# What Is It Good For



## kingmt01 (May 7, 2015)

Sorry in advance if this doesn't fit here.

I went to the scrap yard to get some well soft junk steel & such. While I was there he showed me his section of odd & ends. Mostly stuff like bolts. I found two new .935" & .932 reaming bars they are maybe 1.5" shank so to big for me but at a $1.50 a lb I got them anyway. They are T1. I bought a couple more pieces that I had checked & was told one was s5 06 & the other is 01. It looks like the S5 is good for impact type tools. No idea what 01 is tho. Would ether of these be good for citing tools? I'd like to make a reamer & maybe dove tail cutters. I know the T1 would be good but it is already hardened. Is ether of the other two any good for this? The reamer only needs to make 7 cuts.


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## RJSakowski (May 7, 2015)

kingmt01 said:


> Sorry in advance if this doesn't fit here.
> 
> I went to the scrap yard to get some well soft junk steel & such. While I was there he showed me his section of odd & ends. Mostly stuff like bolts. I found two new .935" & .932 reaming bars they are maybe 1.5" shank so to big for me but at a $1.50 a lb I got them anyway. They are T1. I bought a couple more pieces that I had checked & was told one was s5 06 & the other is 01. It looks like the S5 is good for impact type tools. No idea what 01 is tho. Would ether of these be good for citing tools? I'd like to make a reamer & maybe dove tail cutters. I know the T1 would be good but it is already hardened. Is ether of the other two any good for this? The reamer only needs to make 7 cuts.


O1 is an oil hardening tool steel commonly used for cutting tools.  Offhand, I don't know what its ultimate hardness is but I expect that it is in the Rc mid 60's.  As I recall it is basically a high carbon steel used for cold work.  It loses its hardness quite easily as compared to high speed steel so it cannot be pushed hard when machining with it.  It works well for hand tools such as taps and dies, cold chisels, etc.  I have made a dovetail cutter out of O1 as well as a number of form tools.  It should work well for a reamer.


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## kingmt01 (May 7, 2015)

Cool. I was planning on it being a reamer for a gun barrel & cutting under power. Does that make a difference?


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## Billh50 (May 7, 2015)

O-1 is also commonly called drill rod.


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## kingmt01 (May 7, 2015)

Thanks. I kinda know what drill rod is. That helps greatly.


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## RJSakowski (May 7, 2015)

kingmt01 said:


> Cool. I was planning on it being a reamer for a gun barrel & cutting under power. Does that make a difference?


Reamers are rather low impact tools.  They don't remove much material and run at low speeds..  You should be good.

I have a book called" The Modern Gunsmith" by James V. Howe, 1982  edition. It was published published by Bonanza Books, New York.  The original publication was by Funk and Wagnalls, New York in 1934.  It has an excellent section on the making and use of gunsmithing tools as well as a wealth of other information.  You may be able to find a copy on Amazon.


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