1095 Steel bar stock?

[Tom Norton]

Looking to make my own skew and saw a video on doing so. They recommend 1095 steel. Would anyone know of a source? Looking for 1/4" x1" bar stock.

[Patrick Chase]

Looking to make my own skew and saw a video on doing so. They recommend 1095 steel. Would anyone know of a source? Looking for 1/4" x1" bar stock.

There are a couple people selling 1095 knife blanks on Amazon.

W1 is very similar, and McMaster sells that in bar stock: https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-steel-sheets/=1ase71l

[John K Jordan]

Looking to make my own skew and saw a video on doing so. They recommend 1095 steel. Would anyone know of a source? Looking for 1/4" x1" bar stock.

I looked at my usual sources and couldn't find any 1" wide 1095 bar that thick. (Most was wider and thinner, sold to knife makers)

Just curious as to why you want to make a skew from bar stock - just "because", or perhaps to save the cost of buying the skew?

But is 1095 the best choice for a skew? I understand it is a "carbon steel" - and not a high speed steel. If so, it will lose it's hardness like other carbon steels if it turns blue when sharpening on a grinder. Would it be better to use a high speed steel that will keep the hardness even if overheated? (HSS can be heated red hot without affecting the hardness)

I recently bought some O1 oil-hardening tool steel bar stock from Online Metals. I see a piece of 1/4"x1" 18" long is about $20 before shipping. They also have other types of tool steel which should work as well. However I don't see HSS in bar stock although they carry M2 in round (drill rod). When you buy tool steel keep in mind if you buy it unhardened you will need to heat treat it yourself, but I assume your YouTube video mentions that.

BTW, I personally like the the 10V HSS that Doug Thompson uses for my skews and scrapers. However, they are not cheap. The advantage is they are already shaped for on the end for putting into a handle and the skews are radiused on one edge. He might even sell the unsharpened skew blank for cheaper, I don't know. If wanting to make a skew for a lot cheaper I'd probably find a cheap HSS 1/4" thick skew or scraper, maybe used, and grind it to suit. I might even have a spare one in my box of cheap tools I save for students or for making special tools.

JKJ

[Patrick Chase]

But is 1095 the best choice for a skew? I understand it is a "carbon steel" - and not a high speed steel. If so, it will lose it's hardness like other carbon steels if it turns blue when sharpening on a grinder. Would it be better to use a high speed steel that will keep the hardness even if overheated? (HSS can be heated red hot without affecting the hardness)

1095/W1 is typically tempered at 400F or maybe a bit higher. If you get it hotter than that in use then it will start to lose hardness.

High speed steels are typically tempered at 1000F or so. While this means that "home heat treatment" isn't a realistic option for most folks the way it is with 1095/W1/O1/etc, it also means that you can use it a lot more aggressively and not worry about detempering.

[Anthony Albano]

look up New Jersey steel baron. Also 1084 is easier to heat treat. the NJSB is a great guy
http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/

[Peter Christensen]

Files are high carbon steels. Find one, heat it red hot and let it cool slowly in the forge. It should be soft enough to sand/grind off the teeth. Then you can make what you want with it, harden and temper.

[John K Jordan]

look up New Jersey steel baron. Also 1084 is easier to heat treat. the NJSB is a great guy
http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/

I like what I see on the web site. But in your experience, do they typically carry thicker stock than the knife stock listed? They say call.

[Larry Frank]

I think that using 10V is a mistake for most people. It is listed as a powder metallurgy grade and needs fairly sophisticated heat treatment. It is not a good choice for home heat treatment and beyond most people's capability.

Using a 1095 or similar grade makes a lot more sense.

[John K Jordan]

I think that using 10V is a mistake for most people. It is listed as a powder metallurgy grade and needs fairly sophisticated heat treatment. It is not a good choice for home heat treatment and beyond most people's capability.

Using a 1095 or similar grade makes a lot more sense.

You are absolutely right about not trying to use 10V unhardened - a hobbiest would probably never get it heat treated correctly. Even Doug Thompson doesn't do it himself but sends out the tools. When I mentioned 10V it was assuming buying it already hardened and tempered from Thompson, ready to grind into a tool. Perhaps I didn't make that clear.

