Is this high speed steel?

[rkriet]

I recently bought some high-speed steel on Amazon from a company named Uxcell. I got a heavy duty flat bar and a 1/2 inch round bar to make a box scraper and a skew. I have a brand new 80 grit CBN wheel from Woodturners Wonders. When I press the blanks against the CBN wheel, I get a lot of bright gold, sparks coming off the top of the tool. Is this not an indication of carbon steel rather than high-speed steel? And yes, it does seem to be filling up the pores in the CBN wheel.

I have used some of this high-speed steel from the Uxcell company in the past and have not had any problems. I’m looking for some enlightenment from all of you wise folks. Is it definitely the steel that is the problem, and has anyone else had problems with buying high-speed steel on Amazon?

On a somewhat related note, does anyone know whether Ken Rizza still owns Woodturners Wonders? I thought I read somewhere that he was considering selling the company. I don’t want to start a rumor, so this might be totally off base.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Bright, light yellow sparks, lots of them that shatter into small sparks (which makes you think of July 4th sparklers), indicate more of a plain carbon steel. Darker orange sparks than seem much less in quantity and that tend not to break into smaller sparks indicate higher heat tolerance alloys we refer to as high speed steel.

Touch a few of your other known steels (turning tools, old screwdriver, scrap metal...) against the grinding wheels to compare the sparks. Turning down some lights in your shop can help you differentiate.

Caution with clogging CBN wheels grinding softer steels. There are discussions here about that, too.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I won't risk cheap stuff from Amazon. It's not worth clogging up your CBN wheels. I would get the Thompson blanks he sells. Here is a link...

5. Special and Miscellaneous Tools Archives - Thompson Lathe Tools

thompsonlathetools.com

 

[Barry Richardson]

A machinist friend gave me some of what he said was highspeed steel once, and I found it to be soft, I asked him about it and he said it needed to be tempered first, maybe yours is untempered?

 

[Dwayne Watt]

Tempering lowers the hardness of steel after being heat treated, not harden steel.

 

[robo hippy]

I never buy the cheap stuff. NEVER! If it is clogging up your CBN wheel, then is isn't high speed steel. All of my turning tools are from D Way or Thompson.

robo hippy

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

When you're buying alloy metals like M2 it's very common to ask the seller for "certs" (certification) of the material. Certs would give the composition of the alloy, hardness, etc. Chances are if you asked an Amazon or eBay seller they wouldn't even known what you were talking about. Or, worse they might give you fake certs.

Sometimes legitimate sellers won't give the alloy composition if they consider it proprietary. Bolt makers frequently do this, they will give the strength characteristics though because that's the way bolts are classified (grade 8, etc)..

Spark testing is generally considered an unreliable indication any more given the variety of alloys available these days.

If it's important to you buy from trusty sellers like machine shop tooling houses. Expect to pay substantially more than Amazon/eBay.