working o1 steel

[Phil Labowski]

Hey all. I recently got a piece of o1 steel that I hope to make into a scraper for bowls/boxes on my lathe. I've never done this and would rather not have to get a bunch more equipment to do this. Any of you worked with it and have some pointers, I would be thrilled for some direction. lol

[Mark Baldwin III]

O-1 is relatively easy to work when it is annealed. Just about any basic hand tool for metal work is ok. How thick is it? It's best to have it as close to final fit and finish as you can before hardening. That way you only have basic clean up and maybe some flattening after heat treating.
Have you read up on heat treating O-1? It is not that complex. For most of us that only harden a couple pieces a year, a torch and some peanut (or canola) oil will suffice, as long as the torch has the output to heat the piece to red. (and as long as your significant other doesn't mind you tempering it in the oven afterward)

[george wilson]

The size of your 01 is important. If it is a 1/2" dia. round piece of 01 drill rod,you can get it hot enough with a Mapp gas torch to harden a few inches of the end. Sometimes I have used 2 Mapp gas torches if I don't want to fire up my knife maker's gas furnace,or the electric one.

Take some bricks that are good and DRY,and put them together to form a "corner" into which you can concentrate the torch's heat. Having a place to trap the heat helps a LOT.

Heat your 01 to an orange color. It helps to have a magnet tied onto a wire. When the 01 is no longer attracted to the magnet,it is at "critical heat". Plunge it into an oil quench at once and stir it around. The oil quench can be vegetable oil,CLEAN motor oil,or we used to use automatic transmission fluid at work. The size of the quench is important. I'd recommend a 1 gallon quench for a 1/2" diameter 01 rod with about 3" orange hot.

The quench must be large enough that it isn't heated much at all by the metal. If it's too small,and gets too warm,it will slow down the cooling rate of the metal,and the metal won't get fully hard.

Polish off the thin black scale from the oil. Take a FINE,sharp file and see if it will file the 01. It should skate off the surface and not cut it. Don't ruin your file doing this: just a LITTLE test,as it rounds of the teeth. I use a place on the file that I generally don't use when filing with it,such as right near the tang.

If you used DIRTY motor oil,you'll get a THICK,black coating that is exceedingly hard and difficult to remove.

When the surface has been sanded clean and bright, slowly and carefully heat the 01 until it turns a medium brown color. Practice on another piece of steel first if you haven't done this before. As you heat it,the steel turns yellow first,then light brown,then medium brown,dark brown,then purple,then blue. Blue is soft enough to file and is a spring temper like your hand saws are,too soft for a chisel to hold a good edge. Saws do because they have many teeth,and they would crack if bent if left a harder temper.

It is important that you don't go too far with the heat. I start with the end farthest from the cutting edge and let the colors creep towards the cutting edge. If you find the colors progressing too rapidly,quench it immediately,clean off,and resume. When you get good at it,you can get a large area to be the same color.

[David Weaver]

I'll second george's discussion of heat treating it (oil quantity and all, even if you stir the oil, it never seems to heat evenly - the hot stuff goes to the top of the container) so having enough is important.

As far as working O1, if you have flat stock and you're making a rounded scraper, you can saw it and file it just fine with a mill bastard file and a high speed steel saw file.

As long as it's hardened already - if it is, you'll need to anneal it, or grind it with a sander being careful not to draw the temper.

[Phil Labowski]

Thanks for the great tips! How would I go about making a bowl gouge? I'm guessing I would start with round stock and mill out the flute somehow? Or could I roll a flat bar(when it's hot)?

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

I'd want an anvil with a horn if I was going to make a gouge, but you can make them in the way you described. Be careful with the flute if you choose to mill it; it is a really bad idea to make one that traps shavings. I'm not very good at bowl turning but I do find that I'm happiest with the older gouge designs; the newer gimmicky side cutting designs just seem to give me trouble.

[Phil Labowski]

You guys know of any good videos, youtube or otherwise?

[Ryan Baker]

You guys know of any good videos, youtube or otherwise?

There is a DVD from Alan Lacer called "Woodturning Shopmade Tools and Jigs" that does a pretty good job of addressing some if this from a beginner perspective.

Larry Williams' DVDs on planemaking and profiled cutters also cover it pretty well (and are well worth having anyway).

[David Posey]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but this might be relevant to the OP's use of HCS for lathe tools, rather than HSS. If you use a powered lathe, do you have to watch the heat on the tool so you don't burn the edge? Also, do you sharpen them differently?

I remember reading an article by Bob Smalser where he talked about using HCS turning tools, but I don't think it really addressed the heat issue. It did seem to imply that they were meant to be honed rather than just ground.

[george wilson]

What??? I grind them all the time. Just don't burn them blue. HSS holds up a lot better,so I just use HSS now,unless I make a special turning tool for a job.

[David Posey]

Thanks, George. I wasn't sure if the move from HCS to HSS in turning tools was just about durability or if there were other factors involved when using a powered lathe.

[Adam Cherubini]

I think HCS steels are nicer to sharpen and TAKE a keener edge. They won't hold up to any overheating- that's the advantage of HSS. Lots of turners advocate working straight from the grinder. But then, I've seen more than a few turners who scraped with every tool. I tend to cut wood on what ever lathe I use, preferring my skews best of all. Legend has it, English turners roughed with their skews. I think the move to HCS turning tools is a good one. For me (and related to my thoughts about Ray Illes mortise chisels) I prefer tools I can sharpen easily and with the stones I prefer to use. Not interested in a magic steel that never gets dull (btw, no such thing). So I think it's funny that Ray Illes chose D2 for his mortisers but is manufacturing a line of HCS turning tools because they are nicer to work with????

Adam

[Ryan Baker]

It IS possible to blue HCS tools on a powered lathe, and quite easy to blue them on a grinder. Turners used HCS tools successfully for many years though. These days, there is no reason (advantage) to use HCS on a powered lathe (for regular tools). HSS, or preferably the new powdered metals are worlds better in that situation. It's a very different situation to making hand tools.

[Roderick Gentry]

O1 is actually best heated until non-magnetic, then you go above that, and hold it for 10 minutes. In practice, I just hold it a while. If it doesn't get file hard I just hit it a second time. I heat it at dusk so I can see the colours. Then I look at the colour when it goes non-magnetic. I keep heating it till I notice any degree of colour change and I call it good. These days laser thermometers are pretty cheap. If you have one take it 50 degrees F above the non-mag, or follow the instructions.

The first set of turning tools I got was a Greenlee HCS set lee valley was selling. It combined some bowl tools skews, and scrapers. They all work pretty well, just don't hold the edge very long compared to HSS. I never came even slightly close to drawing the temper while turning with them. In certain cases, honing helps HSS or HCS tools. But one can turn with HCS just from the grinder also. I still use two of the HCS tools today, even though I upgraded most of the set probably 25-30 years ago. There is a skew and a scraper that have the right feel to them.

[Roderick Gentry]

There is an episode of the Woodwright shop in which he visits Don Weber and they make a gouge. He folds it. Doesn't seem to be an episode that is listed for viewing, though I don't think it was all that long ago.