Ed Huntress wrote:
lid wrote in message
...
OK, guys, I kind of appreciate the sentiment, but I gotta wonder if
anyone ever use D2 or A2 for light home use purposes. 4140 seems to be
very eminently useful, but D2 or A2, I am not so sure. Seems like a
lot of trouble to machine. The only use I can think of is dies for the
press.

i

I was going to ask what you're going to use the tool steel for.g You'll
find some odd jobs for it. The A2 will solve some heat-treat problems; you
can fully through-harden even complex shapes, with combinations of thin and
thick sections that are all but impossible in most steels.

D2 is an interesting steel that's also used in making knives. It's great,
also, for making shearing blades and similar things.

But neither one is much fun to machine. However, I've machined annealed D2
on my South Bend, with HSS tools. Just read the specs on it. It's not
terrible to machine. I have no experience machining A2.

Of course, both are useful for press dies.




http://cartech.ides.com/datasheet.as...=262&c=techart

http://cartech.ides.com/datasheet.as...=263&c=techart




All machining is fun, only some is more fun than others.

With good tooling and a stiff machine cutting A2 and D2 is not a big
problem. I machine them quite often with no big problems. Heat treating
A2 is very straight forward. D2 is a little more critical so you need a
good calibrated oven.

Here is a very interesting book on making tools as well as a bunch of
other stuff.

http://www.archive.org/details/cyclo...engi01ameriala


Iggy, if you are looking to sell any of that tool steel I would be
interested in buying some if you have the sizes I use.

John