"Tool steel", what kind of steel is it?

Liam Ryan

Liam Ryan

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Sep 26, 2005
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I am a machinist and work with a lot of different materials, however carbon steel rarely comes through the doors, other than the odd 4140 job, and never enough scraps leftover to snag, anyway.
However, digging around one day I found a pile of old vice parallels that my boss has no need for, and I am sure he would give me some to make some blades with, various thickness and widths, though not long enough to make anything but some neckers and such, probably.
The problem is they always seem to be referred to by the generic term "tool steel". I found this online and it shows some great steels, potentially but how do I know what ones I have? If anyone has ever had this problem and found out what their parallels were made from could you help me out?
Consumer-Guide-Tool-Steel-Grades3.png
 
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Short answer: They could be anything.
Short of sending it out to be tested, which would be a monumental waste of money, there's no absolute way of knowing.

newjerseysteelbaron.com

Get some 1084 here. It's cheap and makes a really good knife. Easy H.T. too.
 
You are right, it's just a random jumble of them too so they could all be different steels, I was just hoping to get my hands on some free A2 or S7 steel.
I have a source for a Canadian supplier and the prices aren't that bad, don't think he has any S7 though.
 
I have a big thick book titled Tool Steel it has a very long list of those steels . When choosing a steel try to reduce the list .Try to find those easily available . One might be O-1 available at many suppliers to machinists .Knife parts suppliers would be a ggod source.
 
I dont know how to tell what kind it is but if you do your own heat treating and you have a lot of the steel i would take some small pieces and try heat treating it and see if it has the properties you want. Just do a water quench, if water cracks the steel then try oil and see what happens etc.
 
rincan said:
I dont know how to tell what kind it is but if you do your own heat treating and you have a lot of the steel i would take some small pieces and try heat treating it and see if it has the properties you want. Just do a water quench, if water cracks the steel then try oil and see what happens etc.
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Unless you're just incredibly bored, that's more trouble than it's worth. If there's a whole bunch of it, I'd sell it as scrap, turn that into a 12-pack of beer and then buy what I want.
 
I get a request nearly every week to tell someone what his "Tool Steel" is.

I will repeat what I have said every time:

Tool steel is the designation for any steel alloyed to add a particular attribute needed for a certain tool. It isn't all the same, some has much more alloy, and it won't all make a knife.
Tool steels may be a carbon steel or a stainless steel. Tool steels generally have a ASM designator to group them into use or HT categories. A, D, L, M, O, S, and W are all common designators for tools steels used for knives. These letters are generally followed by a number designating a specific alloying. There is not a direct correlation between higher numbers and more of any specific attribute. they are just subsequent formulations developed.

Carbon steel is any steel that has carbon as the main alloy ingredient to the iron. It may range from nearly all iron to cast iron. Some carbon steel makes great knives. The range for knives is .60% to 1.2% carbon.
Most carbon steels are simple and designated by their carbon content. The term also is used to separate the lower alloy steels from the stainless steels. 1006 has .06% carbon, 1060 is .60% carbon, 1084 is .84% carbon ( and the eutectoid), and 1095 is .95-1.00% carbon.

Many machine shops and industrial places call all the steel they use "tool steel". there is no test that will tell one from another or give a potential HT regime beyond laboratory analysis.
Carbon steels are simpler, and with some experience and experimentation, an approximate carbon content range and a usable HT can be guessed.

A good example of how small the difference between steels that will test and work nearly identically is 1095, W1, and W2. These may be called tools steel by one person and carbon steel by another. Here is a comparison chart:
http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=W1,W2, 1095&hrn=1&gm=0
 
I knew it!!! With a name like yours....... :D

Next time your down, drop by. I may have a chunk of steel laying around I could give you.

-Peter
 
Liam, if you want some steel, I have a bunch in the shop and Im just up the road. Let me know. Plus, one of these weekends Im going to run up to Mahone bay and have Rick Marchand show me how forging is actually done.
 
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