Materials question

J

John Ridley

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I'm looking for some idea of the strength of various kinds of metals and what they're best used for, both with and without hardening. I bet there's a resource out there but I haven't found it.

In particular I want to make a tap wrench (the one This Old Tony posted a bit ago). Looks like a reasonable first lathe project. But I don't (currently) have any facilities for hardening steel, and I want to know what kind of steel would be machineable with carbide tooling but still not bend when used as a tap wrench handle about 5 inches long and 3/8" in diameter at the smallest point.

I'm sure I'll quickly develop a feel for this sort of thing but right now I'm concerned that I'm going to buy some steel, put a day into making this, then bend it badly the first time I use it.
 
P20 is also a good material to make tools. It is a little easier to machine than 4140PH.
 
I wrote all this down and went shopping. However the local shop has pretty limited types in stock and suggest that A311 is probably the best of what they have on the shelves.
Opinions on that?
 
Last edited:
John Ridley said:
I wrote all this down and went shopping. However the local shop has pretty limited types in stock and suggest that A311 is probably the best of what they have on the shelves.
Opinions on that?
Click to expand...
A311 will work fine. Might not be cheap...

A311 Class B StressProof® CF Bar | A311 Cold-Finished Steel Bar | Alro Steel

StressProof cold finished steel bar from Alro Steel is produced using a proprietary process that draws the bar through a special die under heavy draft. It offers many benefits including improved wearability without case hardening, strength without heat treating, exceptional surface quality, and...
www.alro.com www.alro.com
 
Bob Korves said:
A311 will work fine. Might not be cheap...

A311 Class B StressProof® CF Bar | A311 Cold-Finished Steel Bar | Alro Steel

StressProof cold finished steel bar from Alro Steel is produced using a proprietary process that draws the bar through a special die under heavy draft. It offers many benefits including improved wearability without case hardening, strength without heat treating, exceptional surface quality, and...
www.alro.com www.alro.com
Click to expand...
Oh good, thanks. I did pick it up. Wasn't bad I only need a piece of 5/8, a couple feet of it was about $12. I got more than I need of everything for about $20 total, so not too bad, I'll get a day of fun, learn some stuff and hopefully a nice tap wrench out of it.
 
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