Yes! My copy of "Tool Steels" came today!

[Phillip Patton]

I got the book from the public library and it has so much great information, I decided I just had to have it for my very own. I got it from Amazon, and they still have several copies, in case anyone's interested. They only have info on tool steels, so stuff like 1095 or 5160 is not covered in it.

 

[rhrocker]

Phillip, what does it say about H 13? I've been wanting to try some for tooling, haven't found a source yet. It must have something really tough in it.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Phillip, what does it say about H 13? I've been wanting to try some for tooling, haven't found a source yet. It must have something really tough in it.

It does have the info for H-13, but it's probably the same as this: http://www.crucibleservice.com/datash/dsNuDieVv13.pdf?CFID=460855&CFTOKEN=75801672

Right now, the dies on my power hammer are 4140, but I'd like to upgrade to H-13. If you don't want to heat treat it yourself, i think you can get it pre-hard in different sizes. But maybe I'm thinking of 4140...
I think the toughness comes from the fact it's so soft. It only has .40 carbon, and only gets in the low 50's RC. I made a knife out of H-13, and it didn't cut very well. But it had really beautiful grain when etched. It looked like layered damascus.