension Hacksaw" it costs about $25-50 (depends on brand, but all are basically the same), and will make a huge difference when paired up with a Lenox bimetal blade .
The high tension frame put the blade under 25,000-30,000 PSI of tension and make the cutting smoother and faster. A ten pak of Lenox tuf-tooth blades should cost $12-15. These are made for our type of cutting.
 
I've got Starret bi-metal hacksaw blades and a decent frame. Also I use plenty of cutting fluid. Still tough as nails to cut. Aluminum alloys are harder to file/machine because it is soft and tends to clog the teeth of band/hacksaw blades and such, so I've been told.
 
I'm not sure what type of "decent frame" you have, but if it isn't a High Tension type - When you try a HT hacksaw, you will throw away any other one in the shop. They look different, and work much better. Carding the teeth of a blade when cutting soft metals is important ( just like filing).
 
Be careful when you use the term 'anneal' .Annealed Hypereutectoid steels can have structures of pearlite which is very hard to machine .Or they can be 'spheroidize annealed' with a structure of spheroidized carbides which is much easier to cut !!
 
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