Press/Break blade

A

AlphaMoose

Joined
Sep 1, 2016
Messages
30
A friend offered me a line in on his boss selling a "press"break blade" that is 1"×6" by 16ft. Anyone know what sort of steel this is? It would actually be preferable if it was a lower carbon content (as in mild) because it could be great practice for axe heads if so.
 
If they don't know what it is, I doubt we will either. I would not buy unknown steel. My guess would be D-2, but that is a pure guess based on other shears.
 
Chances are that it is low carbon steel that has been case hardened at the working edge of the punch. Best case it's a medium carbon steel like 41xx and still just flame hardened at the working edge.

It is extremely unlikely that it is any good as knife steel. If of the medium carbon variety it may make good forging tools.


Now that I typed that i reread your post and your description is confusing me. Is this a punch for a brake press that bends steel, or a shear blade? My answer is based on it being brake press tooling.
 
I ran a press brake for a year and let me tell you thy are not mild steel or case hardened. Thy are hard all the way through and thy don't bend, if thy are set up wrong or not aligned properly thy literally explode and sound like a gun shot. Now there not crazy hard, you can file them if needed and thy will get a dent in and area if the punch is misaligned with the die. If you look at the exploded section it's a fine grain steel. If I had to guess its going to be a high wear resistance steel that's most likely air hardening, O wait Stacy already said D2 lol. So could you make a blade from it, yes, would it be worth it, most likely not. these blades get loaded with crazy amount of force so thy have to be hard. I never ran a 14" press but I did run one that was about 5 feet and it ran at around 50 tons but up to 100tons so when it let go you better be clear of flying chunks. Never happened to me but the other guy that ran the same brake did it a bunch of times let's just say he was let go.
 
Yeah I never planned to use it for a knife. Heaven knows I don't feel like forging down material that thick by hand. I was more curious if it could be of use for practicing punched tools, as in hammers or axes, as a soft head material. I much prefer using real steel as I've had my fill of leaf springs and the like. Sorry, this might have been more apt in the "axes and tomahawks" forum but I figured I'd cast a wider net for possible steel ID. I appreciate the help.
 
As mentioned, it is either a press brake punch/die or a shear blade.

Wila tooling is hardened at least 4mm deep to 56-60HRc. Steel is "CR-MO".
https://webshop.wilausa.com/tooling-en/new-standard-premium-top-tool/biu-004/?rfs=0

Wilson tooling hardened in a similar manner.
http://marketing.wilsontool.com/act...rake-tooling-with-the-right-surface-treatment

In a literal sense, these are case-hardened - but they are not carburized. One can infer that the steel is medium or high-carbon.

As for shear blades, they are also medium or high-carbon (keep in mind that S7 is medium carbon). Here is some info:
http://cuttingedgegrinding.com/SHEARBLADES.htm
http://www.iksinc.com/products/metal/shear-blades
 
JTknives said:
I ran a press brake for a year and let me tell you thy are not mild steel or case hardened. Thy are hard all the way through and thy don't bend, if thy are set up wrong or not aligned properly thy literally explode and sound like a gun shot. Now there not crazy hard, you can file them if needed and thy will get a dent in and area if the punch is misaligned with the die. If you look at the exploded section it's a fine grain steel. If I had to guess its going to be a high wear resistance steel that's most likely air hardening, O wait Stacy already said D2 lol. So could you make a blade from it, yes, would it be worth it, most likely not. these blades get loaded with crazy amount of force so thy have to be hard. I never ran a 14" press but I did run one that was about 5 feet and it ran at around 50 tons but up to 100tons so when it let go you better be clear of flying chunks. Never happened to me but the other guy that ran the same brake did it a bunch of times let's just say he was let go.
Click to expand...

You only make this mistake once! It scares the crap outta ya! I ran a brake press for several years and when one goes it is loud!
 
Assuming it is Wila, Wilson or the like. We have 3 brakes in our shop, 350 ton LVD, 400 ton Pacific, and 485 ton Accurpress. I assure you, a lot of tooling for these machines gets made from lower carbon steel. I've bought it, and designed it to be made in house.

It's most certainly not tool steel given the cost. Unless it's a shear blade, like we've discussed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top