June 30, 20178 yr How do folks, Can anyone recommend me a suitable steel to use as a "depth spacer" under my 25kg Anyang? E.g if I had a bit of 25mm (1") square bar that I wanted to forge down to 20mm (3/4") square I'd put a 20mm depth spacer on my bottom die so the bar couldn't be forged down to anything less than 20mm. I've heard of H13 and that it's good for punches & fullers, is that the sort of thing that would be good for my use? I'm more of an artist than blacksmith and know virtually nothing about tool steels. I don't really want to be forging/hardening/tempering my own depth spacers from some sort of tractor axle that I'm never going to find, I just want to ring up a specialist steel supplier & buy some short lengths or a local tool maker and get some bits of scrap off-cuts. Cheers for any input.
June 30, 20178 yr I use mild steel. get close without kiss blocks and lighten blows as I contact blocks. hence, I assume, the term "kiss" block.
June 30, 20178 yr I agree. Mild steel, I'd prefer to chuck a worn one in the scrap bin than smack my dies into a cold piece of high carbon or alloy.
June 30, 20178 yr Yes you don't want hard kiss blocks to damage your dies!!!!! Far better to need to replace a worn kiss block than a set of dies!
June 30, 20178 yr Yeah, mild steel I make them wide and completely across the bottom die for maximum volume and area to stop the top die but soft enough to not damage it. I agree, KISS means you use as light blows as will move the target material. At least you have a self contained, they have wonderfully good control. It's a little trickier with a 100 yr old mechanical. Frosty The Lucky.
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