not ground steel, uneven surface?

[TheOTBalisong]

I saw a few recent threads pop up about precision ground steel and ground steel.

I figure I can deal working "ground" steel with hand tools, and certainly precision ground.
But I was wondering how "uneven" the surface of steel that wasn't pre-ground.

Is there somethings I should look out for?

Thanks,
Alex.

 

[elasmonut]

Steel that still has decarb layer or "skin" on it will have a rough orange peel look to it, you get a similar effect if carbon steel has surface rust. The decarb layer on some steels is very hard and can be a real pain to remove with hand tools, even a good grinder you will chew more belts faster and probably lose up to 1mm ( about 1/32-1/16?) off the thickness of your steel grinding it off.
Given the choice I would choose ground steel, even rough ground every time, just saves on belts, time and headaches the extra cost is minimal and made up for me in the time you save.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

In my opinion, for stock removal, ground stock is worth every extra penny is costs. For fixed blades blanchard ground steel is fine and a little cheaper than precision ground stuff.