milling w2

[JMJones]

Decided to try an integral. Forged it from inch thick by 1.5 inch wide bar of w2. Normalized three times and started to machine. End mill cut for a bit then hit a hard spot. I put the forging in the kiln at 1200f for two hours with oven cool. Still wont mill. Heated the forging to 1500f quenched in parks 50, then put it in kiln for two hours at 1200f with oven cool. Still hitting hard spots. I also tried milling on the un forged barstock and it cut great, so I know its not the cutter. Any thoughts????

 

[Tom Lewis]

Where did you get the W-2?

 

[Don Hanson III]

I've never had that problem with W2? I just normalize and never have hard spots.

 

[JMJones]

I purchased it from a tool steel supplier several years ago. I have used a bunch of this stuff without issue. I know its not a mix up on my part because it was forged directly from the large parent bar and I dont have any other stock in my shop that is similar in size.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I would heat it to around 1650F and let cool to black a couple times. Water quench once it has lost all color and is below 900F. That should make it mill just fine. If you want to take it farther, place in the oven at 1250-1300F for four hours, cool to black, and water quench. That should spheroidize the pearlite you made in the normalization steps.

Oven cooling to room temp can sometimes give hard spots of fine pearlite.

 

[Don Hanson III]

^^Stacy Nailed it^^

I never do any type of slow cooling with W2.

 

[12345678910]

Scale is very hard and will kill the sharp edge on cutting bits.

Have you removed the scale?
Have you replaced the cutter?
Have you tried carbide ?
Are you milling in a way that creates hard spots ?