High Speed Steel?

I've been trying to source some 8" long bits of 1/4" round HSS and saw this:

**LINK**

6.5 mm is close enough although it does go on to say it's .25"

I nearly ordered some until I also noticed it say it's unhardened. I've not seen unhardened HSS for sale before and got the impression it's not really possible to harden it in the home shop properly. Any ideas of where I can get some 8" long pieces of 1/4" HSS that's ready to grind?

Search eBay "round bar 200mm hss"

Also look for HSS drill blanks. You'll have to look for long series if you need 8" length.

I tried that and the only hit was unhardened again.

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I cannot help you in your search quest. - But curiosity has got the better of me. What's it for.?

Nick

Wood turning tools. I've found and ordered some 10mm X 200mm for £2.44 a piece inc shipping but can't find any 1/4".

You can purchase 6.5mm x 200mm HSS from CTC Tools, but they only seem to sell this size in packs of 5. By coincidence I have also been trying to source long pieces of HSS for woodturning tools.

Clive

Here's some 6mm in China

**LINK**

Thanks, I've found another seller on eBay with some 6mm so I've ordered some but I'll bookmark that one as well.

I've seen some 30" lengths of 1/4" in the US but it's not cheap and of course the postage would be silly money.

Well unhardened HSS is like hen's teeth but I suspect that seller may actually have silver steel...

Neil

IIRC, Martin Cleeve's book on screwcutting in the lathe has instructions for hardening HSS.

The problem is that there are many versions of HSS and as many different treatment procedures. It would be nice to know what version of HSS they were using in the 50s/60s that could be treated adequately by heating white hot, then quenching with an air blast.

Neil

I recently got some of the 6mm round HSS from China; I needed them for making some taper reamers for making injectors. I was quite surprised when one of them twisted in use, ending up looking like those olivers they put on showman's engines. So having realised they were unhardened, I simply heated the end of one of them up to cherry red and dunked it in some water. A gentle tap with a hammer had the hard end pinging off into the recesses of the shed, so at least it confirmed they were hardenable!

**LINK** gives some useful information about hardening & tempering HSS. I shall have a go and see what I can do with the Chinese HSS and then make some more reamers!

To check the type of steel the sparks given off by HSS is different to silver steel when ground on an offhand grinder. Use a known sample as a guide. A red spark with HSS a brighter spark with silver steel. I was taught this as an apprentice.

David

Edited By David George 1 on 09/05/2017 19:42:18

get in touch with Ashley Isles , Tony Isles is probably your best bet over in Spilsby. They sell off cuts of the HSS bars they use to make wood working gouge. I ve had a few bits from them to make round skew chisels for wood turning and its excellent stuff.

Also had tools from CTC and they're very helpful too.

Good luck

Ian

For wood turning tools you probably would be best if it was hard and tempered at the cutting end, graduated to the soft state at the handle end. I'v got some HSS wood turning tools, but I have not checked the hardness handle end, but less likely to break if unhardened. Ian S C

Indeed, but what was the grade that contributors to ME were using? They only ever describe it as 'HSS', but the characteristics were machinable with ordinary tooling and hardenable with a two step process of heat and air quench.

Neil

Probably D2, a high carbon and chromium tool steel that can hardened, air cooled and tempered in a similar manner to gauge plate, albeit the hardening temperature is rather higher at about 1000°C. That's perfectly doable in the home workshop whereas the 1200°C required for full hardening of HSS is not.

Andrew