JKJ

[Tom Norton]

OP here.
I found a source! Admiral Steel. I can get a piece 1/4x1"x72" for about $25.

[Dave Ogren]

Get a used leaf spring. They are 1095. Bear in mind if you heat it up making your tool you will be annealing it.

[Larry Frank]

Leaf springs and spring steel....

1074, 1080, 1095, 5160, 5150, 9255, 92V45 and a host of others depending on the application

[John C Cox]

If it's a skew for lathe use - use high speed steel.

Most HSS comes pre-hardened for use in tool bits. You grind to shape and off you go... But grinding is a challenge - you have to have the correct wheels or you will end up in a mess...

[John Keeton]

You can buy M2 HSS scrapers from Penn State and just regrind them. Already handled and the 1.5” scraper is a heavy tool.

[John K Jordan]

You can buy M2 HSS scrapers from Penn State and just regrind them. Already handled and the 1.5” scraper is a heavy tool.

Excellent idea. For $20 he could get a 1" scraper (with the handle) ready to grind into a skew.

[John Keeton]

I have 3-4 of their scrapers that I grind for special use tools. Can’t beat the price and for limited use, they hold a decent edge.

[Harold Balzonia]

I do the same - I've noticed some of their scrapers aren't hardened very far down the tool. After an inch or so they can get pretty soft. Some are hard 3-4 inches down... it's part of the deal for such cheap tools, I suppose. I just wish I was proficient in heat treating.... I need a lesson!

[Larry Frank]

I wonder about the hardening going down the shaft 3-4" from the end. It maybe a good idea and not "cheap". If one would harden a tool all the way, the hardened area would be on the tool rest and be subjected to bouncing and potential small Knicks. The area on the tool rest is also the area with the highest stresses. A hardened tool steel with these conditions are much more likely to abruptly fracture during use. I would rather have the steel be softer in that area and not likely to break.

I guess I am trying to say there might be a good reason not to harden the entire shaft.

[John K Jordan]

...If one would harden a tool all the way, the hardened area would be on the tool rest and be subjected to bouncing and potential small Knicks. The area on the tool rest is also the area with the highest stresses. A hardened tool steel with these conditions are much more likely to abruptly fracture during use. I would rather have the steel be softer in that area and not likely to break.

I've got some good quality drill bits made like that - hardened from the tip to past the end of the flutes and soft where gripped in the chuck. That can actually be a disaster for drill bits - I had a clamp come loose while drilling steel with a 3/8" bit and instead of it breaking the shaft bent about 30 degrees - you can imagine what that did before I got the drill press cut off.

For the lathe, maybe the type of tool and use would make a difference. A bowl gouge or big scraper with a long handle, for example, may be subject to considerable force when used aggressively or by unskilled hands. Other tools like the skew chisel, on the other hand, have almost no force on the tool rest. I often use skews, small scrapers, spindle gouges, and other tools with very short handles (or no handle at all) and the forces on the rest are insignificant. In spindle turning I often hold the tool in one hand; if it bounces I'm doing something terribly wrong. Even with large face work you can easily illustrate controlled cuts by guiding a sharp bowl gouge with just one hand on the tool, probably not possible if the gouge is bouncing.

I have accumulated a box of a bunch of "cheap" tools for beginners and such and found that some of even the same brand are hardened to different lengths and a few not hardened at all! To me, this indicates sloppy work and poor QA or just cheap manufacturing.

I think I'd rather have the entire tool hardened, such as Thompson does with his tools. (I even sharpen both ends of some)

JKJ

[Larry Frank]

I think hardened is such a generic term and can have a wide area of actual meaning. Depending on the grade of steel hardening along the entire length might be fine because the heat treatment with proper tempering and you have a hard but tough product. I would guess this may be the case with more expensive tools.

With a quick heat treatment on cheaper grades, I would not want it hardened along the entire length. I appreciate the fact that as a metalllurgist I may see and understand these things differently than others.