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I Forge Iron

01 vs EN16


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Hello from the uk!,

I’m kinda new to the forging game and decided that a good way to practice and learn techniques is to try and make some of my own tooling. 

Now im looking to make a hammer eye punch for myself and I have recently been given some 01 tool steel 20mm round stock and some EN16 3/4” round stock from a friend who’s dad used to be into smithing and had recently died.

I’m not quite sure of the equivalent grades in SAE but if anyone wants to tell me what it would me that would be great!

Im wondering which would be better (if any) for the eye punch, over looking that they could be used for something better.

From my understanding there are more suitable steels out there to use but I’m still trying to find a good source of “exotic” steels and I have these lying about, any help is appreciated!

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Myself, Out of those two I’d use the EN 16, it should handle impact better among other things.

The O1 will make good cutting/engraving/scraping type tools, it is more abrasion resistant due to carbide formation from the higher carbon and  tungsten in it.

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H13 is a hot work tool steel. I would save what you have for other projects.  For an eye drift you can use something like 4140 which is a tough steel used for things like shafts. Car and truck axles are also a tough material good for beating on. O-1 can get brittle hard and can shatter when struck. Good for knives, not so much for punches. I'm not familiar with the EN16 alloy.

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Thanks for the reply guys, I think for the amount of working I’m currently doing with my tools I could make a punch out of candle wax and get a good few uses out of it. But I’ll really try and get my hands on 4140 which I believe is EN19C if anyone knows?

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Are the diameters appropriate for a hammer eye drift?   I'm contemplating one of 4140, but thought of ending up with a largest dimension of 1.125 x 3/4.  thought I'd want to start with one inch.  recommendations on both the upper size and starting stock size are appreciated.  

 

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I’m not one to shy away from hard work so I’m not against having to make a drift as well, is it just me or is 4140 like the ideal steel for 99% of blacksmithing tools?

just managed to find a supplier who can do 3m of 3/4” and up for around £25 who’s only an hour away. Sure that’s far for us English folk but with 3m should keep me going for a few weeks

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