Is cold rolled steel already hardened?

[Musicman88]

Hey guys I have a bar of xc75 (1075 equivalent) which was delivered to me cold rolled. Does that mean its already hardened? Thank you in advance!

 

[Musicman88]

Hey guys I have a bar of xc75 (1075 equivalent) which was delivered to me cold rolled. Does that mean its already hardened? Thank you in advance!

Cause Ive worked with o1 o2 and 1095 (came to me annealed) and this is by far the most difficult steel i had to grind by far. Just wondering what the process is with cold rolled steel.

 

[A.McPherson]

It could be work hardened... Try annealing it then grinding.
1075 is pretty basic steel and shouldn't be too hard to grind.

 

[Larrin]

Some cold rolled steel is “full hard” meaning it wasn’t annealed after cold rolling. It isn’t hardened for a knife but is stronger than annealed steel.

Edit: here is an article about cold working - https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/03/11/cold-forging-of-steel/

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You want to purchase CRA steel - Cold Rolled and Annealed. If forging or grinding normal knives, there is little need for getting PG (Precision Ground) bars.

 

[Musicman88]

Some cold rolled steel is “full hard” meaning it wasn’t annealed after cold rolling. It isn’t hardened for a knife but is stronger than annealed steel.

Edit: here is an article about cold working - https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/03/11/cold-forging-of-steel/

Looks like a great read thank you for the resource!

 

[Musicman88]

You want to purchase CRA steel - Cold Rolled and Annealed. If forging or grinding normal knives, there is little need for getting PG (Precision Ground) bars.

Usually I buy annealed steel and usually work with bohler o1 and o2, the xc75 was sold at a very cheap price and thought id give it a go since it was apparently easy to work with. I started making a bowie knife and realized that the steel isnt grinding as easily as my other stuff so i decided to check out the receipt on the xc75 purchase and noticed that it came cold rolled. I think im going to have to anneal it cause theres no way i can drill holes for the pins on it in its current state.