In article ,
says...
"Bill Swears" wrote in message
...
alloying material to have my 'expert' character tell the journeyman to
"try using a little less (or a little more) X" where X is my manganese
placeholder.

Manganese, nickel and carbon are good starting points as mentioned above.
Sulfur is by far the most sensitive impurity, however; steel gets pretty
crappy about 0.1% S! In contrast, a typical mild steel has around 0.5 to 1%
manganese and 0.2% carbon (1020 alloy).

Note that sulfur is always quoted as an impurity -- no alloy specification
has it within a range; it's always less than X. Likewise, you would never
add sulfur except to intentionally spoil a batch.

No, sulfur is intentionally added in specific percentages
to many steels to improve machinability.

Ned Simmons