Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

They are supposedly hard to machine.

--
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to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
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I tried sharpening one pin to the shape of a chisel, and pushed it
through a piece of mild steel with a press. The result amazed me.

It cuts through steel like knife through butter.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks-1874.jpg

i

On 2008-04-28, Ignoramus30765 wrote:
Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

They are supposedly hard to machine.


--
Due to extreme spam originating from Google Groups, and their inattention
to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
from Google Groups. If you want your postings to be seen by
more readers you will need to find a different means of
posting on Usenet.
http://improve-usenet.org/

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:54:16 -0500, Ignoramus30765
wrote:

Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

They are supposedly hard to machine.

They are essentially round HSS tool bits. Grind a flat on one and it
will make a nice insert for a boring bar. You can silver solder one to
a shank and make a special tool. Any that are ground to a "normal
diameter" .250, .375, .500, etc. make nice aligning pins or gages for
setting tooling.

A lot of uses. If I were in your vicinity I'd stop by and pick them up
just to get them out of your garage so you'd have more space in there
:-)

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:54:16 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm,
Ignoramus30765 quickly quoth:

Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

They are supposedly hard to machine.

Hey, it's tool steel. Make more tools from them. Punches (duh!),
chisels, alignment pins, dowels, coat racks giggle, etc.

--
As a curmudgeon, I grok that in its entirety.
--LJ

On 2008-04-28, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:

Hey, it's tool steel. Make more tools from them. Punches (duh!),
chisels, alignment pins, dowels, coat racks giggle, etc.


I will make an awl out of one of them. Also will try to make a chisel
style bit to cut steel bars with my press.

--
Due to extreme spam originating from Google Groups, and their inattention
to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
from Google Groups. If you want your postings to be seen by
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"Ignoramus18948" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-28, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:

Hey, it's tool steel. Make more tools from them. Punches (duh!),
chisels, alignment pins, dowels, coat racks giggle, etc.


I will make an awl out of one of them. Also will try to make a chisel
style bit to cut steel bars with my press.


Be careful, they may be brittle and shatter.

On 2008-04-29, Tom Gardner wrote:

"Ignoramus18948" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-28, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:

Hey, it's tool steel. Make more tools from them. Punches (duh!),
chisels, alignment pins, dowels, coat racks giggle, etc.


I will make an awl out of one of them. Also will try to make a chisel
style bit to cut steel bars with my press.


Be careful, they may be brittle and shatter.



I tried breaking one yesterday. (with a pipe and vise, using various
precautions). It was very hard to break and was elastic. It finally
broke cleanly without shattering into pieces.
--
Due to extreme spam originating from Google Groups, and their inattention
to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
from Google Groups. If you want your postings to be seen by
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posting on Usenet.
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On Apr 27, 11:54 pm, Ignoramus30765 ignoramus30...@NOSPAM.
30765.invalid wrote:
Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

Don't bother trying to cut steel under power with these things (as
Bruce suggested) as they are not HSS - they are D2 and A2 and don't
have nearly the red-heat wear resistance of HSS.

D2 will eat your grinding wheels. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to
grind them (you don't have too many options anyway) but you should be
aware. Very similar to HSS in that respect. A2 is less of a disaster,
but still quite tough.


I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

In theory, you can make punches (like punch/die press work punches) by
shaping the ends, but you'll of course need the appropriate dies to
match.

They're good for striking tools, although you must be careful as they
are very hard (as you know) and will eventually shatter. Ideally you
shouldn't use a hard-faced hammer (no ball-peen or claw hammers) to
wack them. A hammer with a mild steel head could prevent a trip to the
hospital (seriously) if you're really into hitting things.


I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

I'd hold on to them if you have the space. Nice to have them available
when you need something really hard.


They are supposedly hard to machine.

You won't get too far with carbide tooling (really rigid setup,
slowish RPM, continous cuts, don't bother with coolant, decent feed,
healthy DOC). Ceramic and cermet will do it, but they're expensive.

Really, they're meant to be ground using a punch forming fixture on a
surface grinder (at a minimum).

(Perhaps someone who isn't using Google can echo my post so Iggy can
see it. Too lazy to post any other way).

Regards,

Robin

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:41:55 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Apr 27, 11:54 pm, Ignoramus30765 ignoramus30...@NOSPAM.
30765.invalid wrote:
Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

Don't bother trying to cut steel under power with these things (as
Bruce suggested) as they are not HSS - they are D2 and A2 and don't
have nearly the red-heat wear resistance of HSS.

Mea Culpa! I guess I saw the "tool steel" and missed the rest.


D2 will eat your grinding wheels. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to
grind them (you don't have too many options anyway) but you should be
aware. Very similar to HSS in that respect. A2 is less of a disaster,
but still quite tough.


I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

In theory, you can make punches (like punch/die press work punches) by
shaping the ends, but you'll of course need the appropriate dies to
match.

They're good for striking tools, although you must be careful as they
are very hard (as you know) and will eventually shatter. Ideally you
shouldn't use a hard-faced hammer (no ball-peen or claw hammers) to
wack them. A hammer with a mild steel head could prevent a trip to the
hospital (seriously) if you're really into hitting things.


I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

I'd hold on to them if you have the space. Nice to have them available
when you need something really hard.


They are supposedly hard to machine.

You won't get too far with carbide tooling (really rigid setup,
slowish RPM, continous cuts, don't bother with coolant, decent feed,
healthy DOC). Ceramic and cermet will do it, but they're expensive.

Really, they're meant to be ground using a punch forming fixture on a
surface grinder (at a minimum).

(Perhaps someone who isn't using Google can echo my post so Iggy can
see it. Too lazy to post any other way).

Regards,

Robin

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)