On Friday, November 25, 2016 at 5:51:35 PM UTC-5, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2016-11-25, wrote:
On Thursday, November 24, 2016 at 8:49:50 PM UTC-5, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2016-11-24, John B Slocomb wrote:
On Wed, 23 Nov 2016 17:13:22 -0800 (PST), wrote:
[ ... ]
Keystock usually is just plain carbon steel -- not very hard. Try it
and see how it performs.
Is it even *carbon* steel? I think that what I have is just
plain mild steel -- not enough carbon to harden. (I've never tried,
since I don't see any benefit to hardening a key.)
Plain "mild steel" is carbon steel. A lot of jargon common terms
confuse these things. Even the mildest steel contains carbon, at least
0.08 %. The series starts with 1008, which was once used for stamped
car-body parts.
O.K. Yes, pretty mild steel as they go. :-)
1008 won't harden noticeably. When you get up to 1020 (0.2% carbon),
it will work-harden a bit but barely quench-harden. Quench-hardening
starts at around 1040, but even that doesn't harden much.
O.K.
In theory, 1070 will get as hard from quench-hardening as any higher
carbon steel. But in practice, it doesn't, supposedly because of the way
carbon is distributed in the iron. 1090 (0.9% carbon) comes close but
music wire runs up to around 1.2% carbon. That will draw to very high
hardness, but I'm told it doesn't quench-harden any more than 1090.
'Dunno, I've never tried it, and I no longer have access to a Mitutoyo
hardness tester, anyway.
I've recently gotten some music wire at about 0.060" diameter,
and boy is that nasty to cut. Compound leverage wire cutters with
carbide blades (Starrett) can do it -- but it is still sudden when the
cut occurs. :-)
I use a thin cutoff wheel on a Dremel. It's the only way I've ever found to cut it clean, and it works great.
Music wire is plain carbon, with an extremely high percentage of carbon. Most brands use a proprietary stock material, but it's usually 1.0 - 1.2% carbon.
It isn't heat-treated. It's just work-hardened from drawing the wire. In the thinner pieces, the tensile strength can reach 300,000 psi and the hardness is comparably 'way up there.
Keystock comes in a variety of materials but the common ones are 1018 and 1045.
O.K. What I have is likely the 1018, based on the feel filing
it.
High speed steel is not only hard (typically 62 - 66 Rc), but it has a
tempering temperature of around 1,000 deg. F. Sometimes a little more
(M4, M42 and above). You can use it right up to the tempering
temperature without permanently softening it. That's why it's called
"high-speed." You can run the cutting speed up until it just barely
glows red -- in a fairly dark room, at least.
Also -- I don't think that I have ever seen HSS rust. I guess
that it is possible, but uncommon.
It is somewhat rust-resistant, but it will rust.
O.K. Pretty much I guess I haven't exposed it to nasty
environments. :-)
Thanks for the additional information.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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