 Materials for punches and chisels
Thank you Uri, Ellen and Hw you are all correct in what you say but not all of us have easy access to the types of tool steels you mention. There would certainly not be any shops or suppliers in the rural area where I live that would have offcuts of h13 or s7 etc. It is not available via mail order in short lengths like it is in the USA. The last time I purchased some hot die steel I had to travel 130 kilometres (80 miles) each way and the cost was $28 a kilogram (2.2lb)for the steel and it is certain to be more than that now. Generally the shortest length in small bar sizes you can buy is 1 metre plus cutting charge ($5).
As I said in my original post I took the request to be for a cheap source of tool steel for someone starting out to get some experience with.
Cheers,
Bruce
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