Silver steel

Hello to you all, can someone please explain how to tell the difference between stainless and silver steel, I know stainless is usually non magnetic and I have aquired some steel and some of them are marked S/Steel , so is this Stainless or Silver ?.

Silver Steel is a high carbon steel , ground to close tolerances, and supplied in 13 in lengths. It can be hardened and used for making cutting tools.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 28/11/2015 17:53:20

Big differences! Stainless usually has around 10-12% minimum chromium content plus some Nickel, both of which help to make it corrosion resistant, many, many different grades, and differing properties. Austentic (300 series) the most corrosion resistant with 316, the 400 series stainless (ferritic/martensitic) is easier to machine and is magnetic.However, I have observed magnetism in small sections (insulin syringe needles) of 316 stainless, after some work has been performed on them. Most Stainless can't readily be hardened through heat treatment, but some will work harden in the blink of an eye (304..)

Silver Steel is a high carbon, low chromium (<0.5%) Tool steel, 'silver' is an old description that's stuck, from when Chromium was added and gave it a bright appearance. A reasonably tough steel in its as supplied (annealed) form, can be easily flame hardened, and has many, many, uses.Making blades, taps, tools, wear plates...lots more.

What you need to do is get yourself across to www.westyorkssteel.com and spend some reading time there - well worth it!

I would guess that what you have is stainless - I've never heard silver steel shortened to s/steel - but cut a tiny bit off and try and flame harden it , and that will definitely tell you

A useful way of identifying different steels is the spark test. Do a youtube search for spark testing steels.

Regards.

David

As a beginner I was sold a job lot of easy work-hardening stainless as 'silver steel' at a car boot.

Boy I got frustrated trying to harden it... I was convinced I was doing something wrong, because the more I heated it and quenched it the softer it got!

Neil

Hi Kenneth,

If you have access to a bench grinder you can perform a spark test on the steel. Here is a few links:

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Thor

Hi Kenneth,

Cut a wafer thin slice off the rod, heat the "wafer" to red hot and quench in water. If the "wafer" then breaks like glass when bent and can scratch the original rod easily then it's probably silver steel. Also solver steel will be readily and actively attacked by strong acids, stainless steel should not.

Hope this helps.

Peter.

Stubs Silver steel is more commonly called W1 as it was a water quench hardening steel.

There is also O1 steel which is an Oil quench hardening steel. Some companies sell centreless ground round stock that is actually O1 steel and name it Silver Steel. The Stubs Silver Steel that I have seen comes in 36 inch lengths.

Neil

Silver steel can also be in26" & 39" lengths, just cut a small piece of the end & heat it to red & quench it,do the "file test" if it slides over it then it's silver steel[or a high carbon steel] if it cuts then it's not,there are various grades of stainless some magnetic some not.

Silver steel comes in 1, 2 and 3 metre lengths from the manufacturers.

Sellers chop it into bits that are multiples of 13" long.

Neil

Hi Keen
A simple spark test on off hand grinder S.S sparks are like a firework sparkler stainless is torpedo shape .
Dont forget safety glasses
Nobby

If you clean samples of silver steel and stainless by the same method (eg emery cloth, or kitchen scourer, or metal polish), they will look different. Not much, but the silver steel will tend to look grey, whereas the stainless looks lighter in tone with a yellowish cast. That is the nearest I can suggest to non-destructive testing.

But wait, no it isn't ... Ordinary stainless (the sort you can get most easily in bars, sheet, nuts & bolts etc) is not magnetic, and silver steel is strongly attracted. And you can't get much closer to non-destructive than that.

Cheers, Tim