Furnace1 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Had something happen today I was not expecting. I had made up 12 large hooks for a customer out of 3/8" regular hot rolled steel. Same stuff I have been using for years and same dealer. Well after I forged out these hooks I quenched them....which I normally don't do, just leaving them on the ground usually. After I had finished my other work, I went to center punch them for the screw hole and a chunk where I hit it shattered and fell off. Tried another one and same thing....tomorrow they go back into the forge to red heat and normalize before that happens again. I did do a grinder check and sure enough they sparked like high carbon steel. Tried a piece of the same stock that was not forged and it sparked like mild steel? Using a coal forge like I always do but the only difference was that I quenched, but that does not bother mild steel normally. I did a file test also and sure enough it skipped across like high carbon steel?Anyone have any ideas of what's happening?Thanks for any input.....Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 You got some secret coal that turns mild into carbon steel?!? :P Curious, though if you've just found out a way to make carbon steel, you're going to be a millionaire! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Sounds like good old A-6 and it's too often inconsistent nature. A-6 is performance speced unlike 1018 which is analysis speced. So long as A-6 meets the minimum specs for tensile, elongation, etc. it's up to spec. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I guess you shouldn't quench them either ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Sounds like good old A-6 and it's too often inconsistent nature. A-6 is performance speced unlike 1018 which is analysis speced. So long as A-6 meets the minimum specs for tensile, elongation, etc. it's up to spec. Frosty The Lucky. I think you have a tree in the works. A6 is air hardening tool steel. A36 is specification based mild steel, and can have up to 40 points of carbon in it! Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I call A36 unmild steel anymore.....I do a fair amount of cold bending and pieces that have been forged prior to that are never quenched. The last time I had a brain fade I was bending a piece of 1 1/2 round in the press and it snapped.... loudly..... I've also been in the process of bending quenched MS in the press only to have it go right back where I started, that's kinda a dead giveaway....... :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furnace1 Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Thanks guys for the response......I had a feeling there was a good amount of inconsistancies in this metal lately. I have noticed after quenching other pieces and getting the file to touch up a little, parts of it would file just just fine and another part would act like it was hardened.....all in one piece not an inch apart. Did not care for what my file looked like afterward either. I did not have any shattering however until yesterday. I did put those hooks back in the fire today and they are softened up to what they should be...but, no more quenching for me!!! Next time I'm down to the steel supplier I will ask and see if he has heard about this problem from others. Thanks again.....Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Next time I'm down to the steel supplier I will ask and see if he has heard about this problem from others. Thanks again.....Scott It's been a problem for decades, more so now than in the past, ''waada ya gonna do''........ <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Save for the way past where testing each bar of steel was considered a must to see what it really was---books on smithing from the 1700's and 1800's go over this. I've had A-36 that was really great stuff and some that was almost unusable for many of the items I forge---just like old times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 I think you have a tree in the works. A6 is air hardening tool steel. A36 is specification based mild steel, and can have up to 40 points of carbon in it! Phil DARN TREE! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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