What's the difference between W1 and 1095?

It is my understanding that the W in the w series of steel stand for tungsten or at least that was the origination of the series. I also understand that it was taken to meen that this is a water quenching steel but figured this was wrong because of the amount of alloying elements thatwould make it more of a through hardening steel. BUT I know non of this as fact!
 
thank you for the clarification. i use plenty of 1095 but , W1 is not in my steel bin at this time.
i do appreciate your post.
buzz
 
burke, I never heard about the tungsten connection before, that's interesting. I also have read in many tomes and sites that the "W" stands for water-hardening. Maybe the tungsten and/or other alloys allow the steel to be safely water-quenched?

Please bear with my dumb questions, I'm just trying to learn :)
 
The "W" in W1 does not stand for tungsten. Here is the composition for W1, taken directly from the book, "Tool Steels" by Roberts and Cary:

C, .60 - 1.40 Mn, .25 Si, .25

The W series steels with higher numbers i.e., W4,W5,W6,W7, are the only ones that are supposed to have chromium. They also have vanadium, as does W2. None of them are supposed to have tungsten. They might anyway, because steel makers aren't as clean as they should be...
 
Phillip,

It seems things are just as muddled as when this thread started. I can't find a consistent formula for W-1. The break down you post is interesting. I wonder how many of the steel companies send out product that claims to be something it isn’t.
 
Yeah, quality control just ain't what it used to be. Tungsten isn't a bad thing to have in steel. If I remember correctly, it won't make the steel deep hardening, but it will refine the grain and give you some nice carbides.
 
I have too much on my plate right now to get too deep into another thread, and some folks have this one well covered, I just wanted to share that everything I have ever encountered on the "W" series (W1, W2 etc...) attributes their name to the designation of "water hardening", as they were designed to be a very simple tool steel that was water quechable, as opposed to something like the "O" series which are oil hardening and the "A" series etc...
 
I don't know if these scans from my copy of the Heat Treater's Guide will help or hurt, but here are the pages for W1 and 1095;

1095-001.jpg


1095-002.jpg


W1-001a.jpg


W1-002.jpg

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