Free unlimited steel supply?

Austin Thrasher

Austin Thrasher

Well-Known Member
Ok guys I’m a bit excited about this. I work in a tool and die shop that makes and services stamping dies for the automotive industry. To cut to the chase here, I just found out today that some of the steel we stamp is 1055 and 1074! Now, I (think I) understand that 1055 is decent knife steel for high impact blades like kukris, machetes, parangs, etc. Am I correct on that? Also I do not know about 1074. I’ve seen 1075 used for knives before but not 1074. Anyone have an opinion on those steels? What are they used for? Is it even worth pursuing? The coils run through a flattener that gets the steel fairly flat and I would be keeping the scrap skeleton that gets chopped off after the part is stamped. Literally tons of it gets thrown away or scrapped every day. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!95416653-C37D-4598-8298-B9F1FAFB7383.jpegE6129815-3BBE-4A5E-948C-C39546220FAE.jpegE9338AC6-2802-40DE-95B1-7808A9958BEA.jpeg
 
1055.... on the edge of being able to obtain a decent level of hardness for blades.
1074... Certainly
01.... Certainly
4140.... Not for blades. In larger cross sections its great for hammers, and I often use it for hatchets/axes, with high carbon bits welded in.

OK, Now I'm gona throw cold water on ya..... how thick are these steels you can acquire??
 
Looks like everything I can get is in the ballpark of .110”-.250” mostly around an eighth.

EdCaffreyMS said:
1055.... on the edge of being able to obtain a decent level of hardness for blades.
1074... Certainly
01.... Certainly
4140.... Not for blades. In larger cross sections its great for hammers, and I often use it for hatchets/axes, with high carbon bits welded in.

OK, Now I'm gona throw cold water on ya..... how thick are these steels you can acquire??
Click to expand...
 
Also, those two labels I took pics of are only two out of hundreds of coils of steel so there is plenty of thickness variations to choose from. Is there any concern with stresses from the stamping process?
 
Does the company have the certs/specs for those steels? That would be tremendously helpful for you.
 
I'd double check with who ever you need to, to ensure they are OK with you hauling off the excess. The last place I worked had a very large machine shop. They had a huge amount of tool steel scrap. Except it was a huge no no to take any of it. They sold their scrap to a scrap dealer.
 
As Sean said, as long as it's ok for you to take some of the scrap steel, you've got a lifetime supply of good steel. The 1074 and 01 are great steels, with 1074 perhaps best for ease of HT'ing. It being the stamped scrap isn't an issue, you can "stress relieve" by heating and slow cooling. It's all a good thickness for stock removal. The 1/4" you could even so some forging with that.

With company's permission, you're good to go.
 
I'd double check with who ever you need to, to ensure they are OK with you hauling off the excess. The last place I worked had a very large machine shop. They had a huge amount of tool steel scrap. Except it was a huge no no to take any of it. They sold their scrap to a scrap dealer.
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YUP!!!! Don't take it for granted that you can take it!!! Might be a good way to end up WITHOUT a job. ;)
 
Good thoughts guys. I checked with the plant manager earlier this morning and he said he’s good with it. Sooo.... looks like I’ve absolutely lucked out on this one. :D
 
Not sure on that one John, I’ll do some checking into it and see. It looks like everything I've seen is cold rolled. Not sure if it’s annealed or not. I do know when we drilled scrap pieces for shims to put under punches or dies on our tooling, it’s almost never hard to drill. That being said, I don’t know what steel that was either. A lot of the smaller parts we make are lower carbon steels like 1020.
J. Doyle said:
Does the company have the certs/specs for those steels? That would be tremendously helpful for you.
Click to expand...
 
I'm talking about the actual certs for the steel type....that show where it came from, exact chemical make up, heat numbers etc.

That will tell you a lot about what your working with and what you can expect and how to heat treat.
 
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