Is 1141 a worthy steel for anything useful?

M

M/S Blacksmithing

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Jul 21, 2016
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I have just acquired quite a bit of 1141 steel. I was interested in making a hammer or three but have not been able to find a lot of information on the steel. I know it is low in carbon and has sulfur and I think it has more mag. In it so if anyone has used it for hammers or other tooling please let me know. If any of is close to me I am willing to share some of this with you.

Thanks in advance.
 
It would sorta be like a HC rail road spike. Carbon is only .4%, knives should have .6% or better. Still....you can make a functional knife with it...it just will not hold an edge very well.

Oops, should have paid more attention to what you were wanting to make with this steel! My mind immediately went to knives.
 
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I'm not familiar with 1141, but I'm quite familiar with 1144, and it looks essentially the same with just a little less carbon than 44. It's a joy to machine due to the sulfur, it makes excellent shafts, it can achieve a fairly high hardness and handles stress well (1144 is typically called "stressproof").

I wouldn't make blades out of it, but I would make tools out of it.
 
KURAKI
Is this stuff forge able or would I have better luck at stock removal of some sort. You are right about its composition it is almost the same as 1144 like you said but I think it's the sulfur that is a Lil more and perhaps the mag. Content. From what I can find ,very little about forging I was thinking of using it as hammer stock and I've got several 3.5 x 1 or 2 in disks that I have no idea what to do with. A cupping tool perhaps . Would it be able to be used as hot cut tools or punches/drifts?hmm

Thanks for the reply and advice tools sounds good .I didn't intend on making knives from it but thanks for the heads up.
 
I think it would make a decent hot cut tool at about 40-45 RC. I don't know if I would use it for a hammer, but only because I simply don't know how it would react to impact like that. I would use it for hot cut chisels, or as the die faces in a spring set fullering die, anything like that.

I would forge it like anything else. 1600-1900 degrees, nothing below 1600, normalize after forging.
 
About the sulfur: "Sulfur is normally regarded as an impurity and has an adverse effect on impact properties when a steel is high in sulphur and low in manganese. Sulphur improves machinability but lowers transverse ductility and notched impact toughness and has little effects on the longitudinal mechanical properties."
 
P.Brewster said:
About the sulfur: "Sulfur is normally regarded as an impurity and has an adverse effect on impact properties when a steel is high in sulphur and low in manganese. Sulphur improves machinability but lowers transverse ductility and notched impact toughness and has little effects on the longitudinal mechanical properties."
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Mr.Brewster
Just out of curiosity, Are you saying it is not a good steel for tooling ,hammers ,ect ? Just trying to figure it out to see if all this material I have isn't scrap yard bound.

Thanks in advance, Martin
 
I don't know, sulfur will make machining easier because it promotes chipping. Not the best feature for an hammer.
 
Martin,
I haven't had time to answer your email, but I think this isn't the best choice for making hammers. 4140 or S7 would be better. It is not recommended for forging or welding, so making a hammer would likely be a problem.

The best choice would be to buy a cheap HF hammer and re-shape it as you want.
 
M/S Blacksmithing said:
Mr.Brewster
Just out of curiosity, Are you saying it is not a good steel for tooling ,hammers ,ect ? Just trying to figure it out to see if all this material I have isn't scrap yard bound.

Thanks in advance, Martin
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert - but if you look at chemistry of any high-carbon or tool steel, you'll see that sulphur is kept to a minimum. Often sulphur content is expressed with a "less than" symbol (e.g. S < 0.01%) - which implies the mill is trying to get as much out as possible. It is considered a contaminant. When a steel does have sulphur, it is added intentionally to make machining easier.
 
Yes, sulfur is such a problem with things like knives that you have to use low-sulfur coal in forging or it will affect the final blade.
 
Thanks to all that replied

I think I will have to scrap this idea oh well at least I have some scrap.No worries I just wanted some feedback on this on account there is not a lot of information on forging. But I guess that's why dam sulfur anyway..... Either way I've got 80lbs of this site s-crap LOL if anyone wants some let me know for it may be scrap yard bound. Your guys nolidge is appreciated and we'll excepted.

Thanks, Martin
 
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